Our Borrowed Tomb

Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that just seem unfair. It makes no sense. We did the “right” thing. We honored God in the right way. We prayed. We believed. We had faith. We fasted. We “spoke to the mountain.” We “named” it. We “claimed” it....and we still end up in a difficult situation.

You ever been there?

I have. It puts you in such a FOGGY headspace, especially when you fully activated your faith believing that God COULD & WOULD perform a miracle...a miracle that just doesn’t happen. 

I’ve been there. You’ve been there and guess who else has been there? 

Jesus.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed so hard that God would find an alternate route that didn’t include the gruesome nature of Calvary. He prayed for the cup to pass. Then later again while on the cross, he reached out to God in a moment of despair and asked “WHY HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN ABOUT ME?!”

Jesus. The son of God, the lamb slain before the foundations of the world, the chief cornerstone that the builder refused, the rose of chevron, the Messiah, The word made flesh...

He prayed a prayer that God didn’t answer.

Sometimes it makes you step back and think:

What happened to God never leaving us or forsaking us? What happened to the promise in Isaiah that no weapon that’s formed against us would prosper? What happened to the powerful One that could break chains and keep people in furnaces and from hungry lions? 

What happened? God, where are you?! Where were you?! 

Your prayers ever sounded like?! I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve had more than a few conversations with God asking those questions...still recognizing his abilities, but really just wanting some clarity.

Sometimes to answer those questions, we don’t have to look any further than the cross.

See, Jesus was perfect and blameless and he still had to go through the difficulties of Calvary...not for himself, but for us.

What Jesus knew, that we often forget, is that the difficult situations we go through are not just for us, it’s to help somebody else.

Somebody has to hear your story of trial and triumph. Someone needs to see you fall and get back up. Somebody needs to see you suffer and persevere...just so they can keep going...Just so they can believe again...Just so they can get to God.

Take Jesus being buried for instance.

After Gethsemane and some other events, He goes through Calvary. From the outside looking in it seems as though this man who performed all these miracles can’t even perform one for himself. He helped all these people in his lifetime, but at this moment it seems as if He can’t even help himself. 

He dies and they take him off the cross and a guy named Joseph goes to retrieve his body so that they can properly bury him in “Joseph’s tomb.”

Here’s where it gets interesting to me.

I thinks it’s so intentional (not ironic) that the tomb Jesus was buried in, wasn’t even his. It was borrowed from Joseph.

The term borrow means: to take and use something that belongs to someone else with the intention of returning it. 

Here Jesus is in someone ELSE’s  death capsule. Someone ELSE’s last resting place. It wasn’t his. They literally took him to a “borrowed” tomb. Here’s the dope part, He had every intention of returning it. 

Here’s the thing, sometimes the situations you find yourself in aren’t there because of you. It’s not even about you. Sometimes the sole reason you’re in a tough situation is because there’s something God wants you to “return” or “give back” to someone else. Somebody needs to hear your testimony. Somebody needs to see you go through and come out on the other side.  Somebody needs to hear your account that it was once dark, cold, and lifeless...but God resurrected you.

See, ONLY from the outside looking in did it look like Jesus was defeated. Only from the outside did it look like God had forsaken His son. Only from the outside did it look like God had renege on His promises. Only from the outside did it look like a formed weapon had prospered...but that wasn’t the case. 

From the inside looking out, God knew what he was doing all along...he knew that Jesus had to  be buried in order to fulfill a promise that was spoken years before Jesus came to earth. God knew that He had to save the souls of the just men that existed before Calvary. God knew that a greater power was coming to resurrect Jesus’ body from the tomb and return not only the tomb, but a promise of a second Adam, the promise of an advocate, the promise of a perfect sacrifice, the promise of eternal life, the promise of returned harmony with God...from the inside looking out, it was always more than a cross. It was always more than a tomb.

Even today, the power that raised Jesus, is STILL raising people up. God can literally use your “borrowed tomb” of a situation to effectuate His promises and transform the lives of people all over the world. 

Imagine that!

Whew!

I’m not saying all of this is easy to accept, cause it’s not. We can all tend to be selfish at times...but...if bad situations happened to Jesus on our behalf, we should expect that it will happen to us, as well. Just remember that those tough situations aren’t in vain. God will remember them!

So, if you find yourself in a tomb, remember...its only borrowed so that someone can see you, hear you, and watch you defeat it. The same power that resurrected Jesus will resurrect you and you’ll come out with a song and story to tell!