As we approach Easter, or more correctly, Resurrection Sunday, I want to note that tragedy and triumph happened just a few hundred yards from each other.
The Garden Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, and Golgotha, the place where Jesus was crucified, are less than a few hundred yards from each other.
We know that the Scriptures tell us there was an urgency to Jesus burial, and it is a very short walk from the Place of the Skull, to the place of Jesus Burial.
But maybe the close proximity has a message. During this pandemic, we may be able to learn, that our tragedies often live near the places of our triumph, that near our tragedies, God has planned a triumph, even a victory.
In our minds we may think, “There is no way to take the sting out tragedy.”
While do not want to be insensitive to the real suffering caused by our tragedies, we must find a victory over it, or we cannot have hope.
Jesus’ empty tomb did just that! It brought hope, even victory, out of tragedy!
As the Scriptures say,
“So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?””
( I Corinthians 15:54-55 NKJV)
Amen!!! God is good to us no matter what we are going through.