Funerals are where we pay homage to those we’ve treasured in this life. Funerals are also a way for us to witness the body of the deceased and come to a moment of closure over the ending of someone’s life.
Some deaths are easier for us to accept than others. When a death is the result of illness or old age, we have the chance to prepare ourselves. However, when someone dies unexpectedly, our minds cannot accept the truth. We must have proof.
Jesus died on a cross. It was normally a slow and painful death, one that often took days. However, Jesus chose his moment of death. In Mark 15:44-47, after only six hours on the cross, Joseph of Arimathaea went before Pilate to request Jesus’ body for burial. Pilate was skeptical, and he called for proof.
He was given a Cloud of Witnesses.
His first was Joseph. However, Pilate wanted more. He called to the centurion, asking proof of Jesus’ death. Only then was Jesus’ body allowed to be wrapped in linen and laid in the sepulcher hewn out of a rock.
Even Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph beheld him as he was buried, becoming yet more members of the Cloud of Witnesses.
What proof do we need before we come to Jesus? Is the call of the preacher enough? Can we trust in the Word of God? Do we cry out for miracles to show that the power of God is real?
Or do we accept Jesus because he asks us to? We have a Cloud of Witnesses to the deity of our Lord. Just look around. The sun rises each day, the birds sing, and we draw the breath of air into our lungs. What more proof do we need?
Each day we walk in Christ, we support an ever-growing Cloud of Witnesses, proclaiming to the world around us of Jesus’ divine and redemptive nature.
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