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Pyramid, Great Wall, Roman Colosseum, Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat of Cambodia, Petra of Jordan, Chichen Itza, Teotihuacan of Mexico, and more. Do any of these names sound familiar to you? These ancient structures are amongst those listed by the BBC as the 50 places you must visit before you die. They are truly incredible. It is hard to even imagine how these structures were built without any modern equipment.
My personal favourite amongst these wonders are the pyramids. They are one of the oldest and heaviest (more than 4,600 years and over hundreds of thousand tons) structures existing on earth. They were built as tombs. Not any tombs, but royal tombs. As soon as a king was born in ancient Egypt, a project for a new pyramid started. Sometimes, due to the scale of the construction, a pyramid was not completed by the time of a king's death and his body had to wait outside to be buried. Archaeologists have found many incredible artifacts in the pyramids. The chambers were packed with not only royal mummies and their belongings, but also with a number of pets (yes, they mummified dogs, cats and birds), royal chariots, and even a full size royal sailboat (all inside the tomb!). It is said that all the servants were buried alive with the king. It was done in the belief that when the king was resurrected, s/he might need all these things and people in the next life. A bigger pyramid and more stuff inside meant people had more affection for the dead.
Around 220 B.C., there was a kingdom established in China called the Qin (or Chin) Dynasty. Shi Huangdi became the first emperor to unite China. Under his reign, a great wall was started in the north. Fittingly, Emperor Shi built for himself not just a tomb, or even a pyramid, but a massive city only to accommodate his body. When he died he was buried in the centre of the city with everything that belonged to him. He was going to come back to rule the world again as the Mighty Emperor. The entire city was covered with soil but through the diligent work of archaeologists, the site has been located. It became an instant sensation for the terra cotta army that was found at the burial site. The site was packed with an army of 6,000 pottery soldiers (all life size) that were put there to protect the tomb and the king. They may be a replacement for the actual people (each with a stunning facial expression) who had previously been buried with the rulers. What a reward for a faithful servant!
These are just two examples of how people have tried to grab immortality and leave their traces by building bigger and bigger tombs.
This month we are invited to a tomb. It is the tomb of Jesus Christ. There are no decorations or remains. The tomb is empty. Yet we come to this empty tomb in adoration, praise, thankfulness and worship. We come to this place not because it is full of kingly artifacts but because it is empty. There are many burial sites in the world that testify how great those rulers were. But no site tells more than this empty tomb. Here is where the good news begins. Jesus came to become as one of us. He lived with us. He served us as a servant. He suffered because of us. On the cross, Jesus gave everything he had and died for us. But he was raised from the dead and became the first fruit of resurrection. His tomb is empty because he was resurrected. It is empty because he gave everything he had to us. Easter is not just another religious holiday. It is the day to visit the empty tomb to realize that we are the people of resurrection and that we also should give as Jesus did for others.
The tomb is empty! The Lord is risen! Hallelujah!
