Jesus rode a borrowed donkey. He borrowed an upper room for His disciples to eat the Passover. At last, He was buried in a borrowed tomb. Joseph of Arimathea freely gave his own burial place, expecting nothing in return, not knowing that he was merely lending it. Jesus did not need it as a permanent place, so He borrowed it. He returned it glorified. He baptized it with radiant life. He took the fear out of it, because there He defeated death. He forever changed how we see the tomb. Because of Him, you too, oh believer, will be buried in a borrowed tomb. At the trumpet sound, it will be given back to a new earth, a place of no tombs.
“And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.” Mark 15:46 (ESV)
(From “The Master’s Table”, by H. Lamar Smith.)
