Weird Ideas: Crucified, Dead, and BuriedНамуна

Jesus died. Stone-cold dead. Not almost dead. Not partially dead. Not 20-minutes-without-a-heartbeat-and-then resuscitated dead. Dead.

How can Jesus die? How can God die? Who knows. But he did. And that’s the point of this phrase in the Apostles’ Creed: “he was crucified, died, and was buried.” It’s saying make no mistake. Jesus died like every human before him. Jesus died like we will. Jesus was dead. And that’s why it stresses that Jesus was buried.

God dead-and-buried is a weird idea. Because God, of course, is weird. At least from a worldly perspective. God is different and does unexpected things. Don’t be surprised if God does the fantastic. Early Christians had no problem with this. They knew God was up to something new in Jesus. His incarnation, life, crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection were all evidence of this.

There will be times when things in life appear dead and buried. Hope. Dreams. The future. People. What do we see from Jesus? No matter how dead-and-buried something might be, it’s not the final word with God.