03 April 2010

The grave of Joseph

A new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock ... Matthew 27: 57-60 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

3, The grave of Joseph

Patrick Comerford

Reading 3:
John 19: 38-42

When Jesus died, and his body was taken down from the cross – the body that had been anointed only a week earlier in Bethany either by Mary or by the penitent woman – he was wrapped in a clean cloth by Joseph of Arimathea, who then laid it what three of the Gospel writers tells us was his own “new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock” (Matthew 27: 57-60; Mark 15: 42-46; Luke 23: 50-53; see John 19: 38-42).

A few years ago, I spent a few weeks in Fethiye on the south-west coast of Turkey. I was there for that blissful combination of a sun holiday and visiting the classical sites, for ancient Fethiye was known in the classical world as Telmessos.

This city had been established in 5th century BC at the frontiers of Lycian civilization. Even the remains surviving to this day provide visual evidence of a city that had a high, rich culture.

This is the region where in classical civilisation King Mausolus, who controlled the area around modern Bodrum, gave us the word mausoleum because of his monumental grave. The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus was one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and you can see the reconstruction of this splendid tomb in the British Museum in London.

But, better still, I think, are the smaller graves of the rulers and the ruling class from the Lycian civilisation that can be seen in the streets of Fethiye.

As you walk through Fethiye, where Telmessos once stood, even the streets appear to be dotted with Lycian graves, tombs, sepulchres and sarcophagi. From the edges of the harbour, as you look up towards the hills that surround and protect the bay, the subdued majesty of the sculpted, tombs hewn from the rocks, carved in the rocks cannot fail to catch your eye.

The Amyntas Grave has long been the symbol of Fethiye (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

It is worth climbing high above the city and the bay to see these tombs, hewn into the edges of the rock face. The best known of these hewn rock tombs is the Amyntas Grave, which has long been the symbol of Fethiye.

This splendid tomb stands out within the cluster of rock graves, hewn out of the hillside and often hanging at the edges of the precipices. This grave has a façade like an Ionic temple, and an inscription on the left ante-wall tells us this is the tomb provided for King Amyntas who ruled the city of Telmessos during the 4th century BC, in the Hellenistic period, around the same time as the sculpted graves and monuments were being erected in Kermameikos in Athens.

So often we want to leave something behind as a memorial, something that people will remember us by.

I suppose this is why genealogists are often found in churchyards and graveyards, searching for primary evidence for dead ancestors.

The ‘saddleback’ grave in Saint Michael’s Churchyard, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2010)

Last month I was visiting Saint Michael’s Church, overlooking the cathedral city of Lichfield. In the churchyard are some amazing graves, including one known as the “saddle-back grave”, and another that is almost in the shape of a funerary urn. These graves were erected by people who wanted to be remembered for as long as possible.

I suppose Joseph of Arimathea wanted to be remembered as long as possible. He was a fearful, secret disciple of Jesus, a friend of Nicodemus, and wealthy enough to have his own tomb hewn in the rocks. But he gives up all those hopes, and loses all his fears, when he decides to take Christ down from the cross and bury him in his own tomb.

Joseph takes the Body of Christ.

Joseph says Amen to the Body of Christ.

And the tomb he had left empty for himself, is briefly filled with the body of Christ, but is then left empty forever, for Christ is raised from the dead when this Saturday ends.

When we say Amen to the Body of Christ at the Paschal Eucharist, or Easter Communion, tomorrow, we shall be saying Amen to the presence of the Risen Christ among us.

And as we prepare to say Amen to the Paschal Lamb, the Risen Christ, the Body of Christ, we find that we too are members of that Body to which we say Amen. The Risen Christ is mystically and truly present among us.

To prepare to celebrate the Resurrection, to prepare to celebrate the feast, our third piece of music to reflect on is: Mozart’s Ave verum corpus, in music composed by Mozart in the last year of his life, and sung by the Lichfield Cathedral Choir.

Music 3: Ave verum corpus, W.A. Mozart, Lichfield Cathedral Choir (2’59”).

Canon Patrick Comerford is Director of Spiritual Formation, the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, Dublin, and a canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. This is the third of three addresses in Whitechurch Parish, Rathfarnham, Co Dublin, at a special service to mark Easter Eve on Saturday, 3 April 2010.

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