THE FOURTEENTH STATION: Jesus’ Body Is Placed in the Tomb

Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into His glory?

—Luke 24:26

We know how the story ends. We know that after a mere 3 days, God’s victory shines forth; Christ triumphs over sin, evil and death. And yet how long were those 3 days for the men and women who lived through them? They didn’t have the knowledge that we do: They didn’t know that the story would end in triumph. For them, the story had already ended, and it had all been for nothing.

As Christians, we know that God wins the day, but that doesn’t always make it easier for us in our daily struggles. How many of us are currently living in our own “3 days”—a dark period with seemingly no end in sight? How many of us are quick to throw in the towel, to say that our efforts to make the world a better place, to bring about mercy, justice and peace are in vain and hopeless?

The mystery of our faith says that Christ wins; darkness ends. The seeds we plant today will bear fruit tomorrow. Our efforts to love are never wasted. Bishop Kenneth Untener’s famous prayer reminds us, “We are prophets of a future not our own.”