The Cross and The Sepulchre

Here in Australia, tomorrow is Resurrection Sunday (better known to the secular world as Easter), and with it, Holy Week draws to a close. As such, I felt it was an appropriate time to discuss an important scene from Christian’s journey. After all, if not for the significance of the event this week is commemorating some 2,000 years ago—dare I say it, the crux of mankind’s entire existence—Easter would be some pagan holiday which probably would have died out by now, and Passover (celebrated around the same time of year) would be an exclusively Jewish thing.

Now I saw in my dream… he came at a place somewhat ascending; and upon that place stood a cross, and a little below, in the bottom, a sepulchre. So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more…

Having already passed through the Wicket Gate and been given a new name, and now leaving the Interpreter’s house, Christian continues up a steady hill, before finally arriving at a cross. As he ascends the hill on which the cross stands, his burden inexplicably falls from his back, rolling back down the hill and into the awaiting maw of an open sepulchre.

While an obvious analogy of Christ’s atonement on the cross, as well as His open and vacated tomb on that Sunday morning, this scene holds such rich little details that give us insights into Bunyan’s understanding of the life of a new Christian.

Firstly, remember that it was Christian/Graceless’s entry through the Wicket Gate that marked the moment of his conversion, having been welcomed in by Goodwill/Christ, who is the only one that could open that door. This is the only true way onto the King’s Highway (which is now lined by a solid wall called ‘Salvation’, to ensure Pilgrims don’t inadvertently wander from the road), even though we are told that others are able to jump the wall onto the Highway at any time, and indeed there are even many opportunities for Pilgrims to make a conscious decision to depart from the narrow way. This means that anyone can perchance stumble upon the cross without having entered through Christ, but it does not mean a person is saved simply by finding their way to it!

Many people this Easter will be exposed to the cross, even in something as simple as a hot cross bun. Maybe some will even be attending a church service, just because it is what they have done since childhood. Even secular people—who will be going about enjoying their holiday, eating chocolate and hunting for rabbit-laid eggs in their fancy Easter hats—will know, somewhere in the back of their minds, what Easter is really all about. And they will ignore it, or make excuses about how “it’s really an Ancient Roman pagan holiday and the Christians just stole it, and no one really knows when Jesus died anyway, and…” etc… And I think our attitudes towards the cross are clearly evidenced in what is happening in Bunyan’s story. Anyone can find the cross; it’s in plain sight for all to see. But unless a person approaches the cross through the narrow gate—which is Christ—then the cross is meaningless. Even an object to be ridiculed, which we shall see in a moment.

Secondly, immediately after this event we see Christian “glad and lightsome, and… with a merry heart.” It is crucial to note (pun intended) that this is the first time in the entire story where Christian is happy. Bunyan here is showing us that while ever we still carry the burden of our captivity to sin, it is impossible for us to find true joy. Sure, we can find delight in the carnal pleasures of sin, and the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews makes it clear that there is fleeting enjoyment to be found in sin (11:24-26), but not joy. Not in the sense that Bunyan means it. Not in that ‘unending joy that could only come from knowing that the burden that you could not possibly hope to shrug yourself has now been removed’ kind of way.

The third thing, and perhaps the most beautiful image to me, is the burden rolling into the sepulchre. It is easy enough for Christians to talk about how our sins were “nailed to the cross”, but what happened to them then? If Christ became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21), it necessarily follows that our sins not only perished on that cross, but were buried in that tomb. And just as Mary Magdalene and the other women found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty, so Bunyan’s sepulchre is open and empty. The stone in this scene has already been rolled away on that first—and true—Resurrection Sunday, and the victory over sin and death has already been secured. Christian’s burden has simply tumbled in to an already-opened tomb, not to be caught or held in that room, but to disappear completely. The tomb remains empty, and no amount of sin or guilt or ‘burdens’ can ever fill it. Bunyan, in his dream, “saw it no more”. Once our sins are forgiven, they are completely gone, never to be found again. For as Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians, “[love] keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13:5 NIV).

Interestingly, there is another mention of the cross and sepulchre in the pseudepigraphic Third Part of The Pilgrim’s Progress. In this scene, the protagonist, a man named Tender-conscience, arrives at the cross, where he finds on opposite sides of the Highway the House of Mirth and the House of Mourning. On approaching the cross, some young men come out of the House of Mirth, inviting Tender-conscience to stay the night and promising that he would find “good usage, merry company, and all things your heart can wish for”. They inform him that they are each only staying for one night, and in the morning shall accompany each other on to the Heavenly City. But instead, Tender-conscience decides to stay at the House of Mourning, recalling the words of The Teacher in Ecclesiastes, that fools reside in the House of Mirth. As he leaves to cross the road to the other House, a strange scene unfolds. The men, who only a moment ago had professed their desire to welcome Tender-conscience and escort him to the Heavenly City, now begin to ridicule and attack him, even calling their companions out to join in the scoffing. While passing back, Tender-conscience falls at the foot of the cross weeping, which only serves to humour the men all the more. Upon entering the House of Mourning, there is a discussion with two Matrons about the nature of the men in the opposite House. They explain that, by all outward appearances, the men claim and profess to be Christians, but they laugh and scoff at anyone who takes the cross and its saving works seriously.

As I said earlier, anyone can find their way to the cross, and indeed many may claim to love God and are sure they are going to heaven. They may attend church every week, wearing their cross necklaces and singing the songs. At this time of Easter, more people are no-doubt aware of the cross and the man that was killed on it than at any other time of the year. But unless you have entered onto the King’s Highway through that Narrow Gate—Jesus Christ—you can never appreciate what was truly offered for you those 2,000 years ago. Just as those two Houses were built an equal distance from the cross, so we are all given the equal chance to either accept Christ’s sacrifice and his atonement for our sins, or to reject it and scoff at its believers.

It may appear a little misleading that we have just had Good Friday, and certainly the idea of ‘celebrating’ the day that Jesus died. As Christians, we are not revelling in our victory, for we have done nothing to deserve forgiveness. Rather, this is a time of mourning. Mourning for an innocent man, who loved us so much that he would rather die than watch us be separated from our Heavenly Father for eternity. Of grieving, that our very sin that we seek so desperately to be rid of, and yet crawl back to as a dog returns to its vomit, are the very nails that held him on that cross.

Resurrection Sunday, however, is the most joyous event in the entire Christian calendar, the day when our Saviour returned to life to show us that death was not the end, and to assure us of the promise that one day he would return to make all things new. That tomb has been opened, the stone rolled away, as it still stands now. Open, empty, waiting to receive our burdens. Never to be seen again.

Are you ready to experience joy?