Pastor Tom
Johnson, April 27,
2014
The first Christian sermon ever preached had two texts: Joel chapter two
and Psalm 16. Peter proclaims the resurrection to 3,000 people at the Temple in
Jerusalem. Verse 10 of that Psalm is repeated three times in our readings and
worship service this morning. It's and restated twice in Peter’s sermon. That
is a cue that verse 10 is very important. “For you will
not abandon me to the grave, nor let your holy one see the pit.” The Hebrew
word here for grave is Sheol. The New Testament translates it as Hades.
The translators of the King James Version made the unfortunate decision to
translate the word as hell. The Revised
Standard Version realized how loaded this word is and so kept it in the Hebrew Sheol.
I suppose they did this in the hope that people would do a little research
as to what this word means—especially in context of biblical literature. But I think few
people do this research. And, as a result, most people go on assuming that Sheol
is talking about a place of eternal torment. And to top it off, the English
word hell and the Greek word hades are both rooted in spiritual
worldviews that do not have their origin in the Hebrew or Christian Scripture. And so, these
extrabiblical ideas have a way of creeping into our thoughts and theology,
namely, that Psalm 16 is talking about a netherworld of neverending punishment.
Thankfully, this is not the case.
And really, all
of that to say that I feel badly that so many people miss just how comforting
this text this! “For you will
not abandon me to Sheol—the grave—, nor let your holy one see the pit.” This Scripture
is talking about one of the most universal fears that visits the human race:
the thought which may haunt you as you lay on your bed at night and as you
drift off to sleep. This fear may
have brushed up against any of us through illness. Perhaps it was an averted
accident where life and death flashed before your eyes. Or maybe it is simply a
clear and sobering realization of our mortality. To be specific, this is the
terrifying thought that death has the last word. That is exactly
what sheol —or better—the grave is in the Bible—death as a menacing
power that wants to swallow up life. Think of an open grave as the mouth of death
and you will come close to this biblical idea of the threat of death. Think about the depths of the earth as death’s stomach and, no matter
how much it is filled, its hunger never goes away. This is the Hebrew Bible’s
description of death—as a monster that wants to consume all of life. For
Israelite believers, their fear was personified by the gaping mouth of a stone
tomb that wants to swallow us up forever. This is the idea
that Peter personified as a predator when he warned us to “be alert and sober
minded, for our adversary the devil is a roaring lion prowling around seeking
someone to devour.” It’s the very
real and human fear of Jesus who prayed in the garden of Gethsemane for the cup
to pass him by—“yet not my will, but your will be done, Heavenly Father.” This
was the cup that was going to pour out the last drop of his lifeblood. It’s the bone
chilling conclusion that atheists have about the natural world: that we are
alone, death is inevitable, and there is no God to rescue us from the insatiable
hunger of the grave. We confess in the Creed that Jesus “was buried and descended into hell.”
Again, the word hell is an unfortunate choice; the word grave is
far better. Nevertheless, with this phrase, we affirm the truth that Jesus went
into the mouth and stomach of death itself. He went into the grave and the pit
for us. But the story does not end there.
We are still in
Easter! “For you will not abandon me to the grave, nor let your holy one see
the pit.” God will not leave us as orphans—uncared-for children. He will not
allow us to sink into the unrelenting gravity of the black hole of death. Do you remember
our earlier discussion of the picture of the menacing power of death—as the
grave with it’s open mouth and bottomless stomach? Think for a moment how God
has turned that image on it’s head! Celebrate with me how God has changed that
terrifying picture of death into resurrected life! “For you will
not abandon me to the grave, nor let your holy one see the pit.” The tomb is
empty! He is not there! He has risen! “O death, where is your victory? O death,
where is your sting?” Like Jonah who
went through the mouth and into the stomach of a whale, so Jesus went through
the mouth and into the stomach of death. And like Jonah who was spit up on the
third day to bring forgiveness to Nineveh, so Jesus springs out of the grave to
bring good news of forgiveness and triumph over death.
The tomb of
death has been burgled! Death has been robbed its victim. God has the last word
and that word is life in his Son. “Death could not hold him!” Scripture
says. And in him we have the hope and assurance that God will not abandon us to
our graves nor let us his holy children sink into the bottomless pit. The empty grave
and pit beneath it no longer can consume and swallow us and have us for
breakfast. It is now the mouth and lungs of the Gospel. The gaping stone mouth
now proclaims victory over death! The stone cries out “You will not be
abandoned. Death will not swallow you up. In Christ we have life forevermore!”