A Call for the Church to Return to the Living Christ
The Borrowed Tomb and the Fear Surrounding It
“And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb, and departed.” Matthew 27:59–60
Jesus was laid in a borrowed tomb cut from stone — a place meant for the dead, not for the Lord of life. Wrapped in linen and sealed behind a stone, He appeared to be at the end of the story, yet fear still lingered around Him. Herod feared His influence, the chief priests feared His promise, and Rome feared His followers. So they posted guards, sealed the tomb, and tried to contain the One who had already said, “I will rise again.”
They feared His body might be stolen and His resurrection proclaimed. They feared a rumor, a movement, a miracle. But no fear, stone, soldier, or seal could hold the risen Lord. Death could not keep Him. The grave could not restrain Him. The tomb could not silence Him. He walked out of the place they tried to secure.
Yet today, the church often attempts what Rome could not do.
We carve out our own “tombs” — leather-bound, gold-leafed, printed, indexed, and wrapped in doctrinal linen — and call them the canon. We treat Scripture not as a witness to the Living Word, but as His container. We wrap Jesus in pages and call it reverence. We seal Him behind interpretations and call it orthodoxy. We post guards named Tradition, Control, Suspicion, and Fear, insisting that God speaks only in the past tense.
Still, the angels’ words continue to answer every attempt to confine the living Christ:
“Why seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen.” Luke 24:5–6
The Danger of a Past-Tense Christ
Jesus warned the Pharisees in words that still speak to every generation:
“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” John 5:39–40
They studied the text but missed the Person. They honored the words while ignoring the voice. They revered the scroll but rejected the Savior. The modern church repeats that error whenever it says, “We know God only by what He has said,” as though the risen Christ stopped speaking when the apostles died.
Yet Jesus promised the continuing ministry of the Spirit:
“When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth… He will speak… He will declare to you the things that are to come.” John 16:13
The Spirit has not retired, the Shepherd has not gone silent, and the Head of the Church has not stepped aside.
The living Christ still leads, speaks, knocks, and calls His people into fellowship with Him.
Sewing the Veil Back Together
When Jesus died, the temple veil was torn from top to bottom — not by human effort, but by God Himself.
“And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” Matthew 27:51
The torn veil declared one thing: access. Through Christ alone, the Father opened unrestricted, unmediated, unguarded access to Himself.
But religion often tries to sew the veil back together. The Pharisees did it by laying unbearable burdens on others:
“You travel land and sea to win one convert, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” Matthew 23:15
They wrapped God in rules, rituals, and requirements; they wrapped people in expectations, traditions, and fear; and they wrapped truth in layers of human authority.
Today, we can wrap Jesus in the burial cloths of catechisms, doctrinal statements, theological systems, Reformation language, dissertations, and denominational fences. We stitch the veil with academic thread and call it faithfulness, placing barriers between God and His people that neither we nor our ancestors could bear.
But the Gospel remains simple:
Jesus died for our sins. Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus alone opens the way into the Holy of Holies.
The way into God’s presence does not rest on catechisms, confessions, doctrinal precision, theological pedigree, denominational loyalty, or intellectual mastery of Scripture.
Jesus Himself is the way, the truth, and the life. John 14:6
Not merely the Bible about Him — but Christ within us.
Christ in Us — Not Christ Confined to the Pages
Paul did not say, “Christ in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is the hope of glory.”
He said:
“Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27
Reading about Jesus is not the same as walking with Him, studying His life is not the same as hearing His voice, and knowing His teachings is not the same as knowing His presence.
The Gospel was never meant to remain a museum exhibit; it was meant to become a living encounter with the risen Christ.
The Closed Door of the Church
One of Revelation’s most sobering images is not a rebellious world, but a closed church:
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” Revelation 3:20
Jesus is not knocking on the door of unbelievers; He is knocking on the door of believers. He is not outside the world in this image; He is outside the church that has shut Him out. He is not asking for a platform from which to be displayed; He is asking for a table where fellowship can be restored. He is not seeking a pulpit for performance; He is seeking communion with His people. He is not offering a lecture from a distance; He is offering the shared intimacy of a meal.
The risen Christ desires to tabernacle with His people — to dwell, dine, speak, guide, comfort, correct, and commune. Yet He will not force His way past the guards we place at the tomb, shout over our programs, or break through the stone of our fear; instead, He knocks, calls, and waits.
Return to Your First Love
The church at Ephesus had doctrine, discipline, endurance, and order. Still, Jesus said: “Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” Revelation 2:4 Although they possessed many marks of religious faithfulness, they had lost the One who mattered most.
That is the danger of a tomb-guarding church: we can honor the Christ of history while neglecting the Christ who is present, defend the Word of God while resisting the voice of God, and preach the resurrection while living as though He remains sealed behind stone.
But the risen Lord calls us back — not to a memory, doctrine, or system, but to Himself. He calls us to open the door, welcome His presence, hear His voice, dine with Him, and return to our first love.
The Final Call: Stop Guarding the Tomb
The question is no longer, “Who guarded the tomb then?”
The question is, “Who is guarding it now?”
We must ask whether we are the ones keeping Jesus sealed behind tradition, wrapped in doctrinal linen, locked inside the pages, held outside the church door, and prevented from speaking, leading, interrupting, and reigning among us.
And perhaps the deeper question is this: Where did you bury Jesus? Have you buried Jesus beneath your fear, your theology, your suspicion of the Spirit, your comfort with silence, or your preference for control?
The risen Christ will not remain boxed, sealed, scheduled, or scripted; He walks into gatherings rather than graveyards, breathes on disciples rather than doctrines, knocks on doors rather than pulpits, and speaks to hearts, not only through pages.
And He is knocking now. The final word belongs to the risen Christ Himself: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20
This has been “A View From the Nest,” and that is the way I see it! What say you?
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