Scripture

“When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial” (Matthew 26:12 NIV).

Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment (Luke 23:50-56 NIV).

Meditation

Valarie Kaur says, “Love is a form of sweet labor: fierce, bloody, imperfect, and life-giving – a choice we make over and over again. Love as labor can be taught, modeled, and practice. This labor engages all our emotions. Joy is the gift of love. Grief is the price of love. Anger protects that which is loved. And when we think we have reached our limit, wonder is the act that returns us to love.”

Reflect on the connection between love and grief as described by Kaur. How does the act of burial evoke feelings of grief and loss, yet also serve as an expression of deep love and reverence? In what ways have you experienced grief as a natural consequence of love in your own life?

Jesus was buried by his friends. Imagine doing that with the one you believed was going to change the world and bring ultimate justice and healing. Like a rose, how is grief both beautiful like the petals of a rose and painful like the thorns?

Action

As you leave tonight grab a rose to take with you to serve as a reminder and representation of the beauty and pain of grief, the fragility and resilience of love, and the hope of resurrection and new life.