Working at a Cemetary Helped Me Understand the Power of Jesus’ Resurrection

When I was 12 years old, my father said to me, “Rick, it’s time for you to learn what it means to work.

You’re old enough to understand what it means to pay bills and make money. You need to get a job.”

I asked my dad, “Where am I going to get a job?”

My father was ready with an answer. He said, “Go to the cemetery and apply for a job.”

In obedience, I did exactly what my father asked me to do. I remember the day I made my way up the street to the cemetery, walked through the cemetery gate, into the midst of all the graves, and knocked on the door of the administrator’s office. I told the cemetery director, “I’m here to apply for a job” — and he hired me!

I worked at the cemetery for two years. Every day after school, I would leave the school and walk directly to the cemetery, where I’d mow the grass on the graves; edge the grass around the tombstones; and collect dead flowers that people left on the graves. I’d even help in digging graves and burying the dead. For that two-year period of my life, I lived and worked among the dead every afternoon after school.

That experience was a very good one at that young stage of my life. Working among the dead made me think about life and realize that, no matter how long a person lives, life doesn’t last very long. It was part of the Lord’s training to prepare me for ministry.

In those two years, I had many experiences with grieving families while I worked at that cemetery. One thing that deeply impacted me was the difference between believing and unbelieving families at the time of death. When a Christian family buried a loved one who had been a believer, I noted that they were full of faith and had a very limited amount of sorrow. In fact, they often sang and found things to laugh and joke about with each other as they shared memories of their deceased loved one. It was evident that they had a sense of victory based in their faith that physical death is not the final word.

But when I encountered an unsaved family who were burying an unsaved loved one, it was a very different story and tragic to observe. For those who had no faith in the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection, I saw such hopelessness because for them, the grave seemed so final. They were engulfed in sorrow because they had no hope of a resurrection. This stark difference between those who have faith and those who are devoid of faith was deeply instilled in me during that time of working in the cemetery as a young teenager.

Years later after Denise and I got married and I became an associate pastor, the senior pastor who was training me for the ministry said, “Rick, you need to learn how to conduct a funeral.” With that, he sent me to officiate at my first funeral — and it was for an unsaved man from an unsaved family.

This man had died in his sixties after living an ungodly life. All his family members were also unsaved, among whom was his mother, a woman in her eighties. At the end of the funeral, the casket was opened so the family could walk by and pay their last respects to the dead (as is often the custom in the United States). When the mother walked by the casket, she was so overwhelmed with grief that she did something that took everyone off guard. Before anyone knew what was happening, she literally crawled into that casket!

Have you ever been to a funeral where someone crawled into the casket with the corpse of the dead person? Now just imagine what that might be like if it was the first funeral you’d ever officiated!

There I was with a grieving woman inside the casket lying on the deceased at my first funeral! Not only that, but while the mother was in the casket on top of her dead son, she was beating him on the chest and crying, “Don’t you leave me! Don’t you leave me!” Then she grabbed the lapels of his jacket and began to shake him, shouting, “Speak to me. Speak to me! How dare you leave me! ”

The ushers had to gently pull that elderly woman out of the casket and escort her out of that room with her screaming all the way. It’s quite a vivid memory for me even today!

But the woman was simply devoid of hope — and it wasn’t just the mother of the man who had died. Grief and hopeless- ness were engulfing all his family members, because none of them were believers.

But as for us, we are believers, and we do have hope. For us, there is a future resurrection! And according to Hebrews 6:2, the resurrection of the dead is a central and fundamental doctrine of our faith.

We can certainly see why this would be true in the Early Church. Especially during the time when the book of Hebrews was being written, believers were being killed for their faith. They were literally giving their lives for Christ, and the hope of a future resurrection was central to their faith. It is also especially true for those of us who are part of this last-days generation of believers. The world is growing darker, and we’re having to navigate the many challenges of this end-time season we have entered into. But through it all, we have a blessed hope! The resurrected Christ is returning soon for His Church!

Death Has No Sting!

When my father died, I remember looking at his body lying in the casket. Although I deeply loved my father, I was not gripped with a sense of sorrow because I know what the Bible says about those who die in Christ.

First, I knew that the body lying in the casket was not my father — it was just the vessel he had lived in during his lifetime. According to Second Corinthians 5:8, my father was already in the presence of the Lord. So as I stood there, I thought, This is the last time I’ll see my father’s body. The next time I see him, he is going to be completely different and so wonderful! I knew that I knew that although my father’s body had been sown in weakness, as the Bible says, he would be raised in power (see 1 Corinthians 15:43). One day in the future, he and I, along with all of our family, will have a glorious reunion in Heaven!

This is an amazing truth that is absolutely foundational to our faith, for our faith is securely rooted in a firm belief in the resurrection of the dead. The Bible tells us clearly that because of Christ’s resurrection and our own future resurrection, the sting has been taken out of death (see 1 Corinthians 15:55). Death is indeed an enemy (see 1 Corinthians 15:26), but because of Christ’s resurrection and His promise of our own resurrection, death is not something we need to fear. Oh, how we need to get a revelation of this truth and build it strong into the foundation of our faith in Christ!

Death is indeed an enemy but because of Christ’s resurrection and His promise of our own resurrection, death is not something we need to fear.

Perhaps you can see a little more clearly why the resurrection of the dead was included in the list of elementary doctrines in Hebrews 6:1,2 and why it must be such a strong component of our spiritual foundation. So let’s dig deeper to discover more about this fundamental doctrine. As we do, I pray the revelation of Christ’s resurrection power gets firmly planted in your heart so that you are better equipped to build a solid “high-rise” structure called your life of faith in God as you move forward.

What Does ‘Resurrection’ Mean?

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem houses the tomb where Jesus was buried and from which He was resurrected. Over the past 2,000 years, Christians have surrounded that tomb with a great deal of ornamentation. But behind that ornate façade, there is an ancient tomb that is empty for one reason only — because Jesus was raised from the dead.

Our belief in Jesus’ resurrection is part of the bedrock of our faith. In fact, if we don’t believe in Christ’s resurrection and our own future resurrection, we really don’t have anything to base our faith on (see 1 Corinthians 15:14). This is confirmed by the fact that the resurrection from the dead is included in this list of fundamental doctrines in Hebrews 6. That means it is a part of the foundation that upholds everything else we believe, and it is critical for us to understand it.

So what does the Bible teach about the resurrection of the dead? When I have visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem in times past, that was one question I thought about a great deal.

The word translated “resurrection” throughout the New Testament is the compound Greek word anastasis. The word ana means to repeat something or to do it again. The word stasis is the Greek word that simply means to stand. When you compound the two words, the new word means to stand again, to stand upright, or to be raised from the dead.

This is the very meaning of “resurrection” as Jesus used it in John 11:25 when He said, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.

In this particular case in John 11, Jesus was speaking about a physical resurrection. But Jesus’ resurrection power is not limited to just the physical realm. Jesus is anastasis! That means if you have been knocked down by life — if your emotions have been crushed, if your finances have been negatively impacted, if you’re down in any area of your life — the resurrection power of Jesus can cause you to stand up again!

Jesus said to Martha, “I am the Resurrection and the Life” (see John 11:25). That word “resurrection” is that Greek word anastasis. It was the equivalent of saying, “I am stand-again power! If you’ve been knocked flat — even if you’re dead — I have the power to put you on your feet again! I am the Power who causes people to stand up again. I am the Power who will raise you back to life!”

If you have been knocked down by life — if your emotions have been crushed, if your finances have been negatively impacted,  if you’re down in any area of your life — the resurrection power of Jesus can cause you to stand up again! 

It is glorious news to know that Jesus will one day raise you from the dead. But you also need to know that if you’ve been knocked flat by life, Jesus is your Resurrection right now! As you embrace Him and His grace, He’ll put you on your feet again. He is anastasis. He is Resurrection itself. He is “stand-up power”! That one thought is enough to get you moving toward the victory that is ahead of you. His power is sufficient to raise you up to stand strong in the midst of every battle