March 14 - Weighed

How much did the stone weigh that sat in front of the tomb? It was too much for the women to roll away. They knew it and they worried as they walked, wondering how they would get it out of the way. They needed to get past it to tend his corpse that morning.

Maybe they were hoping that if the two of them really put their backs into it – but that was only wishful thinking.

We have a marble pedestal baptismal font at church that sits in front of the chancel. One morning I wanted to move it – just a few inches so the children could gather around it. Like a featherbrain, I walked up to it, planted my feet, grabbed ahold with both hands. I intended to horse it into the place I wanted it.

With a jolt I realized the power of gravity. No movement was happening, and I gained a new appreciation for the weight of it. I wonder now what it would take to move the font. I wonder how it got into position in the first place. I imagine folks gathering around, making sure they were in agreement that this was definitely the right place for it, because it was going to stay. Forever.

Heavy things have a sense of permanence about them. They seem durable, lasting, age- and earthquake-proof. 

I have seen all different styles of baptismal fonts and they seem to share one thing in common: a sense of weight. They tend to look like they are there to stay. Like other church furnishings.

Pews that are bolted to the floor. Altars and pulpits that are carved right into the walls of the church. It all conveys the message: This is permanent. Nothing is going to change. 

But things do have to change. 

Some years ago, I was in charge of a committee overseeing the closing of a church. People had stopped coming. There would be about three or four people there on a Sunday, sitting in a small circle to worship together. Which is fine, but they had to squeeze in around the pews and the chancel, no longer in use but still there. After they vacated and sold the building, a developer came in and gutted it. It became an apartment building.

So things change, in spite of our efforts. And, honestly, I don’t know why we always seem to think they shouldn’t change. Because when Jesus somehow moved the weight of that stone away, busted out of that tomb, he changed everything.