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IS IT WRONG TO VISIT GRAVES?
Some Christians visit the graves of their dear ones on their death anniversaries or on special
occasions to pay their homage. Others don’t turn that side once the burial is over.
To support their viewpoint they quote the words of the angels who were standing at the open
tomb of Jesus, “why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen!”
(Lk 24:5,6).
If that is the case then why do several people belonging to the second category travel
all the way to Palestine to see the Empty Tomb! Atleast Mary Magdalene and others had not known
that Jesus had risen. But why oh why nearly 2000 years after His resurrection, flocks still want
to visit that Tomb? There is yet another funny thing: there’s more than one
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tomb claimed to be that of Jesus! No one knows for sure which one was really occupied by His body!
The Bible has nothing to say against visiting a tomb in memory of the dead. In his sermon on
the day of Pentecost, Peter while talking about David said, “His tomb is with us to this day”
(Acts 2:29).
This obviously meant that they had been maintaining the tomb of David as a
memorial. Whitewashing the tombstone was an annual routine
(Mt 23:27). It was an accepted
Jewish custom to visit tombs with spices for the bodies
(Lk 24:1). In India we take flowers
or incense sticks. If it is wrong to visit a grave, why should we build a structure at
all over the pit?
Just like the material substance of bread and wine enable us to “remember” the Lord in a special way,
spending a few minutes before the tombs of our near and dear ones and also that of great
missionaries/notable servants of God who sleep there would doubtless stir up sentiments of nobility,
which these saints espoused.
There are certain things we must not do while visiting graves. We cannot pray for the dead.
“It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment”
(Heb 9:27). There’s no second chance.
Baptism for the dead was a non-apostolic practice, simply quoted by Paul to make his point
(1 Cor15: 29).
We should not pray to the dead also. The Bible strongly condemns any attempt to communicate with the dead.”
should they seek the dead on behalf of the living
(Isa 8:19c)? Having sentimentality is not wrong, but ascribing
sanctity to the place of burial will lead to idolatrous practices. Have you ever wondered,
why God buried the body of great prophet Moses in a place known to none
(Dt 34:5,6,10,11). People of Israel,
prone to Idol-worship, who even started worshipping the Bronze serpent set-up
(II Kings 18:5)
by Moses under God’s command, as a temporary remedial measure
(Numbers 21:8-9), would have started
worshipping his grave!!!
When the Church of England slammed its door against John Wesley, he preached from his father’s tomb.
God has used funeral sermons to break the hardest of hearts.
It was only a pagan belief that tombs were haunts for evil spirits. One need not be afraid to
visit cemeteries anytime, as long as we have the right reasons for doing the same!!!
Inputs for this Essay were taken from the writings of an eminent Christian writer Brother Stanley of Blessings Youth Mission, Vellore.
(Suresh Manoharan)
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The list of essays to follow
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Can Christians eat what is offered to idols?
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Is Childlessness a curse?
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The ways of protest
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Should women cover their heads while praying?
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Casteism in Christians
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