Wednesday August 30, 2017
The tradition of whitewashing tombs on a yearly basis was not merely to keep them externally clean, but more importantly, to help people spot the tombs easily so that they can avoid stepping on them and thus causing Levitical defilement (see Num. 19:16; Ezek. 39:15). Thus, the tombs looked beautiful, but still contained impure and defiling matter that must be avoided at any cost. It is to such tombs that Jesus is comparing some teachers of the Law and Pharisees.
So, don’t they have a way out? Are they condemned forever? The resurrectional possibilities are available for anyone. Even if their insides are like dead bones now, new life can infuse the bones and bring them back to life, if they let God’s spirit enter them (see Ezek.37:1-14). The man whose memory we keep today was once such a tomb— externally full of glory, but with much deadness and uncleanness within. But the moment Augustine chose God’s ways, his tomb-like existence ceased, and the aroma of resurrectional holiness filled him.
