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The tradition of “grave keeping” is practiced in almost every culture in the world. Grave keeping involves regular visits, cleaning and maintaining the final resting place of loved ones or dignitaries. The customs observed in grave keeping are wide and varied between cultures. Many consider grave keeping a show of love and respect for the dearly departed and the practice can also be a form of grief therapy for the one who has suffered the loss of a loved one. Cemeteries in American are routinely well kept, either by volunteer organizations or professionally run companies. One online cemetery maintenance and care guide states that “the average cemetery facility now spends $2,200-3,800 per acre annually on comprehensive grounds maintenance.” Needless to say, grave keeping can be both labor intensive and expensive.
As Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, He used grave keeping as a metaphor to describe their spiritual hypocrisy. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.” (Matthew 23:27) In the previous verses, Jesus accused the self-righteous elitist of cleansing “the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.” The Pharisees looked and sounded religious, but their hearts were filled with impure motives and agendas.
Another example of grave keeping is found in the fifth letter to the churches of Asia Minor in Revelation 3:1-6. As Jesus dictated the letter to John, He wasted no time in getting to the root of the Sardis congregation’s problem. The Lord said, “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.” (Revelation 3:1) As with any scriptural warning, we must pay attention, making application as individuals or as a congregation as a whole. The church in Sardis seemed to be grounded in the truth, sound in the faith, but was hollow, empty, and lifeless on the inside. Their figurative grass was cut, headstones washed and cleaned, only to hide the decay of spiritual death.
Let us all do our part in keeping our congregation spiritually alive both inside and outside, filled with faith, hope, love and good works which pleases the Heavenly Father (Heb. 11:6; 1 Cor. 13:13; Eph. 2:10).
Jay Launius
Maud church of Christ
Maud, TX