DAVID’S  TOMB:

KEEP  SEARCHING

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Monday in the Octave of Easter is, “David’s Tomb: Keep Searching.”

This homily is about David’s tomb - from today’s first reading: [Acts of the Apostles 14, 22-33]

If you have nothing to do and you like to look things up on your computer, look up “David’s Tomb.”

I remember standing there in a small room in Jerusalem. Our tour guide pointed to a dark blue cloth covered a sarcophagus or casket or burial box, and said, “This is said to be the burial place of David.”

I immediately said to myself, “No way. You’re kidding.”

David’s dates are disputed - but it’s helpful to simply say “David was from around 1000 years before Christ.”

This morning I read in today’s first reading, “My brothers, one can confidently say to you about the patriarch David that he died and was buried, and his tomb is in our midst to this day.”

That brought back the memory of being at that blue cloth covered  box in Jerusalem that I saw in January of the year 2000.

So I looked up this morning in Google and a few other spots on line, “David’s Tomb.”

Various places for his burial are mentioned  - as well as doubts about the place I saw in Jerusalem.

Keep digging.

DID YOU KNOW

Did you know that Grant’s tomb is empty?

But we know where our loved ones are buried. But not all.

Keep digging.

I’ve gone searching for one of  my father’s sisters in a graveyard in Portland, Maine. I had found the other two sisters.

I had been there once, but I couldn’t find it when I went looking for it about 4 years ago.

Keep digging.

BURIED WITHIN US

I like another idea about burials better: the ones inside us.

Those we love are buried within us - in various ways.

Keep digging.

My sister Mary loves the book, It Didn’t Start with You.

Why we walk and talk the way we  walk and  talk - keep digging.

Our grandparent’s values and faith - are buried within us.

This should make us hesitant - so keep digging and talking to each other about what our moms and dads were like - and grandparents as well.

I am trying and working on this with my sister the last few years.  We’re trying to resurrect why we are the way we are - not just getting our DNA - but hopefully we have small museums of old letters from way back, etc. etc. etc.

In the meanwhile, save your letters and write your memoirs.

CONCLUSION

Christ has died. Christ has risen - Christ will come again.

David has died - please God he’s risen with God.

Praise God and please God, we’ll find David in the scriptures and glimpses about what he was like.

Praise God  and please God, we’ll keep finding Christ buried within us and not just in the scriptures.

And hopefully when we visit the sick, turn the other cheek, forgive 70 times 7 times and do another thousand things, we’ll dig and realize we are discovering how Christ is buried and where he is buried and has risen in us. Amen.