The passion of the Lord did not end at the cross. After the cross Jesus entered the tomb. The tomb is the place of disintegration, where the body rots, falls apart, and vanishes into dust. Jesus chose not only to die for us and with us, but also to enter this place of ultimate despair.
From this place of despair, Jesus speaks to us about hope. From this place of rotting, of bad smell, of darkness, He emerges to accompany us as we journey. Even though we are often downcast, Jesus always speaks about hope. And this hope is different from optimism. Jesus is not an optimist. He is not a pessimist.
Optimism arranges reality in a way that enables us to say things will get better. Pessimism arranges the same reality so that we can say things will probably get worse. When it rains, the optimist says, How wonderful! Things will grow. Seeing the same rain, the pessimist says, Everything will drown.
Being neither an optimist nor a pessimist, Jesus speaks about hope that is not based on chances that things will get better or worse. His hope is built upon the promise that whatever happens, God will stay with us at all times, in all places. God is the God of life.
--Henri Nouwen, The Road to Peace
Image source: Eric Gill, The Body of Jesus is Laid in the Tomb (1917), https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gill-the-body-of-jesus-is-laid-in-the-tomb-p08064
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