Djed and Death This Ascension Season

This beautiful lady Djedmaatesankh ("Djed"), my all-time favourite exhibit at the ROM, awaits our visit next Friday. Within her unopened colourful mummy case lies a mystery that has been revealed through medical scans. The case itself is too precious to saw open, adorned with symbols and figures of death and the afterlife. Nor is she alone--over in the Greece and Rome section of the museum, countless lifeless heads and busts bring up the unknown "memory" of the rich and famous.

Djed's mummy case

Canopic jars holding Djed's lungs, stomach, liver, and intestines

Poor Djed, though. There's not much left of her. First, they dug out her brains with a metal hook as they didn't think the brain, an ugly wet mess, had much use to anyone. Then her "lungs, stomach, liver, and intestines were taken out of the body, dried out separately, and placed in four canopic jars."

But there's no mummy case or bust for the person from whom we date our lives: Jesus. No body, no bones, but only written historical documents of how He predicted, as also did many prophets over the centuries, that He would die, be buried, and rise from the dead the third day. And documents that record that it happened exactly as the prophets and Jesus Himself predicted. But what happened to Jesus' body after He came back to life?

Luke, a doctor who carefully investigated the life of Jesus, relates the details:

³ He presented himself alive to [people] after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. ...⁹ And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰ And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, ¹¹ and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Ancient Greece and Rome at the ROM

This event is called the Ascension (i.e. going up) of Christ, and it happened 40 days after His death, burial, and resurrection.

So, on this field trip to the ROM, I'm going to remember the Person who isn't there, who isn't here, but who's coming back in power. Djed and the Greeks and Romans did not conquer death, but Jesus did, and His body is now in heaven. Best of all, those who receive and believe in Him are, in reality, seated "with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus."

What better hope and joy can one have on Ascension Day (Thursday, May 18, 2012) and for all time?