~ Bible Study » Daily Devotional ~
AN AMAZING FACT: The Catacombs of Paris are some of the
more macabre tourist attractions in Paris. They reopened to the public
after a $400,000 facelift and contain the bones of six million
Parisians. Curious tourists descend via a narrow spiral staircase into
the underground passages, where pile upon pile of shin bones lie in neat
rows punctuated by a pattern of skulls. The gruesome attraction draws
160,000 visitors a year.
The tunnels were originally stone mines but later became
underground burial chambers when the cemeteries of Paris became
overcrowded in the 18th century. Bones were dug up and stored
underground.
Some 190 miles of passageways wind their way under the capital city, creating a network of tunnels twice as long as those of the Paris underground metro system. Only one mile of catacombs is open to the public. An intercom system was added to ensure visitors do not get lost, which should spare anyone else the fate of a hospital worker who decided to explore the tunnels alone during the French Revolution. His skeleton was found 11 years later!
Superstitious visitors are often unnerved by the thought that spirits of the dead will haunt them for gawking at their remains. On the other hand, Nestor Valence, who worked in the subterranean warren for eight years rearranging bones that fell out of place, says he had grown used to the grisly nature of his job. “Touching bones doesn’t bother me anymore,” he says. “When you start, it’s a bit weird, but it becomes part of the routine.”
A visit to Jesus’ tomb by Mary Magdalene surprised her, not because she was afraid of a dead body, but because her Lord was not there! Christ had risen from the dead. “Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him’” (John 20:2).
Christ had not moved as a dead person. His bones hadn’t “fallen out of place,” needing to be rearranged. Jesus was alive! Praise God, for it means our salvation is secure in Christ’s hands.
Some 190 miles of passageways wind their way under the capital city, creating a network of tunnels twice as long as those of the Paris underground metro system. Only one mile of catacombs is open to the public. An intercom system was added to ensure visitors do not get lost, which should spare anyone else the fate of a hospital worker who decided to explore the tunnels alone during the French Revolution. His skeleton was found 11 years later!
Superstitious visitors are often unnerved by the thought that spirits of the dead will haunt them for gawking at their remains. On the other hand, Nestor Valence, who worked in the subterranean warren for eight years rearranging bones that fell out of place, says he had grown used to the grisly nature of his job. “Touching bones doesn’t bother me anymore,” he says. “When you start, it’s a bit weird, but it becomes part of the routine.”
A visit to Jesus’ tomb by Mary Magdalene surprised her, not because she was afraid of a dead body, but because her Lord was not there! Christ had risen from the dead. “Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him’” (John 20:2).
Christ had not moved as a dead person. His bones hadn’t “fallen out of place,” needing to be rearranged. Jesus was alive! Praise God, for it means our salvation is secure in Christ’s hands.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.
John 20:9
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