February 7, 2010: Jesus’ Burial

Jesus’ Burial

Luke 23:50-56 (Parallel passages:  Matthew 27:57-66, Mark 15:42-47, John 19:31-42)

50 Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, 51 who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God. 52 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. 53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. 54 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 56 Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

Background:

1.         Jesus gave up his spirit and died around 3:00 p.m. on Friday, which was called the Preparation day, the day before the Sabbath (Saturday).  (Luke 23:54; Mark 15:42.)  The Sabbath would begin at sunset on Friday, so there was little time between Jesus’ death and the beginning of the Sabbath, a day on which the Jews were not permitted to conduct any work.  John tells us that the Sabbath during the week of the Passover festival was a special Sabbath, and the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath.  Remember it could normally take 2-3 days for someone to die by crucifixion.  Jesus and the criminals were not crucified until around 9:00 a.m. on Friday, so Jesus died after hanging on the cross for 6 hours, but it is likely that the other criminals were still alive when Jesus died.  Here is how John records the next events (John 19:31-37):

31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,”^[a^] 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”^[b^]

Footnotes:

a.         Exodus 12:46; Num. 9:12; Psalm 34:20

b.         Zech. 12:10

So, because the Jews did not want the men hanging on the crosses on the special Sabbath, they asked Pilate for permission to break the legs of the men on the crosses to hasten their death.  The victims would no longer be able to put any weight on their legs and breathing would be made more difficult.  But Jesus already had died by this time, so they did not break his legs.  Still, one of the soldiers picked up a spear and jabbed it into Jesus’ side, which caused “blood and water” to poor out of the wound.  This could have resulted because the pericardium, a sack surrounding the heart, and the heart itself were pierced by the spear.

John saw the fact that none of Jesus’ bones was broken and the fact that his side was pierced by a spear as fulfillment of Old Testament scripture.

46 “It must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. (Exodus 12:46, speaking of the Passover Lamb.)

12 They must not leave any of it till morning or break any of its bones. When they celebrate the Passover, they must follow all the regulations.  (Numbers 9:12, speaking of the Passover Lamb.)

20 he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.  (Psalm 34:20.)

10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.  (Zechariah 12:10.)

2.         Luke tells us that after Jesus died, a man named Joseph, who originally was from the town of Arimathea in the region of Judea, but who now lived in Jerusalem, went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Arimathea was a village in the hill country of Ephraim, about 20 miles northwest of Jerusalem.  Joseph was “a member of the Council,” which means he was a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling Council that had tried Jesus and demanded that Pilate kill him.  But Luke tells us that Joseph was “a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action.”  Mark tells us that Joseph was “a prominent member of the Council.”  (Mark 15:43.)  We know that Joseph lived in Jerusalem at this time because he would not have been able to be a member of the Sanhedrin unless he lived in Jerusalem.  Luke also tells us that Joseph was “waiting for the kingdom of God,” and Matthew and John say that Joseph was a disciple of Jesus,” (Matt. 27:57; John 19:38).  John says that Joseph was a “secret” disciple because he feared the Jews.  (John 19:38.)

Mark records that Joseph “went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.”  (Mark 15:43.)  It was actually a courageous gesture for Joseph, a member of the Sanhedrin to do this.  The remains of an executed criminal often were left unburied, were thrown on a trash pile, or were put in a dishonored place like a pauper’s field.  A near relative, such as a mother, might ask for the body, but in this case, Joseph went to Pilate to seek permission.

3.         Pilate apparently was surprised that Jesus was already dead, so he summoned the Centurion and asked him if Jesus had already died, and the Centurion confirmed it was true.  (Mark 15:44-45.)  It seems that Pilate wanted to make sure that he was not releasing a live man from the cross.  After Pilate confirmed that Jesus had died, he gave the body to Joseph.  (Mark 15:45.)  It was unusual to release a body to someone who was not a close relative.

4.         It appears that Joseph actually took Jesus’ body off the cross.  (Luke 23:53; Mark 15:46.)  John, and only John, tells us that Joseph was accompanied by “Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night.”  (John 19:39.)  Nicodemus also was a member of the Sanhedrin, and early in John’s gospel, John 3, Nicodemus came to see Jesus at night (so as not to be seen by other Jews), and Jesus told him that no one would see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.  It is that same Nicodemus who was accompanying Joseph when Jesus was taken off the cross.  Note that none of Jesus’ closest disciples are mentioned at this point.  All of them had run away, and it was left to Joseph and Nicodemus to provide for his burial.

5.         John says that Nicodemus brought with him seventy-five pounds of a mixture of myrrh and aloes.  (John 19:39.)  That actually was a large amount of spices, typically what would be used for royal burials.  Joseph and Nicodemus took Jesus’ body and wrapped it with the spices and “strips” of linen, in accordance with the Jewish burial customs.  They also apparently draped a shroud of linen, like a large sheet, over the body.  (See Matt. 27:59 (“Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth”); Mark 15:46 (“Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in linen . . .”; Luke 23:53 (“wrapped in linen cloth”).)  Some believe that the shroud or linen cloth draped over Jesus’ body exists today.  It is called the Shroud of Turin, because it is stored at the Catholic Cathedral in Turin, Italy.  The Shroud of Turin has a very unusual image on it.  It shows the front side and back side of the body of a man who has been beaten badly and crucified.  The image is a photographic negative that appears to have been burned on the surface of the cloth by some sort of intense light; it does not appear to be painted on the cloth.  When a picture is taken of the Shroud, the negative of the photo actually shows a positive image.  No one knows for sure whether the image on the shroud is the image of Jesus.  Pictures of the Shroud of Turin are readily available on the Internet.

6.         After Joseph and Nicodemus wrapped Jesus’ body with the linen cloth and spices, John tells us that his body was laid in a tomb that was nearby the place where he was crucified.  (John 19:41-42.)  There was a garden near the place where Jesus was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid, so Joseph and Nicodemus placed Jesus’ body there because sunset undoubtedly was approaching and with it, the Sabbath on which no “work” could be performed.  (Id.)

Luke clarifies that the tomb was “cut in the rock.”  Rock tombs typically were used to accommodate several bodies, but apparently this tomb had not been used.

Matthew says that the tomb actually belonged to Joseph, and that Joseph had arranged for the new tomb to be cut out of the rock.  (Matt. 27:60.)  After Jesus’ body was placed in the tomb, Matthew and Mark say that Joseph rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. (Id.; Mark 15:46.)  The large stone likely was a disk shaped stone that rolled in a sloped channel across the opening of the tomb.

We do not know for sure where Jesus’ tomb was located in Jerusalem.  There is archaeological evidence that the traditional site for the burial of Jesus, which is where the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is now located, was a cemetery in the first century A.D.

7.         In addition to Joseph and Nicodemus, the gospel accounts mention that certain women followed Jesus’ body to the tomb.  Luke does not name the women but says that “the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it.”  (Luke 23:55.)  Then they went home before sunset to prepare more spices and perfumes for his body, but they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.  (Luke 23:56.)

Mark says that after the stone was rolled across the entrance to the tomb, “Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.”  (Mark 15:47.)  Matthew says that after the stone was rolled across the entrance, “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.”  (Matt. 27:61.)

8.         Only Matthew tells us that on the next day, the Sabbath, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate and asked for him to order that the tomb be secured until the third day after Jesus’ death.  (Matt. 27:62-66.)

62 The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

65 “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Clearly, the Jewish leaders were concerned that Jesus followers might try to steal his body and say that he had risen from the dead, so they wanted guards posted to make sure that did not happen.  It is not clear whether the guards were Roman soldiers or Temple guards.  Regardless, they went to the tomb, put a seal on it (possibly some sort of wax in which a symbol could be pressed) so that they would know if the stone had been moved, and stood guard to make sure that Jesus’ body was not taken.

Application:

1.         Put yourselves in the shoes of Joseph and Nicodemus.  What were some of the thoughts going through their minds as they went to Pilate to request his body, took his body down from the cross, and prepared it for burial?  Why did they do this?

2.         Notice that one of the spices used on Jesus’ body was myrrh.  Can you think of another time in the scriptures when myrrh is mentioned in connection with Jesus?  When was it?  Why is that significant?

3.         We have seen numerous times where details concerning Jesus crucifixion and death were foretold in the Old Testament hundreds of years before they occurred.  What does that tell us about the nature of God, his sovereignty and plans, and his interaction with time?

4.          Notice that the Jewish religious leaders thought they were squelching Jesus’ prediction that he would rise again in three days by insisting that Pilate post guards at the tomb to prevent Jesus’ disciples from stealing his body and then claiming that he had risen from the dead.  How has the posting of the guard had just the opposite effect?

5.         What do you think about the Shroud of Turin?  Does it help the Christian faith or hurt it?  Is its authenticity necessary for our faith?