“Buried”
[John
19:38-42]
July 9, 2017, Second Reformed Church
Does it matter that Jesus was
buried?
We say Jesus was “crucified, dead,
and buried” in The Apostle’s Creed. Do we really need to confess that Jesus was
“buried”? Does it really add anything to
our saying that He is dead?
Last week we saw that Jesus hangs on
the cross for about three hours that first Good Friday and then He dies. Jesus dies because of the blood He has lost
during His torture and crucifixion.
Jesus dies because His heart ruptures and the red and the clear fluids
mix – proving that Jesus is dead – that His heart muscle is destroyed – seen
and sworn to by the Apostle John as the soldier pierces Jesus’ side and blood
and water pours out. Jesus dies for the
sake of the salvation of His people – in order to complete His work and make us
right with God. Jesus lives to be able
to credit our accounts with His righteous keeping of the Law, and He dies,
taking on our sin, taking on the curse of the Law, which includes death for our
sin, under the Wrath of God. Everyone
knows He is dead.
Isn’t saying “buried” unnecessary?
As we turn to our text, we see two
disciples take Jesus’ body secretly.
“After these things Joseph of Arimathea,
who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate
that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So
he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus
by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds
in weight.”
One of the men is Joseph of
Arimathea. Arimathea was a town about
twenty miles northwest of Jerusalem. The
other Gospel writers tell us a little more about him:
“When it was evening, there came a rich
man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus” (Matthew
27:57, ESV).
“Now there was a man named Joseph, from
the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and
righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was
looking for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body
of Jesus” (Luke 23:50-52, ESV).
Joseph is a rich man, who sits on the
Sanhedrin – the Jewish high counsel, who votes against seeking Jesus’ death,
and who believes in Jesus as the Savior.
And – at this point – he is afraid to publically ask for Jesus’ body for
how the others on the Sanhedrin might react.
The second man is Nicodemus, who we met in
chapter three.
In his interchange with Jesus, we see that
Nicodemus is also a member of the Sanhedrin.
Jesus recognizes him as the teacher of Israel – he is the greatest
scholar of the day in Judaism. He is
also wealthy – as we can tell by the amount of embalming ingredients he brings,
and he, at this point, believes in Jesus savingly, but remains afraid of how
the others on the Sanhedrin will react to his belief.
Mark tells us that it takes courage for
these men to ask for Jesus’ body and to bury Him (cf. Mark 15:43).
But why did they bury Him?
Out of love? Out of respect and honor? Out of fear of what people might do with or
to His body?
Second, they began to embalm Jesus’ body.
“So they took the body of Jesus and bound
it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.”
We can say they began to embalm Jesus,
because on Sunday – the first day of the week – we read, “When the Sabbath was
past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so
that they might go and anoint him” (Mark 16:1, ESV).
When we think of embalming, we often think
of Egyptian embalming in which the organs are removed, or modern embalming,
where the blood is removed. In Jewish
embalming, there is no cutting of the flesh – the body is tightly wound from
head to food in linen coated with myrrh and aloe – two healing spices. Myrrh was also one of the ingredients of the
incense acceptable to God and one of the gifts given to the baby Jesus.
The fact that Nicodemus brings
seventy-five pounds of the spice shows his wealth, his devotion, and his love
of Jesus. An average person would have
been embalmed with about ten percent of that – seven or eight pounds
Even though we say the women go to finish
the embalming on Sunday, Joseph and Nicodemus did the lion’s share of the
embalming on Friday. They couldn’t
finish because sunset was coming – the Sabbath was upon them – so they had to
finish what they could quickly.
Third, they bury Jesus in a garden tomb.
“Now in the place where he was crucified
there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been
laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at
hand, they laid Jesus there.”
There is a tomb, very close to the place
of crucifixion. It is in a garden, and
it has not been used – no one else is in it.
It is. in fact, the tomb that Joseph of Arimetheea had purchased for
himself, as we read:
“And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in
a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the
rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb” (Matthew
27:59-61, ESV).
This was to fulfill the prophecy:
“And they made his grave with the wicked and
with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was
no deceit in his mouth” (Isaiah 53:9, ESV).
So, Joseph and Nicodemus lay Jesus in the
grave purchased for Joseph, which was near the place where Jesus was crucified,
in a garden, and the women were there and witnessed this as well. Joseph and Nicodemus readied Jesus’ body as
best they could before the Sabbath came, and the women planned to return on
Sunday to finish anointing Jesus’ body.
Joseph rolled the rock down and across the
tomb – which is cut out of the rock – so it was sealed – and very difficult to
get open again.
But that’s not it, is it?
We remember what Matthew records:
“The next day, that is, after the day of
Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and
said, ‘Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, “After
three days I will rise.”’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the
third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘”He
has risen from the dead,”’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.’”
Pilate said to them, ‘You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as
you can.’ So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and
setting a guard” (Matthew 27:62-66, ESV).
On the Sabbath, the chief priests and
Pharisees get concerned and pestering Pilate:
they remember that Jesus said He would rise from the dead on the third
day, and they believe that Jesus’ disciples are going to steal His body and
tell people He rose from the dead – and then the whole world will be throw into
superstition and lie. So, they ask that
Pilate seal and guard the tomb through Sunday.
The stone that covered the tomb, which
could have weighed as much as two tons, based on the ones found in Israel, was
set in place – into a gulley, making it even harder to move.
Wax was then poured over the area of the
stone that met the tomb and Pilates’ signet ring was placed in the wax, making
it a federal crime to break the seal and open the tomb, and a guard was set to
make sure that the disciples do not steal Jesus’ body and pretend that He has
risen.
How many is in a Roman guard? It varies.
Certainly not less than four.
More likely forty to sixty, given the number of disciples Jesus
has. Perhaps, even more.
Is something clicking?
Jesus is dead. The Romans know Jesus is dead. The Jews know Jesus is dead. Jesus’ disciples know Jesus is dead.
Why should we care that He was buried?
Because there was an expectation that Jesus’
disciples would steal Jesus’ body and fake His resurrection. So the tomb was sealed with a massive stone, the
governor’s seal, and guarded around the clock by Roman guards.
Jesus was buried so He would be in a
guarded and watched tomb until the Resurrection, so it would be absolutely
impossible for any honest person to say that Jesus did not physically rise form
the dead.
Though they tried:
“While they were going, behold, some of
the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken
place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave
a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, ‘Tell people, “His
disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.” And if this
comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.’
So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been
spread among the Jews to this day” (Matthew 28:11-15, ESV).
Jesus was buried in a tomb and it is
unreasonable to believe that His body was stolen, given the way the tomb was
sealed and the watch over Him. But that
was all the Jews could come up with – they paid the soldiers to lie – “Well, we
all fell asleep. And Jesus’ disciples came
and rolled the two-ton rock up and away from the door, breaking the governor’s
seal, and they were so quite that not one of us woke up. And then they stole the body, and now they
are pretending that Jesus physically rose from the dead.”
Some scholars today say, “Oh, well, they
were upset and they went to the wrong tomb, which is why it was empty, Jesus
was in another tomb.”
Don’t you think Joseph would have said
something if they didn’t go back to his high-priced garden tomb, right by where
Jesus was crucified, but to some other empty tomb that had been sealed by the
governor’s seal and guarded by Roman soldiers – it doesn’t make sense!
Jesus was buried, sealed in, and guarded –
and we confess that, because it leaves us with no other conclusion than Jesus
actually did, physically rise from the dead!
“Therefore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians
2:9-11, ESV).
Let us pray:
Almighty God, we are humbled at Your
Wisdom in the plan of our salvation, and we give You thanks for sending Your
Son to live, to die, and to be buried, so we are assured of our salvation. And
it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
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