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The burial of Jesus (Mk 15:42-47; Mt 27:57-66; Lk 23:50-56; Jn 19:31-42)
(the background of Joseph)
This passage records the process of burying Jesus by a man named Joseph. Who is this Joseph? All Four Gospels have introduced his background differently:
(Mark 15:43) “Joseph of Arimathea (亞利馬太), an honourable counselor (尊貴的議士), which also waited for the kingdom of God.”
(Matt 27:57) “a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple.”
(Luke 23:50-51) “there was a man named Joseph, a counselor; and he was a good man, and a just; (the same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them) (眾人所謀所為，他並沒有附從); he was of Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.”
(John 19:38) “Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews.”
Joseph came from the city of Arimathea where the Jews lived. He was “an honourable counselor”, meaning that he had a very high religious and political status in the Jewish council. He was “a rich man”; therefore he also had a high social status. However, he was extremely different from the other Jewish leaders in terms of his conduct and belief. He was praised by Luke as “a good man, and a just; (the same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them); he did not follow the majority and disagreed with the hypocritical behavior of the religious leaders, not to mention their unjust condemnation of Lord Jesus. He always “waited for the kingdom of God” to come and revive Israel. He was a disciple of Jesus, but an anonymous disciple, because he feared that he might be ousted from the council and the synagogue.
Very rarely did the Bible record a person waiting for the kingdom of God. These were the fellows who earnestly hoped for the Messiah to come and lived a God-fearing life. Besides this Joseph of Arimathea, Luke also recorded an old man named Simeon as this: “There was a man in Jerusalem, whose name Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel (素常盼望以色列的安慰者來到); and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” (Luke 2:25-26) When the parents of Jesus carried baby Jesus and entered the temple “to present him to the Lord” (Luke 2:22), “then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, ‘Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.’ ” (Luke 2:28-32)
(wrap the body of Jesus)
The day when Joseph went to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus was the day following the Passover day (the day of Jesus’ death): “now when the even was come, because it was the preparation (預備日), that is, the day before the Sabbath.” (v42) This so-called “the day of the preparation” (Matt 27:62) was Friday, the day to ‘prepare’ for the Sabbath to come.
Before Joseph came to visit Pilate, John recorded some of the Jews demanding the bodies on the cross be taken down. They did not want to see the bodies hang on the cross on the Sabbath. John 19:31 says, “The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day (for that Sabbath day was a high day (大日)), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.” John 19:32-35 continues, “Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs. But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.” “He that saw it bare record” was John himself. He further quoted two places in the OT that prophesied what the soldiers did on Jesus’ body: “For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled. ‘A bone of him shall not be broken.’ And again another scripture saith, ‘They shall look on him whom they pierced.’ ” (John 19:36-37)
“A bone of him shall not be broken” is quoted from Psa 34:20, “He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.” This prophesy also explains the symbolic meaning of eating the Passover lamb: “And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, ‘This is the ordinance of the Passover…In one house shall it (the lamb) be eaten…neither shall ye break a bone thereof (羊羔的骨頭一根也不可折斷).’ ” (Exo 12:43-47) “They shall look on him whom they pierced” is quoted from Zech 12:10, “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced.”
Breaking the legs of the two criminals was to let them die sooner by disabling them from breathing normally instead of shedding blood slowly. But the soldiers were surprised that Jesus was already dead when they were about to break his legs. In fact, Jesus died at the ninth hour on the Passover day when he “gave up the ghost” (v37). The soldier who pierced his side with a spear probably wanted to make sure that he was truly dead.
Joseph “came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. And Pilate marveled if he were already dead.” (v43-44) Why was he marveled? It is because the penalty of putting the criminals on the cross was to let them suffer the pain for a longer time under the hot sunlight, until they shedded all their blood. By this time, Jesus should have been pierced by the soldier. Matt 27:57 and Luke 23:52 said that Joseph “begged the body of Jesus”. Due to the high social status of Joseph and perhaps Pilate’s little bit of sympathy, “when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.” (v45)
Without delay, Joseph “bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen (用細麻布裹好).” (v46) Interestingly enough, John mentioned the appearance of Nicodemus, who came and helped Joseph wrap the body of Jesus: “And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes (沒藥和沉香), about a hundred pound weight (一百斤). Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.” (John 19:39-40) The incident of Nicodemus visiting Jesus by night is recorded in John 3:1-13. Nicodemus was “a man of the Pharisees” and “a ruler of the Jews”. He was familiar with the Scripture and was interested to know more about the kingdom of God. After seeing the miracles of Jesus, he acknowledged him as “a teacher come from God”. He wanted to get a satisfactory answer from him. In another place, John mentions Nicodemus again. At one time, when the chief priests and the Pharisees blamed the officers for not arresting Jesus, they asked the officers, “ ‘Why have ye not brought him?’ The officers answered, ‘Never man spake like this man.’ Then answered them the Pharisees, ‘Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.’ Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them), ‘Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?’ ” (John 7:45-51) Nicodemus was a respected member of the council as well as a ruler. He defended for Jesus and insisted on finding more facts about Jesus and his doing before arresting and accusing him, or he might be wrongly charged, plus the legal procedure would be illegitimate. In his impression, Jesus was a respectable ‘man of God’. After witnessing all the things that happened around Jesus, he deeply believed in him and has become another anonymous disciple of Jesus. He “brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight” to wrap Jesus’ body, a special expression of his love for him. Although he had no chance to serve Jesus when he was alive, he gave him an honoured burial at his death.
(bury Jesus)
After wrapping the body of Jesus, Joseph (and Nicodemus) “laid him in a sepulcher (墳墓) which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulcher.” (v46) Matt 27:60 states that Joseph “laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher, and departed.” John 19:41-42 told us that the location of this tomb was near the place of the crucifixion: “Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they (Joseph and Nicodemus) Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day, for the sepulcher was nigh at hand.” Since it consumed time for Joseph to make a new tomb for Jesus while the Sabbath was near, Joseph thought out the idea of burying him in his new tomb (Joseph was probably advanced in years) near the site of Jesus’ death, saving him time and energy. He had certainly done a beautiful thing by devoting his new tomb to his Lord. Thus, his name is recorded in all Four Gospels.
At last, “Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.” (v47) As we have said in the last section about Jesus' crucifixion, Mary the mother of Joses was actually the mother of Jesus. Luke 23:55-56 told us why they followed Joseph to the place of the tomb: “The women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulcher, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” They were probably watching when Jesus was taken down by Joseph. Now, knowing where Jesus was buried, they were going to come again and pay tribute to Jesus after the Sabbath.
(the soldiers guard the tomb)
Now, on the Sabbath day, “the next day, that followed the day of the preparation” (Matt 27:62), while everyone was taking a day’s rest at home, “the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying, ‘Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, “After three days I will rise again.” Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure (請吩咐人將墳墓把守妥當) until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, “He is risen from the dead”; so the last error shall be worse than the first (那後來的迷惑比先前的更利害了).’ Pilate said unto them, ‘Ye have a watch (你們有看守的兵); go your way, make it as sure as you can (盡你們所能的把守妥當). So they went, and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch (他們就帶著看守的兵同去，封了石頭，將墳墓把守妥當).” (Matt 27:62-66) “Ye have a watch” means that Pilate gave order to send them some soldiers upon their request so as to keep watch over the tomb.
Nobody believed that Jesus would rise three days after his death. His enemies only took his word as a lie. Even though the preacher was already dead and buried, they still worried that Jesus’ lies might continue to be spread by his disciples. Stealing the body of Jesus was one feasible way to proclaim that Jesus was risen again, fulfilling his own prophecy about himself and proving that he was truly the Son of God. To prevent this from happening and deluding people, they guarded the tomb by sealing the stone and setting keepers over it. They thought that after one more day of guarding the tomb until Sunday was over, everything about Jesus and his preaching would be over. He was then proven to be a mortal man as well as a big liar and deceiver! They would continue to spend the rest of their lives waiting for the ‘true’ Messiah to come.
(Reflection)
Following Jesus’ death, people who witnessed his death on the cross returned with mixed feelings. While Jesus’ enemies worried that his disciples might continue to spread his gospel and the lies, his followers were extremely disappointed by his death in that their hope of the coming of the Messiah vanished again. Nobody thought of serving the dead Jesus anymore, except for Joseph and Nicodemus, as well as a group of women who followed and served Jesus all the way from Galilee to Jerusalem.
With a broken heart though, Joseph and Nicodemus, as well as the women, still regarded Jesus as their Lord (forever). They fulfilled their last obligation as his disciples. Joseph and Nicodemus, who offered fine linen and a new tomb as well as myrrh and aloes respectively, together wrapped his body and buried him in a tomb, whereas the women prepared the spices and ointments to pay tribute to him later. They were all serving their Lord with deep grief. Although they were simply doing what an ordinary person would do to the deceased of his own family, they indeed tried to offer Jesus the most honourable funeral service as if they were to their love ones, rather than leaving his body to decay on Mount Calvary like the other two criminals.
While the beautiful acts of Joseph and Nicodemus are remembered forever, the women who paid tribute to Jesus had the great honour to be the first ones to witness the empty tomb, and some even had the rare chance to encounter the risen Jesus, as we will see later in the next chapter. They were already blessed for the work done on their Lord. While Jesus’ other disciples had the excuse of not serving their deceased Lord, the above ones were the exceptional few who served the dead Jesus in sadness with the best they could ever do.
Now that we have our life Jesus who always accompanies us as the Lord of our life, there is no more excuse for us not to serve Him—not in grief but with great joy. Jesus’ death was perhaps a shame to his close disciples in their feelings. Seeing that our Lord had died for us shamefully, it is time now for us to give Him the highest honour He deserves by magnifying our resurrected Lord with our own lives, as Paul says in Philippians 1:20, “in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.”