February 23, 2025

Who among us has ever gone to church and received an entire sermon on the burial of Christ? Probably not many of us, maybe some of us, perhaps none of us. We all know that Jesus was buried. We, of course, know that he was crucified and after he died, he was put into a tomb and we know that he rose from that tomb.

But the burial of Jesus is often something we just sort of skip over in a hurry to get to what comes after the burial, which is the resurrection. And so we oftentimes, I think, think of the burial of Christ as something that was obviously necessary, but just some details to get us from the cross to the empty tomb.

However, the burial of Christ is a subject of incredible importance to the Christian. And though many of us, perhaps all of us, have not heard an entire message focused on the burial of Christ, we should turn our thoughts here this morning because our passage is about the burial of Christ. And so doing, let's begin just by Speaking a few things about the importance of the burial of Jesus.

How important is it that Jesus was buried in the way in which he was buried? Well, if we turn to places like 1 Corinthians 15, we find that Paul gives us this formula, this three, this three piece formula. That is what he says, the very first importance, the most important. He says, for I deliver to you as a first importance, the most important thing is also what I received.

This is what I delivered to you. And here it is that Christ, one, died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. Two, that he was buried. And three, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. So there's that three piece formula that is the saving formula that we must believe upon that, that Christ died for our sins.

He was Raised on the third day all of that according to the scriptures, but then there's that piece number two that he was buried So I guess we could say that theoretically if one were to believe that Christ died for our sins and was raised on the third Day, but somehow we did not believe that he was buried then we're missing part of the salvific formula there So It is crucial, it's important to our saving faith as a component of that saving faith that we believe that he was buried in accordance with the Scriptures.

Furthermore, we take this burial of Christ and we look to places like Romans 6 and verse 4 and we find that Paul uses the burial of Christ as a metaphor for the Christians putting away of the old man, the old self. He puts it this way, we were buried with him. In baptism, , with him in bap by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

So you see his metaphor formula? There it is. This, he compares us dying to the bondage of sin, being freed from the bondage of sin, putting away the old man, which was enslaved to sin. He compares that metaphorically to Christ being put into the tomb. And so without Christ in the tomb, we don't have that metaphor that shows us this is what it's like for the believer who is the new creation in Christ, to put away the old man because putting away the old self is like Christ going into the tomb.

Or we turn to places like Colossians two and verse 12, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you once, in which you were also raised with him through faith. In the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead. So, once again, the metaphor there, Christ goes into the tomb, and that is an illustration for us of what happens to the believer upon conversion.

That the old man is put to death and buried with Christ on the tomb, in the tomb. Or we could look at places like Matthew chapter 12 and verse 40. This is, of course, Jesus prophecy about the timing in the tomb. He says, just as the prophet Jonah was in the great fish for three days and three nights, so also with the son of man.

be in the earth, or in the tomb, or buried for three days and three nights. Without the burial of Christ in accordance with the prophecies that Jesus spoke here, then we don't have the fulfillment of that prophecy. One of the things that we must remind ourself throughout the message today in particular is that had Christ not fulfilled every prophecy, He would not be Christ.

It is of necessity that Christ must fulfill Everything that has been spoken of him and certain things were spoken of his burial that he must fulfill. Otherwise, he is not the Messiah. Or we could look at places like Acts 2. This is not in your notes, but we see in Acts chapter 2 that Peter in his sermon of the Day of Pentecost.

He will then cite the burial of David and say, we can go to David's tomb and see that he's still there and we can go to Jesus's tomb and see that he's not there. Why? Because in Psalm 16, it was prophesied that your son, your Messiah would not see corruption. And so Peter there connects it as the foundation of his.

There's a sermon there on the day of Pentecost that the tomb is empty and without the empty tomb, without the burial taking place, according to Psalm 16, according to the prophet Zechariah, according to Isaiah 53, all those we'll look at a little bit later, according to those prophecies. Had Christ not fulfilled those, He would not have been the Messiah that Peter proclaimed.

Or then we, of course, look at Isaiah 53 and verse 9. We'll look at this one again a little bit later. But in Isaiah 53, they made His grave with the wicked and with the rich man, His death. And so there's a prophecy about His grave having something to do with the rich man and something to do with the wicked.

And so all these things that speak about the burial of Christ, For us are not just details. We should know by this point, we've covered 15 chapters of Mark's gospel. We should know by this point that Mark says nothing that's not important. He has no fluff. There's no, no, no filler information. Everything that he says is significant for us.

Furthermore, all four Gospels narrate the burial of Jesus. If there is an event that all four Gospels narrate to us, we should immediately recognize the significance of that event. Not as though something that occurs one time in the Gospels is insignificant, but it is to say, here's something that all four Gospel writers repeat.

They are careful to tell us of the burial of Jesus. As we have said before, our faith is grounded, it's rooted upon fact. We don't believe in good ideas, we don't have a faith that's grounded on just lofty ideals. We have a faith that's grounded upon facts. And as we've said before, There are no events, there is not a single event in all of ancient history that's more verifiable and has better attestation than does the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

So, extremely well attested to, extremely well verified in ancient history. If we cannot believe upon the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ as fact, then we literally, this is no exaggeration, we literally have no cause to believe anything of ancient history. Because nothing is better attested to than the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

So now let's turn our thoughts now to the burial of Christ. And we'll be looking at verses 40 through 47, beginning from verse 40. We remind ourself, Jesus has now given up his life, he has now proclaimed, just as he said, nobody takes my life from me, but I lay it down. I give it of my own free will. Not just will, but my own power.

It is the power of Christ upon the cross that his life is given from him. And so in power, he sacrifices himself. In power, he gives his life. In power, he embraces death. And the centurion, seeing the manner in which he died, proclaims, surely, or truly, this man was the son of God. That, as we said, is the climax.

That's the high point. That's the high watermark of all of Mark's gospel. That's what Mark has been driving towards since chapter 1, verse 1, when he said, The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Son of God. So he's made that statement in chapter 1, verse 1, and he's been driving all this time towards the centurion's confession.

The centurion, who is the Roman of Romans. He's not the Caesar. He's not Pilate. Both of whom might hold higher places, but they're not regarded by the Roman people as the Roman of Romans. The centurion, he is a Roman soldier, and not only is he a soldier, he is an advanced soldier. He's a good soldier. He's the centurion.

And he's the one that Mark looks to in his gospel narrative to say he is the Roman of Romans who has now declared that this man is exactly who he said he is, the son of God. However We still have a problem, and the problem is that the centurion declared truly this man was the son of God. And so that is in itself a deficient declaration because it's not as though he was the son of God, but he just died.

He is the Son of God. And so there are more things to come. Mark can't stop there because the Son of God who has just died on the cross, Jesus of Nazareth dying on the cross, He must be raised back to life because He's not was the Son of God. He is the Son of God. So therefore, we now continue verse 40.

And verse 40 is where we pick up with the narrative having to do with the burial. Now, I disagree. With the editors of most of our modern Bibles in which they put the separation of thought after verse 41 I believe but I think the separation of thought really comes after verse 39 after after the declaration and before Mark turns to the women nevertheless Here's where we pick up in verse 40.

There were also women looking on from a distance. And so Mark is careful to tell us that there's these women here at the cross, but they're not near. They're from a distance. So notice the parallel. You have to see right away the parallel between the women and Peter. Both of whom were followers, but followers at a distance.

You cannot follow Jesus at a distance. You cannot be a distant follower of Christ, you must be a near follower of Christ. So just as it was problematic for Peter to be a follower from a distance, so also it's problematic for the women to look on from a distance. Now this is not to say that the women were not

We know that they were because John's Gospel will tell us of a conversation that takes place between Jesus and His mother and the Apostle John. Nevertheless, all the Gospel writers, as we have said consistently, have a different perspective. a different purpose. They are, they are seeking to teach the same truths from a different perspective.

And Mark's perspective is to show us over and over again, the aloneness of what Jesus does upon the cross, the solitude of what he must do. And so it's not as though Mark or Peter, who's narrating this to Mark is unaware that John. came close, and the mother came close, and other women disciples perhaps were close for a time.

It's not as though he's not aware of that, but it is as though he is portraying all of this, accentuating the farness, accentuating the aloneness, the solitude of Christ upon the cross. So he describes the women as looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James.

The younger and of Joses and Salome Salome, we've identified before as most likely the sister of Jesus's mother making Salome Jesus's aunt. So in all likelihood, his aunt is here. Salome is also described elsewhere as the mother of James and John and the wife of Zebedee. And so we've met her before.

We've also met Mary Magdalene before and Mary, the mother of James, the younger, and of Joses. Now, who is that Mary? Who are James and Joses? Any ideas? They are the half brothers of Jesus. We read about them back in chapter 6 and verse 3. Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?

So Mary, the mother of James and Joses, there can't be, We would totally discount this possibility that there are two Marys. And both of them have a child named James and Joseph, and they're both connected with Jesus. So this is the same woman. Meaning that as Mary is the mother of James and Joseph, she's also who?

The mother of Jesus. Why doesn't Mark describe her as the mother of Jesus? Why do you think he would not just not say, I mean, that's how she's most well known. As the mother of Jesus. And I think it's just more of the same. Mark is painting a picture here of just complete solitude and complete aloneness in such a way that he doesn't even describe his mother as his mother but instead it's the mother of his two half brothers who are there.

You see the picture that he's painting, just this dark, foreboding picture of absolute solitude as Christ hangs from the cross. Now what's interesting to me, and I don't know that Mark means this, or I don't know that even God intends this, but what's interesting to me is when I think about the women who are here.

We are told over and over again of so many Marys. In fact, Mark, I'm sorry, Matthew will tell us of three Marys who are here. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Mary who's also known as the mother of, and it just left me, , another Mary, the mother of somebody else. Starts with a C, but it just left me.

But in any case, three Marys that Matthew tells us are here at the cross. And so it just, to me, I got to thinking about this, and I'm thinking about What that could be saying that, and we know that Mary was a common name in those days, but do you know what the name Mary means? You know what that name means?

We think of it as such a sweet name because we think of Jesus mother Mary. And of course, if there ever was a sweet lady, it was Jesus's mother, right? Well, you know what the name Mary means? It comes from Ruth chapter 1. Where Naomi says, don't call me Naomi, call me Marah. Because God has made me bitter.

And that's what Mary comes from. It's a name that means one who has been made bitter. One who has been embittered. And that's a bit of a twist on how you think of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Because we think of her just as the sweetest, nicest Nicest lady, but I mean her name It means one who has been made to be bitter, or one who has bitterness in their life.

And it reminds us, doesn't it, of the prophecy spoken over her by Simeon when Jesus was eight days old. When he said, he will be the cause of the rise and fall of nations, and he will be like a sword piercing into your heart. Speaking of the bitterness that would come into her heart as a result of her son.

And we think about that bitterness and we say this is the moment of all bitterness. This is the moment of moments for the bitterness of Mary to be evident and plain. Because we've talked before, briefly, we don't want to talk too much about this, but we have talked about the physical Aspects of what's happening to Christ on the cross.

And while we don't dwell upon that, we also recognize the ghastly nature of what's happening to these crucifixion victims. And one of them is her child. Can you imagine the things that we've mentioned? Can you imagine seeing your own child? In that way, the horror of it, the bitterness that must have been in her heart over what has been done to her son.

And so here's all these Marys, three Marys, three bitter women, so to speak. And it's speaking here, just again and again, this picture of this foreboding, dark time. God is judging the sin of His people. The darkness has come over the land. The disciples are at a great distance. Peter was at a distance. His mother isn't even called his mother because this is the time of judgment.

Now, continuing with verse 41. And when he was in Galilee, they, meaning the women, followed and ministered to him. And they were, there were also many women who came up with him to Jerusalem. So Mark gives passing mention here to the other women who ministered to Jesus. Jesus, Luke chapter 8 gives us more detail there where Luke says in chapter 8 there that there were women who didn't only minister to him but provided for his financial needs.

So Luke mentions these women who were the Financial backers, so to speak, of Jesus in this three year journey, this three year ministry of His, which is, is worth taking note of. Because notice how God uses the people in society that were least able to take care of Jesus financially to be the financial providers.

The women in Jesus day were the most financially disadvantaged people of the society. And so God doesn't have a rich benefactor that's money roll in Jesus's ministry for three years here. Instead, God has the most disadvantaged, the people of society that would be most difficult for them to have funds, , discretionary funds in order to contribute to Jesus's ministry.

You see, once again, it's a reminder here for us. That God doesn't need our money. He doesn't need wealthy people in order for His kingdom to progress. He doesn't need any of our, He doesn't need rich people's money or poor people's money. He can finance His Son's ministry by whomever He wishes to do it. I remember just an occasion, this was some time ago in the first church that I pastored, but I remember this was a time when the, , if you remember the North Carolina Educational Lottery, the most, , Inappropriately named lottery, you can imagine.

But that was really just sort of coming on board. This was about 15 or so years ago. And I remember a gentleman in the church coming to me and he made this comment. He says, I sure would like to win that lottery just to give the money to the church. And I just thought to myself, and I said, Brother, just think for a minute about what you just said.

God does not need you to win a lottery. In order for his church to prosper, we have gotten things completely backwards there. Talk about the cart before the horse here. God does not need a lottery. In order for His kingdom to be enriched to the point that finally God can now do what God wants to do because one of His faithful church members won the lottery.

God can finance His Son's ministry through the most disadvantaged people of society. He can fund His kingdom any way He sees fit. And He typically will choose the way that is the most weak. Or at least weak in appearance to us, the way in which accents His power and His glory the most. So, continuing from verse 41, They followed Him, they ministered to Him, and there were also many women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.

Now, beginning from verse 42, I think this is where the break normally occurs in most of our Bibles, but beginning from verse 42, we need to get, we need to begin, begin to get a sense Of hurriedness, of extreme hurriedness. And that's going to be the flavor of the verses 42 through verse 47. A flavor that speaks to us of just a very short time and a lot of things that have to happen in a short time.

It's almost stressful. Mark's entire gospel has been fast paced, but the pace really picks up here because we really get the sense here that the time is short and there are a lot of things that have to happen. You can kind of relate to the The feeling that you've got a deadline, the deadline's quickly approaching, there's a lot of things that's got to happen, and you're just not sure if all these things are going to happen before the deadline comes.

That's the feeling that we get beginning from verse 42. And when evening had come, so now, when is the evening? To the Jewish person, when is the evening? Well, in Matthew's Gospel, Matthew 27 tells us that Jesus dies at the ninth hour, which puts that at 3 p. m. To the Jewish way of mentioning time, of reckoning time, there were actually two periods called evening.

There was the first evening and the second evening. That sounds kind of confusing to us because we just have one evening. And for us, typically, evening means The twilight, the time when the, the light of day is passing off. The sun maybe has set, but it's still twilight, and we're going into the first part of the darkness of the day.

That's what we call evening, usually. But for the Jew, there were two evenings, and that comes from Exodus 12, 12 in verse 6, in which, if we were to read that verse literally, We're told that between the two evenings is when the Passover lamb must be sacrificed. And that's in your notes on the next page, I believe, Exodus 12 and verse 6.

If we read that literally, literally twilight is between the two evenings. So to the Jew, there was the first evening, which was about 3 p. m., or by the Roman way of reckoning time, , the ninth hour, and then there was the second evening, which was 6 p. m. So between the two evenings is when this occurs. The first evening occurs at 3, and Matthew says that's about when Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani, and then gave up his spirit.

And so around 3 o'clock is when Jesus dies. Now, between around 3 o'clock and The sunset or the end of the day, the beginning of the evening, but the beginning of the night, that has to be the time period that all these things we're going to talk about have to occur. And so we've got about maybe two, two to two and a half hours.

Jesus, I'm thinking maybe he had, maybe he dies three or three thirty. And from about that point. to the end of the day, which the end of the day would have been reckoned by the Jew as the appearing of the first star. And we all know that on a clear afternoon, the stars will appear while the sun is still in the sky in that twilight period of time.

So once the first star appears to the Jew, that's the beginning of the next day. Jesus cannot go into the tomb. The next day, that would mean he's not in the tomb three days and three nights. He's got to go in the tomb this day, which means prior to the appearing of the first star. And it's now 3 or 3. 30 in the afternoon.

So you get the sense that we don't have much time. This, there's a lot that's got to happen and we don't have much time to do this in. So now, back to our text. And when the evening had come, since it was the day of preparation, that is the day before the Sabbath. So this is Friday. The Sabbath, of course, is Saturday, the seventh day of the week.

This is Friday. Jesus dies on a Friday. That's why it's called Good Friday. So the day of preparation, the day before the Sabbath, verse 43, Joseph of Arimathea. Who is he? We've never heard of him before. Through 15 chapters, we have never heard of Joseph of Arimathea. Just out of the blue, here comes another character introduced into the story.

Reminds us, doesn't it, of Simon of Cyrene. Who in the previous chapter, there was the same thing. We'd never heard of him before, and just out of the blue, pops Simon of Cyrene, at just the right moment, to do such a crucially important thing, which is to help to carry the cross behind Christ. In a similar way, just out of the blue, here comes Joseph of Arimathea.

Now, where is Arimathea? For a long time we had no clue, because Arimathea apparently is one of those little small villages that has been lost to history. So for a long time we really had no clue, until maybe the last few decades, in which scholarship has become pretty decided that we think Arimathea was about 20 miles northeast of Jerusalem, which puts Arimathea in Judea.

Anybody know what that means? That means Joseph from Arimathea is a Judean Jew, which means being a Judean Jew. He's, he observes the Passover tonight. Remember the ju the Galilean Jews observe the Passover last night on Thursday. Joseph is a gal, is a Judean Jew, so tonight is the night he observes the Passover, but he's not going to be able to.

Why? Because he is about to double defile himself by touching a dead body. And by going into the home of a Gentile that we'll see a little bit later. He is going to double defile himself, meaning he cannot partake in the Passover in just a couple of hours, and he'll also be defiled for the following Sabbath.

But, here this man, Joseph of Arimathea, is introduced, and notice what we're told about him. We're actually told quite a lot between Mark and the other Gospels. We're told quite a lot about him. Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God. So look at that description.

A respected member of the council. What council, Mark? He doesn't tell us. But the assumption is the council that we were just talking about. The council that condemned Jesus to death. So he's not only a member of the council, or to use another word, the Sanhedrin. That's 70 member council there in Jerusalem.

He's not only a member of that, but he's called a He's a respected member of the council, meaning he's not just sort of a hanger on er. He's not just on the council and then every year they think, Does this guy really need to stay on with us? No, he is one of the top tier, top echelon members of the council.

He holds the respect of the council and he holds the respect of the people. So, this Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, whom we're also told in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 27, verse 57, is rich. Matthew says, there came a rich man from Arimathea, Joseph. Now, I would suggest to us that there would not have been a member of the Sanhedrin that was not wealthy.

I think that we can assume that one would be wealthy to be part of the Sanhedrin. But nevertheless, Matthew makes it plain to us that Joseph is a rich man, a wealthy man. Now our thoughts are going back to the rich young ruler. Who loved his wealth more than he loved Jesus. Our thoughts are going back to the needle and the camel through the needle's eye.

And, and all things are, are possible with God, with man. All these things are impossible. And all that's coming back to mind. And we're seeing now, here is a wealthy man, who appears to be a man who has not used his position on the Sanhedrin in order to build for himself A kingdom unto himself, but instead he has endeared himself to the people by earning their respect.

How does he earn their respect? We don't know. But we would assume it's through sound judgments. It's through using common sense. It's through, through, , , taking his, his position seriously and serving the people through his position. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had the respect of the people, as we're told he does.

But he not only has the respect of the people, he has the respect of his fellow council members. But we're also told more about him. Look in Luke 23, verse 51. And here we're told something about his spiritual condition. Joseph Joseph had not consented to their decision and their action. So we're told that this man Joseph, who's a member of the council, the council that condemned Jesus to death, Joseph did not consent to that decision.

What does that mean? Does that mean he voted against it? Or does that mean that among all those council members that they woke up at 2 a. m., he wasn't one of them? Or does it mean that he was there and he abstained? We're not told. Only God knows. But we can make some, some Assumptions. I think perhaps he was not one of the ones who was woken up.

We know that in order for a trial to be legal, it could not take place at night, which it did. We also know for a capital offense, it required a unanimous vote of the entire San Hedron Council. So perhaps not all of them were there, but we know that even if they were, the vote wasn't unanimous because we're just told that Joseph did not vote in favor.

So I think probably the most likely thing was he was there. And abstain from voting because it says he was a respected member of the council. If he was one in which the council thought, you know, this guy, Joseph, we think he's sort of teetering on the brink here. He might even like this guy, Jesus. So we better not invite him to this little midnight trial of ours because he might vote the other way.

It says he was respected by the council, which leads me to believe that probably they had no idea that he would vote against them. In fact, we're going to be told in John's gospel, look at John chapter 19 after these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus. We're now told even more. He's a disciple of Jesus.

What does it mean that He's a disciple? Well, we know that the New Testament can use that word disciple in a flexible way. We know that disciple sometimes means just one who is a learner. In fact, earlier in John's Gospel, chapter 6, we're told that Jesus gives this hard teaching and some of His disciples no longer walked with Him.

So you can, in John's way of thinking, you can be a disciple and then stop following Jesus. So the word itself has some flexibility there, but he's called nevertheless a disciple. But then, but then we're given more information, but secretly. He's a secret disciple of Jesus. Now Mark, Mark's gospel tells us that he was also himself looking for the kingdom of God.

Looking for the kingdom of God is This is like code for us of one who is a true believer and follower of God. A similar description is given to us of Simeon in Luke chapter 2. Simeon who, who was waiting for the kingdom and then he sees the baby Jesus, the infant Jesus, and he glorifies God because he's now seen, seen the kingdom that he's been looking for.

So this is code for us. For one who is a true follower of God, one who is not a Pharisee and keeps the rules and keeps the laws and uses all those laws against the people he doesn't like, but instead he is a lover of God, a follower of God. And so he is this disciple of Jesus. He's looking for the kingdom, but he's also a secret disciple, meaning that.

It appears that even his fellow council members did not suspect that he might not vote to put Jesus to death because he is such a secret disciple. Now how do you, how do you reconcile the two of those things? That he's looking for the kingdom, he's waiting for the kingdom, he's a true follower of God, he is one of God's true people, he's a disciple of Jesus, but he won't tell anybody.

How do you reconcile those two things? You reconcile them this way. By just recognizing that Joseph was a complex man, just like us. All of us are complex people. All of us, as children of God, are mixtures of faith and unfaith. All of us are like the father of the demon possessed boy when Jesus comes down from the Mount of Transfiguration and He says, I believe, help my unbelief.

All of us are at places in our faith journey in which there are many things for God that we would step out in faithful obedience to. And there's other things in which we would hesitate. And that's where Joseph is. He's at a place in which he believes, but he has not yet made that belief known. Why would he not make it known?

Why would he fear the Jews? Remember back in, , John chapter 12. John chapter 12, verse 41. We're told that the Jews declared anyone who believes in this man, Jesus, they'll put out of the synagogue. Now, what did it mean to be put out of the synagogue? At the very minimum, it meant Joseph was going to lose his position.

He was going to lose his place on the Sanhedrin. He was going to lose, probably, his wealth. But also, much more than that, this may be difficult for us to relate to, because we live in the modern day First World. But we've read the stories of Muslims who live in Muslim cultures, and they come to faith in Christ, and what happens to them in Muslim cultures.

How their family disowns them, they lose their job, they, , their life is in danger. All, their whole life becomes unraveled from an earthly perspective. Very similar thing would have occurred to the Jew who was kicked out of the synagogue. Their life from an earthly perspective would have unraveled. And so Joseph is just a person at this point that is just not He's not there yet.

He's just not willing to take that vocal step yet to make it known that he's a follower of Christ. And so we see this man Joseph, this rich man, this disciple, this secret disciple, looking for the kingdom of God. And then we see he took courage. He took courage. What did he have to take courage to do? To go to Pilate and ask for the body of Jesus.

So, he must take courage to do this. The reason he had to take courage to do this is because to go to Pilate and ask for the body would have been a monumental thing to do. Number one, it exposes him to his fellow Sanhedrinists. Number two, it exposes him to Pilate as a friend of Jesus, who has just been crucified as being a traitor to Rome.

But number three, this really would put him at odds with Pilate because The way the Roman Empire regarded those who were executed for capital offenses is that once they were convicted of the capital offense, they became the property of Rome. And that wasn't just for, in order to put them to death, but their body too was also considered the property of Rome.

Sounds odd to us today, but that's how Rome went about it. After the criminal had died, he was still Rome's. And everywhere else in the Roman Empire, after a crucifixion victim died, they left him on the cross for a number of days afterwards. So that birds and other animals would come and do what they do, and you can just imagine the ghastliness of that, of seeing that sort of thing.

And as ghastly as that seems to you, that's the point. That's the whole point. They were maximizing the benefit of what they were doing. And so you see a victim die from crucifixion, that's one thing. You see his body remain there for a week, that's another thing altogether. However, that really offended the sensibilities of the Jewish people.

The Jewish people really took exception to that because mainly God had said in Deuteronomy chapter 22, I'm sorry, 21, this is on the inside of your notes, that that was never to happen. That when someone was hung on a tree, they must not remain all night. They must be taken down before the end of the day.

And the reason is that God says, if they are not taken down by the end of the day, they defile God. The land, they cursed the land, they themselves were cursed. But if they're not taken down by the end of the day, there's a curse upon the land because of that. So the Jews objected strongly to crucifixion being victims, being left on the cross multiple days.

And so for, for Nico, I'm sorry for, , Joseph to go to Pilate and ask for the body, he is asking that this body, which belongs to Rome, be given to him. , which Rome did not typically do. So in order to pacify the Jews who didn't want the bodies left on the cross overnight, the Romans would throw those bodies into a mass grave at a place called Gona, which in the New Testament, that word is translated as hell.

So quite literally had Pilate head his way, Jesus' body would've been cast into hell. Jesus didn't go to hell. Jesus did not descend into hell. Instead, Jesus descended into the place of death. As we profess in the Apostles Creed, into Hades, he descended into Hades. But quite literally, had Pilate had his way, Jesus would have been thrown into the place that the New Testament calls hell.

That landfill of a place where, where just masses of bodies were thrown and left to rot. And that too was not quite as effective as leaving the body on the cross, but it was still pretty doggone effective. Because to the Jew, to be unburied, was nearly as much of a curse as to be left on a tree. It was a hideous thing for a Jew to die and be left unburied.

So that's what Rome did to all the other crucifixion victims. That's what would have happened to Jesus. But that cannot happen to Jesus, because if that were to happen to Jesus, that would not be very much evidence for the resurrection, would it? We saw him in the pile over there, now he's not. Well, what does that mean?

That means very little. Jesus has to be put into a tomb in order for there to be verifiable evidence. And that evidence plays an important part in the conver or, I shouldn't say the conversion, but the faith, the belief of John. Remember how John looked and saw the grave clothes, and saw it was empty, and he believed.

That's crucial for John. That's crucial for Peter. That's crucial for these apostles to see the empty tomb and to see the evidence. And so he goes to ask for the body. Now, one other thing we need to keep in mind. Those criminals who were convicted of treason against Rome, their bodies weren't just the property of Rome.

There was only one person who could give permission to release the body to a family member, and that was Caesar. So Pilate actually violates Roman law by giving the body to Joseph, who's not a family member, and Pilate is not Caesar. You see how many things have to take place here, how many things have to be directed by God to fall into place for this to happen.

Because, you know what, Joseph doesn't have time for negotiations. He doesn't have time for Pilate to send a message to Tiberius Caesar. And wait three days for the answer. He doesn't have time for Pilate to say, Go away and let me think about this. Come back tomorrow and ask me tomorrow. He's got to have a decision now.

He has to have the body given to him now. He's not even a family member. And Jesus was just executed for high treason. And so he goes to Pilate taking great courage to even do this. He takes courage and he goes to Pilate. And he asks for the body of Jesus. Verse 44, Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died.

That is affirmation for us of the cruelty of the cross. Because Pilate is surprised. It's only been six hours and he's dead? Huh. That was pretty fast. So evidence, testimony there of the cruelty of the cross, but also something else may be going on. Because who does Pilate think that Jesus just might be?

Some sort of God. And so maybe Pilate is not even sure that Jesus is going to die. Maybe he's going to disappear off the cross or something. So he's surprised that he's already died, which is evidence for us of Jesus's desire to die. Jesus reached out and took death and grasped it for himself and took it upon himself.

So he's surprised to hear that he should already die, so he needs to verify this. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. Notice, summoning the centurion. Which centurion? The same one in verse 39, who saw the manner in which Jesus died, and said, surely this man was the Son of God.

That's the man whom Pilate calls to confirm that he's really dead. What else the centurion said to him? We don't know. But could it be that Pilate said to him? Is that man Jesus dead? And the centurion answered, He's dead, but he was no man. We don't know. Maybe the tone of his voice, maybe his words. You have to believe that the centurion has something in his voice, something in his face, something in his demeanor that lets Pilate know something monumental just happened.

But nevertheless, the centurion, the one who is both the evidence that he was the son of God and the evidence that he's dead, It comes in and he confirms that he's already dead. Verse 45. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. Notice that word corpse.

That's a great translation because it's the word toma with a P T, P T O M A, instead of the normal Greek word for body, which is soma. Toma is a word that specifically means a dead lifeless body or a corpse. So, the point here is that Jesus really is dead. He really is dead. He's not just swooned. He's not just passed out.

He really is dead. So He granted the corpse to this man, Joseph, who has taken such immense courage to step out and go and ask for the body. Now, I want to pause here and I want to ask us all the questions for us to reflect upon. What in the world has happened to change Joseph of Arimathea? He now has all this courage to go and not just make it known that he's a disciple, but to go to Pilate.

Let's remind ourselves of the interchange that Pilate has just had with the Jews. In which they bested him by forcing his hand to put Jesus to death. Which he did not want to do. But they bested him because they backed him into a corner over that. Wouldn't you imagine that at this point that Pilate is not real happy with the Jews?

Wouldn't you imagine right now that he's in a pretty foul mood? And the last thing that he wants to see is another Jew coming and asking him for a favor? Especially one of the council that was the council that backed him into this corner? Are you beginning to see something now of the courage of Joseph of Arimathea that seems to have come out of nowhere?

Because when Jesus was at the height of his popularity, remember what John says about him? John, John says that the Pharisees were saying the whole nation is going after him. All the people are following him. At the height of his popularity, when he's performing miracles all over the place. And he walks into Jerusalem and the whole town is shouting Hosanna, Hosanna.

Somehow Joseph doesn't have the courage then to even make it known that he's a disciple of this man. But now he has the courage to not only do that, but to go before the man who has all the power in Jerusalem and right now is really ticked off at Jews and is in no mood to grant any favors, which this would have to be a big favor.

Where does Joseph get all this courage?

Seeing Jesus at the height of his power didn't do it for him. What was it that Joseph saw that gave him the courage to do this? It wasn't Jesus on the clouds. It wasn't Jesus walking on the water.

It was Jesus covered in spit and blood, naked, beaten. Crown of thorns. It was Jesus at his weakest that Joseph sees and gives him a courage that he never had before. Isn't that remarkable? That in order to be emboldened, God doesn't show Joseph of Arimathea Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. In order to be emboldened, Joseph sees Jesus.

Beaten and humiliated. This truly is the illustration of what God says to Paul. My power is not made perfect in strength. My power is made perfect in weakness.

When God seeks to embolden our faith, I don't think the first thing he turns to is to show us the power of our Messiah. Though He is all powerful, though all authority has been given to Him in heaven and earth. But instead, going from the example of Joseph at least, when God seeks to embolden His people, He shows them the humility of their Savior, the weakness of their Savior.

Either God means that His power is made perfect in weakness, or He doesn't. And if He means that His power is made perfect in weakness, There is no visibly weaker moment in the history of all of this creation than the moment when Christ yielded up His Spirit. And hanging in utter humiliation, drenched with the visible hatred and the animosity of the people He came to save, That is what Joseph sees, and something within him wells up into a sort of courage and boldness.

That it is as though Joseph is now saying, I'm ready to die too. I want this body. I want to take this body down, and I want to put it into a proper tomb before the sun goes down. And if I've got to die to do that, I'll do it. Aren't those helpful words for us? to see how God emboldens his servant in this way.

So he learns from the centurion that he was dead. What goes through Pilate's mind now? We don't know. Well, I guess he's not a god. I don't know what he is, but he wasn't a god. He therefore granted the corpse, the tomah, to Joseph. Verse 46, And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud.

And laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. So here's Joseph now. We're told in John's gospel that he's helped by Nicodemus, another member of the council. Another one described like Joseph as one who is good and righteous. Another one whom we know to be wealthy because in John's gospel, this is in your notes, in John's gospel we're told that Nicodemus buys some 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes.

An exorbitant sum in those days, an absolute. This would have been spices fit to bury a king, which is the point. Nicodemus purchases enough spices to properly adorn the tomb of the greatest king. And so Nicodemus too was a wealthy man, just as Joseph was a wealthy man. And this is fulfilling of the prophecy of Isaiah 53 and verse 9, that in his grave In his death, he's associated with the wicked, but in his grave, he's associated with the rich.

We read that prophecy earlier. So something about the death and burial of Jesus connects him together with both wicked people, and we think he was crucified between two thieves, and then it also connects him together with rich people, and he's put into the tomb by two rich men. In fact, he's put into the tomb of a rich man.

A tomb that has not yet been used before of a rich man. So in his death, he's connected with both the wicked and the rich. Jesus is the Savior of all people. There's no social class, there is no type of person beyond what Jesus came to save. He is associated with both the lowest and the highest in his death and in his burial.

And so we read that he bought this linen shroud. Joseph bought this linen shroud. We're reminded of the last time that we read about linen, which was in chapter 14, the linen that was wrapped around probably Mark on the night of his arrest. He bought this linen shroud and taking him down. Think about that for just a moment.

Just think about what has to happen to take Jesus off the cross. Just the physical process. That has to be gone through to take Jesus down off the cross. Most likely, Joseph has maybe at least one servant with him. Nicodemus is also there. Perhaps Nicodemus also has a servant too. But just imagine the ghastliness of what they've got to do to remove the body from the cross.

But they take the body off the cross. And verse 46 here now marks a turning point. The turning point now turns from the humiliation of Jesus to the glorification of Jesus. Jesus humiliation is over. It reaches this crescendo in which the crowds are humiliating him, the spit is being launched upon him, the beatings, the floggings, the scourging, the crown of thorns, the laughing, the mocking, the nakedness, the nail to the cross, the deep, deep humiliation, the mocking by the people while he's on the cross.

But his humiliation is now over. And the tomb is now the transition point to transition from the humiliation of Christ to the glorification of Christ. Jesus will never again be humiliated, not like that. There is a sense in which Jesus endures humiliation today through the humiliation of his people, yes.

But Jesus will never again be humiliated like he is in chapter 15. Now the tomb becomes a time of care. A time of loving Jesus with acts of service, horrible acts of service, difficult acts of service, of showing love for Him and showing regard for His body and showing honor for the physical body that His spirit has now temporarily departed.

So He takes Him down from the cross, wraps Him in this linen shroud, and lays Him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. What's interesting to me Now, in two ways. It shows up once at his birth, in one of the gifts from the Magi, and shows up twice in his death. It shows up, we just read about how they wanted to mix it with wine and give it to him as a narcotic and he refuses it, but now it shows up again, because Nicodemus, John 19, he brings this 75 pounds of myrrh and aloe.

Now, the myrrh would have been used to put the grave clothes on Jesus. Myrrh was a resin type of substance that came from a tree that grew in the Arabian Peninsula. Still grows in the Arabian Peninsula. It's harvested from trees much the way sap, maple sap or syrup is harvested from trees. They would drive in a tap.

And that tap would then slowly let the sap come out of the tree. But as the sap comes out of the tree and it touches the air, it begins to form a bulb in which it has this hard, sort of a thin, hard outer shell, and then the liquid resin is still on the inside. It's very aromatic, very, very expensive to harvest, very time consuming and labor intensive to harvest, so it's very expensive.

But it was used for many purposes. Clearly it was used as a gift when it was given to the baby Jesus or the boy Jesus. It's also used in somewhat of a narcotic as it's mixed with wine. But it's also used to bury bodies because it's also very aromatic but it's also very sticky. So what they would do with the myrrh is they would take the myrrh and they would rub it on the body after the body was washed and cleaned.

And they would put the myrrh on the body and then they would put the grave clothes on the myrrh. So now picture in your mind, we've all touched some pine sap. Gotten some pine sap on your fingers and it stays there for four or five days, it seems like. Because it's just so sticky and so resilient. Same kind of thing with myrrh.

So imagine a body prepared for burial, rubbed in myrrh, and then the grave linens are put on top of it. Those grave linens would have stuck. So now you've got a different picture of Lazarus coming out of the tomb now, don't you? You also have a different picture of Jesus in his grave linens. Making it virtually impossible for anybody to steal a body and leave the grave clothes.

Because we know on the morning of the resurrection, what was there? The grave clothes. So it's impossible to get a body out of these grave clothes that was now adhered to them by the myrrh. So this is what Joseph and Nicodemus do. They clean the body, they put the spices on, they rub it with myrrh, and they wrap it.

Not, not this mummified sort of wrap, not like the Egyptian mummies where they no longer could move their arms or their legs, but the body is now wrapped in these linens, the face is all wrapped in these linens, and he's now put in here. What's, what's now interesting to me also that I'll just take a moment to point out, it's interesting to me that there are two Josephs in Jesus life.

One at the beginning, one at the end. Both of them are described as good and righteous men. And both of them clothed Jesus. Joseph clothed Jesus in the swaddling cloths. You say, now, where are we told that Joseph did that? Well, we're not. But many of us have been present at a birth, and right after a birth, who's the most likely one to, to clean the baby and put the clothes on?

It's not the mother. So most likely, Joseph is the one who wraps the baby Jesus in the swaddling cloths. Him, also described as a good and righteous man, his name is also Joseph. Now at the end of Jesus life, another Joseph, described as a good and righteous man, also clothes Jesus. You say, what's the significance of that?

What's the theological meaning behind that? I don't know. Probably none. But I think that if nothing else, it just shows us in so many ways, we just see the beauty of the redemption story. A story that only God can put together. So often we can notice just how symmetrical the stories are, how perfectly aligned they are.

And it's not as though there's theological meaning underneath every rock and behind every symbol, but it is as though a sovereign God is telling this story in such a way that we would read it and say, How about that? Yeah. A Joseph, a good and righteous Joseph clothing him at the beginning, another good and righteous Joseph clothing him at the end.

What a God to write a story like that and just take the time with such details as that. Our God is a God of details. He's not uninterested in the details. And this, his redemption story, is like his masterpiece. And he just puts these little things all over the place in the redemption story that make us just say, only a sovereign God can make a story unfold like that.

So here Joseph buys this linen, takes him down, wraps him in the linen, lays him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. Matthew tells us it was Joseph's own tomb. Matthew also tells us that the tomb was near to the place where Jesus was executed. So there's a short way to carry the body over to the tomb.

And then we're told he places him in the tomb and he rolls the stone against the entrance of the tomb. Now as Joseph and Nicodemus presumably roll the stone against the tomb, we think for just a minute about the stone and what that might have been, because here we have Joseph rolling the heavy stone against the tomb.

But then, in three days, we're going to have the ladies coming and saying, there's no way to remove the stone. So how is it a stone that Joseph puts in place, but the women say, it's not possible to remove it. Well, archaeologists have excavated a number of Jewish burial tombs of this era, of the first century era, and they found that the nicer ones, and this would have been a nice one because this was Joseph's own tomb, we're told in Matthew's Gospel.

This would have been a higher end, a top tier tomb. The nicer tombs, don't picture, actually in your mind, don't picture any of the tombs that are something you could stand up in, like you walk through, sometimes you see the illustrations of Jesus walking out of the tomb, Jesus didn't walk out of the tomb, um, the opening to these tombs was something more like a Two feet by two feet and so you would crawl through the opening and the idea was that the opening is large enough to get bodies into but not so large that it becomes difficult to protect the tomb from predators because that's the purpose of the stone.

The purpose of the stone is to keep predators and animals and I guess even grave robbers out. And so the nicer tombs would have this large stone, something like a millstone, that would be situated on something like a channel or a trough, that had a little bit of an angle to it. And there would be a chalk or a block that would hold this large heavy millstone up and out of the way.

But when that chalk was removed, it would be easy to put the stone in place, but difficult to move it back out of place. And that was the whole idea. The idea is once the stone is in place, You don't want animals or something to be able to easily get in through there, you want it sealed off. And so the idea is that one person could put the stone in place, but as the ladies are coming back on Sunday morning, they're rightly saying to themselves, Because they're coming back to do what?

Anoint the body. Which Jesus, by the way, Jesus body was pre anointed for burial. That was the whole deal in the home of Lazarus. See how that had to hap that had to happen too. But nevertheless, they're coming back to anoint the body for burial, and they're saying, we have no idea how we're gonna move that stone.

And so Joseph puts the stone in place. Verse 47, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph, Joseph saw where he had laid them. So in other words, The location of the tomb was never under question. It was never a matter of the ladies got confused as to which tomb they were going to. Over and over again.

We read in multiple gospel accounts that they saw the tomb where he was placed. So there's not a mistaken identity or a mistaken location. So in other words, here now, Jesus is now placed into the tomb lovingly and carefully. And the, the care that's now shown to his body that is washed and, and spices are put onto it.

The stone is now rolled against the entrance of the tomb. And now Jesus begins his period of Sabbath rest. Beginning from now, Friday, it'll cover Friday, Saturday, and then Sunday. Fulfilling the prophecy that he's in the tomb for three days, which is not problematic for us because, as the Jewish reckon time, a part of one day, count it as a whole day.

Just like when you park at the hospital, and you go over by two minutes, it counts as another whole day. Or any of those sorts of things, we get that, alright? So now Jesus is now placed into the tomb, and the stone is rolled over. In conclusion, What do we want to step back now and just recognize? What is the significance of the burial of Jesus?

We see over and over again that Jesus burial is the sovereign fulfillment of so many prophecies. So many things have to happen, and happen quickly. Joseph has to get to Pilate. Pilate's got to agree to see him. Pilate's got to hear his request and grant it. Joseph has to buy linens. Nicodemus has to buy spices.

They've got to get their servants. They've got to maneuver Jesus off the cross. They've got to wash a body. They have to prepare the body. They have to put the body in the tomb. They've got to put the stone in place. All of that before the first star appears. Maybe two and a half hours at most. All of this has to happen so quickly.

This tells us something, I think, of Proverbs 21 and verse 1, where we're told that the heart of the king, God moves the heart of the king according to his will. Pilate's heart is not his own. Pilate is destined to fulfill prophecy, because prophecy must be fulfilled. He is the Messiah. This must happen. And so we see just how sovereignly God works all of these details out.

God's not in a hurry. From my perspective, it seems like time is short. God's not worried. This will all happen, and according to His plan, Jesus will be placed into the tomb just as He needs to be. So we see God sovereignly working every detail. We also see the Savior's humiliation begin to be turned into glorification.

The crown of thorns is replaced with the clean face shroud. The dry blood, the flowing body fluids, the spit and everything else that covered his body is now replaced with spices. The cross, if you will, is now replaced with a tomb. A clean tomb. A new tomb. Much in the same way as the womb that Jesus used to come to us, which was also new and virgin, just like the tomb is new, made for someone else, not used yet.

You ever wonder if it ever got used again? I don't know. Maybe it was just never used. Maybe somebody else was put into that same tomb. We don't know. But Jesus was put into this tomb. Humiliation is now over and now begins the time of His people glorifying Him, taking courage to glorify Him. We see that.

And then lastly, we also see the Savior who so completely and so thoroughly identifies with His people, even to the point of being put into a tomb. His identification with the people that He is here to save is so complete and so thorough That he follows it through, if you will, all the way to being put into the tomb.

Being put into a tomb is the last earthly thing that you will do. When you are put into your tomb of a resting place, that's the last act before your resurrection. And Jesus identification with his people goes all the way to that point. In a real sense. Putting into the tomb is one of the most unsettling things that we do.

Putting a loved one into a hole in the ground. We've been there. You stood beside a hole in the ground. And watched how just Sanitized, it's done today, where there's, you know, the indoor outdoor carpet that covers the hole, you don't even see the blackness of the hole, and then there's all the shiny casket that lowers it down, but you still know what it is.

You still know it's a hole in the ground. And you still know that your loved one is being put down into that hole, and don't ever for one minute say to yourself, it's just a shell. It's not just a shell. The Bible never talks about our body as just a shell. It's just as much us as our soul because God created us as soul, body creatures.

And so this thing of physical death is one of the most disturbing and disquieting things that there is. And the symbol of that is going into the cold earth. And Jesus identification with his people is so complete that he goes even into the cold earth, just as we do. To say, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you.

To the very last of your existence, I've been there. I'm with you. I've done it. Jesus has experienced all things that we experience except for sin. Even to that tragic point of standing beside the hole in the ground. We remember Jesus, of course, at the tomb of Lazarus. And then even himself being put into that cold tomb.

His identification with his people, I think, is the most precious thing to see in his burial. He fulfills the prophecies. He confirms he is the Messiah. He illustrates the sovereignty of God. But then I think above all, he says, You are mine, and nothing that touches you. will be something I haven't experienced.