18th April 2025
The Burial of Jesus
Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.
John 19:38-40 (NIV)
Late in the evening the phone rang and with it came the news that my mother-in-law had passed away. It wasn’t unexpected, but still incredibly sad. We only lived 10 minutes away from the nursing home, so we said we would be right down. When we arrived the staff were still in her room washing her and putting on a clean nightie. They talked respectfully to her as they carried out these simple tasks, just as they would if she was alive. Then they left. She looked peaceful and her body was still warm to the touch, but you knew she was no longer there. We sat for a while sharing happy memories before saying our final goodbyes and leaving her for the last time.
How different it would have been for Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus when their dear friend died: Joseph had to gather his courage to ask Pilate for Jesus’ body. Usually, the Roman custom was that the bodies were left on the cross to be scavenged by the birds and wild animals. Such shock and degradation were part of the point of crucifying enemies of the State. But it was the day of Preparation for the Sabbath (vv.31,42), and the Jewish leaders wanted all bodies to be taken down so they would not contaminate the land (Deut. 21:23).
Jesus had been brutally beaten, scourged, and pierced in the side with a spear. Isaiah 52:14 says, ‘…his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness…’. We can’t begin to imagine how difficult it must have been for Jesus to go through all of those atrocities. His suffering was now over but these men had to care for his body. What Jesus had been through would be painfully visible to them as they washed and anointed him with myrrh and aloes before wrapping him with strips of special, white linen containing spices, seventy-five pounds of spices which would be the amount for a royal burial. In death Jesus was afforded the respect that was rightly his: that of our Lord and King.
Jesus’ body was placed in a new tomb where no one had been laid before. The stone was rolled across and Joseph and Nicodemus left. Their goodbyes having been said, they never expected to see Jesus again. For them that surely seemed to be the end. I wonder how they felt. Maybe they wondered what it had all been about?
But things were not as they seemed. Jesus rose from the dead early Sunday morning and was seen by many. Did these two men rush to see him once they heard? I like to think so. Instead of confusion, despair, and deep sadness, they probably felt overwhelming joy and had a sense of incredulity. How could this be? Just when there was no hope there suddenly was all the hope in the world. It wasn’t the end, but in fact the beginning of something even more wonderful.
Prayer
Our loving Father, let us look to you continually and believe what you say despite what we witness with our own eyes. Our loved ones will live again, because he was resurrected. You have defeated death and will return to be with us again. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
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Study by: Jackie Mill About the author: |
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Local congregation:
Grace Communion International Central Glasgow
Garnethill Room
Conference Suite
St Andrews West
260 Bath Street
Glasgow
G2 4JP
Meeting time:
Sunday 11:15 am
Local congregational contact:
GCI, Glasgow. glasgow@gracecom.church
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church