Jesus Was Buried

If you would like to follow in the reading, then you’ll find it on page 853, and I’m reading the concluding verses of the fifteenth chapter of Mark’s Gospel. We’ve been studying the Gospel of Mark for a long time, and we have in the course of events come right to the very end of 15 and to the threshold of the passage which will be ours, God willing, for Sunday morning. And it is on account of that that on this Good Friday evening we turn to these verses and not to other verses. The reason we’re here is simply because we’re here in the course of our consecutive exposition of the Bible.

And Mark records:

“When evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 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. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.”

Amen.

Father, we pray that our hearts may be ready to receive your truth, that our minds might be enabled to think, and that our wills might be brought into conformity with your purpose. To this end we seek you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The burial of a loved one establishes in a way that nothing else does the reality and the finality of death. That, I think, is one of the reasons that some of us, on account of the painfulness of the parting that is so obvious in a graveyard or in a cemetery, have often chosen to leave the cemetery before the grave itself is sealed. It is absolutely undeniable that the person is gone and that the possibilities for further engagement, for conversation, for physical affection, for touch, have gone with them.

In a moment or two, when we respond to the questions that are before us, they are largely giving to us the opportunity of responding with the words of the Apostles’ Creed. And we do so purposefully, because in the early church, when they summarized the teaching of the apostles—which is why we have the Apostles’ Creed; it wasn’t written by the apostles, but it summarized what the apostles had taught—you will notice when we say it together, if your gaze isn’t on it now, that in the Creed, they not only affirm the fact that Jesus suffered, was crucified, and died, but they also affirm the fact that he was buried. And the reason for his burial was the same reason that anyone is buried, and that is because Jesus was dead.

In the early centuries leading up to the time when the Apostles’ Creed was formalized and put into service, probably at the beginning of the fourth century or so, in those early centuries, there were those who suggested, as do some today, that Jesus was never actually dead; that his death was an illusion; that somehow or another, he had been overcome by his suffering, and yet once in the coolness of this tomb, he was revived and came out from there to get on with life.

It’s not uncommon for people to trot this out even today. And what I want you to see is that the evidence that is recorded for us is entirely against this. In terms of comparative religion, it is also true to say that Islam teaches that Jesus didn’t actually die on the cross, for Islam teaches that for a prophet of God to suffer on a cross and die would be a blasphemy in itself. And so the Muslim has been led to believe that they press-ganged somebody else, somebody like Simon of Cyrene, into filling in, as it were, for Jesus and dying on the cross, but that Jesus himself never died.

Well, you will notice here that the text makes much of the death of Jesus. And you will notice that it is mentioned with frequency in relatively few words. The fact that in verse 43 Joseph was going and asking “for the body of Jesus” was on account of the fact that he was asking for the remains of Jesus. In verse 44, Pilate is “surprised to hear that he should have already died.” And once he has received the professional opinion of the centurion—and certainly the centurion, who presided at these things over a long period of time, knew the difference between somebody fainting and somebody dying—as soon as the centurion had given his professional opinion confirming the fact that he was dead, then we read in verse 45 that Pilate “granted the corpse to Joseph,” and then in verse 46 that Joseph went off and “bought a linen shroud,” presumably pointing out the fact that he wasn’t sure that he would ever get the request that he had made. And quickly taking this for himself, and with his friend, he begins to do what is necessary in relationship to the death of Jesus.

Now, if, as we said, the pain of separation chases us from a cemetery, so, too, if we are honest, does the awareness that death, when it confronts us, confronts us with our own mortality, with the fact that life is really very brief, that death is the destiny of every one of us, and that is the reason that the consideration of death often becomes for somebody actually a gateway into life. And just as it was the death of Jesus, his sight there on the cross, that prompted, as we saw last Sunday morning, the centurion to remark, as he did in verse 39, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” so Mark tells us that it was the death of Jesus, the cross of Jesus, that proved the moment that transformed Joseph of Arimathea from being somebody who lived in the shadows of a secret belief to becoming somebody who was prepared to identify himself fully with this same Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, as I’ve been looking at this passage for the last few days, it has occurred to me that there may be a number of Josephs of Arimathea present tonight—or, if you like, Josephines of Arimathea, so as not to leave anyone out. And that will become apparent as we continue.

A Man for the Moment

Mark in this little record tells us a number of things. First of all, he introduces us to a man for the moment. A man for the moment. Jesus had died in the mid-afternoon of Friday. The evening shadows are beginning to fall, and so the body would have to be removed from the cross and buried relatively quickly so as not to violate the Sabbath day. How was that going to be accomplished?

Well, we have a man for the moment. Joseph of Arimathea steps out of the shadows, and he provides the resources necessary. You will notice what we’re told, and I will fill in other things that we know from the rest of the Gospels.

First of all, we’re told that he was a “respected” man. He was a member of the ruling council—that is, the Sanhedrin, the ones who had united in order to call for the death of Jesus. We also know that he was “a rich man.”[1] Matthew records it in Matthew 27. We know, too, that he was a religious man. He was “himself,” we see in verse 43, “looking for the kingdom of God.” In other words, he was a faithful Jew. And he had read his Bible, and he’d read the Old Testament, and he knew that there was one who was going to come who would be the King of the Jews. He was like Simeon in the early chapters of Luke, remember, who was a “devout” and religious man and who was, it says in Luke, “waiting for the consolation of Israel.”[2] It’s the same thing. They’d been reading what God had promised, and now they were expecting that God would fulfill his promise. And Joseph of Arimathea had discovered that Jesus had announced the fact that the “kingdom of God” was “near,” and he had called Joseph and others like him to “repent” and to “believe the good news.”[3]

So, he was respected, he was rich, he was religious—but actually, he was more than that. Matthew tells us, straightforwardly, that he was “a disciple of Jesus.”[4] John tells us that he was actually a secret disciple, being afraid of his Jewish colleagues.[5] Luke tells us that he had not consented to the Sanhedrin’s decision to put Jesus to death,[6] and the possibility is that he may actually have been absent on that occasion. But it had taken the death of Jesus to bring him out into the open, reminding us of the well-quoted words of Brutus to Cassius, remember, in Julius Caesar: “There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood,” changes everything.[7] And as Joseph had looked up on that cross, had witnessed the vicious brutality of all that had resulted in Jesus being there and dying, he steps forward, a man for the moment.

A Courageous Request

Along with that, Mark tells us of a courageous request—the courageous request, of course, coming from the lips of the man for the moment. You’ll see there that he had gone to Pilate—verse 43—asking him “for the body of Jesus.” It would be surprising, wouldn’t it, if the victims of crucifixion were to be cared for so carefully after having been so brutally killed? And if we didn’t really know much beyond this, we might assume that after all of the horrible things that had just been done, the soldiers and the Roman authorities said, “Now, what we want to do is treat these people very kindly and graciously.”

No, in actual fact, secular history records not only that the bodies were the property of the Roman authorities and they didn’t give them up readily, but the bodies were often on the cross for as much as two days; that even after they had died, they were left to rot. They were devoured by birds and all kinds of creatures. They were removed from the cross and often thrown into an open grave, clustered together. One of the reasons it may have been called the Place of the Skull[8] is because the very place was just filled with the skulls of those who had previously been crucified. And then they were scavenged by wild animals as they lay to rot in the ground. That was routine. It was not normal for things to happen as they happened. And the approach of Joseph is a courageous approach—a courage that had been missing from his life, admittedly, up until this point.

You will notice in verse 44 that Pilate’s response is simply that he is concerned to confirm the fact that Jesus really died: “Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died.” There was no possibility of him going to release this body if the person was not dead. And so he goes to his professional help: he summons the centurion, asking him “whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead,” then “he granted the corpse to Joseph.”

It’s amazing what has happened to this Pilate, isn’t it? Pilate, who’s gone down in history—the reason he’s gone down in history is because of what happens here with the death of Jesus. It’s only a matter of hours since he was asking, “What shall I do with Jesus who is called [the] Christ?”[9] His conscience appears to have died as quickly as Jesus died.

And I say to you, as I must say to you, that when your conscience is stirred by the Word of God, that when you have occasion to be confronted by that question “What should I do with Jesus who is called the Christ?” and when on that occasion the inclination of your heart, the challenge of the evidence, is such as to call you to repentance and faith, on that day, do not harden your heart[10]—the reason being that there is never a guarantee given in the Scriptures that another day like that will ever dawn. And within a relatively short period of time, Pilate, who has had occasion to try and distance himself from the awfulness of it all, to try and buy time for himself, to try and secure for himself a way out from the challenge of it all, now apparently is only concerned with the paperwork. Yes, “there is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” But when it is not taken at the flood, as Pilate was to discover, it leads only to miseries and to shallows.

You can just see the sorry picture there as he takes, as it were, the equivalent of a stamp and he certifies the death of Jesus of Nazareth: “Jesus is dead. Here you go, Joseph of Arimathea. Do what you want with the corpse. Do what you want with the corpse. I release it to you.” “It,” not “him.” “It.” The remains of Jesus of Nazareth.

A Prophecy Fulfilled

A man for the moment, a courageous request, and finally, a prophecy fulfilled. Joseph buys this linen shroud; he takes him down. And as the scene unfolds, we have the fulfillment of Isaiah 53:9: “And they made his grave with the wicked”—that is, between two robbers; that has already been fulfilled—“and with a rich man in his death.” In the providence of God, the Son of God is saved from the ignominy of what would normally have happened to a victim of crucifixion.

John tells us that Joseph in this instance was helped in this generous venture by none other than Nicodemus.[11] If you know your Bible, you know that Nicodemus is the religious man that came to Jesus under cover of darkness himself, and Jesus explained to him that he needed to be born again by the power of God.[12] Nicodemus had a hard time with that, and some of you have had a hard time with that. But in actual fact, Nicodemus was not that unusual, nor, actually, was Joseph of Arimathea. John tells us that “many even of the authorities”—“many even of the authorities”—actually “believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue.”[13]

If you are a secret disciple, believing without confessing, either your secrecy will destroy your discipleship, or your discipleship will destroy your secrecy.

And I say to you again: You may be here as a Joseph of Arimathea. You may be here as a Nicodemus, as a Josephine, and you’ve done enough, you’ve thought enough, to believe in Jesus. You actually believe that he is the Son of God. The reason you’ve come this evening is because you believe that he died for sin. But you’re unconverted. You’re an unconverted believer. You’re living in the shadows, in the secret place.

Now, look at this. One thing is absolutely clear. These men were not intent on making Jesus comfortable for a couple of nights, were they? They had brought, John tells us, seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloe with which to embalm the body of Jesus.[14] Don’t think for a second that this little scene here is the scene of two men so fully in love with Jesus that they said, “Now, let’s get him ready for Easter Sunday. Let’s get him all set, you know, because in a couple of days he’s going to rise again.” They didn’t believe that for a moment! No. From their perspective, the Jesus movement had ended. The King had died. The kingdom was defunct. It was over! Even though Joseph had failed to honor him while he was still alive, he decides, “Given that he’s dead, I can at least extol him in his death.” And so as a result of that, he brings his generosity to bear upon the circumstances.

And this stone, this rock, had been cut in such a way as to create a tomb. If you’ve been to Israel at all, you know, you’ve seen these tombs. Some of them could hold up to as many as sixty bodies. Some of them would only be enough for a small family. Most of them would have various levels in them. Don’t think in terms of them plowing around in a routine Western grave. No, cut into the rock is this space—space big enough for them to enter and do the necessary, as we’ll see on Easter Sunday morning.

It was Joseph’s tomb, it was “a new tomb,” and it was a “garden” tomb.[15] “And he rolled a [great] stone against the entrance of the tomb,” and Mary Magdalene and the other Mary saw this, because they were sitting there opposite the tomb. You’ve got to love these women. They’re there for the crucifixion. They’re present for the death. They’re present for the burial. And wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, they’re the ones who are going to be ready and in place when, against every notion in the minds of those who might have known better, Jesus would find that the bars of the tomb were torn away.

So we end there. It took the cross of Christ to destroy Joseph’s secrecy. It took the cross of Christ to destroy Joseph’s secrecy. If you are a secret disciple, believing without confessing, let me put it to you that either your secrecy will destroy your discipleship, or your discipleship will destroy your secrecy.

Listen to how Paul puts it: “It is with your heart that you believe and are justified,” declared right before God. “It is with your heart … you believe and are justified.” That’s not the end of it: “and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”[16]

It took the cross of Jesus to bring Joseph of Arimathea out of the shadowlands of a secret belief into the unashamed identification with Jesus. Afraid of his colleagues, fearful of the repercussions—does that perhaps describe you? Then how about tonight, Good Friday, you take your stand along with Joseph, along with Nicodemus, and doubtless along with many of the others who, before many weeks had elapsed—if never before, perhaps at Pentecost and listening to Peter preach—they said, “You know, it’s time for us to step out and let the whole world know”?

Father, I pray that you will accomplish the plan and purpose that you have in our study of this little passage now, enabling us to bow in amazing wonder before your sacrifice, Lord Jesus Christ, confessing to you how easy it is for us to hide away, how fearful we are of what others might say of us. “You’re not one of those crazy Jesus-followers, are you?” And again and again we’ve said, “No, not one of the crazy ones.” But tonight we’re prepared to become as crazy as Joseph, as crazy as Nicodemus, as crazy as all of those who gave their lives believing that Jesus died and rose.

Hear our prayers, O God. Look upon us in your mercy, for your Son’s sake. Amen.

[1] Matthew 27:57 (ESV).

[2] Luke 2:25 (ESV).

[3] Mark 1:15 (NIV).

[4] Matthew 27:57 (ESV).

[5] See John 19:38.

[6] See Luke 23:51.

[7] William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, 4.3.

[8] See Matthew 27:33.

[9] Matthew 27:22 (ESV).

[10] See Psalm 95:8; Hebrews 3:8, 15; 4:7.

[11] See John 19:39.

[12] See John 3:1–3.

[13] John 12:42 (ESV).

[14] See John 19:39.

[15] John 19:41 (ESV).

[16] Romans 10:10 (NIV 1984).