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26 JESUS’ BURIAL-Jesus’
end had not been simply a natural death. It was Preparation Day (that is, the
day before the Sabbath). Before sunset, Joseph, a prominent member of the
Council, and a wealthy man with Nicodemus, both of whom were Jewish Teachers
and officials, were previously secret disciples of Jesus, but now became
courageous enough to ask Pilate, the Roman Overseer for permission to take
His body for burial.
These two
Jewish Teachers had not agreed with the other Leaders regarding the bribe for
betrayal, nor the arrest and the mock trial of Jesus because the event was a
ritual murder carried out by the authorities of Rome, engineered by their own
Jewish Religious leaders of that day.
Pilate was
surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked
him if Jesus had already died. Proof of death was given by experienced Roman
soldiers, skilled in the art of crucifixion before the body was allowed to be
taken down, and it was necessary to be moved because of the ‘solemn’
Religious Festivities occurring at that time and especially the onset of the
Sabbath. When Pilate learned from the Centurion that it was so, he gave the
body to Joseph.
This deed
of an honourable burial for Jesus as prophesied, was an act of love by the
wealthy Joseph of Arimathea, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God
and the Pharisee Nicodemus.
Nicodemus
brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds and taking
Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in between the
folds of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs and not to
allow a body to decay or be desecrated above the ground. Not to be buried,
was highly dishonourable and scandalous.
The two men
placed Jesus' body in a clean linen cloth prepared for burial, into Joseph's
own new rock-hewn tomb that he had cut out of the rock in a nearby garden
which fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 53:9.Then a big stone was rolled in
front of the entrance to the tomb and they went away before darkness came.
The tomb of
Jesus was located in a garden near the place where He was crucified outside
the city walls of Jerusalem. Joseph had apparently prepared it for his own
family's use. It was not uncommon for the well-to-do to prepare such a tomb
in advance because of the difficulty of digging graves in the rocky ground
around Jerusalem.
The tomb was large enough for someone to sit inside. Jesus’ body was laid on
a rock shelf cut laterally into the rock with a vaulted arch over it. Josephs’
new secure tomb was a typical Jewish tomb for the comfortably rich which was
designed to be used with a doorway that could be sealed with a stone and in
most cases a rolling stone fitted into a groove or track so that the tomb
could be opened and closed by rolling the stone back and forth in front of
the doorway. A door was also used to keep the body safe against roaming
animals.
The women who had come with Jesus
from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in
it. Mary Magdalene, and Mary, mother of James, were watching nearby, sitting
there opposite the tomb. It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to
begin. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes for anointing
Jesus‘ body. But they rested on the Sabbath, being the next day, in obedience
to the commandment. the.
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