LINEN-WRAPPED LORD LAID TO REST
Luke 23:50-51 Now there was a Council member named Joseph, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision or action. He was from the Judean town of Arimathea and was waiting for the kingdom of God.
Susan: Joseph of Arimathea was an incognito disciple of Jesus—a covert convert.
John 19:38 Afterward, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus (but secretly for fear of the Jews), asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, so he came and removed His body
Susie: He kept his trust in Jesus a secret for fear of reprisals by others of the Jewish religious leadership. Remember, we have brought out in earlier passages that those who professed belief in Jesus as the Messiah were thrown out of the synagogues. Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin who was not in agreement with their condemnation of Jesus.
Susan: He was probably not there when the decision was made to deliver Jesus to Pilate to be crucified. Otherwise, he surely would have been a dissenting vote, as would Nicodemus.
Susie: I have a feeling that the leaders only gathered those they knew would vote with them to condemn Jesus.
Susan: The reason they had met at night secretly was so the vote would not be muddled up by those who were for Jesus like Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.
Luke 23:52-53 He went to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and placed it in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had yet been laid.
Susie: Matthew tells us that this tomb belonged to Joseph of Arimathea.
Matthew 27:59-60 So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut into the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away.
Susie: Joseph was bold enough to ask Pilate to allow him to take Jesus’ body for burial, and Pilate granted his request.
Susan: Preparing a body for burial is a very intimate exercise, especially as it was done by family or friends during the time when Jesus lived. The incognito duo of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus became bold enough to ask for Jesus’ body and perform this final service for their Lord. After Joseph of Arimathea was allowed to remove Jesus from the cross, he laid him in his very own tomb.
Susie: He wrapped the body in linen with spices as was the custom, but he did not perform this task alone.
John 19:39-41 Nicodemus, who had previously come to Jesus at night, also brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. So they took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom. Now there was a garden in the place where Jesus was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.
Susie: Remember Nicodemus from John chapter three? He came to Jesus at night to ask Him questions. Now he comes in the daylight to assist in preparing Him for burial.
Susan: One hundred pounds is about what I weighed when I was 5’1”! That’s a lot of aromatic spices and a lot of money put into perfume! They were having to commence with the preparations speedily because it was almost time for the Sabbath.
Luke 23:54 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was beginning.
John 19:42 And because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they placed Jesus there
Susie: Wrapping a body for burial would be considered work and would also render them “unclean” for a period because touching a dead body caused defilement under the law. Therefore, they had to prepare the body in haste.
Susan: Joseph offered his tomb because he loved the Lord, and it was in proximity to Golgotha, the place called “the skull” where the Lord was crucified. Jesus was the first to occupy this tomb but only borrowed it for three short days. Even His burial place fulfilled messianic prophecy:
Isaiah 53:9 (VOICE) And when he was dead, he was buried with the disgraced in borrowed space (among the rich), Even though he did no wrong by word or deed.
Luke 23:55-56 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how His body was placed. Then they returned to prepare spices and perfumes. And they rested on the Sabbath, according to the commandment.
Susie: The women who were devout followers of Jesus followed Joseph and Nicodemus to see where they would put Jesus’s body. Then they went back home to prepare spices and perfumes themselves to anoint the body. Perhaps they did not think the two men would correctly prepare the Lord for the tomb or that the men may not have had time to perform this final ministry. Then the women rested according to the law of the Sabbath.
Ponder this and Apply it: None of Jesus’s followers seem to remember at this point that He said He would rise from the dead. They are lovingly preparing His body for burial while thinking their hopes that He was the Messiah are gone. Would we have had any more confidence than they did? Looking back from this side of the cross, we may think we would have held on to belief. However, how easily do we lose faith in God’s power when we have a much less traumatic event than seeing the One we believed in crucified? We suffer financial loss or illness and ask ourselves whether God is in control, so I am sure we would have been shaken to the core at the foot of the cross. But God is in control. Christ did rise from the grave. We can place our trust in Him.