The Burial of Jesus

Published by Stanley Pouw in 2015 · 30 August 2015

Usually this portion of Matthew is passed by quickly. It doesn't contain any verses we might remember. In fact, for the most part it seems to be a rather routine portion which discusses the burial of Jesus Christ. But it is really an amazing passage of Scripture. And in looking at the burial of Jesus Christ, we are face to face with some astounding truth. The burial of Jesus Christ is as supernatural and as miraculous in many ways as was His death and as will be His resurrection.

There is supernatural intervention in every detail in the life of Christ, from His birth to His burial to His resurrection, everything is controlled by God the Father for the fulfillment of divine purpose and prophecy. Even His burial becomes a testimony to His deity. Even His burial is proof in fact that He is none other than the Son of God who He claimed to be.

Now it comes to us in three testimonies. The first testimony comes through Joseph of Arimathea, the second through Mary Magdalene and the other Mary in verse 61, and the third through the chief priests and Pharisees from verse 62 to 66. All of them play an important role in the burial of Jesus which role ultimately speaks to the truthfulness of Christ's claim to be the Son of God. And so, God is giving testimony to His Son in this.

Let us begin with Joseph of Arimathea who is the first focal point of the burial of Christ from Matthew 27:57-60. And we don't know much about the man but enough to really see some marvelous things. There are two explicit key prophecies that must be fulfilled in the burial of Jesus. One is an Old Testament one given by Isaiah. The other is a New Testament one given by Jesus Himself.

In Isaiah 53:9 says, "And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death.” So Isaiah says it was assigned for Him to be placed in a criminal grave, yet that didn't happen but rather He was with a rich man in His death. Now that obscure prophecy would be difficult to understand until we arrive at the burial scene of Jesus Christ, where instead He is buried with a rich man in His death.

The second prophecy is given by Jesus Christ Himself in Matthew 12:40, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Jesus here predicts then that there will be three days between His death and resurrection. Not only that, that He will be in the earth three days. He calls them three days and nights, as the Jewish colloquial expression was.

Now let's go back to Matthew 27:57, "When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus.” Now the evening of the Jewish day is from 3 P.M. to 6 P.M., the closing out of the day, the Sabbath day will begin at 6 P.M. and run from evening to evening. And so by 3 P.M. in the afternoon on Friday Jesus was dead. That in itself is amazing because usually those who were crucified lived longer than that.

Remember that Jesus was dead not because someone took His life but because He gave His life. It was important that Christ be dead by 3 o'clock so that He could be in the grave on part of Friday so that that day could be included in the three days He had to be in the earth. He had to be buried on Friday so that Friday, Saturday and Sunday, at least a portion of each of those days, He would spend buried as He had prophesied. Now go to John 19 and see how this scene unfolds.

John 19:31 says, "Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.” Whenever John uses the term Jews he refers to the leaders who hate Christ. The day of Preparation was the technical term for Friday. As far back as Exodus 16 the Jewish people were to keep the Sabbath holy and that meant no work and any food preparation had to be done the day before.

So, the leaders were concerned that the bodies would hang on the cross on the Sabbath. It was not just any Sabbath but it was also Passover. Passover falling on the Sabbath. And so they wanted to make sure to obey all the regulations on the Passover day and in the Passover season. Deuteronomy 21:22-23 says, "And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day.”

And so because of this, they come to Pilate and request to take them down after they died. And so to make sure that happened quickly they request in John 19:31, their legs be broken. That literally means to smash the legs until the bones broke which causes the body to only hang from the wrists and to suffocate the person. And then following that they would give "the death stroke." They would then ram a spear into the heart.

So John 19:32-33 says, “So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.” Even in His death, prophecy was fulfilled for in Psalm 34:20 it says explicitly of the dying Savior, "He keeps all His bones and not one of them is broken." Verse 36, "For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.”

The Roman soldiers were not realizing that they were doing all that to fulfill the prophecy of Psalm 34. The Romans did not break Jesus' legs because that is exactly what God wanted them to do, to fulfill a prophecy that would demonstrate that God indeed was certifying this as the Son of God. You seemed not convinced yet, so look at John 19:34, “But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.”

If they knew Jesus was dead, why did they do that? The answer is in verse 37, "And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.” And that is out of Zechariah 12:10. They did exactly what God intended them to do to certify that this is indeed the one of whom the prophet spoke. Even in His death, prophecy is being fulfilled. The spear wound was so deep that He could say to the still doubting Thomas in John 20:27, “put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”

Now typically when a body was taken off the cross it would be thrown into a common criminal's grave or pit to be burned or eaten by scavengers. And that was what would have been assigned to Jesus. Isaiah 53:9 says that Jesus would be assigned with the wicked in His death, but He would wind up with the rich. And so, God the Father in a miraculous way moves on the heart of a man, in verse 57, “When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus.”

Mark 15:43 says he was a Sanhedrin member, a member of the ruling body that convicted Jesus Christ of the crime of claiming to be the Son of God and sentenced Him to death. It also says he was a knowledgeable counselor, and that he had a heart that really sought God and God's truth. Luke 23:50-51 says, “Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, 51 who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God.” And it was important that he was rich.

And that for the sake of the fulfillment of the prophecy. The only thing we know about Arimathea is from Luke 23:51 that says it was a city of the Jews in Judea rather than Galilee. Now we assume that he lived in great proximity to the city of Jerusalem because Joseph of Arimathea had his own grave right outside the city. Now it also says that Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, as someone who believed what Jesus said.

John 19:38 says, "After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body.” If the Sanhedrin found out he was believer of Jesus, it would be the end of his Sanhedrin rights. And it would be the end of his wealth because he wouldn't be able to do business with anybody. It would be the end of his social status, his family would be alienated and ostracized.

But God moves on his heart. And Mark says he summoned up courage. He had to move fast because God had to have somebody get Jesus in the ground while it was still Friday. So far the Jews had cooperated. They were in a hurry to get Him down. So Pilate had cooperated, now God needed somebody who could get Jesus in the ground before Friday ended at 6:00 PM. When Jesus said three days and three nights He wasn't saying three full 24-hour periods, but three portions of those full 24- hour periods.

And God arranged it such that Joseph has a tomb near enough so that Jesus can be carried from the cross after being let down by the soldiers to the tomb and put in the grave still on Friday. And this was not done so that they wouldn't violate the Sabbath. Joseph had already done that when he went in to Pilate's building to ask for the body. Secondly, when he himself carried the dead body of Jesus from the cross to the tomb, he would have defiled himself already with a dead body.

So Joseph went to Pilate in verse 58, he didn't know what Pilate would do to him. Pilate had had enough of the Sanhedrin, which had put him in a humiliating position for a haughty Roman. Why would he be generous to a member of the Sanhedrin and give him the body? Besides, the only person who had the right to a body would only be a family member. So, the only reason Joseph had to want the body was that he was a follower of Jesus Christ. So there was no human reason for Joseph to expect that body.

Joseph was operating with haste not because he was concerned about his own observance of the Sabbath but because God arranged it so that Jesus be in there before the Sabbath began. And he is doing this for a man he believes in not who has risen from the dead, but who is dead. He was drawn by love for Jesus to do this for Him, who had been so desecrated and dishonored, even at the loss of all of his own benefits in life.

So Mark 14 says Pilate sent some soldiers to check if Jesus was dead because he couldn't believe He was dead already. And Joseph wanted the body. John 19:39-40 says, “Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.” Both Joseph and Nicodemus anointed the body with many spices to keep the smell of death away.

Myrrh was a liquid and aloe is a powder and they mixed it. And Joseph got the fine linen, it says in verse 59. The only time anybody was anointed with 72 pounds was when they were royalty. So they buried Him with a burial of a king. And the women helped too. They wrapped the arms and legs, and then the torso and a special napkin for the head. And as they wound those linens around Him, they filled it with these spices.

Matthew 27:59-60 says, “And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud. 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.” That tomb there is known as the Garden Tomb and just off to the right of it is a skull-shaped rock and beneath that on the highway is where Jesus was crucified. Oh how God superintended every detail to make sure Jesus would be in the ground and it would still be Friday.

The stone was there because there were grave robbers, and people were buried with things of value. And it all happened on Friday. Verse 62 says, “The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation.” The burial of Jesus Christ done by this secret disciple now becomes public for the world to know throughout all history. Joseph of Arimathea, did orchestrate all to fulfill prophecy that Jesus would be buried for three days and that He would be with the rich in His death.

Now verse 61 tells us there was a second group of people who also were used by God to give evidence of the deity of Christ. Verse 61 says, "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.” Now the other Mary, is defined as the mother of James and Joseph, also called by the other writers as the wife of Clopas. She was one of those ladies who served the Lord who came with Him from Galilee.

What's the significance of verse 61? Look at Matthew 28:1, “Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.” The two women come to get a closer look. Verse 2-5, "And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid.”

There are only two eye witnesses to the resurrection, two Mary’s, what a testimony of God's special gracious place for women. The disciples were only second-hand witnesses. They felt the ground shake. They received communication from a dazzling brilliant angel whose garment was white as snow and whose face was like lightning. We do not worship someone that we hope came out of the grave, we have first-hand eye witnesses and they went and spread the message.

And the angel said, "Don't be afraid. I know you seek Jesus who was crucified. Verse 6, “He is not here, He has risen. Come and see the place. Now go and tell the disciples He is risen." And they became the priority witnesses. The first-hand testimony was given by two women to the resurrection of Christ. They ran out of that place, verse 8 says, they ran to bring the disciples word.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not a hoax, there were people who saw it. Not people who had something to gain, not the disciples of Jesus that someone might think must have fabricated it to carry on their particular program. These were women. They were disciples of Jesus in one sense, but certainly not the ones that the world would assume would be the ones to fabricate the resurrection. In fact the truth is the disciples were a little reluctant to even believe them.

There is a third group and this is fascinating. God also uses the chief priests and the Pharisees to verify the deity of Jesus Christ. How does He do that? Come back next Sunday morning and I'm going to tell you but we don't have time for that this evening. It is the most amazing thing. They are so concerned that the disciples are going to steal the body that they set the situation up to prove the resurrection really happened. And God causes the wrath of men to praise Him. Let us pray.