The Burial of Jesus Christ June 29, 2014 John 19:31-42

Transcription

1 I. Introduction The Burial of Jesus Christ June 29, 2014 John 19:31-42 Benjamin Franklin said, The only things certain in life are death and taxes. In Psalm 89:48 David wrote, What man can live and not see death, or save himself from the power of the grave? Until the Lord returns, we all know that death is part of the life cycle. One of the more upsetting aspects of death is the element of surprise. Death frequently comes suddenly and unexpectedly, leaving words unsaid, plans unfinished, dreams and hopes unfulfilled. Even when we know that death is imminent, we are still not quite ready when it does occur. We are never quite ready for death. This wasn t the case for Jesus, death didn t surprise Him; in John 10:17-18 He said, The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life-- only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father. Last Sunday we saw Jesus Christ willingly give up His life as He had said He would. Having accomplished the work of redemption, Jesus cried out, It is finished. (The price had been paid in full.) After saying that, John 19:30 says that he bowed His head and gave up His spirit. Using a variety of agents, including King Herod in Matthew 2:16 and the people who tried to stone Him in John 5:16-18; 10:31, satan had tried to take Jesus life at other times, but Jesus would not die until the exact moment called for in God s predetermined planned. Jesus' death was not the death of a victim; it was the death of a victor. Mark tells us in Mark 15:25 that Jesus was crucified at the third hour or 9 am. In verse 33 he writes that At the sixth hour (i.e. noon) darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour (i.e. 3 pm) when Jesus died. Jesus was on the cross for only about six hours. Most people who were crucified lingered for two or three days for example, both the robbers crucified along with Jesus were still alive after He died. The reason the Lord died so soon is that He gave up His life to death when He willed to do so Romans 5:6 says that at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Often as we consider the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we barely touch on His burial. But what happened during that time must be important all four Gospels include it. Jesus was a king; He deserved a king s burial. Royal burials were expensive and planned out. Jesus burial was no different. This morning we are going to look at the two groups of people who were involved in Jesus burial: the Roman soldiers and the Jewish believers. II. The Burial of Jesus Christ 1

2 A. First, the Roman soldiers In an act of complete hypocrisy, John writes in John 19:31 that the Jews therefore, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away (NAS). It was getting late in the afternoon on the day of preparation for the Sabbath, i.e. it was late Friday. They were concerned that the bodies of Jesus and the two robbers not remain on the cross on the Sabbath. This was a special Sabbath--it was the Sabbath of Passover week. The leaders were concerned that that if the bodies were left on the cross, the land and therefore those living there would be defiled. Turn to Deuteronomy 21: These hypocrites were concerned about carrying out the law but at the same time they were killing the One who gave it. They were concerned about the land, but were unconcerned about their own defilement from murdering the Son of God. The Roman practice was to leave crucified bodies on the crosses for a long time as a public display of discipline. Some people would last for days on a cross. Breaking the legs of a crucified person was done when there was a reason to hasten his death. Using a mallet to break the legs caused shock and more blood loss but, more importantly, it brought about asphyxiation. The crucified person could no longer lift himself up to breathe without using his legs, he would soon suffocate. Understanding the importance of this Sabbath, Pilate granted the Jews request and ordered that the legs of the 3 crucified men be broken. From the human viewpoint, it s remarkable that the Roman soldiers didn t do what they were commanded to do and that they did do what they weren t supposed to do. They didn t break all 3 victim s legs; instead when they came to Jesus they pierced His side. In both actions, the soldiers unwittingly fulfilled the Word of God. By giving His life when He did, our Lord assured that the soldiers would fulfill prophesy. According to God s Word, no bone of the Passover lamb was to be broken; Exodus 12:46 says that the Passover lamb must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. In Numbers 9:12 we read, They must not leave any of it till morning or break any of its bones. Jesus was the perfect fulfillment of the Passover lamb and, as such, the Lord s bones were protected by God. Quoting from Psalm 34:20 about the Messiah, John wrote, He protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. Jesus early death led to His being pierced to be sure He was dead. The unusual act of piercing Jesus side was necessary to fulfill prophesy turn to Zechariah 12:10. That God said, They will look on me, the one they have pierced affirms that Jesus was God. The fulfillment of this prophesy will be at Christ s 2 nd coming, when the repenting remnant of Israel will mourn over rejecting and killing their King. Revelation 1:7 says, Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. 2

3 John saw a special significance in the blood and water that came from the wound in Jesus side. For one thing, it proved that Jesus had a real body and experienced real death. Physically, the water mixed with blood indicated that either Jesus heart or His chest cavity had been pierced either way He was dead. There may be some symbolic meaning in the blood and the water books have been written about the possibilities. We'll save that for some other day. In any case, John emphasizes that this is an eyewitness account perhaps his own. John s account isn t hearsay, fiction, or legend it is a historical record of actual experienced and observed events. Then we see the... B. The Jewish believers When the soldiers were through with their gruesome work, the Jewish believers took over. Normally the Romans wouldn t allow those executed to be buried. On the other hand, the Jews didn t refuse burial to anyone, but they buried criminals at a separate location in a common grave. To fulfill prophesy which went against both traditions, God had prepared two high-ranking men to prepare His body for burial and to place it in the correct tomb. Isaiah 53:9 says, They intended to bury him with criminals, but he ended up in a rich man's tomb (New English Translation). The two men were Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus the night visitor of John 3:1-21. The only time Joseph of Arimathea is seen in the Bible is in connection with Jesus burial. From Matthew 27:57 we find that he was rich secular history claims that he was one of the 3 richest people in Jerusalem at that time. Mark 15:43 records that Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. As well as being rich, he was a prominent member of the Sanhedrin and was looking for the Messiah. Luke 23:50-51 tells us that he was a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. Joseph didn t agree with the decision of the Sanhedrin to condemn Jesus. John informs us that he was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. When Jesus was alive, Joseph may have been afraid to lose his prestige, power, and position, but now he exposed himself to great risk as he approached Pilate and asked for the body of a man executed as a rival king. To get rid of the whole mess, Pilate granted permission for Joseph to take Jesus body. Having received Pilate s approval, Joseph and Nicodemus went and took away Christ s body and hurriedly prepared it for burial. They both risked ceremonial uncleanness from touching a dead body (thus prohibiting them from all festival ceremonies), not to mention challenges to their political and religious careers. To place Jesus in a tomb of prestige implied giving honor to this man whom the council has declared a criminal. Joseph and Nicodemus were willing face the wrath of the Sanhedrin to demonstrate their love for the Lamb of God. 3

4 Considering the short time they had, it would seem that Joseph and Nicodemus had carefully planned their activities at Calvary ahead of time. They certainly couldn t have purchased and prepared a tomb at the last minute, nor could they have purchased pounds of costly spices so quickly during the Passover when many merchants wouldn t even be doing business. No sooner had Jesus died than Joseph went to Pilate. Nicodemus may have remained at the cross to make sure nothing happened to his Lord s body. Joseph and Nicodemus had to hurry. They needed to finish their work before the Sabbath began. But there was even a more important reason for Jesus to be buried before sundown. In Matthew 12:40 Jesus had predicted, For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jesus needed to be buried while it was still Friday, so He could be in the tomb for 3 days part of Friday afternoon, Saturday, and part of Sunday morning. In His burial as well as His death, Jesus directed all the details so that they satisfied God s already revealed plan. In an earlier council meeting Nicodemus had boldly stood up and defended the Savior turn John 7: Nicodemus must have done just that he looked into it. As he and probably Joseph searched the Scriptures, they saw that Jesus was the Lamb of God and that He would be sacrificed at Passover. As Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:14, He would be lifted up. With this knowledge, the two men could have had everything waiting in the new tomb the spices and the wrappings ready for the moment when the Savior would lay down His life. Because of the importance of speed, they couldn t give Jesus body the full washing and anointing that was traditional, but they did the best they could. It was important to get the body safely away from the Romans and the Jewish leaders. Plus, Mary of Bethany had already anointed Jesus body for the burial back in John 12:1-8. Unlike the Egyptians, the Jews didn t embalm their dead; they used fragrant spices to cover the smell of the decaying body for as long as possible. The spices were probably sprinkled along the entire length of the strips of cloth that were wrapped around Jesus body. More spices would be packed around and under His body once it was placed in the tomb. Matthew 25:61 and Mark 15:47 record that Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses watched the two men prepare the body and they witnessed the burial. Obviously, neither Joseph nor Nicodemus nor the women were expecting Jesus to rise from the dead. If they had believed His predictions, they wouldn t have bothered to prepare His body so thoroughly for burial. Having done all they could, John writes and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. Matthew 27:60 records that, as was commonly done, Joseph s tomb had been carved out of rock and was sealed by rolling a large stone in front of the entrance. As one commentator wrote, The Sabbath was about to dawn. Jesus had finished the work of the new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), and now He would rest. III. Conclusion 4

5 The tomb isn t to be looked at as a place of defeat; like the cross, the tomb is a place of glory and victory. God s plan of redemption was finished. Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, freely gave His life for those that would believe in Him. Jesus didn t only exhibit His divine power over death by controlling the details of His dying, but even more remarkably, He also controlled the circumstances of His burial after He was dead. Just as in His life and His death, here too Jesus revealed His humanity and His deity and fulfilled biblical prophecy. In 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 Paul summarizes the Gospel: For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Jesus wasn t just a crazy man who hoodwinked some ignorant people. As the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus said in Matthew 27:54, Surely he was the Son of God. Jesus was the Son of God who gave His life to pay the penalty for the sins of everyone who believes in Him and makes Him his or her Lord and Savior. So, what do you say about Jesus? If you are a child of God, if He is your Lord and Savior, here is proof enough to give you courage in your daily walk He is who He claimed to be as Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:15, So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. We are in a battle it s obvious if you just look around, but we are on the winning side. In closing, turn to Ephesians 6: Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil s schemes. With the armor of God you can stand against the devil. As Paul wrote in Philippians 4:13 we can do everything through him who gives us strength. 5