PASSION WEEK – Friday and Saturday

THE BURIAL

As soon as it was clear Jesus was dead, Joseph of Arimathaea went to Pilate to seek permission to take the body of Jesus off the cross.

We know from the text a few things about Joseph.

• He was from Arimathaea which was a city in Judea though there is no known town by this name. Scholars debate on the location. The 4th century church historian Eusebius thought it was Ramathaim-Zophim, the hometown of the prophet Samuel. The Crusaders thought it was Ramla and built a church there to honor Joseph.
• He was rich. (Mt.27:57)
• He was a member of the Sanhedrin but had not consented to the death of Jesus. (Mk. 15:43, Lk. 23:50-51)
• He was a secret disciple of Jesus. The use of the term “disciple” by both Matthew and John, who were of the 12 disciples, is telling. They counted Joseph as a fellow-disciple. Joseph wasn’t just an interested observer or a fan-boy. He was an actual student. But he had to “attend class” with Jesus secretly because from the death of Lazarus, it was a crime to know where Jesus was and not report Him.
• He was a righteous man and a serious follower of Yahweh. He must’ve been a student of Bible prophecy because he “waited for the Kingdom of God,” (Lk. 23:51) He recognized that Jesus fit all of the prophecies concerning the Messiah.
• He had recently had a family tomb carved out of rock in a location outside of the city, not far from the place where Jesus was crucified.

The King Arthur legend really begins with Joseph of Arimathaea taking the chalice and plate that Jesus used at the Last Supper (called the Grail and Paten), plus the spear that pierced His side to the furthest corner of the Roman Empire where they would be safe from persecution. Here’s a video of Dr. Malcom Guite on this topic. He’s a pipe-smoking Anglican poet and professor cut from the same cloth as Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, and I think he may be almost single-handedly saving the Faith in the U.K. Highly recommend his channel.

Joseph had to ask permission for the body of Jesus because the general practice of Rome was to leave the bodies of crucified criminals on their crosses to rot and be picked apart by scavengers. It was part of the degradation of the criminal and the psychological warfare that kept Rome in power. The Romans did not put up with crime and they made sure everyone knew it.

Typically, the bodies (what was left of them) would eventually be thrown into mass graves. In Judea, the Jews may have had some special arrangements that allowed for quick burial, but in general, the bodies of crucified criminals (and all of their personal effects like their clothes and shoes) would be considered the property of Rome so the disciples couldn’t just take the body of Jesus.

When Joseph asks for the body, Pilate may rightly have been surprised that Jesus was dead already. He waits for confirmation.

“Now Pilate wondered if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether He was already dead. And after learning this from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.”
‭‭Mark‬ ‭15‬:‭44‬-‭45‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

This confirmation of death is important.

There are two nonsense theories put forward in direct opposition to the eye-witness claims of the Gospels, that say Jesus did not in fact die on the cross.

The “Swoon Theory” states that Jesus did not die on the cross, He merely fainted. And when He was placed in a cool tomb with fragrant spices and allowed to rest, He recovered. This idea was popularized in the 18th century and is sometimes called the “Resusitation Theory.”

In Islam, there is a similar theory about Jesus’ death; that He only appeared to die. In Surah 4:157 the Quran states:

“And for their saying, “We have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the Messenger of God.” In fact, they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them as if they did. Indeed, those who differ about him are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it, except the following of assumptions. Certainly, they did not kill him.”

Some Islamic traditions interpret this text to mean that God somehow supernaturally substituted a different person who was put on the cross in Jesus’ place.

Isn’t it interesting that the truth of Christ being the substitute for sinners gets completely flipped on its head in this view? Man is made the substitute for Christ instead of Christ the substitute for sinful man. Unbelievers have a real problem with the historical fact of the death and resurrection of Jesus. And they have tried to invent ways around it. You have to really suspend disbelief to think that…

• A seasoned Roman execution squad didn’t know a dead man when they saw one
• Hundreds of other eyewitnesses also didn’t know death when they saw it
• The Disciples didn’t know their Master when they saw Him
• Jesus’ own mother did not recognize her son
• A man who has lost pints and pints of blood would just naturally recover without being given food, water, or medical attention for 3 days
• The Roman Governor would release the body of Jesus’ without confirmation of His death
• A Roman Centurion would risk his life for a dead Jewish man and outright lie to the Governor

No. That’s too much of a stretch for me. The fact is that Jesus of Nazareth (and not some substitute) was well and truly dead. And that matters.

The scene of Jesus being lowered from the cross is the subject of many pieces of sacred art. In most of them, the main subject is of course Jesus, surrounded by Joseph of Arimathaea, Nicodemus, John, Mary of Magdala, Mary the Mother of Jesus, and Mrs. Zebedee (mother of James and John).

By far, my favorite piece of art reflecting this part of the death of Jesus is Michelangelo’s Pieta.

I mean… look at this detail and think about the fact that it was carved by hand out of solid marble. The folds of cloth look so real…

It was mid-April and probably around 4pm when Jesus is taken down from the cross. They don’t have much time before sunset when the Sabbath begins.

I know the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin has been much debated. The most recent tests point to the image being a kind of photo negative of a crucified man from the first century. I’m more inclined than not to believe that the image on it is Christ, but the only thing I trust completely the text of scripture. And there are inconsistencies between the text and the shroud. Perhaps there are good explanations for these inconsistencies. I don’t know what they are.

Luke, Matthew, and John use the Greek word entulisso to describe the linen.

The shroud seems to have been laid flat over the man it covers. And I think the “entwining” detail is a critical part of the proof of the resurrection. But we’ll get to that in the next post.

The Jews did not “mummify” their dead in the strict sense of the word – removing blood and fluid and organs. But they did wrap their dead in strips of linen.

“Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.”
‭‭John‬ ‭19‬:‭39‬-‭40‬ ‭ESV‬‬

We know from John 20:6-7 that Jesus was wrapped in 2 separate cloths; one around His head and the rest around His body. The Shroud of Turin is a single piece. Again, there may be a good explanation for the discrepancy.

They would’ve torn the linen into strips, and, beginning probably with the feet would’ve wrapped the linen around Him pasting layers together with the mixture of resinous myrrh, sticky aloes, and strong spices. They would usually place the arms at the sides (another distinction from the Shroud of Turin) and continued wrapping from finger tips to neck. The head was wrapped in a separate piece.

Here’s another tiny artwork in my Bible margin. This one is 3/8in.

Go ahead. Look up Luke 2:12. I’ll wait. 🪑 Cool huh?

🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳

“Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.”
‭‭John‬ ‭19‬:‭41‬-‭42‬ ‭ESV‬‬

All of the gospels record Jesus being laid in a new tomb. It is only Matthew who tells us that the tomb belonged to Joseph of Arimathaea.

Here’s how the location maps to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The shaded area shows the terrain as it was in Jesus’ time. The burial chambers probably began as a natural cave and were in use from about 100BC. The hillside was cut away in 326AD when Constantine built the first church over the site. The structure built around Jesus’ tomb looks like this from inside the church:

It’s a whole building inside of a building.

Would you like to see the inside?

Video – Inside the Tomb of Jesus (11min)

Archaeologists recently completed a dig inside the church and found evidence that supports what John said about there being a garden at the site- 2000 year old pollen and remnants of grape vines and olive pits.

In 2016 the building over the tomb, called the Edicule, was extensively repaired. During the repairs, for the first time in many centuries, the protective marble slab that covered the stone where Jesus was laid was moved. National Geographic was asked to document the entire restoration. You can watch the whole 47-minute special here.

Back to the Gospels…

All three synoptic gospels record the women being close by as Jesus is placed in the tomb and the stone placed to seal it. The men and women go home before sunset to observe the sabbath.

The very minute the sabbath was over at sunset on Saturday, the Jewish leaders go to see Pilate. Here is a bit of commentary from Jamison, Faucett, and Brown explaining the timing:

Let’s look closely at what they requested:

“The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭27‬:‭62‬-‭66‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The Guard…

The Greek word for “guard” or “watch” here is custodia. This was not a formally recognized military unit. A typical guard detail for prisoners was a Quaternion; 4 men who each took a 3-hour shift. The next size up was called a Contubernium; 8 men plus 2 non-combatants (usually slaves) who shared a single tent.

These small units could be combined as needed to form larger details of 12-16 soldiers. In a quaternion, off-duty members would sleep in a perimeter around the prisoner. The penalty for sleeping on duty or the escape of a prisoner was death.

The Seal…

We still seal things today for security. Shipping containers, mail, medication, and even pricier items at Walmart and Dollar General have tamper-evident devices or packaging that prove whether or not something has been opened.

The Romans would use wax, clay, or lead to seal documents, crates, jars, doors – anything that wasn’t to be opened by an unauthorized person. If the seal was broken there was proof of tampering.

A wax seal might’ve looked a bit like this:

Cords could’ve been placed over the stone and connected by a wax seal stamped by the authorizing person, in this case, Pilate. If anyone moved the stone, the seal would be broken. It’s also possible that blobs of soft clay or lead were pressed into the seam where the large stone met the opening edge of the tomb. And the lumps stamped with the seal. And the image on the seal might’ve looked like this:

This ring was found in the late 1960’s when archeologists excavated in Herod’s tomb. It wasn’t examined until 2018. It was found to be inscribed with the name Pilatus. And there was only one Pilate during the time of that Herod.

If this was Pilate’s sealing ring, then you are probably looking at the ring that stamped the seal for the tomb of Jesus.

The guards set the seal and settle in for a typical night of guard duty. It will turn out to be anything BUT typical.