OUR LORD’S BURIAL

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on April 13, 2022 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: April 13, 2022 from Luke 23:50-56

Theme: Our Lord’s body was buried reverently because it would raise in glory.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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As believers, we give a great deal of attention to our Lord’s life, death, resurrection, and glory—as well we should. But we don’t give enough attention to His burial. That’s an event that is an essential part of our faith. As one of the oldest of Christian creeds—the Apostle’s Creed—has it, we not only declare our belief in “God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth”, but also “in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord” who was “crucified, dead, and buried”. And as the apostle Paul put it in his clear statement of the content of the gospel he preached:

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures … (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

So then; in our study of Luke’s Gospel, we come to the story he tells us of the important event of Jesus’ burial. In Luke 23:50-56—after the story of our Lord’s crucifixion, we read;

Now behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man. He had not consented to their decision and deed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before. That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near. And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment (Luke 23:50-56).

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Now; in this passage, we find stories told to us of the reverent way that our Lord’s body was handled and prepared for burial—and also of who it was that did this work. But before we look into those details, it would be good for us to consider why it’s so essential to our faith that our Lord was ‘buried’.

One way that it’s important is by the fact that it teaches us about the degree to which our Lord experienced ‘humiliation‘. The Bible tells us, in Philippians 2:9, that “being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross”; and we might say that His burial was the ‘final stage’ of that humiliation. He could not experience the full degree of humiliation we experience; because His body could not experience the decay that our bodies will experience when we die. This is because the Bible promises in Psalm 16:10 that God would not allow His holy One to undergo ‘corruption’ (see also Acts 2:31; 13:36-37). As one who was about to be raised from the dead—never to see corruption—the furthest He could be brought down in a humble condition was to be buried in death.

Another way that it’s important is in that it proves to us—conclusively—that Jesus truly did experience death for us. When people heard Jesus cry out, “It is finished”, the completion of His sacrifice for our sins could only be assured to us by the fact that He truly died as our Substitute. Our salvation depends upon it being a sure and certain fact that—as it says in Romans 4:25—He “was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.” We are assured of the fact that He was raised to life from true, authentic human death by the fact that His body—battered and broken from beatings and exposure—was removed from the cross, placed in a cold tomb, wrapped in about 100 pounds of linen cloths and fragrant herbs, sealed inside, and left there for three days without any life support or care. His burial is indisputable evidence that He truly did experience death for our sins—and truly was raised because of our justification.

A third way that Jesus’ burial is important is in that—as the theologian Louis Berkhof put it—it served to “remove the terrors of the grave for the redeemed and to sanctify the grave for them”.¹ By being buried (just as, unless the Lord comes soon, we too will be), Jesus has secured complete victory over the grave for us; and has taken its permanency away from us. As Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us;

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage (Hebrews 2:14-15).

And a fourth way that Jesus’ burial is important to us is that it highlights the glory of His resurrection as the sure evidence of our salvation. The victory of the resurrection stands in stark contrast to the burial in the tomb; and shows us clearly the saving power of Jesus’ sacrifice for us. As Dr. Harry Ironside put it, Jesus died on the cross for sinners;

and now His body lay in the tomb, and no one on earth knew whether or not redemption was an accomplished fact. If He had not come forth from that tomb then there would have been no evidence that the sin question had been settled. But His resurrected body was to be the proof of the efficacy of His work. Now, thank God, “He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).²

So; just think of how important the fact of Jesus’ burial was. The time that His body spent in the grave wasn’t an incidental matter. It should be considered a key part of the ‘Holy Week’ story—an event that links Good Friday to Resurrection Sunday. It’s a part of the gospel message that we must not neglect. We don’t really tell the whole gospel unless we declare that Jesus was “crucified, dead, and buried”.

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Now; given all that, let’s consider carefully what Luke tells us about our Lord’s burial. We see first that His body was …

1. PLACED HONORABLY IN A TOMB BY JOSEPH (vv. 50-53).

Luke tells us about Joseph in verses 50-51. He writes; “Now behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man. He had not consented to their decision and deed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God.”

Joseph was an important man. He was a member of ‘the council’; which means that he was a member of the Sanhedrin—the ruling council of the Jewish people. He held a position of esteem and influence. What’s more, we’re told that he was “a good and just man”. At a time when other members of that council had conspired together against Jesus to do evil, Joseph stood out as a man of honor.

But in addition to what Luke tells us, the other Gospels also give us some important information about this man. In John 19:38, for example, we’re told that he was “a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews”. He had been waiting for the kingdom of God that had been promised in the Scriptures; and he had come—somehow along the way—to recognize that the kingdom had its fulfillment in this man Jesus. He had become a follower in Jesus somewhere along the way—although he had been a ‘secret’ follower. But we could say that his actions with regard to Jesus’ burial show that his devotion to Jesus had now become public. And we’re also told, in Matthew 27:57, that Joseph was “a rich man” from the city of Arimathea. He had not agreed with the other council members in their plot against Jesus; and he had the financial wherewithal to provide an honorable burial for Jesus—and a place for that honorable burial to occur—in spite of the council’s decision.

Luke goes on to tell us in verse 52, “This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.” In Mark 15:43—in the New King James Version—we’re told that Joseph “coming and taking courage” went and ask this of Pilate. It may have truly taken courage to do so; because the Romans would not have ordinarily allowed someone that they crucified to be considered worthy of an honorable burial. It would have been a ‘contradictory statement’ to the dishonor that a crucifixion was meant to convey. And yet, Joseph must have had the influence and esteem to make such a bold request of the Roman governor—and for Pilate to then grant his request.

In verse 53, Luke goes on to tell us, “Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock …” This would not, however, have been work that he did alone. In John 19:39-40, we’re told that Nicodemus—the ruler of the Jewish people who had come to Jesus by night in John 3 to ask questions of Him—was also helping Joseph:

And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury (John 19:39-40).

And we’re told that they laid him in a tomb in a garden—not far from where Jesus had been crucified—“where no one had ever lain before.” Matthew 27:60 tells us that this was Joseph’s own tomb which he had apparently had hewn out of the rock for himself. The fact that it was unused means that no other dead body had been placed inside—and that it was therefore pure and uncontaminated. It had seen no decay—and neither did the body of our Lord.

In all of this, we see how honorably our Lord’s precious body was treated for burial. Joseph was a man who could testify that Jesus had truly died!—and probably did testify of it after He rose!

But Joseph wasn’t the only one involved in the story. Luke goes on to tell us that Jesus’ body was …

2. PREPARED FOR HONORABLY BY THE WOMEN (vv. 54-56).

Luke tells us in verse 54, “That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near.” Preparation Day, according to Mark 15:42, was “the day before the Sabbath”—that is, Friday. Apparently, that day had not yet come to an end (which would occur at 6 pm); but there was not enough time to make full preparations for Jesus’ body in terms of the traditional burial. So, we’re told in verse 55, “And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid.” They knew exactly where the tomb was in which Jesus’ body had been placed—and how He had been placed in it.

It must be that while Joseph and Nicodemus finished their work, these women went away—while they had time to do so—to gather up the needed supplies. Verse 56 tells us, “Then they returned”—that is, to their homes—“and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.” The first verse of Chapter 24 tells us;

Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared (24:1).

As it turned out, of course, they never got to put the preparations they had made to use. And the preparations that Joseph and Nicodemus had done didn’t last either. Praise God!

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But this didn’t mean that Jesus’ body didn’t receive preparation. Let’s close with a story that we find in John 12. It’s a story of something that happened a few days before Jesus was buried. We’re told;

Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it. But Jesus said, “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always” (John 12:1-8).

As it turned out, the women came to anoint Jesus’ dead body—not knowing that it was about to be raised. Mary, however, came to anoint Jesus’ living body—knowing that it was about to be crucified.

The story of Jesus’ burial, then, is a very important one. God the Father providentially ordained that our Lord’s crucified body—precious and holy—was buried reverently. And this was because that very same body would be raised in glory to assure us of our salvation!

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¹ L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1941), p. 340.

² H.A. Ironside, Addresses on The Gospel of Luke (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, 1947), p. 694.

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