GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
MARK 15:46-47
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46 And Joseph bought a linen shroud, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen shroud, and placed it in a tomb that had been cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.
After his interview with Pilate, Joseph hurried to buy a linen funeral shroud. We are told by John that Nicodemus brought a hundred Roman pounds (11½ ounces to our pound) of myrrh and aloes to anoint and wrap the body (John 19:39). Here is the counterbalance of faith: Jesus’ disciples who had followed him publicly during the days of his ministry were now in hiding during the hours and days of his death. But by the miraculous grace of God, these two men who had hidden away their faith and been secret believers doing the days of his ministry now openly confessed their faith and devotion in the hours of his death. God’s grace often brings about strength in our weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9), so that we can see that our faith and salvation do not depend upon us, but upon God’s grace alone.
Our culture uses coffins in place of shrouds, but they serve the same purpose. It is a dignified enclosure for a body as it is laid in the grave. Joseph used his own grave for Jesus; no body had ever been placed in that grave (John 19:41). And Jesus was not touched by decay at all: “You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay” (Psalm 16:10).
So they took Jesus’ body down from the cross. Besides Joseph and Nicodemus, John the Apostle was present, along with the women, and the centurion might have directed the soldiers to help them. It meant removing the nails from his hands and feet, and wiping the blood from his body and from his wounds. The body was then wrapped. The process seems to have involved using the aloes and myrrh while wrapping the body in linen strips (John 20:6), and then the final wrapping of the linen shroud and a separate burial cloth for Jesus’ head (John 20:7).
Joseph had a new tomb near Golgotha. The tomb was cut into solid rock, since bedrock is the usual substance under the shallow soil around Jerusalem. To the east of the city, on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, are the tombs of David’s son Absalom (the style of this tomb looks decidedly out of place), along with those of Zechariah, King Jehoshaphat, and also St. James. These are hewn in rock. In his official report of the area to the United States Navy, Lieutenant Lynch wrote: “The tomb of Zechariah is also hewn square from the rock, and its four sides form a pyramid. The tomb of Jehoshaphat also has a handsomely carved door…” The Lieutenant added for his superiors: “The few purple and crimson flowers, growing about the roots of the trees, will give the Christian ample food for contemplation, for they tell of the suffering life and ensanguined (that is, bloody) death of the Redeemer.”
It is generally held that Jesus was not crucified or buried east of the city, but either on the north or west side. But the makeup of the graves is similar. There would have been a groove in front of the entrance so that a round stone could be rolled upright into place. This is exactly what Mark reports, and the other Gospels, too. The women saw where Jesus had been laid, so that after the Sabbath was over they could return and complete the usual preparations of the body.
When God created the universe and our world and first gave mankind life, he completed his work and rested on the seventh day. Now Christ had completed his work of restoring the universe and our world, and gave mankind new life and the spiritual second birth through faith in him. And having completed his work, he once again rested on the seventh day. And having won release from sin, the work of the devil, and even the grip of the grave, Christ won our release from the grave with his own body.
Perhaps there are various types or shadows of Christ’s time in the grave in the Old Testament. Joseph spent three years captive before he was released to glory (Genesis 39:20-23). Samson was imprisoned in Gaza before he tore the city gate from its hinges and escaped (Judges 16:3). Daniel was thrown into the lions’ pit, and this was covered with a stone and sealed, before he was released and glorified by Darius (Daniel 6:16-22). Jeremiah was thrown into a pit (a cistern) by the officials of Israel and was only later released after being partially wrapped in rags and strips of cloth (Jeremiah 38:8-13). But Jesus pointed to Jonah (Matthew 12:39), who for three days was in the belly of the whale and was then released (Jonah 1:17; 2:10).
We trust in his life, in his death, and in his resurrection. Two of these were now accomplished; one was left.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Mark 15:46-47 He was buried