Mark 15:42-47

IT… HAS… BEEN…DONE.

What God set out to accomplish through bringing His son to walk amongst sinners, the completion and fulfillment of the OT prophecies that were spoken and written about, a Saviour coming to crush the head of the serpent… IT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED.

But the job isn’t finished yet.

Sin has been defeated, but death has not yet been defeated.

Jesus has died on a cross. And now what’s left to be done is a miraculous event that will show that not only is sin and the forces of Satan defeated, but death is also!

I love what God does through the writers of the Gospels here.

God knows what is needed for people to understand and believe that Jesus actually died.

That multiple people actually saw him dead, handled His body, and laid Him into a tomb.

If not, people will have legitimate concern that maybe Jesus really wasn’t dead.

The Lord knew this before hand that people would need help of eye witness testimony to believe!

And so God, through His Holy Spirit has men write down the facts of what happened. Who was involved. For the glory of God to be known.

The Gospel writers use space within their letters to verify these facts for us. For the benefit of our churches now.

Mark 15:41–47 ESV

41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem. 42 And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. 45 And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 46 And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

Something that you will hear in the study of the bible and it’s reliability is the word historicity, or better known as historic authenticity.

“Can I believe what I’m reading?”

Our lesson today will be to touch on some of the historicity of what we are reading… What we should see in this passage that helps us.

One commentator says,

The early church would not have invented a story about Jesus being buried by a jewish leader, who at most was a secret disciple, rather than his family or close disciples. Nor would invention have made women the chief witness of the event.

This shows that Jesus really died. And secondly it shows that women would have been able to accurately identified the place where Jesus was buried.

Jospeh of Arimathea

Mark 15:42–43 ESV

42 And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

This is our rich man from Is 53:9

Isaiah 53:9 ESV

9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Now, it’s important to understand that the place of execution is under a time crunch.

The Sabbath is about to begin. This is a high day, the day of the Lord, the day of rest and especially special on this Sabbath because of Passover.

They’re in so much of a time crunch that John 19:31 tells us that the centurions requested to break the legs of those who were still alive so that they would die and get this over with.

They had to clear it the execution area, because it was forbidden to leave a criminal hanging on a “tree” going into the sabbath. (Deut. 21:22-23)

So… out of nowhere it seems, we have this respected member of the Sanhedrin who comes and is ready to take care of the body of Jesus.

We are told that this man is a respected member of the council who, by Mark’s words is “looking for the Kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate.”

This just simply means He was a Disciple. Both Matthew and John come right out and state that He was a disciple. But John 19:38 says that he was a secret disciple because of his fear of the Jews.

So up to this point…… this was a man who was searching for the Kingdom of God. Regarded himself maybe as a follower but in secret because of the fear of his piers and their thoughts…

SOUND FAMILIAR?

Up to this point, this man had NOT been BOLD in his following of Jesus. But here in Mark 15 that all changes!

After witnessing the death of this man Jesus, and much like the centurion who was watching.

Maybe Joseph decided at this point officially… this man was the son of God…

Something has switched for Jospeh. Something has changed. He has gone from being secretive about his faith to acting out in a bold manner taking care of the body of Jesus.

The statement “took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the Body of Jesus.” should not be taken lightly.

This is a BOLD MOVE.

There was great risk in associating oneself with a person who had been executed for treason.

Mark here is saying to his readers, BE BOLD ON BEHALF OF JESUS.

Pilate & the Centurion

Mark 15:44–45 ESV

44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. 45 And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph.

Scripture says here that Pilate is surprised that he’s already dead.

A horrendous thing to know here, the reason he is surprised is because it would usually take 2 or 3 days for crucified persons to die.

The confirmation here is legit.

It’s not like this centurion has come from the scene and ‘thinks’ he’s dead. This is what these guys did. They were professionals. Pilate hears the Centurion’s confirmation and believes him because if anybody knows he’s dead… it’s the centurion.

And this isn’t even getting into

The spear thrusted into Jesus’ side, pierced vital organs, probably including both Jesus’ lungs and heart.  Blood and water flowed out, medically verifying that Jesus was dead.

Nicodemus

Mark 15:46–47 ESV

46 And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

Now you may be wondering why I have included Nicodemus in these notes.

Passage has nothing to do with Nicodemus.

John 19:39 ESV

39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight.

Nicodemus is the same man who had come to Jesus in John 3 and had even defended Him before the council in John 7:45-53.

God prepared these two men and directed them in their activities. Two men who were not any of Jesus’s disciples. Men who in a somewhat of a secret manner, been following Jesus at a distance.

We see the reality here of God using the most unlikely of people to fulfil His promises.

ALL OF THIS HAD TO BE DONE SO THAT THE WOMEN WOULD FIND JESUS IN THE TOMB.

God doesn’t use the disciples who had been scattered. The women wouldn’t have been in a position to ask for the body. Mary the mother of Jesus is being taken care of by John and is not there.

God uses men from a group of people who mostly hated him. God chooses two men who had come to know and love Him even when their peers were completely against it.

These two men take a chance of persecution themselves by their own people to care for the body of a man whom they believed to be the Son of God.

Mark E. Death Is Final—But It Is Not the End (15:42–47)

The body of Christ had to be ceremonially washed and then wrapped in a large quantity of spices to be prepared for burial. Then the body had to be carried to the tomb. The tomb was probably near the execution site. Jesus’ body was then placed in the tomb, which was cut out of rock. A rock about three feet in diameter was rolled against the opening of the tomb. The rock would have required three or four men to roll it into place.

Mary Magdalene & Mary the mother of Joses

Mark 15:47 ESV

47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

You know it’s interesting, that much of the culture looks at Christianity and calls the faith Gender Biased, or Bigot’s, or a faith that is misogynistic.

Much of these thoughts come from different views from the Christian faith on the role of a women in a marriage with her husband. Or the role of women in the church.

We aren’t going to get into any of that today…

But what I wanted to bring up is that God’s Word actually champions women more than so many people realize.

In scripture, we see examples of women prophets, there were women deaconesses, there were important women followers of Jesus that helped with much of the ministry.

Scripture says that it was faithful women who were some of the last at the cross on Friday.

Scripture says that it was faithful women who were watching Jesus’ body be prepped for burial and watched where He was laid.

What a contrast to the disciples who had boasted that they would die for Him!

The church since it’s conception owes much to the sacrifice, devotion and boldness of believing women.

The importance of this is HUGE!

Scripture says that these two women saw where Jesus was placed. So, it is not possible that when they ran to see the empty tomb, that they could have looked into another random tomb. No, these women saw with their own eyes where the body of Jesus was laid.

Because of these women, we can have assurance that the empty tomb that was ran up on, was indeed the empty tomb of our Lord and Saviour.

Application

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 CSB

3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

Don’t miss these powerful words: He was buried  To say that Jesus was buried underlines the fact that Jesus in fact really died. He didn’t just appear to die. He really died.

Mark Roberts points out that

To say that Jesus died and was raised without mentioning his burial could lead to a misunderstanding of the story.  One might think that Jesus was immediately brought back to life from the cross or that he was immediately jettisoned to heaven.  “That He was buried” eliminates those options and explains the place from which Jesus was raised.

That Jesus was buried with eye witness accounts ensures for us that the resurrection of Jesus was exactly that: a resurrection from the dead. If it so happened that we were there, Joseph, Nicodemus, and the two Marys’ would testify that there was no life in the body they buried. He didn’t "swoon," loose consciousness, or faint. He had truly died.

Response

John 12:24–26 ESV

24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

One of the key realities of the Kingdom of God according to Jesus is that life springs from death. Our path way to God is through death. What Jesus was and is driving home for us is this, my dying for your salvation is also my design for your imitation.

This is hard! It is hard to die. It’s hard to hate my life in this world. It’s hard to follow Jesus on the road that leads to the cross. But if the seed dies, it bears much fruit.  In other words, as a follower of Jesus, death is never in vain. And that is highly significant, because in death comes much fruit. Are you willing to follow Him?