The Spice of Life

Opening Prayer

Lord, we have arrived this day to be in your presence to celebrate Christ’s triumph over death. As the sun rises this glorious morning, so does your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. We have anticipated the coming of this day for the past 40 days, but more importantly because Jesus told us and his disciples, it would be so. Death has been overcome and the enemy has been defeated. Today, with Christ’s Resurrection we are born anew in our belief as Christians, that you Lord you are with us and for us as we live out the rest of our days in the kingdom of God here on Earth and in heaven. It is by our faith that we know Jesus died for the sins of humankind on the Cross to justify us as righteous in the sight of you, O Lord. at this very moment. The reminder of today, this Easter Sunday, is that the risen Christ, sitting at your right hand in Heaven, is accessible, caring, loving, and present in our hearts now and forever more. Lord, thank you for loving us so much that you sacrificed your Son on our behalf when we surely do not deserve to be forgiven. But by your grace, we shall remember what Jesus has done for us by his life on Earth through his teachings, his death, and his resurrection. Today is a glorious day. Lord, I thank you, I love you, and I am yours forever. Amen.

Sermon

Today’s lesson is Luke 24:1-12. I will read the ESV text, which is slightly different than the text in your Bible.

Luke 24:1–12 ESV

1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

The most striking feature of this passage is Luke 24:1 “1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.” They being, of course, was Mary Magdalene and other women mentioned in the passage. What seems more curious to me is why Mary and her friends would go to the tomb to bring spices to anoint Jesus after lying dead for three days and nights. It seems a bit late. Jesus was a real human being and the smell of a dead body that has not be treated with spices would be a horrendous smell. The scientist in me was curious what a dead body might smell like, so I Googled it and found some very strange chemical compounds. Just by reading them makes me queasy. There are nine chemical compounds, but I fear I will not be complete the list for fear I will make myself ill. Here we go: there is Hydrogen Sulfide (rotten eggs)…alright that’s enough. I can’t go on, but you get the point. The word putrid is a fair word to summarize the remaining chemical smells.

The use of spices to cover a putrid smells must be equally as strong. The spices Mary and friends brought to Jesus tomb was not detailed in the Bible. In Luke 23:56 it says, in part…”[they] prepared spices and ointments.” Rather a general statement. While not mentioned in Luke, there was a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin or Jewish Council called Nicodemus. According to John 19:39, “Nicodemus also (along with Joseph of Arimathea), who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight.” While his information is only found in John, perhaps Mary and friends brought a similar mixture.

Jewish burial customs are unique. In modern times, when a Jewish person dies, burial should take place within a day of death, but there are allowances to allow family members to travel. When my Mom passed, her burial was delayed several days. Other than that delay, her burial was traditional, so I was told by the Funeral Director. Typically, the deceased body will be washed in a ceremony called The Taharah, the ritual cleansing of the body based on the belief that when a newborn enters the world, they are washed so that they can begin their life pure and clean. There were no spices used on my mother that I knew of. Like the newborn, the cleansing of the body was done so the deceased would depart the world as they entered it, pure and clean. After the Taharah cleaning, my mom’s body was wrapped in a tachrichim or shroud, a practice that has been done for centuries and why Jesus was wrapped in a shroud. The shroud was designed to be a simple white garment made of 100% pure linen to symbolize equality between rich and poor. This particular garment has no pockets, so wealth and status was not acknowledged in death. In addition to the washing and covering, my mother was placed in a very simple wooden casket.

The Jewish burial ceremony is also unique. When the casket is brought to the grave site, prayers and eulogy are read. The casket is then lowered into the ground as the family members watch. After the casket is completely lowered, family members are invited to assist in the burial by shoveling dirt over the casket. The shovel is turned upside down, so the backside of the shovel is used to move the dirt to make the burial more difficult and slow the process of saying good-bye. Three shovels per family member was typical.

The process for Jesus’s burial was nothing like a traditional Jewish burial, but some of the elements were present. In particular the quick burial and the use of a shroud. According to Luke 23:50-56, the following was revealed BEFORE Luke 24 when Mary and friends went to the tomb with spices.

Luke 23:50–56 ESV

50 Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, 51 who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God. 52 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. 54 It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. 55 The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

This story before the passage about the resurrection is very important. When reading the Bible, much is learned when focusing on reading passages before and after the passage of focus and study. This is the process of biblical exegesis. When we approach the Bible this way, a story becomes more alive and helps us to understand how a person in the 1st Century might understand the meaning of the passage.

So, our reading of Mary going to the tomb is more than Mary simply going to the tomb. I believe that Mary going to the tomb is very reason we know about the resurrection of Jesus. And the drive or impetus for Mary was not that she would find the tomb empty because she had no idea about that. Her impetus for going was to finish a job she believed was unfinished, that needed work, that needed to done because of her deep respect and love of Jesus. Mary knew the law and knew that a person who has passed required honor and care and love just as they had received in life.

What was the unfinished work?Luke did not know there was unfinished work, or doesn’t mention it. John knew the work was finished, but John did not acknowledge why Mary did not know it.

We see in Luke, that Joseph of Arimathia was the one who took Jesus to the tomb wrapped in a shroud. But missing in Luke, but found in John, we find Nicodemus, a well known Rabbi who participated in the burial of Jesus as a Pharisee because he privately loved Jesus. In John19:39-40, it reads:

John 19:39–40 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. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

No where in the Bible does it say that Mary observed Nicodemus with Joseph wrapping Jesus’s body with strips of linen cloth soaked in spices. The shroud that Jesus was wrapped in was used to cover his head. Mary brought spices to tomb because she was unaware that anyone followed the proper Jewish custom of burial. This part of the story is rather amazing, because had Mary seen Nicodemus with 75 lbs of myrrh and aloes, she would not have spent the next several days worrying and shopping and preparing spices to bring to the tomb only to discover it was empty.

This idea of worrying, shopping, and cooking spices, is not a comment on female activities. Trust me, in my house, I am the one that worries, shops, and cooks. What was going on was the combination of events that must have been very distracting. During the trial, arrest, and crucifixion of Jesus, the Passover Celebration was getting ready to occur which impacted how quickly Mary could get to the tomb with her spices.

As we know in life, timing is everything, but timing in traditional Jewish culture for the Sabbath and Jewish holidays is everything. Being ready to participate in the Sabbath and holidays by sundown is Jewish Law.

The day of Preparation....