The Hope of the Sealed Tomb

Good morning Church! If you have your Bible and I hope that you do, please turn with me to Mark 15. We’re looking at the Hope of the Sealed Tomb today.

The passage today centers around the burial of Jesus. A funeral is such a final thing isn’t it? Its a hard thing to go through. As a high school student I went with my stepdad to go and retrieve bodies for the city of Richmond. Those places were always active with either police or family.

I was pretty used to death because I was around it a lot but it hit a lot closer when a friend in high school died in a fire. Her funeral was such a finality. She was gone and there was nothing anyone could do. Shortly after that another friend died in a car accident. Family, friends, senior adults, babies. I’ve experienced and preached them all and there’s nothing that makes death truly comfortable, yet we all go through that misty veil. The last enemy is death and while its bite is fierce, we know it doesn’t have the final say thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Today we’re going to see The Certainty of Christ’s Death, The Courage of Joseph of Arimathea, and The Witnesses of the Burial. Please stand with me in honor of God’s Word as we read Mark 15:42-47

Mark 15:42–47 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. 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.

Pray

Our Gracious Lord, we thank You for this wonderful day where we gather and joyfully submit to your teaching. We agree with your Word as Your children. What You have spoken, we believe and say “Amen!”

We thank You Father for our teens and adults that went to camp this week. We thank You that they were safe. We thank You for working in their lives and for the good preaching they sat under this past week. We thank You for the decisions that were made to grow in holiness and two decisions to follow You as Lord and Savior. We thank You for it and we praise You God.

We thank You Father for the work that you are doing in Your church. Thank You for the season of unity we are in. We have differing opinions over many things, but even in the opinions there is more unity, and we thank You for knitting our hearts together through the message of the Gospel.

We want to continue to pray for the many different prayer requests and needs in Your church.

We want to pray for Charlie Roden and his health needs. He’s not doing very well at all and we want to pray for him to lean on You for strength and grace. Be with his wife, Judy as she walks with him through this time.

We also pray for Denny Johnson as she continues her fight with cancer. We ask for you to continue to bless her with strength and endurance. We want her to beat this and we ask for You to help them fix their eyes on You for strength.

We also want to pray for Steve Bayless as he grieves the loss of his mom. As they mourn, we ask for your grace through this transition. Thank you for her profession of faith and we thank you that she endured faithfully to the end.

We pray for Jeremy Spring’s new business as it gets going. We pray that his home inspections go really well and that You would bless him abundantly and he provides. Thank You for his skills.

We want to lift up little Samuel Fahrer. He still hasn’t been able to get home and I know it’s really weighing on Preston and Taylor. We pray that You would heal him and bring that baby home. We also pray for Taylor as she continues to heal.

Lord we do have several babies on the way. We want to pray for Vanessa Hawk as her baby is coming soon. We pray for Brooke Oursborn as she is expecting. We lift up Haylee Martinez as well as she carries her baby. We pray that everything is safe and there’s nothing unexpected. We want to continue to lift up Sara Badolato as well as they await their new baby. Keep her and baby safe.

Thank You for all our families from the young ones to the old ones. They’re all so special and wonderful and we praise You for them.

We lift up to you Vacation Bible School as it’s just over two weeks away. We already have 96 signed up. 96 little souls and we ask that they would come in and heart the Gospel and their lives would be changed by the truth of Your word.

We pray for Ms. Cassie Lauberscheimer as she has her home on the market and will be moving to be closer to Angela and Steve. Lord, we will miss her a ton and ask for good buyers and a smooth transition and move.

We want to pray finally for the preaching of the Word today. May You be lifted up and exalted. We ask that You would move and have Your way among us. Convict of sin. Grant us repentance. Continue to work in us and make us more like Your Son, Jesus Christ. It’s in His name we pray, Amen.

Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes Death

There are two fixed points in our lives: birth and death. Death is especially unbendable. One astute writer used these words to describe what we’ve all felt.

This frustrates us, especially in a time of scientific breakthrough and exploding knowledge, that we should be able to break out of earth’s environment and yet be stopped cold by death’s unyielding mystery.

An electroencephalogram may replace a mirror held before the mouth, autopsies may become more sophisticated, cosmetic embalming may take the place of pennies on the eyelids and canvas shrouds, but death continues to confront us with its black wall. Everything changes; death is changeless.

We may postpone it, we may tame its violence, but death is still there waiting for us. Death always waits. The door of the hearse is never closed.

Dairy farmer and sales executive live in death’s shadow, with Nobel prize winner and prostitute, mother, infant, teen, and old man. The hearse stands waiting for the surgeon who transplants a heart as well as the hopeful recipient, for the funeral director as well as the corpse he manipulates. Death spares none.

Jesus was beaten nearly to death by Roman scourging, He was crucified by the Jews, and his side was pierced by a spear. The Romans called this spear a Pilum which had an iron tip that was 27-30 inches long. This was one that was found in a cave in 2023 that dates back to 80AD.

This would have been shoved up, through the organs and core likely piercing the lungs or the heart. Thanks to this centurion, it removes any doubt of the swoon theory. Christ died.

The death of Jesus proves beyond a shadow of a doubt, the human nature of Jesus. His resurrection proves His divine nature. As we learned last week, Jesus died on the cross. He yelled out “tetelestai” and it was finished. Sin was atoned for. Yet, some people believe that Christ simply passed out at this point. It’s called the swoon theory.

However, and Mark doesn’t cover this, John’s Gospel tells us this:

John 19:31–34 ESV

31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.

The blood and water flowed from what doctors call a pleural effusion. It’s where water builds up in and around the lungs, suffocating a person from the inside. When the Roman guard pierced Jesus’ side, blood and water flowed and the body didn’t respond. Jesus was truly dead.

Our passage begins just before sunset on Friday. Remember that the Jewish day begins at Sunday. In Genesis 1, it describes the day as evening and then morning, the first day and so on. This is important because Christ died a little after 3pm on Friday and sunset is around 7pm.

The death of Christ is so central to the Gospel message that Paul himself wrote 1 Corinthians 2:2

1 Corinthians 2:2 ESV

2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

The death of Christ is so certain that it is not even contested historically.

1. The Certainty of Christ’s Death

And He was the One Who yielded up His Spirit. He laid down His life for the sake of our redemption. In fact, Pilate was surprised that Jesus had died so quickly. That word surprised literally means wonder in the negative or positive way. I don’t think Pilate’s heart was filled with wonder the way we might view a beautiful sunset. I think based on the language here he thought it was lie. “He’s dead? Hmmm…. I wonder if he’s telling the truth.”

But Joseph was telling the truth, but let’s talk about Joseph here because he’s mentioned in all of the Gospels as a new character only at the end of the all of the Gospels. We learn this about Joseph or Arimathea in John 19:38

John 19:38 ESV

38 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body.

This, in our world, is the kind of person that is a secret disciple: Someone who supports Christian causes—donating to ministries, volunteering at a Christian food pantry, or helping a neighbor in Jesus’ name—but does so discreetly, avoiding explicit association with Christianity to maintain some kind of social acceptance.

Imagine a high school teacher who loves Jesus but never mentions Him at school. He prays for his students, but when a colleague mocks Christianity, he stays silent, afraid of being labeled.

Picture a professional, who believes in Jesus and prays for their team’s success but never mentions their faith at work, fearing it could harm their career in a company that values "neutrality." He or she might slip a Bible verse into an email to a struggling coworker but avoids Christ-centered discussions.

There’s lots of reasons why this might happen in someone’s life. We read this in John 12

John 12:42–43 ESV

42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

There’s sometimes cultural pressure to keep your faith quiet. So you don’t share or speak up when there’s opportunities. You remain silent because of fear. It’s risky, right? What if someone in the company doesn’t like believers and suddenly you’re the target of a corporate witch hunt? Or perhaps what if someone reports you to HR and you have to defend yourself?

It could be there’s just simply missed opportunities. You may not recognize your chance to witness and clearly share your faith with someone else. Perhaps there’s a discussion amongst friends and you might share some moral principles but you don’t go far enough to share biblical values.

Jesus said Matthew 5:14-16

Matthew 5:14–16 ESV

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

You might simply be spiritually stagnant. If you’ve been persistently secretive regarding your faith it could lead to your spiritual growth being stunted and hindered. This is why regular church attendance and participation in community groups is so important!

Hebrews 10:24–25 ESV

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

That word “stir up” is the Greek word “paroxusmós” which means to provoke. It is used primarily in a negative sense to mean stirring up anger. In our English language its where our work paroxysm comes from which means “a sudden attack or violent expression of a particular emotion or activity.”

But here it is used as a positive term, meaning to provoke or stir up to good works. It’s like if you’re making sweet tea, right? You get your water and your Luzianne tea bags and you boil the water, put your tea bags in and steep the tea bags in there for a while. As the tea sits in there, it permeates all the water and continues until you don’t have water anymore. You have tea. But it’s not sweet tea.

So you take out your tea bags squeeze out the remaining tea and put the tea in a pitcher and then you add sugar. Now… when you add the sugar do you have sweet tea? Not really. What you have is tea on the top and some kind of a sugary syrup at the bottom.

What do you have to do to make it good sweet tea? You have to stir it up, disturb it, provoke it so that all that sweetness gets incorporated into the tea. Then you have actual sweet tea.

You may water it down a bit to get more out of it, but the sweetness has spread throughout the tea. Listen, this sermon, this passage is in a lot of ways like being stirred up. Instead of being a secret disciple, instead of being spiritually stagnant, or missing opportunities, or surrendering to cultural pressure, you can be like Joseph of Arimathea and take courage!

2. The Courage of Joseph of Arimathea

Joseph had a lot to lose. He was a respected member of the Sanhedrin. He was very wealthy according to Matthew 27:57. He was a good and righteous man and most importantly a follower of Jesus Christ.

And this was a courageous choice that Joseph makes! The secret is out! It’s an interesting contrast between Joseph and Peter, isn’t it? Peter has more words than any other disciple by far in the Gospels. Peter is a very public figure, professes Christ as God and swears unfailing devotion to Jesus. Yet, when it mattered Peter fell away and fled. Yet, Joseph of Arimathea secretly follows Jesus. We do not know what He professed but we do know that he was looking for the kingdom of God and was a secret follower of Jesus.

But let me tell you why it took courage for Joseph of Arimathea to go and ask for the body of Jesus Christ:

It made it to where Joseph identified with a crucified man. A crucified man was a cursed man.

Galatians 3:13 ESV

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

Who would identify with someone that was cursed? The truth is that every Christian must do so. All of us identify with Christ’s death and resurrection through baptism. Have you been brave and boldly identified with Christ in this way? If you’re a Christian then you should. If not, what’s stopping you?

Are you identified with Christ? Do your co-workers or neighbors know that you’re a Christian? Sure, you should be kind and loving, but you should also share the hope of Christ.

2. It risked Joseph’s position on the council and alienation from the other leaders.

The Sanhedrin was the ruling body of leaders in Israel and they have already put Lazarus on the chopping block just for being alive. There’s no way that they’re going to be happy about Joseph of Aramathea treating Christ kindly.

There was also a ceremonial risk by

3. Handling a dead body before the Sabbath.

It made Joseph ceremonially unclean and unable to participate with the sacrifices or the people of God until he was made clean by a priest. Why risk that? Why not entrust that to servants? No, for Joseph, his Lord had died and to show Jesus love was going to cost him.

4. But he also broke cultural norms by giving Jesus a proper burial. He wasn’t put in a grave with criminals, He wasn’t left to rot on the cross, He wasn’t obtained by His family and put in a family tomb.

This fulfilled Isaiah 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.

You see, true discipleship isn’t about how we start, it’s about how we respond to Christ when the kitchen gets hot. Discipleship is a process. Parent, your child may have responded to Jesus at a young age and there’s very little fruit right now. Keep cultivating your child. Keep working at it. They’re going to mess up. But you know what? That’s okay!

You’re not responsible for your child bearing fruit. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job, isn’t it? Your job is to encourage, teach, correct, protect, and provide. No one when they have a tomato plant expects to get fruit the next day or the next week. It could take 3 months before you’re able to get any fruit from the tomato.

In the same way, Joseph doesn’t start off strong. He’s cautious. Secretive. Shaky at best. But when the time came, the Lord gave Him the strength to do what needed to be done.

Now, Pilate grants the corpse of Jesus to Joseph for burial. Instead of Jesus being left on the cross or buried in a mass grave, Pilate extended a kindness likely because he didn’t think Jesus deserved the death he got. It could have been for other reasons but that’s the one that makes the most sense to me.

But Joseph bought a linen shroud and wrapped Jesus in it. This linen shroud is the subject of a lot of controversy. Many people think about the Shroud of Turin and believe it is a holy relic where Jesus’ blood and features are imprinted on this fabric.

The fact is the ever since its inception Christians have rightly treated it with skepticism. Christians for the first several centuries didn’t have any relics and to be honest, Christians still shouldn’t have relics. The Shroud of Turin is likely nothing more than a medieval hoax. That’s all I’ll say about that.

So Joseph places Christ in the tomb. We learn in John’s Gospel

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.

But wait, I thought that’s why the women were going to anoint Jesus on Sunday? Why did Nicodemus do it on Friday and the women did it on Sunday? Is that a contradiction? Many would say absolutely.

But the fact is that there is nothing that indicates that the women knew Jesus had been anointed and even if they had the anointing was probably fairly hurried as it was evening and the Sabbath was about to begin, so they wanted to do it correctly. Plus in Judaism, anointing a body was a deep and personal act of devotion. It wasn’t uncommon for families to anoint a loved one in a similar way to how we might visit a grave to bring flowers. The flowers aren’t for the person, they’re for the living. It’s a visible act of love since you can’t show affection to the person.

But here’s the last point:

3. The Witnesses of the Burial

These women saw where Jesus had been laid. Joseph and even Nicodemus laid the body of Christ in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb. The linen cloth shows Christ’s body was treated with honor. The new tomb was easy to locate. The women watched carefully and knew the tomb’s location.

I would like to end with this quote from John Calvin, “Christ was buried, to prove that He truly died. He lay in the tomb, to sanctify the grave for His people. And He rose again, that they might follow Him into eternal life.”

Head: Jesus truly died, was honorably buried, and fulfilled prophecy—making our hope historically grounded. Joseph’s actions validate the historical burial of Jesus, fulfilling Isaiah 53:9 and setting the stage for the resurrection. The details show that Jesus’ death wasn’t faked or mistaken—it was real, public, and verified.

Heart: True faith requires courage—especially when it costs us everything. Joseph’s boldness teaches us that discipleship may call us to stand alone, risk reputation, and defy culture. But Christ is worth it—even in death.

Hand: Honor Christ boldly, even when the world despises Him. Whether in our workplace, family, or online presence, let’s not be secret disciples when the cross is under attack. Let Joseph’s courage be our example—especially when it’s costly.