Three Unlikely Characters (Jn 19:38-20:2)

Introduction

Eleven players each from two separate teams make up the players on a football field at any given time. Each team has eleven players to work with on the field and every advancement up the field must come from these players. Of course, other players line the sidelines for each team accompanied by some coaches and potentially a couple of managers. For Waterloo’s JV team, we typically only see about fifteen or sixteen players in total. Those fifteen to sixteen players comprise the entire team. Whatever is going to happen on the football field will only happen with those players.

Connect to John’s Gospel. By means of a rather silly metaphor, I see Jesus’ disciples as the team. At this point in John’s gospel, eleven disciples make up the team, and they are accompanied by a group of women who have faithfully followed Jesus throughout his ministry. If someone is going to care for Jesus in this moment, someone from this group is going to have to do it. Here is the problem. The whole team has left the field. All the disciples have fled. They are not available to accomplish anything, and the group of women do not have access to Pilate to acquire Jesus’ body. Telling the women to acquire the body for burial would be about as successful as telling the water boy to defeat the other team with no pads and no additional team members.

However, important matters needed to be tended to. Jesus’ body needed to be taken down, and someone needed to bury the body that same day according to the law. Additionally, specific prophetic statements must be fulfilled, for instance, Jesus being buried in a rich man’s tomb. Here is the problem – the only people we would consider willing and able to care for Jesus’ body are incapable of doing so.

Three Unlikely Characters

Metaphorically speaking, at least from the apostle John’s perspective, God pulls together a second team to take care of these important tasks. Before now, we have never heard of Joseph of Arimathea. John introduced Nicodemus earlier in his gospel but did not present him as a likely candidate for an important role in Jesus’ burial. In fact, John is the only gospel author to even mention Nicodemus. The gospel authors mention Mary Magdalene significantly more than these two men, but she is still not the likeliest candidate from the pool of women that had followed Jesus. And yet, God had been working all along in their lives to bring the three of them to this point, both spiritually and geographically, to care for the body of Christ in the exact manner in which God had determined long before.

There is no level of detail, miniscule as it may be, in which God has not sovereignly orchestrated every moment, both who will perform the task and in what manner the task will be performed.

Purpose statement. God always provides for the fulfillment of His promises through instruments of His choosing.[1]

Joseph of Arimathea, the first unlikely character

Each of the gospel authors mention Joseph of Arimathea. Their combined information reveal that Joseph of Arimathea was a wealthy man who held a respected position on “the council,” likely the Sanhedrin. Both Matthew and John refer to him as a disciple of Jesus (Matt 27:57; Jn 19:38). Mark reveals that Joseph “was also himself looking for the kingdom of God (Mk 15:43). And, Luke refers to him as a “good and righteous man” (Lk 23:50).[2]

Took and buried the body. All four gospel accounts indicate that Joseph approached Pilate to request to take Jesus’ body. Pilate grants this request. Possibly, Joseph considered Pilate a friend. The author of the apocryphal writing, The Gospel of Peter, states that Joseph was “the friend of Pilate and of the Lord.”

Apocrypha. But of the Jews no man washed his hands, neither did Herod nor any one of his judges: and whereas they would not wash, Pilate rose up. And then Herod the king commanded that the Lord should be taken into their hands, saying unto them: All that I commanded you to do unto him, do ye. Now there stood there Joseph the friend of Pilate and of the Lord, and he, knowing that they were about to crucify him, came unto Pilate and begged the body of Jesus for burial.[3]

Either way, Joseph gathered up the courage to request the body of Jesus so that he could appropriately bury him. John acknowledged that Joseph secretly followed Jesus because he feared the Jews, and Mark states that Joseph “took courage” in approaching Pilate. This act would likely reveal his affinity for Jesus and would “out him” as a disciple. Carson writes, in his commentary, “Joseph’s act doubtless made him a pariah in some quarters of the Sanhedrin; it was doubly courageous since the charge under which Jesus had been executed was sedition.”[4]

Buried according to the law. The evidence offered by the gospel authors reveal Joseph desired to bury Jesus due to his being a disciple of Jesus. However, possibly, Jesus would have been buried quickly either way. The Law indicates that a “body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God” (Deut 21:23). The Gospel of Peter[5] unfolds further that Herod informed Pilate “even if none had begged for him, we should have buried him, since also the sabbath dawneth; for it is written in the law that the sun should not set upon one that hath been slain.”[6] The text of the Mishnah confirms this Jewish understanding that allowing the “deceased to stay unburied overnight” transgressed a negative commandment.[7]

Likely Jesus would have been buried, but the Jews would likely have buried him in one of the two graveyards set aside for such occasions. The Mishnah goes on to state that the Jews would not bury the felon “in the burial grounds of his ancestors. But there were two graveyards made ready for the use of the court, one for those who were beheaded or strangled, and one for those who were stoned or burned.”[8]

Carson. Under Roman law, the bodies of executed criminals were normally handed over to their next of kin, but not so in the case of those crucified for sedition. They were left to the vultures, the culminating indignity and shame. The Jews never refused to bury any executed criminal, but instead of allowing the bodies of such sinners to be placed in family tombs, where they might desecrate those already buried, they provided a burial site for criminals just outside the city.[9]

Buried in Joseph’s newly formed tomb. If we were to read John’s account alone, we would not conclude that the tomb was Joseph’s. John writes, “Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there” (Jn 19:41–42; cf Mk 15:46; Lk 23:53). Matthew alone reveals that Joseph buried Jesus in his own tomb. Possibly, if not likely, Joseph did not intend to bury Jesus in his own tomb. John indicates that Joseph buried Jesus in how own tomb, not because that was Joseph’s plan, but because Joseph was running out of time and this “tomb was close at hand.”

Let me explain why I acknowledge this potential. In the mid 700’s BC, Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be buried in the grave of a rich man (Isa 53:9).[10] It appears that no one intended to bury Jesus in a rich man’s tomb – not even the rich man who buried him. Yet, Jesus must be buried in the tomb of a rich man for Old Testament prophecy to prove true. In the very last moment possible, although divinely orchestrated long before, a rich man who likely was a friend of Pilate, successfully acquired Jesus’ body. Even though he likely intended to bury Jesus elsewhere, Joseph ends up burying Jesus in the closest tomb available, which so happens to be Joseph’s own tomb and so happens to fulfill one of the many prophetic statements made by the Old Testament prophets.

Nicodemus, the second unlikely character

We would know nothing of Nicodemus had the apostle John not mentioned him on three occasions in his gospel. John reveals Nicodemus to be a Pharisee, a “ruler of the Jews,” and a member of the Sanhedrin. Additionally, Nicodemus acknowledges his involvement with a small portion of religious leaders that realize that Jesus is a teacher that comes from God (Jn 3:2).[11]

John first introduces the reader to Nicodemus in chapter 3 where Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night (Jn 3:2). Debate exists as to whether Nicodemus genuinely believed at this point. Carson concludes that ‘night’ is symbolic of his spiritually darkened state, not specific to the time of day.[12] Whereas Sproul and John Calvin conclude Nicodemus nervously came to Jesus in the evening so as to be discreet.[13] Afterall, why would Nicodemus come to Jesus at night if he were simply going to cynically approach like the rest of the religious leaders? The religious leaders comfortably confronted Jesus with cynicism throughout the day. Likely Nicodemus’ interaction with Jesus reveals the beginning of Nicodemus’ journey. Nicodemus had either heard of or observed some of Jesus’ miracles and he was intrigued. His conversation further intrigues him.

John presents Nicodemus again four chapters later. In chapter 7 Nicodemus subtly defends Jesus resulting in the other chief priests and Pharisees questioning his commitment and loyalty. Officers failed to bring Jesus to the religious leaders. The leaders become enraged. Nicodemus responds, “’Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?’ They replied, ‘Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee’” (Jn 7:50–52). The other religious leaders mockingly accuse him of being from Galilee and tell him to go study more, with the judgmental implication that he stands ignorant in these matters.

Here in chapter 19, John, for the final time, displays an even bolder and more public display of discipleship on the part of Nicodemus. Working in harmony with Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus brings “a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight” (Jn 19:39). Nicodemus provides the burial necessities and Joseph acquires the body of Jesus. We do not know definitively whether the servants of Nicodemus or Joseph performed this sacred task, but either way, these two highly respected members of the Sanhedrin are responsible for the quick acquisition and burial of Jesus in a rich man’s tomb.

Mary Magdalene, the third unlikely character

Let me draw your attention to one final unlikely character – Mary Magdalene. Luke initially acknowledges the generic presence of a group of women at the crucifixion and does not mention any of their names. He then briefly discusses their presence at the empty tomb. Only following the crucifixion and the resurrection does Luke reveal the names of the women, “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” (Lk 24:10).

Both Matthew and Mark indicate that Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” were present at the tomb, intending to care for the body, with no mention of Joanna and the other women. Matthew writes, “toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb” (Matt 28:1). Mark, however, includes Salome, “Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices” (Mk 16:1).

John however mentions only Mary Magdalene. Why? John appears to have determined to draw attention to the most unlikely of characters.

The gospel authors reveal little about Mary Magdalene. However, Luke offers one helpful fact. Mary was part of a large group of women who provided for Jesus. Additionally, Luke reveals she had been healed of seven demons, likely by Jesus (Lk 8:2).

Mary’s solitary presence at the tomb is an example of Johannine dramatization, but the evangelist further exploits the tradition about her in an eight-verse narrative, where a scene is set at the tomb itself (John 20:11–18). The narrative, without parallel in the Synoptic Gospels, contains the only two NT passages in which Mary Magdalene is simply called “Mary” (John 20:11, 16).[14]

Mary’s development throughout John’s narrative. Initially, at the beginning of chapter 20, Mary sees the empty tomb and reacts as any normal caring friend would react. “She ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple…and said to them ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him’” (Jn 20:2). Next, John reveals Mary’s presence as she weeps at the tomb. Even after seeing Jesus, she fails to recognize him. Yet, finally, once Jesus reveals himself to her, Mary believes and declares to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord” (Jn 20:18).

Conclusion

Purpose statement. God always provides for the fulfillment of His promises through instruments of His choosing.

God often provides through unlikely characters. Only in John is the reader privy to the reality of God’s ongoing work in the life of Nicodemus. None of the other gospel authors even acknowledge Nicodemus, even in his role at the burial. The disciples may not even have been aware of Nicodemus’ twilight meeting with Jesus. In other words, Nicodemus was on no one’s radar as the guy to step in when something needed to be done for Jesus. However, God all along intended to prepare, equip, and position Nicodemus to be one who would assist in facilitating Jesus’ burial in accordance with Scripture.

Years earlier, God began a work in Joseph from Arimathea. Joseph moves to Jerusalem, establishes himself in the Sanhedrin, likely interacts with Nicodemus as one sensitive and curious about Jesus, buys a new tomb which happens to be in close proximity to the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, and Joseph happens to be rich. God orchestrates the positioning of this single man so that his prophecy that the Messiah would be buried in a rich man’s tomb would come to fulfillment.

God’s orchestration of these two men reminds me of Abraham and Isaac’s ascent up Mount Moriah. The focus of the story consists of Abraham and Isaac’s journey. But behind the scenes, God orchestrates the wandering of one sole ram to a specific place to be caught in order that it would be available for God’s purpose.

Too often in my life have I thought that if something of a spiritual nature were to be done in my home, with my children, in our community, in our church – it would have to be done by me or by us. We tend to have an unreasonably high opinion of ourselves in the plans of God. We tend to consider ourselves the “team” and anything God is going to do he will have to accomplish through us – “the team.” What ridiculous nonsense and arrogance. God could, at any time, immediately remove us and move along without even a hiccup in his sovereign plan.

God provides by tending to insurmountable details. (1) John seems to convey that Joseph did not intend to bury Jesus in his own tomb. But he and Nicodemus were running out of time and the closest available tomb just happened to be his own. (2) Maybe Mary did not realize that a large stone covered the tomb. Obviously, she could not move it, yet she goes to the tomb with the expectation of tending to Jesus’ body. In God’s providence, the tomb is accessible, and the soldiers are incapacitated. Jesus did not need the stone to be rolled away, after all he would walk through walls later. The stone needed to be rolled away to draw attention to his dramatic resurrection and to allow for his followers to see evidence of his resurrection.

The issues that to us seem insurmountable offer no challenge at all to God.

[1] Robert Deffinbaugh, “That You Might Believe: A Study of the Gospel of John” (Biblical Studies Press, 1998), 522, https://bible.org/series/you-might-believe-study-gospel-john. This purpose statement is the combination of two sentences in Deffinbaugh’s message.

[2] When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. (Matthew 27:57).

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. (Mark 15:43).

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, (Luke 23:50).

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. (John 19:38).

Warren C. Trenchard, “Joseph,” ed. David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, and Astrid B. Beck, Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 736.

A man from Arimathea, a small village in the Judean hill country, who asked Pilate for and received the body of Jesus for burial. He is described as a member of the council (Mark 15:43), probably the Sanhedrin. Clearly a person of high status and probably rich (Matt. 27:57), he wrapped the body of Jesus in linen cloth and buried it in his unused, rock-hewn tomb in Jerusalem. It is possible that Joseph was motivated to bury Jesus to fulfill the Jewish law that required the burial of executed criminals on the day of their death (Deut. 21:23). As a good and righteous man who was unsympathetic to his Jewish colleagues’ actions against Jesus (Luke 23:50–51), he may have intervened simply to assure that the law was obeyed (Mark 15:42). It is also possible that Joseph was a disciple of Jesus (Matt. 27:57; cf. John 19:38) and that he wanted to bury Jesus out of love and respect for him and his followers. In this way he is like Nicodemus (John 3), whom John links with Joseph in the burial of Jesus (19:39–42).

[3] Montague Rhodes James, ed., The Apocryphal New Testament: Being the Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Apocalypses (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924), 90–91.

[4] D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1991), 629.

[5] I only offer this passage as evidence of how the Jews would have thought. I possess no certainty that this conversation between Pilate and Herod ever occurred or occurred in the way the text unfolds.

[6] James, The Apocryphal New Testament, 90–91.

[7] Jacob Neusner, The Mishnah: A New Translation (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988), 595.

[8] Neusner, 595.

[9] Carson, The Gospel According to John, 629.

[10] “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” (Isa 53:9).

[11] Nicodemus says, “Rabbi, we know that you have come from God.“ Nicodemus uses the plural we. This we indicates that Nicodemus stood as a spokesman for a group of others, presumably Pharisees. While we speculate at this point, Nicodemus most likely represented a small, sincerely curious group within the Pharisees.

[12] Carson, The Gospel According to John, 186.

[13] R. C. Sproul, What Does It Mean to Be Born Again?, vol. 6, The Crucial Questions Series (Reformation Trust Publishing, 2010), 4–5. John Calvin and William Pringle, Commentary on the Gospel According to John (Logos Bible Software, 2010), 105.

Sproul. I have a suspicion that Nicodemus was slightly nervous. He did not want to be seen publicly with Jesus, who was popular with the people but was an object of suspicion among the religious authorities. So he was discreet in his first meeting with Jesus.

Calvin. From the circumstance of his coming by night we infer that his timidity was excessive; for his eyes were dazzled, as it were, by the splendour of his own greatness and reputation. Perhaps too he was hindered by shame, for ambitious men think that their reputation is utterly ruined, if they have once descended from the dignity of teachers to the rank of scholars; and he was unquestionably puffed up with a foolish opinion of his knowledge. In short, as he had a high opinion of himself, he was unwilling to lose any part of his elevation.

[14] Raymond F. Collins, “Mary (Person),” David Noel Freedman, ed., The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 579–80.