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Copyright November 7, 2021, by Rev. Bruce Goettsche
We have argued that the death of Christ is a pivotal event in history because it was through the sacrifice of Christ that the debt for our sins is paid.
The perfect Son of God gave His life willingly as a sacrifice for our sin.
It is painful to think that Jesus endured all these things for us, and it is the most spectacular illustration of love that could ever be given.
This morning we look at the postscript to the crucifixion.
Jesus died to the surprise of the guards, who were professional executioners.
The story takes a sharp turn in the passage before us.
38 Afterward, Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body.
When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away.
39 With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night.
He brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes.
40 Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth.
41 The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before.
42 And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
Burial in the Middle East usually took place within twenty-four hours after death.
In this case, with the Sabbath and Passover fast approaching, the body needed to be buried quickly.
Jesus would not have had a cemetery plot available which may have meant Jesus’s body would have been thrown into the garbage dump with the bodies of the other two criminals.
This dump was called “Gehenna,” It stood as the chief metaphor for Hell, where the flames of divine wrath never go out.
Secret Disciples
Our text introduces us to two people who came to the rescue.
Joseph of Arimathea and a man we met earlier in the gospel, Nicodemus.
We read Joseph of Arimathea was a “secret disciple.”
Matthew says he was wealthy; Mark, that he was a member of the Sanhedrin (“Council”) and was “waiting for the kingdom of God”; Luke says he had not concurred in the vote of the council to condemn Jesus.
It was a courageous act for Joseph to step forward and ask for the body of Jesus.
He stood up as the friend of Jesus, going directly against his colleagues in the Sanhedrin, who had orchestrated the trial and the conviction of Jesus.
We might say today Joseph was committing professional suicide.
Nicodemus is a name we have heard before.
Back in John 3, Nicodemus came to see Jesus, and he wanted to talk to him and seemed earnest in doing so.
In John 7, we read Nicodemus spoke up for Jesus when the Sanhedrin sought to condemn Him.
Nicodemus asked, “Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?”
Likely, Nicodemus was not even invited to the late-night meeting of the Sanhedrin and the trial of Jesus because they knew of His loyalties.
If these men were secret disciples (be careful in judging them lest you also judge yourself), what caused them to step forward now?
Perhaps they were bystanders at the cross.
After watching the way Jesus died, they were convinced more than ever God had sent him.
Don’t you wonder the price they had to pay for standing with Christ?
Was their career over?
Were they now among the persecuted?
Jesus told us we should count the cost before we become disciples.
Like Joseph and Nicodemus, too many of us are “secret disciples.”
Some of our friends might even be surprised by our declaration of faith.
We are hesitant to say anything lest we be guilty of offending someone or get in trouble with the secular powers.
Some parents have even said about a Christian upbringing, “I don’t want to influence my children; I want them to decide for themselves.”
That sounds noble and open-minded, but it is foolish.
The enemy constantly bombards our children and our family members.
They are surrounded by anti-god or false-god talk always.
They are required to embrace ungodly values and immorality.
They are taught ridiculous ideas.
Understand, if you don’t try to counter these things strongly with the gospel's message, you are surrendering them to an unfair fight!
There is no reason for us to be secret disciples.
We have much more information than Joseph or Nicodemus.
We know about the Resurrection, we have the New Testament that records the words and deeds of Jesus, and we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us.
We.
We should speak up much more boldly than they did.
Jesus tells us if we do not confess Him before men, He will not confess us before the Father.
In other words, it is our DUTY, and our job, to tell others about Jesus.
The Lord does not call us to be political, preach self-help sermons, or gather in our holy huddles content to keep the world at bay.
He calls us to go into all the world and preach the gospel making disciples of all men.
This is our highest honor and our most significant act of obedience before the Lord.
It is also the greatest act of love we can show to another person.
We must transcend the differences and unite to declare the good news to others.
Let’s go back to the burial of Jesus.
While Joseph went and secured the body of Jesus, Nicodemus secured 75 pounds of spices!
Someone suggests this was the amount of spice that would be used to bury a King.
The spices were placed between the strips of cloth that would be wrapped around the body.
The spices were not to embalm the body; they were to minimize the stench of the decaying body.
With the nearness of the Sabbath (which began at sundown of the day before (around 6:00 p.m.), they were pressed for time.
Remember at 3:00, Jesus was still on the cross.
It would have taken time to go to Pilate, have the soldiers check on Jesus, and release the body.
We don’t know how many of those spices were able to be put on the body before running out of time.
We don’t know if they finished preparing His body.
The other gospels tell us that the women who were at the cross followed Joseph.
Mary Magdalene and the mother of Jesus sat opposite the tomb and watched the guys.
This could be the reason they returned on Sunday morning.
They may have been unable to finish (because of the time) . .
.or, they may have thought the guys didn’t do an adequate job.
(It is kind of like the difference between a man’s definition of “clean” and a woman’s definition are different.)
Jesus was placed in a tomb that was likely cut out of solid sandstone.
It was probably Joseph’s own burial tomb.
These tombs typically had an inner chamber where the body would be laid in death.
The doorway contained a groove into which a heavy stone would be fitted that could be rolled in front of the doorway.
The body would be placed on the slab until it had fully decomposed, and then it was put into an ornate box called an ossuary.
What Happened to Jesus When He Died?
Some skeptics try to ridicule Christians by asking, “If Jesus was God, who was running the world for the three days He was in the tomb?”
There are at least two errors in this question.
The first is the assumption that when a person dies, they are gone.
When Jesus died physically, he did not die spiritually!
Like us, His spirit went immediately into the presence of the Lord!
Second, God is a trinity.
While the Son took the form of man, the Father and the Holy Spirit continued to govern the world.
There was never a time when the steering wheel of history was left unmanned.
The question, “Where was Jesus between His death and resurrection?” is raised by the Apostle’s Creed we recite,
“[Jesus] was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into Hell (or Hades);” the third day He rose again from the dead.
A primary passage in the discussion of this question is 1 Peter 3 where we read,
18 Christ suffered for our sins once for all time.
He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God.
He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.
19 So he went and preached to the spirits in prison—20 those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat.
Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood.
Let’s start with what this text and the creed do NOT mean.
They do not teach that Jesus went to Hell to give people another chance to be saved.
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