John 19:38-20:9. Dead and Buried but not for Long

‘Pieta’ by Michaelangelo

There are several key players emphasised in John’s account of the burial of Jesus. Jesus was killed in the most humiliating and dishonouring way. His disciples were hiding in a locked upper room but two men were willing to lose their reputation and their standing with those in authority by ensuring that Jesus was given on honourable funeral. Let us look at who stands out.

Joseph of Arimathea

Joseph of Arimathea only appears in the Bible on this occasion, though he is mentioned by all four gospel writers. Mark tells us that he was a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Jews, Matthew tells us that he was rich and Luke says of him,

“Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God.” Luke 23:50

John adds that Joseph was a believer in Jesus but had been unwilling to ‘come out’ because he feared the possible consequences.

“Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews.” John 19:38

Something had caused this change of mind and undoubtedly it was seeing the cruel and ruthless execution of Jesus that compelled him to come off the fence. Doubtless he felt great pangs of guilt for not being more vociferous earlier. Joseph was clearly an honourable man and he was now willing, unlike Pilate, to go against the tide of public opinion.

He, with Nicodemus, was also willing to take on an unpleasant task in honour of their Lord

The historian Josephus tells us that the Jews provided a burial site for executed criminals well away from the city. Joseph used his senior position to gain an audience with Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Doubtless a degree of guilt for the fate of Jesus led him to comply with the wishes of someone who wanted to give him an honourable burial. Although the formal charge had been sedition against Rome, Pilate knew that this was untrue.

There are some Christians who, for fear of family and friends are not public about their belief. It can take a fresh understanding of the death of Jesus to enable them to publicly confess their allegiance to Christ, a confession that is a necessity for salvation. The apostle Paul wrote,

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and so are saved.” Romans 10:9-10

Nicodemus

Nicodemus was also a member of the Sanhedrin and doubtless knew Joseph of Arimathea personally. He came from a family of Jewish aristocrats. Of the gospel writers only John mentions Nicodemus and he does so three times. In this chapter John reminds his readers of the first meeting Jesus had with him. Nicodemus had visited Jesus at night because he had recognised that his miracles meant he came from God. Jesus had told him in no uncertain terms,

“I tell you the truth, no-one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” John 3:3

John may be stressing his role in the burial of Jesus because it was an indication that he had stepped out of darkness into the light. It is surely significant that he had earlier questioned the manner in which the Sanhedrin was condemning Jesus without hearing his side of the story (John 7:50-51).

Whilst Joseph went to see Pilate, Nicodemus went to buy some embalming spices and he was not meagre in his contribution. He brought with him a large amount, 34 kilograms in weight, of a mixture of myrrh and aloes.

Although no Jews would want to defile themselves by touching a dead body, especially on the eve of the Passover Sabbath, these two senior men were willing to go and take Jesus’ body down from the cross and carry it to the new tomb that Joseph had had carved out of the rock for himself. To donate this to Jesus must have cost him a considerable amount, both in terms of money and in loss of reputation with the other ruling Jews. This tomb was in a garden near to where Jesus had been crucified. After the resurrection, John recalls Jesus was mistaken for the gardener who cared for this garden (John 20:15).

Myrrh was a fragrant resin that the Jews used in powdered from. They mixed this with aloes, which was a powder made from aromatic sandlewood. The purpose was not to preserve the body but to counter the smell of putrefaction. Jews used to wrap the body in a clean cloth in which the spice powder was packed around the body, and this would be all tied together with strips of cloth. This is what Matthew describes,

“Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and placed it in his own tomb.” Matthew 27:59

John confirms that the burial procedure used was ‘in accordance with Jewish burial customs’ (John 19:40)

The site of the garden tomb is almost certainly now marked by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Hadrian had built a temple of Venus on this site after he destroyed Jerusalem in 135AD and this was replaced by Emperor Constantine with ‘The Church of the Resurrection,’ which is the site for the present church.

Surely the main reason that all the gospel writers give so much detail about his burial is so that there can be no doubt that it was Jesus who was crucified and that he was really dead and buried. The other reason is to acknowledge that senior Jews ‘came out’ as believers in Jesus, as an example of what all believers should do. It was the cruel and wrongful treatment of Jesus that surely led them to make this decision and act accordingly.

It is no surprise that all four gospel writers spend so much time describing in detail the death and subsequent resurrection of Jesus. The Christian message is that God has entered this world as Jesus, the Christ, that he died to bear our sins and that he rose again to confirm that God had accepted his sacrifice, to reassure all people that death is not the end and to remind us that, through the work of God’s Spirit in us a new life is possible.

Mary Magdalene

Few people can have such an unfair, besmirched reputation as poor Mary of Magdala. Magdala was a small fishing down on the west side of the Sea of Galilee halfway between Tiberias and Capurnaum. When we talk of May Magdalene we are simply saying Mary of Magdala, much as people spoke of Jesus of Nazareth. The English word ‘maudlin’, which means ‘over sentimental’ is derived from Mary Magdalene, unfairly it would seem.

Mary Magdalene is given a very prominent role in the resurrection stories of Jesus with good reason.

Mark specifically mentions that Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and John were amongst those who followed this small burial party and saw where Jesus was laid. It was Mary Magdalene who, immediately the Sabbath was over, came at first light to the tomb to ensure that everything was done decently and to show her respects. She saw that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance and naturally jumped to the conclusion that somebody had taken the body away and dumped it somewhere, possibly in an unmarked grave. Now they would never know where his body lay. She was later to say to Peter and the other disciples

“They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him.” John 20:2

She said something similar to the two angels in the tomb,

“They have taken my Lord away, and I don’t know where they have put him” John 20:13

Notice how, on this occasion she uses a personal pronoun, she says, as all true Christians can say, that he is ‘my Lord’. How she must have loved Christ to have followed him so devotedly. She was there watching at the cross and was first at the tomb. She longed to serve Jesus in any way she could.

Bishop J.C Ryle when commenting on her example asks,

“How is it that many who profess and call themselves Christians, do so little for the Saviour whose name they bear. How is it that many, whose faith and grace it would be uncharitable to deny, work so little, give so little, say so little, take so little pains, to promote Christ’s cause, and bring glory to Christ in the world? These questions admit only one answer. It is a low sense of debt and obligation to Christ, which is the account of the whole matter. Where sin is not felt at all, nothing is done; and where sin is little felt, little is done.”1

When Mary saw the moved stone she ran back to Peter and the other disciples to tell the news. They were obviously still all together, possibly having slept in that upper room that appeared to be their base. Peter and John ran back to the tomb, John out-sprinting his friend. When John peered into the tomb he saw the linen cloths lying there but didn’t enter. Then Peter arrived but he went straight into the tomb. He was also struck by the linen cloths lying where Jesus body had lain, as well as the cloth that had been around his head, lying separately. John then entered and his comment about his own reaction is startling,

“He saw and believed.” John 20:8

It was as if Jesus body has just passed through the linen wrappings. If anyone was to steal the body they would take it with the wrappings, not carefully remove them and then replace them carefully just as if the body had laid there. It was this evidence of the cloths that led John to believe in the resurrection of Jesus. He adds that other evidences had not yet made an impact.

“(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)” John 20:9

Who was Mary Magdalene and why was she so prominent in this story?

Mary of Magdala first appears in a group of wealthy women who financially provided for the ministry of Jesus and his disciples.

“The twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.” Luke 8:1-3

So how is it that such a loving sincere person has had her reputation so damaged over the centuries? We do not know of her age or family. She would almost certainly have been married as it was rare for young ladies not to have a marriage partner arranged for them. What these seven spirits were that cause so much trouble we don of know either. What we do know is that she was incredibly grateful to Jesus who she called ‘my Lord’. Three major happenings have caused her reputation to fall from what it should be.

a. During the second century AD the ‘gnostic’ movement sprang up. It was a mystical group who claimed some link to Christianity but were far from Christian. They had various doctrines but taught that Jesus was just a spiritual being with no physical reality. They denied the incarnation and the bodily resurrection of Jesus. They were a radically feminist movement and were strongly opposed to the male leadership of the apostles. They made Mary Magdalene as an icon of someone who was opposed to Peter and the other male apostles. This tension is foolish as the apostles honoured her highly, particularly in John’s gospel. John was a close friend of Peter. The faith of Mary Magdalene in Jesus was so different to that of the ‘gnostics.’

b. In 591AD Pope Gregory (the Pope who gave us our Gregorian calendar) preached a sermon of which we have a copy. He wrongly identified Mary Magdalene as being the sinner, (probably a prostitute) who washed Jesus feet with her tears in Luke 7:37. It was suggested that she enticed men by anointing her body with perfume and that the seven spirits represented the seven deadly sins and it was assumed that she had committed them all!. This was such poor biblical exegesis. There is no suggestion that wealthy Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. The belief in the seven deadly sins was a late Roman Catholic idea, not a Biblical one, separating minor venial (forgivable) sins from major mortal (deadly) ones. Mary Magdalene is not to be muddled with Mary of Bethany who also anointed Jesus with ointment (John 12:1-8).

In 1969 the Roman Catholic church quietly issued a statement exonerating Mary Magdalene from this accusation but the damage was done.

c. In 2003 Dan Brown published his novel ‘The Da Vinci Code’ which three years later came out as a film. He claimed it was based on historical truth but it followed on from the book, ‘Holy Blood, Holy Grail’ which raises questions about the Bible’s teaching concerning Jesus by suggesting that he had an affair with Mary Magdalene, had a child, and did not actually die on the cross and was not raised to life. The book suggested that when Jesus died later in Palestine, Mary and her daughter Sarah emigrated to France. In this book Mary is the holy grail or chalice and Sarah is the holy blood. Sarah is said to have married into a French aristocratic family that eventually assumed the throne of France. All his is pure fiction or better ‘impure fiction’

Yet such stories influence many people. Someone who had read this book explained what they thought,

"In fact, I think the Knights Templar knew something about Jesus that the church has been hiding from us for years. I think Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, and they had a child. There are lots of ancient documents that have been suppressed by the official church to prove it. The Holy Grail isn't actually the cup that Jesus drank from at the last supper—it's the hidden bloodline of Jesus!"

The ‘Da Vinci Code’ has publicised these fictional ideas even though no credible historian believes these views. The book has now sold more than 40 million copies, and film has become a world-wide hit. It is extraordinary how many people will believe almost anything, other than what Jesus taught. It is as if there is a spiritual battle going on to prevent people honestly looking for answers to the big questions of life.

Mary Magdalene was a sincere, genuine lady who should be highly honoured. The apostle John obviously thought so. She was generous with her money. She stood by Jesus through thick and thin. She watched him die on the cross and followed his body to its tomb. She was the first to visit the tomb on that Sunday morning.

It is a true statement that those who love Christ most are the ones who receive most from him. As we will see, Mary Magdalene was given the privilege of being the first person to see the resurrected Jesus.

The importance of reliable historical accounts about Jesus

This eyewitness account of the death and burial of Jesus given by John has all the hallmarks of being an authentic account. There are little details that would not appear in fiction. Jesus really did die, was buried and rose again. The grave clothes were still lying there. He was to be seen by all the disciples who talked, ate with him and touched him. Later he was seen by more than 500 people on one occasion (1 Corinthians 15:6). The eyewitness accounts of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are just as true as the accounts of those planes that were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City on September 11th 2001. If Jesus did not die and rise again there is no basis for the Christian faith. It is only because this story is true that humanity can be confident of a future life after we die. Death is a natural enemy but Christ has now defeated death. It is because of Jesus that we know that evil will not pay and that people such as Judas, Caiaphas, Annas and Pilate and godless people today will have to give an account before the Lord God. The death of Jesus means I can be forgiven all of my sins and can have the power to live a different present life with the Lord in control.

Mary Magdalene experienced this freedom from her old way of life, the joy of living for her Lord This same forgiveness and power that gives freedom and joy is now available for all people. This story offers this to us all, there is an urgent need for us all individually to respond to Christ’s appeal ourselves and then to pass on this message to others.

The Lord says to us all,

“No eye has seen, nor ear heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 quoting Isaiah 64:4

“In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish . . .” 1 Peter 1:3-4

Do you remember those words Jesus said before raising Lazarus from the dead? They are read at most funeral services as the minister walks into the church in front the coffin.

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” John 11:25-26

The minister nearly always leaves out the phrase which starts the second verse in the Bible passage. Although this is in all english translations. Jesus actually concluded this statement by then asking his listeners,

“Do you believe this?” John 11:26b

It may help some who attend funerals today if the minister stopped the procession at this point and, looking around at everyone present, asked them all poignantly,

“Do you all really believe this?”

Our eternal salvation depends on having this belief and commitment.

BVP

1J.C.Ryle ‘Expository Thoughts on the Gospels’, St John Vol 3, William Hunt and Co (1873) p. 390-391