Mark 15:39-47. The Burial of Jesus

The death of Jesus is the most important fact in history.  Our eternal salvation depends on it.

Mark gives us three witnesses to confirm that Jesus really died, he could not have simply swooned.

The Women

We are specifically told that when Jesus died ‘there were women looking on from afar.’  Some are named.  These days women had followed him from Galilee but mark wants us to know that ‘many other women came up with him to Jerusalem’.

The disciples had fled and hid in the upper room but the weaker sex showed their strength.  Their faith was stronger!

Throughout the New Testament the grace of God is glorified in women and the history of the church shines with the witness of women.  In the Old Testament women are often portrayed as a snare, think of Eve,, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Delilah, Bathsheba and Jezebel.  In the New Testament women are generally shown in a great light.

In contrast, in the New Testament most of the women mentioned were very supportive of gospel work.Elizabeth, Mary Martha, Dorcas, Lydia and all the women named by Paul in his letter to the Romans.  This is surely intentional, emphasising that women have a very important place in the work of Christ.

These ladies had no doubt Jesus was dead as they went to anoint his body early on the Easter Sunday.

Quiet Friends

Just as Joseph of Arimathea was unknown before he asks for the body of Jesus or afterwards, his being mentioned reminds us that the Lord had followers who will surprise us by coming out of the closet at just the right time.  We know he was ‘waiting for the kingdom of God’.  When Jesus’ close disciples had deserted him Joseph, with his friend Nicodemus took an extraordinary risk to go to Pilate and ask for his body.  He acknowledged his discipleship by caring for a corpse and treating this with utmost respect.  This was a very dangerous thing for him to do.  His colleagues on the Sanhedrin who had demanded Jesus’ death would not be at all please.  They would have preferred his body to be thrown into an unmarked paupers grave.  What would the Council do when they learned of his visit to the Procurator?  Pilate would not know that he was not involved.  He placed the body of Jesus in the tomb he had had cut our for himself.

Yet he had that moral courage, without which nothing is achieved for Christ in any generation.  Isn’t there a great need now for people to openly confess their allegiance to the lord Jesus?

We may feel that we are in an increasing minority but the Lord is still about his work. Elijah felt very alone after his conflict with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.  He said to the Lord:

““I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 1 Kings 19:14

The Lord cared for him but added,

“Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.” 1 Kings 19:18

Jesus was dead by 3pm and there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that he had died.  The early creed of the church confirmed:

:”Christ died for our sins . . “ 1 Corinthians 15:3

This creed continues:

“ . . and was buried . . “

If Jesus was embalmed and buried he must have been dead.  70 lbs of embalming ointment would be enough to kill anything!  If buried his subsequent resurrection must have been a resurrection of a cold corpse.

Pilate’s investigation is important as this refutes any allegation as Jesus’ later appearance was a resuscitation in the cool of a tomb.

Today the main focus of many churches are the poor and underprivileged.  This story reminds us that even the privileged desperately need Christ if they are to be saved.  Furthermore they often have opportunities to do things that ordinary people couldn’t achieve.  People with authority can get things done.  There was only three hours till nightfall, yet Joseph could get to see Pilate who needed to confirm the death, then arrange to take the body down, embalmed and laid in his own tomb.  Such efficiency.  He also had the resources to treat Jesus’ body with great respect and put him in his own tomb.  Such well known people can have great influence of society and their peers.

Doubtless Joseph did not realise the significance of what he was doing.  He confirmed that Jesus really had died.  The women saw exactly which tomb the body had been placed in.  The subsequent empty tomb with the grave clothes lying there confirmed the resurrection.

The Roman Centurion

He also confirmed that Jesus had truly died.  It was a capital offence for a crucified person to be removed from the cross before their death.

“And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, ‘Surely this man was the Son of God!’” Mark 15:39

He would have hear the conversation Jesus had with the repentant thief. How he reacted to the taunts of the religious people and the gracious way he died when under such pain and pressure, possibly on top of what he had seen and heard before convinced him about who Jesus really was.

What a Saviour we have.  How can anyone turn their back on him?