Lent - Pt 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, who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. (Luke 23:50-53 ESV).

We learn from Matthew and Mark that Joseph was bold enough to ask Pontius Pilate for the body of Jesus. Pilate, the Roman governor who ruled over the land of the Jews, was the one who had ordered the crucifixion of Jesus. After making sure that Jesus was dead, Pilate allowed Joseph to take his body. Joseph took the body of Jesus, wrapped him in linens and placed him in a rock tomb. Matthew tells us that the tomb had never been used before. Matthew and Mark inform us that the tomb had been carved out of rock. After placing the body of Jesus in the tomb, Joseph of Arimathea rolled a large stone to close the entrance to the tomb. It was from this tomb that Jesus was resurrected. In our reading today from the book of Luke, we are told that Joseph of Arimathea was a good man who believed in the teachings of Jesus, and that he was a member of the Sanhedrin who had not consented to the action that the council had taken against Jesus. It is significant that Jesus was buried in "another’s" tomb, which is expressive of his humility. In his lifetime, Jesus had nowhere to lay down his head to sleep, and at his death had no tomb of his own to lay his dead body in. Thus, it denotes that what he did and suffered, and what was done to him, were not for himself but for others. He died not for his own sins, but for the sins of others, and he was buried, not so much for his own sake, but for others, that they and their sins might be buried with him. It was also a "new" tomb. That should point us to the truth that he is the one who makes all things new. He made the grave for his people quite a new and another thing to what it was. When he dwells in the hearts of men, old things pass away, and all become new. In addition, this tomb was "hewn out of the rock," as was sometimes the manner of rich men to do, to prepare such sepulchres while living for the greater security of their bodies when dead (cf. Isaiah 22:16), and this prevented any such objection to be made to the resurrection of Christ that the apostles, through some subterraneous passages, got to the body of Christ and took it away. To all this may be added that at the door of this new tomb hewn out of a rock a great stone was rolled, and this stone sealed by the Jews themselves; so that no pretence could be made for a fraud. Joseph’s last service for Jesus points us directly to the miracle of redemption and eternal life!