It’s a familiar scene — loved ones mourning their loss in silence once the dead body can no longer be embraced by eyes or arms.
All that remains are our fleeting memories of a life which has passed into lifeless dust. I have been there. Likely you have as well.
It happens that the Beloved Body laid to rest previously is Jesus Christ.
Perhaps you missed these mourners outside the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea where the remains of Jesus were sealed. In our own grief we lament how such a public spectacle of Jesus’ Crucifixion on a Roman Cross could have been inflicted on the Son of God.
A Day of the silence of the Passover Lamb
“An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then he left them and went away.
Matthew 16:4 CSB
Now the LORD had prepared a great fish…
(Certain death: Three days & three nights away.)
Now the LORD had appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah spent three days and three nights in the stomach of the fish.
Jonah 1:17 – with commentaries
Perhaps the bereaving Apostles or distraught mourners had recalled this and other sayings of Jesus.
“A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.”
John 16:16 NASB
Christ :: The Three Days and the Three Nights
Don't become too immersed in the discussions of 'days' or 'dates' of Christ's Crucifixion and Resurrection, but for the curious here is an article discussing some of the Jewish calendar issues involved.
After a brief time of carrying His pierced body from the Cross, Joseph and the others must wait until the completion of the Passover feast and until the day after the Sabbath to return and dutifully complete their burial task.
We noted several witnesses to Jesus’ crucifixion previously in It is finished.. + Death’s witnesses. John does not list everyone nor does the Apostle include some additional events.
John has not mentioned Judas Iscariot since his betrayal of the Lord in Gethsemane. Yet Matthew’s Gospel reveals the death of Jesus’ betrayer, the 30 pieces of silver purchasing the field of blood and how it fulfills prophesy.
3 When Y’hudah, who had betrayed him, saw that Yeshua had been condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the head cohanim and elders..
“I sinned in betraying an innocent man to death.”
the confession of Judas Iscariot – Matthew 27:4 HNV
5 Hurling the pieces of silver into the sanctuary, he left; then he went off and hanged himself.
From Crucifixion until Christ’s Resurrection
Before we proceed to John’s witness of Christ’s Resurrection, let’s linger just one more day to note events and witnesses beyond the tomb where Jesus’ body lay.
Matthew 27:
59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.
61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.
What a sorrowful scene…
And Matthew records:
62 Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate..
64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day..
65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.” And they went and made the tomb secure with the guard, sealing the stone.
Luke 23:
And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God; this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain. It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes.
(Note the brief amount of time these women John names had to see the tomb, return with spices and just begin the wrapping of Jesus’ slain body.)
- Luke tells us (Luke 23:56b) why they had to leave Jesus’ body until later.
And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.
Luke 24:1 NASB
- The Apostle Matthew tells how Joseph wrapped Jesus’ crucified body in a clean line cloth and laid the Lord in a place he had prepared for his own death.
- Then Matthew tells us (27:60b NASB):
and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.
- Matthew, the Disciple of Jesus also records the sad scene of silent mourning, where Joseph must have recalled these two women who lingered there.
61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.
To be continued.. .. at dawn the first day of the week ...
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