Chapter 289 of 404

Historical Support for Jesus’ Burial

That Jesus was buried is attested in pre-Pauline tradition known to Paul’s readers in his own and other congregations (Rom 6:4; ¹ Cor 15:4). John and Mark apparently independently attest the historical role of Joseph of Arimathea in the burial: Given early Christian experiences with and feelings toward the Sanhedrin, the invention of a Sanhedrist acting piously toward Jesus (Mk 15:43) is not likely.³¹³ Neither Mark nor his tradition invents many names; it is also not likely that Joseph of Arimathea (an inconspicuous village) is named simply for the entertainment of Mark’s audience. Despite its bias against the Jewish authorities, early Christian tradition preserves burial by one of them (Mk 15:43, 46; Acts 13:29).³¹⁴

Burial was the standard expectation after death in Judea, even in cases of executions when public mourning was forbidden.³¹⁵ That Jewish officials would permit and that some pious Jewish leader might aid in Jesus’ burial is thus historically quite reasonable. The Romans normally preferred that the bodies of condemned criminals rot on crosses,³¹⁶ but biblical law, respected by all the Jewish sects (including the chief priests), prohibited this final indignity, demanding burial by sunset (Deut 21:23).³¹⁷ Josephus additionally testifies to this practice.³¹⁸ Burial was an essential duty for both Jews³¹⁹ and most Gentiles;³²⁰ like most of their contemporaries,³²¹ Jewish culture regarded lack of burial as a horrible fate.³²²

Because the punishment was in Pilate’s hands, the burial would not be simply delegated to the Judean authorities,³²³ but it is unlikely that Pilate would be unaware of the Jewish concern for burial. Jewish law required burial even for foreigners passing through their territory,³²⁴ and even the most dishonorable burial for executed, including crucified, transgressors, was burial nonetheless. ³²⁵ If Pilate accommodated a demand for execution, he would surely accommodate local sensitivities concerning disposal of the corpse.³²⁶

Thus Brown is certain that pious Jews, given their views of burial, would not have allowed Jesus to go unburied.³²⁷ “The only surprise,” Davies and Allison note (on Matt 27:60), is that Joseph buries Jesus in a family tomb rather than a criminals’ burial plot.³²⁸ (Although only Matthew suggests that it was Joseph’s own family tomb, his explanation plausibly accounts for how Joseph came by it so quickly.³²⁹ Most burial sites were private, the property of individual families.)³³⁰

Although Brown is convinced that Jesus was buried and believes that Joseph played a role in this, he doubts that Joseph was a disciple, supposing that this is why the women did not cooperate with him in the burial;³³¹ but we may well question to what degree the women would have trusted a Sanhedrist they did not know at that point. The preservation of his name and other details may suggest that Joseph either followed Jesus at this time (as we think more likely) or, as Brown thinks,³³² that Joseph became a disciple later.

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