Jesus Is Buried
JESUS IS BURIED
LUKE 23:50-56
Notice Joseph’s character and his actions. This took courage!
An indication that Gordon’s Calvary is the place of the crucifixion is found hard by. The ridge of rock which ends in the skull-shaped knoll runs back to form a low cliff. In the cliff-face is cut an ancient tomb. It is a squared chamber with a low ledge on the side nearest Calvary. A great groove shows where a wheel-shaped stone once rolled to close the entrance. A walled garden on two levels encloses the place and gives an air of simplicity and sanctity not to be found in the great church, cluttered with the tawdry symbols of devotion, which covers the alleged site now within the city walls.
It is refreshing to meet another of the Lord’s “remnant.” They are of all ranks of society. Joseph was a Sanhedrist, who now with uncommon courage went to the Roman governor, who was, no doubt, still tense and irascible from the day’s frustrations, and begged for the body of Christ. He gave it reverent and honorable burial, and the women were there also, an intent and observant audience. Hence perhaps the fuller account in Luke. He who was more brief than either Matthew or Mark about events on Calvary, gives more detail here, and in so doing provided material for much Christian art.
Luke had other purpose than mere narrative in view. The resurrection was the first prominent feature of the Christian gospel, as the earliest preaching shows. Skepticism, faced with the empty tomb, would find its readiest argument in the statement that the Lord was not really dead. It is a theory recently revived by a medical man. Luke was also a medical man, and took some care over this matter. Such witnesses could not have been deceived. Joseph and those with him could have no doubt that it was a dead man with whose mortal remains they were dealing. The great stone was rolled in front and the garden emptied, until the tramp of the guards resounded, set to watch the tomb.
Notes Had Joseph not intervened, the body of Jesus would have been thrown out for the dogs and vultures. We do not know whether he openly opposed the condemnation of Jesus or merely absented himself from the Council. 23:53: see Isaiah 53:9.