[0:00] to be able to eat. So Pilate came out to them and asked, what charges are you bringing against this man? If he were not a criminal, they replied, we would not have handed him over to you.
[0:15] Pilate said, take him yourselves and judge him by your own law. But we have no right to execute anyone, the Jews objected. This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken, indicating the kind of death he was going to die, would be fulfilled. Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, are you the king of the Jews? Is that your own idea, Jesus asked, or did others talk to you about me? Am I a Jew? Pilate replied, it was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done? Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.
[1:19] You are a king then, said Pilate. Jesus answered, you were right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born. And for this I came into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me. What is truth? Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, I find no basis for a charge against him. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release the king of the Jews? They shouted back, no, not him. Give us Barabbas. Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.
[2:14] Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again saying, Hail, King of the Jews. And they struck him in the face. Once more, Pilate came out and said to the Jews, look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.
[2:49] When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, here is the man. As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, crucify, crucify, crucify. But Pilate answered, you take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him. The Jews insisted, we have a law and according to that law, he must die because he claimed to be the son of God. When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid. And he went back inside the palace. Where do you come from? He asked Jesus. But Jesus gave him no answer. Do you refuse to speak to me? Pilate said, don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you? Jesus answered, you would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore, the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin. From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free. But the Jews kept shouting, if you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes
[4:25] Caesar. When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at a place known as the stone pavement, which in Aramaic is Gabbatha. It was the day of preparation of Passover week, about the sixth hour. Here is your king, Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, take him away, take him away, crucify him. Shall I crucify your king? Pilate asked. We have no king but Caesar, the chief priests answered. Finally, Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. Here they crucified him and with him two others, one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
[5:39] Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Many of the Jews read this sign. For the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, do not write the king of the Jews, but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. Let's not tear it, they said to one another. Let's decide by lot who will get it.
[6:42] This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled, which said, they divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. So this is what the soldiers did. Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, dear woman, here is your son.
[7:16] And to the disciple, here is your mother. From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, I am thirsty. A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, it is finished.
[7:56] With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Now it was the day of preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other.
[8:31] But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.
[8:49] The man who saw it, the man who saw it, has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.
[9:07] These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled. Not one of his bones will be broken. And as another scripture says, they will look on the one they have pierced.
[9:23] Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now, Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, because he feared the Jews.
[9:40] With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night.
[9:52] Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds. Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it with the spices in strips of linen.
[10:10] This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden, a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.
[10:26] Because it was the Jewish day of preparation, and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. Turn with me, please, to the 19th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John.
[10:47] The closing verses of that chapter, which describe the burial of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[10:58] John chapter 19, verses 38 to 42. Making allowance, of course, for the difference in time, by this time of day, on the first Good Friday, Jesus was buried.
[11:19] This time of the year, we think understandably and correctly about his death and his resurrection. But perhaps his burial is not given the attention that it deserves.
[11:40] Each evangelist records incidents about it as part of his gospel.
[11:54] And that surely indicates to us that we ought not to think of it merely as the intervening event, which, of course, between his death and resurrection.
[12:13] Burial, the proof of death. Burial, the prelude to resurrection. The Apostle Paul, you remember, summarizing the primary truths of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15.
[12:29] Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried. He was buried. And he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. The burial then points in these two directions.
[12:45] And yet, it has a significance of its own. And that is why each evangelist records it. There are some striking events in connection with it.
[12:59] And each record brings those out. Something of the gospel of salvation is presented even when the Savior is dead.
[13:15] His life was full of saving activity. His death, his dying, was full of saving activity. When he bowed his head and gave up his spirit, his activity on earth ceased.
[13:34] But the effects of that death continued, inserting saving events. And I want us to look at those this evening.
[13:45] Now, no evangelist has all the details that relate to the burial of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the fullest account is here in the Gospel of John.
[13:59] And we have noted that, I'm sure, from the fact that it is only here that Nicodemus is referred to as having had any part in the burial of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[14:17] But there are some other emphases that John makes in presenting his account of the burial of Jesus. It follows striking events with regard to his last moments or last minutes on the cross.
[14:40] We read that soldiers came at the direction of Pilate, caving in again to Jewish pressure to hasten the deaths of those who had been crucified.
[14:54] Because they had a religious festival that they had to keep. And the soldiers come and each man on the side of Jesus has his legs broken in order to hasten death.
[15:13] But Jesus was dead already. And so, his legs were not broken. And so, why spear his side?
[15:24] Here are two surprising things. You remember that when the Jews went to Pilate and asked that the deaths of the crucified ones should be hastened.
[15:39] Pilate was suspicious. And he sent to verify because the time that they had been on the crosses was so short.
[15:50] But he was suspicious. He sent to verify that this was so. And it was. Then, when the soldiers came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, there was no need at all to carry out Pilate's command.
[16:11] Why then spear his side? If you had been an observer there, you would have expected Jesus' legs to be broken. Unless you knew the Old Testament.
[16:23] You would not have expected his side to be speared. Unless you knew the Old Testament. So, here were striking events.
[16:35] One, a non-event, you may say. His legs were not broken. Another, a seemingly inexplicably, then totally unnecessary, random, purposeless.
[16:47] The world is full of purposeless, venomous acts, isn't it? Now, the account of the burial of Jesus is placed in connection with those surprising incidents.
[17:01] Which were fulfillments of Scripture. And John puts in this account of the burial without comment. He does it as a historical, as it were, eyewitness.
[17:13] No, as it were. He was there. Tells us his testimony was true. He puts it in without any explanation or comment. As if he says, I've given you clues.
[17:24] The Old Testament should help you to understand this. This is what took place. This is revelation, then. It isn't just history.
[17:36] It's saving truth. It's part of the gospel. The burial of Jesus Christ is not the necessary intervening event between death and resurrection.
[17:51] It is something that proclaims death and resurrection. So then, let's look at it with those things in mind.
[18:07] John uses a word or two time and time again in these few verses. The word is Jews.
[18:20] Jews. Jews. Look at it. Verse 38. For fear of the Jews. Then, in verse 40.
[18:35] In accordance with Jewish burial customs. And then, in the verse following, it was the Jewish day of preparation.
[18:46] He's making a point, you see. By this repetition. He's saying that the burial of Jesus happened in spite of the Jews.
[19:01] It happened according to the custom of the Jews. And it happened on a day of particular significance for the Jews.
[19:13] And, of course, it was by Jews. And of a Jew.
[19:26] So John is underlining the Jewishness in one way or another. The Jewishness of the burial of Jesus. There are two named men, aren't there?
[19:40] Joseph and Nicodemus. And their actions are woven into a continuous account. Joseph of Arimathea takes off and goes to Pilate.
[19:57] And asks boldly, the Gospels tell us. Asks boldly for the body of Jesus. Nicodemus has made preparation for the internment of the body.
[20:14] And then, they both come together. In order to carry this out. Each has had his part. It's Jewish.
[20:30] It's a very Jewish burial. But no ordinary Jewish burial. Because it's no ordinary Jew.
[20:45] That is being buried. It's the body of an extraordinary Jew. It's the body of the king of the Jews.
[20:59] Which is why I said at the beginning, note the ways in which kingship and kingdom are interwoven in this narrative that John records.
[21:10] There above the cross was something that irked the Pharisees and the scribes no end.
[21:21] Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews. Change it. Change it to he said he was. And for once, Pilate stood his ground.
[21:35] What I have written, I have written. And therefore, Aramaic speaking Jews, therefore Romans, therefore Greeks, in their own language, was above the cross of Jesus, the declaration of the gospel.
[21:55] Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. The Messiah, that is. The one who has been predicted. The one whom many, certainly some, were expecting.
[22:10] Proclaimed, placarded for all to see. And under that cross, those priests and Pharisees, strutted.
[22:23] He saved others. Himself he cannot save. If he is the king of Israel, let him come down now from the cross. And we'll believe him. Now in the burial, when Jesus' lips were silent, when he was inactive, when he had to be carried, when his body was a corpse, God intervened.
[22:58] And he intervened, so that by this incredible burial, what had happened on the cross, and what is going to happen, on the first Easter Sunday morning, is proclaimed and placarded.
[23:21] Here is the burial of the Christ of God. the burial of the Messiah. And while it is shocking, that he should die, isn't it somehow more shocking, that he should be entombed, buried?
[23:45] Buried? Well now all I want to do this evening, is to ask a few simple questions, because of these verses, who buried Jesus of Nazareth, and why?
[24:00] And then secondly, I want to ask, how did they do so? And finally, why and where?
[24:12] How and why to begin with? Who would have intervened, on behalf of someone, executed for sedition, and blasphemy, because that's why he was crucified.
[24:34] He was presented as an enemy of Caesar, sedition. He was presented as an enemy of God, blasphemy.
[24:46] State excluded him, the church of the day, excluded him. Now who will take his side?
[24:57] We are told that, at the cross, his mother, and his mother's sister was there, and Mary Magdalene.
[25:11] Joseph, his paternal guardian, probably died by this time, but where were his brothers? Nowhere to be seen.
[25:23] No one of them to act for a widowed mother. The disciples have fled except one, John.
[25:42] And John is there. And Jesus assigns to John the care of his mother, not deifying her, as Roman Catholics have done, but dignifying her.
[26:05] But what is going to happen to him? Who is going to be responsible for that body? It's a real question.
[26:21] Because Pilate owned that body. That's why Joseph went to him and requested it.
[26:34] What did the Roman governor or a Roman authority do with such a body? Well, he could leave it hanging there as a threat and a warning.
[26:48] Or, if there were more than one, a common grave would be dug and they'd all be tumbled into it. That is what awaited the body of Jesus.
[27:01] Even if, by an act of incredible clemency, Pilate were to give the body of Jesus to his mother or family, kinsfolk, where were they going to put the body of a blasphemer?
[27:22] The moment you put such a body in a grave with their forefathers, you contaminate in Jewish thinking, you contaminate the grave of the deceased.
[27:36] There was no house, no home. There was no place on earth. He was suspended between heaven and earth and when he was dead, there was nowhere for him.
[27:46] and then these two came and they were members of the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea, this rich man and Nicodemus was very apprehensive about what his fellow Sanhedrists were planning to do.
[28:18] You haven't heard him, you're condemning a man before you've tried him, you can't do it. And Joseph of Arimathea, he was waiting like Simeon and Dana and others unnamed, waiting for the kingdom of God.
[28:35] they were looking for the Messiah. But they hadn't believed Joseph and Nicodemus. They hadn't believed before.
[28:49] And we're told the reason why they hadn't believed before. The Jews had decided that if anyone confessed that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. And therefore for fear of the Jews, these were semi-attached, undercover, secret disciples as we called them.
[29:15] There was a time when if John 3 is to be brought into the discussion which it is when Nicodemus had to be told that he was outside the kingdom.
[29:26] What a thing to tell a Jew. What a thing to tell a learned member of the Sanhedrin that he was outside the kingdom of God and that he ought to understand what plainly he didn't understand.
[29:41] But now when all is lost here they come. They come out of the darkness as it were and they come into the light and Joseph goes to Pilate and asks boldly he's taking his side with the one who's been crucified for sedition.
[30:10] He asks boldly for the body of Jesus and Nicodemus. it's interesting to wonder isn't it?
[30:20] At what point did this happen? Did either know of the other? Did they decide that they were going to act in this way together?
[30:31] Did they anticipate the emergency there's going to be a dead body of the one who might be is God's king?
[30:44] The Messiah? We've got to act. We'll not know. It's not proper to surmise and yet you know given the pressure on time and given a body to be carried and given the 75 pounds in weight of these aromatic resins and spices.
[31:08] How on earth could two men do together? Alone I mean. But that's what happened. That when all seemed lost, these men came into the light and they took their stand for the Lord Jesus Christ.
[31:32] Like the dying thief you see. Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom believe that he was the Messiah.
[31:46] Whatever they might have thought about, whatever the thief thought about the kingdom, it was the fact you were a king and I'm becoming your subject.
[31:58] God is there a secret disciple here? Or perhaps you're not a secret disciple.
[32:10] Perhaps you're not even like that. Perhaps you'd like to be thought that you're a secret disciple, that you have these, have this respect and have this concern salvation for Jesus.
[32:26] But have you taken your stand with him, with a dead Messiah? Because in his death he died for you.
[32:42] And if you were going to know his salvation, it is through Jesus Christ, who isn't the king of the kingdom of a world, that the world will follow.
[32:55] The one who saves is the one the world rejected. The one who stood out in the open, not merely rejected by men, but accursed by God.
[33:11] And bore your sins and endured the punishment due to you on account of your sins. these were the ones who buried him.
[33:25] Now is the time to take your stand for Jesus. The world is against him. There are versions of Christianity that pay him scant respect, passion plays, dramas, ideas.
[33:43] Last year in our hometown, there was a passion play and Jesus was a social reformer. There's a bypass going through Port Albert, sorry, going past Port Albert and we're thankful for it because the traffic is terrible.
[34:00] But, here was Jesus, you see, presented as someone who had the welfare of society at heart. It's not a gospel.
[34:14] He is the one who is concerned about a kingdom that isn't of this world. Are you one of his subjects? Or are you really a rebel still?
[34:25] one who tries to tread the middle ground? You're not really happy with the friends of Jesus.
[34:37] You're not really happy with his fours either. You're the most miserable person on earth. Because you will not take your stand, come what may, cost what it will, with the one who died to save sinners.
[34:54] these two men did. There was a time when they did it. When is the time that you are going to do it? Now, that's who buried him.
[35:10] And it was a great surprise, wasn't it? Last thing you would have thought of. Well, now, how did they do so? Well, they did so according to Jewish custom, we're told.
[35:27] And burial customs varied from nation to nation. In Israel, it was internment, not immolation or cremation. And not to be buried, for a corpse to lie disinterred on the earth, on the ground, was a great shame and curse.
[35:51] Now, what was likely to happen to Jesus? Well, I've mentioned it in advance. He would either have been left there for carrion, or he would have been tumbled into a common grave.
[36:10] Joseph and Nicodemus knew the Old Testament scriptures. Jews. And there was an earlier king of Judea, the son of Josiah, the reformer.
[36:21] Jeremiah describes him. Jehoiakim, his name was. And, of course, all the Old Testament kings, you see, they were kings in God's kingdom.
[36:33] They were therefore to be subservient to him, to rule for God. Josiah had done so. Jehoiakim, his son, didn't. He played ducks and rakes with Egypt and with Babylon and suffered, of course, at the hands of Babylon as a result.
[36:54] And we're told in Jeremiah that he would be dragged out of the city and dumped like a donkey. That was the kind of burial that Jehoiakim had because he had not been a true king in God's kingdom.
[37:15] Jesus had been all through his life. He'd been concerned with the honor of God. That came first and foremost, day and night, day after day, night after night, always doing those things that pleased the Father.
[37:36] Not only in his life, but even in his death. God's and now what's going to happen to that body in which he accomplished that obedience and set up a kingdom.
[37:50] Joseph and Nicodemus are determined that as he is the true king of the Jews, the Messiah of God, he is going to have not just a Jewish burial, but a right royal one.
[38:12] this is a burial fit for a king. Herod, so the Jewish historian Josephus tells us, he was given such funeral honors as well.
[38:35] But these two knew the difference between Jesus and Herod. and they had this aromatic resin and powder and they had cloth strips in which they were going to put the spices and wind them around the body and they had a cloth for his head.
[38:57] It was an expression of faith. It was an expression of love. It was an expression of honor.
[39:10] that's how they did it. Determined that here was someone who was to have all that a true Jew should have and not someone who would be disposed of like heathen.
[39:27] what would you do for his dead body had you been there? When death comes to our families though the person has gone the body is still regarded as immensely precious and we engage in those activities part and parcel of mourning part and parcel of preparation for burial and for respectful internment which express the fact that the person though no longer in the body that body is still the body of that person and that is what these were doing.
[40:33] This body of the incarnate son of God who was the king was the body of the one who had set up the kingdom by his hands by his words by his works by his feet by his mind by his heart by his will all part and parcel of that reasonable body and human soul that constitutes humanity which was taken into union with the person of the son of God the eternal son of God without which no kingdom could have been set up no salvation could have been accomplished that body by which which was made do you remember by that incredible act of the Holy Spirit conceived in the womb of the
[41:33] Virgin Mary here is the greatest creative act of God the miraculous virginal conception Jesus increased in wisdom and stature his mind grew his body grew and as both expanded so with more and more love and faith and hope he took you a place and mine and kept the law that we had broken and gave to God the glory that it was his due until he offered up remember won't you that what is unique about the death of Jesus Christ is what happened between him and God on the cross not merely what was done to him not merely that he laid down his life but that he offered himself without spot to God instead of you and me in order to accomplish our salvation to pay our debt to bear our punishment to take our place it was that body that these two men could not separate from that person nor could
[43:07] Mary of course where is he he's gone they've taken him away tell me where he's gone I'll go and get him the body of Jesus Christ is the body in which your salvation was accomplished in which you were represented when he offered himself to God he was doing it instead of you and me who couldn't and wouldn't apart from his grace do so and that body you see was not merely the body in which atonement was accomplished it was the body in which resurrection life was going to be displayed that's how they did it and would you have acted in that way you don't need to of course to ring shroud or nothing these thousand and one relics not a bit of it we have the person but he's not disembodied because in the resurrection he reanimated he reanimated his humanity because he's
[44:48] God and is alive forever more and we have him who is at the right hand of God glorified human body forever and ever and our bodies will be glorified too along with him that's how they did it finally when did they do it well there was great pressure on time wasn't there why well good friday when does sabbath begin six o'clock friday night and that sabbath was a very special sabbath it was the passover sabbath and so everything had to be done jesus died jesus was crucified the third hour of the day he died the ninth hour of the day 360 minutes of you a time and mine in which he suffered for our sins and yet submitted himself to god and between three o'clock in the afternoon and six o'clock in the evening all this had to take place there was great pressure on time because these were jews they wanted to partake of the passover but it's interesting isn't it they didn't mind handling a dead body anymore this was a different dead body this was the body of the king the king of the law the lord of all the ritual that connected to the sabbath but there was hissed how were they going to do it well they'd had there must have been some plan but they knew that they couldn't take it far the body that is it had to be entombed somewhere near because of time and there was a place and joseph had the place he had this tomb carved out in a rock and it was in a garden nearby and there they laid
[47:00] Jesus because sabbath was coming and in that tomb on that sabbath he killed the sabbath and turned it into the lord's day here you see was the fulfillment of that garden rest in the temple garden of god that adam and eve knew before they sinned and here entombed he was in fellowship with his father he's a divine person the unity of the trinity he cannot be broken it was only his human nature that died but still but still god willing we'll see this a little of this sunday morning but still it was his human nature and body and he had union with it even in death which is why he could reanimate it at will with his word no man takes my life from me i lay it down myself i have power to lay it down and i have power to take it again such authority i have received from my father but there they laid him garden rest work done atonement made suffering over all finished all completed and if you trust him then you need not do a thing in order to obtain acceptance with god peace with god rest in god he's done it he has gained it he gives it he has it to give that's why and where they laid him you see it's all in a sense if you believe in jesus it's inevitable isn't it something like this had to happen because of who he was because of what he did because of what he's going to do on the third day do you believe in him have you submitted to him because if you have then you don't need to fear the grave you don't need to fear the grave he's been there and and though he himself did not see corruption while he was there you and I will but only in relation to our bodies our spirits will be with him in unbroken fellowship forever and ever till the dawn of eternity when just as he reanimated his own body he will reanimate corpses and unite them with ransomed spirits and make us body and spirit like himself and we shall be with him forever and ever
[51:01] don't fear the grave because he bore the wrath we will not die as he died we will live in dying in fellowship with him and be with him forever more until our bodies are raised incorruptible and united with ransomed sanctified spirits we are fully human like the human nature of the eternal son of God believe in him rejoice the death has been conquered the grave is empty he is alive body and spirit and so will we be and all for whom he died amen amen amen all the greatest� 안돼ilàe go in the grave and hearm Admiral
[52:29] Jesus my Savior Waiting the coming day Jesus my Lord Up from the grave He arose Where the mighty triumphal His foes He arose from the victory from the dark domain And He ends forever with His saints to reign He arose, He arose Hallelujah, Christ our Lord Waiting the coming day Jesus my Savior Waiting the coming day
[53:32] Jesus my Lord Up from the grave He arose Where the mighty triumphal His foes He arose a victim from the dark domain And He lives forever with His saints to reign He arose, He arose Hallelujah Hallelujah