Reflection on John 19:31-42

According to the Jewish calendar, sunset marked the end of one day and the beginning of the next. Jesus was crucified on "the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath" when no work was allowed to be done. After Jesus "bowed His head and gave up His spirit," evening approached quickly. "Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the Sabbath," they felt a special urgency for the crucified men to die quickly. "They asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down."

Usually, Romans left crucified criminals on their crosses to die slowly with the bodies hanging or threw them to the ground for the vultures to devour. But the Law of Moses said, "If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance." The Jewish leaders wanted the corpses to be removed from the crosses, so they could celebrate Passover with a fake clear conscience. They were zealous for their ceremonial purity, but indifferent to justice. 

The Roman soldiers probably welcomed the request made by Jesus' Jewish opponents to break the criminals' legs. They would have followed their order quickly, because the sooner the criminals died, the earlier their job would be done. So "the soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs." The Jewish leaders' attempt to have Jesus' legs broken drew attention to the fact that they were not broken. This happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, "No one of his bones will be broken." The Jewish leaders unwittingly bore witness to what Jesus has accomplished according to the Scripture. And the body of Jesus continued to bear witness to His identity and His accomplishment even after He died.

The soldiers were experienced executioners. They recognized the difference between death and a coma easily. But one of them stabbed Him to be sure He was dead. The soldier "pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water." Here, another part of Scripture is echoed, "They will look on the one they have pierced." Again, Jesus' body bears witness to His identity and His accomplishment. There are several explanations about the "sudden flow of blood and water." There have been many suggestions over the centuries about the significance of this flow. John primarily wanted his readers to grasp the essential historical fact that the Lord Jesus truly died physically. He was pierced for us. His blood was poured out for us. John himself was there, watching the whole thing happen. He "has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that" you and I also may believe.

John recognizes the overruling providence of God in the circumstances of Jesus' death. Next in his account of Jesus' burial, John continues to develop the theme of Jesus' royal identity. John says, "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. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away." Possibly in an attempt to silence his own guilty conscience, Pilate willingly gave Joseph the body of Jesus for burial so he could put the day behind him. 

Luke 23 tells us, "Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. ...he was waiting for the kingdom of God." And Matthew tells us that Joseph was "a rich man from Arimathea." As evening approached, he took Jesus' body. Accompanying him was Nicodemus, a respected teacher and Pharisee, as well as a member of the Sanhedrin. He was "the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night." He "brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.” The amount of expensive spices Nicodemus had bought suggested that he was also a rich man. Together, these two privileged men tenderly cleaned the blood from Jesus' bruised body. Then they "wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs." The large amount of spices used obviously expressed their love for Jesus. Such excessive amounts of spices were a feature of at least some royal funerals. Joseph and Nicodemus followed the burial customs of that day, the best they could, considering that they had very little time because the special Sabbath drew near.

"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. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there." The tomb was not only nearby, it was Joseph's "own new tomb that he cut out of the rock." Customarily, the Jews left dead bodies in a tomb for a few years until they decayed down to bones and then the bones were placed in a small stone box known as an ossuary. The ossuary remained in the tomb with the remains of other family members. But the tomb Jesus was laid was "a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid." The fact that it was a new tomb was emphasized by John so that Jesus' body would not be brought into contact with corruption. John recognized what king David had foretold how the Messiah's body "would never see decay." God fulfilled this promise in two ways. First, Jesus' body was laid in a new tomb with no contamination from other corpses. Second, Jesus' body did not decay. It was quite a sacrifice for Joseph of Arimathea to let Jesus to use his new tomb which was very expensive, but he probably didn't realize that Jesus would only use it for a very short time. Jesus only used the rich man's tomb long enough to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah, "He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death." After Jesus was crucified with the criminals and He deliberately yielded Himself to death in obedience to His Father. In the rich man's tomb His body awaited the resurrection and fulfillment of His Father's promise, "You will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay."

John has another point when he emphasized that Jesus was laid in the new tomb. John's point is that there would be no question of mistaken identity when the tomb was empty. It may also tie in with the theme of the creation of the new community or new family. Jesus has no ancestral tomb to lay, but He is the first member to lay in the new family tomb. He began a new family of those born from above who will never die or never "see decay."

As members of the Sanhedrin, Joseph and Nicodemus were both men of power, privilege and wealth. They were part of those who pierced Jesus since no one in the Sanhedrin spoke for Jesus at His trial. Even those two man were considered as secret disciples of Jesus. It was very likely that fear silenced them. It is ironic that Joseph and Nicodemus came out of hiding and clearly associated themselves with Jesus at His death, since they would have thought Jesus' movement had come to an end when most of His disciples had fled. They used to love man's praise more than praise from God, but not any more. Joseph and Nicodemus seemed to have served Jesus too late, but it wasn't too late to fulfill prophecy nor to be of tender service to Jesus. And there was no turning back for the two of them. According to the Law of Moses, touching a body would make them ceremonially unclean. They would have to postpone celebrating the Passover until the following month. There would be no way for them to keep their act of tender devotion to Jesus private. Although they dared not confess Jesus' name while He lived, they were finally awakened by the greatness of the sin of their nation, and by the event itself of Jesus' death. In His grace, God had reserved the two men for the work due to Jesus' dead body. Jesus was lovingly buried by two of His hesitant disciples. Did they have painful regrets of what they might have been and what they might have done for Jesus? One thing is for sure, they must recognize later this liberating fact: their sins would be removed from them in God's sight and buried with Jesus Christ. They could never truly return to their past life. They would be united with Christ, and their past life would be buried with Him in His tomb. 

For all of my friends who believe in Jesus Christ, may we never wait to give ourselves fully to Jesus, but choose to live moment by moment in the reality that the life you once lived is buried with Jesus Christ.

For all of my friends who haven't believed Jesus Christ yet, I pray for you to accept His love extended to you from His cross in His grace.