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45 So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. 46 Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. 47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed where He was laid. ~ Mark 15:45-47
Today, we conclude our study of Mark 15 which ends with Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking the dead body of the Lord Jesus down from His cross and burying Him in a tomb. At some point these two religious leaders of Israel, Joseph and Nicodemus, had come to faith in the Lord Jesus. All through the trials of the Lord Jesus, they did not raise their voices. But after His death, they took courage and prepared the body of the Lord Jesus for His burial and placed it in the tomb.
This is what the cross of the Lord Jesus does to us, it addresses our hypocrisy and forces us to decide between the way of the coward and the way of the committed. Everyone knows in their hearts that there is a God. And, we all know deep down within us that the Lord Jesus is who He says He is. The question is this: Will you have this God to define your life?
In v.45 of today's passage we read, "So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph."
When the Centurion assured Pilate that the Lord Jesus was dead, the limp body of the Lord Jesus was granted to Joseph of Arimathea. Down through the years, the Roman soldiers had executed many criminals by way of crucifixion and they knew a dead body when they saw one. They were expert executioners and they knew with certainty that the Lord Jesus was dead. Further proof was given when the soldier thrust his spear into the side of the Lord Jesus. When the dead body of the Lord was punctured, blood and water came gushing out of His side. This meant that His pericardium had filled with water denoting that He was really dead. This was important because there is no question the Lord Jesus had died and that He later raised from the dead.
In v.46 of today's passage we read, "Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb."
With the high price that Joseph paid, he was motivated by his love for the Lord Jesus to take care of His body after His death. Joseph did not want to see the body of the Lord Jesus dishonored by being thrown in a dump with the criminals, so, he loaned Him his tomb for decomposition.
In John 19:38 we read, "And after taking Him down, cleaning off the blood and the sweat and the dirt, he would have wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock."
Then, in John 19:39 we read, "Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes about a hundred pounds weight."
Also, in John's Gospel, John also wrote they buried the Lord Jesus in the "burial custom of the Jews." That included washing the body of the Lord Jesus before wrapping it in the large linen cloth that Joseph bought. Joseph cut the linen into strips. Then, Joseph and Nicodemus put aromatic spices in the strips of cloth. And then, they wrapped the body of the Lord Jesus in the strips of the linen cloth.
Nicodemus helped Joseph in the process of preparing the body of the Lord Jesus for burial. One has to wonder the process both of these Jewish religious leaders went through to get to that point. What kind of conversations did they have after certain instances like the visit Nicodemus made to the Lord in John 3, or, the trials before the Jewish Council of which they were a part?
In v.47 of today's passage we read, "And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed where He was laid."
Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus were still there, mourning in their sadness, and, paralyzed by the confusion created by it all. And, when they saw Joseph and Nicodemus take the body of the Lord Jesus away, they followed them, from a distance, so that they could ascertain where He would be laid.
Then in Luke 23:56 we read, "They returned to their homes and prepared their own spices."
The events of that dark day were hard for all who had a heart for the Lord Jesus. The darkness of that day would shortly be swallowed up by the light of His resurrection. So often over the previous three years of His ministry, the Lord Jesus strategically allowed those whom He loved and who loved Him, to dwell in the agony of their pain. This type of pain always serves us best for it is the hardest of pains. This is why our faith is so very important. Often, we are totally clueless to what He is about to do in our lives and then He springs something on us that would have been easily overlooked by us if it were not for the preparation provided by the pain. Wondrous are His ways. May His kingdom come!
