The Care of Jesus's Body

I'll put it before you, verse 3, "Jesus, keep me near the cross." We've sung that a few minutes ago. I want you to notice the top two phrases, "near the cross, O Lamb of God, bring its scenes before me." That's what we have been doing all along in these verses around the cross, John's account. We are looking at the scenes of the cross as the Lord inspired John. We are on the other side of the death of Jesus. This morning we're looking at how the Lord used individuals to care for the body of His Son, Jesus.

I thought those verses were very fitting, not just to where we are this morning, but where we have been the past few weeks in our messages in John. Thank you, Pray to Keith. Go ahead and take your Bible, turn back with me to John chapter 19. John chapter 19, I believe I said earlier, in our scripture reading that we will be dividing verses 38 to verse 42. Now I said this last week, I say it again because it does fit. These verses this morning are just a continuation of what we have been studying. We are looking at John, the Apostle John's account of the crucifixion of Jesus. We know who John is and was. He is the chosen Apostle of God.

He is the instrument. And he has given us his account of the events surrounding the crucifixion of his Son, Jesus. Now we covered the crucifixion verses 17 to 30 in two messages. Then last week we looked at the death of Jesus on the cross, verses 31 to 37. And then this morning we will finish this portion of scripture. We will be looking at the care of the body of Jesus. Now last week in introduction I talked about the fact that we have really three phases of these events, three phases surrounding the events on the cross. I think it's good for us to divide up scripture. It helps us get our minds and our hearts around the events.

And I will briefly share with you what I see as the three different phases. First phase is the events before the crucifixion. Now these events start at the arrest of Jesus. We know he was arrested there in the garden in chapter 18 starting in verse 12. This was before the soldiers physically took Jesus to the cross. What I mean is all of these events they start from chapter 18 verse 12 and go all the way to chapter 19 verse 17 when Jesus was nailed to the cross. In these events before the crucifixion we have the long and drawn out Roman and Jewish trials. We have the physical scourging of Jesus by the soldiers.

This was ultimately leading to Jesus' death on the cross. And then the second phase are all of the events while Jesus was physically on the cross. We see this starting in chapter 19 starting in verse 17. In verse 16 there is a large transition where Pilate turns Jesus over to the disciples, or excuse me, the soldiers. And then these events on the cross go all the way down to verse 37 and 38 when Jesus dies there on the cross. And the third phase, these are the events after Jesus' body was taken off of the cross. This is where we will start this morning. We will see that there are two men who are entrusted with the care of the body of Jesus.

Now just like last Sunday, we have another transition in this story or this narrative. Look back with me to verse 38. There's this little phrase, "After these things." Now this phrase does not denote a lengthy period of time and it does not necessarily mention a moment in time. What we have here is simply after the things, the things that have been studied and mentioned previously, Joseph went to, this is Joseph of Arimathea, he goes to Pilate and he asks for the body of Jesus. So this is a transition in the story. Now this naturally leads us to our subject this morning.

We will be studying the care of Jesus' body after the death on the cross. We would say it in our language, not just the care, but the burial of Jesus' body. Let's go back to our verses. We read them earlier, but I would like us to read them again starting in verse 38. "After these things, after the things which had transpired earlier, Joseph of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret disciple for fear of the Jews, he went and he asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus and Pilate granted him permission. He came therefore and he took away his body.

And Nicodemus came also, who had first come to Jesus by night, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes about a hundred pounds in weight. And so they took the body of Jesus and they bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden. And in the garden, a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. Therefore on account of the Jewish day of preparation," we know that's the Passover, "because the tomb was nearby, they laid him there in that tomb." Now I'll go ahead and give us the title of the message. It's very simplistic. This is the care of Jesus' body.

The care of Jesus' body. We will make two observations out of these scriptures. We will look at those who cared for Jesus' body. That's simply out of verses 38 and 39. That's Joseph of Arimathea and this man Nicodemus. And then we will see how they cared for Jesus' body. Very obvious, very simplistic, right out of these scriptures. As always, we encourage you to take notes because we want to learn, not just what we want to apply, not just what God gives us this morning. We want to continue to apply this throughout the days coming in this week. So let's look at our first major truth in our outline. Number one, those who cared for Jesus' body.

Those who cared for Jesus' body. We see them mentioned in verse 38 and 39. After these things, Joseph of Arimathea. He was a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews. He goes to Pilate and he asks that he might take away the body of Jesus. Pilate granted him permission. He came therefore and took away the body. And Nicodemus came also, who had first come to him by night, bringing a mixture of myrrh and allos. This would be spices, about a hundred pounds in weight. Now it's obvious, but we have two individuals that are named in these verses in this event. Now one is unknown, while one individual is definitely known.

We know very little about this Joseph, Joseph of Arimathea. He is not mentioned before or after this event right here before us. But Nicodemus is known to us and we know him well. We learned a lot about Nicodemus way back in our study of chapter 3. He is also found in John chapter 7 as well. Jesus is spoken of there with the Sanhedrin and Nicodemus tries to defend Jesus there in chapter 7. Now truthfully these verses can go past us. If we're not careful, we can zoom past these verses and even overlook these two men. But we do not need to do that.

There is a lot that we can learn here and we will briefly examine both of these men and we will make application after. Now there are two details that I want us to focus on about this individual Joseph, Joseph of Arimathea. First notice, Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but a secret disciple. Go back to verse 38. After these things, Joseph of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews. Now a question, what do we make of this secret disciple business that we have here in the text? It would have been very hard for a man like Joseph who was a member of the Sanhedrin to be a professing disciple of Jesus.

He most certainly would have lost his position on the Sanhedrin. He would have lost his position even in Jewish society. He most certainly would have been ostracized, even abused in every way by the Jews, even his own family, if he would have come out as a public disciple of Jesus. Again the question, what do we make of this secret disciple business? What does John, the Apostle John say about this type of follower of Jesus? John strongly condemns these secret disciples back in John 12, verses 42 and 43.

Notice what John says, "Nevertheless many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue." Verse 43, "So they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God." So from John's perspective, the Apostle John, Joseph was sinful, Joseph was cowardly. He loved the approval of man more than Christ. He loved his position, he loved his prestige more than the glory of God. Isn't that what we see in John 12, 42 and 43? But notice another specific about Joseph. Joseph was a disciple, but yet a bold disciple. Go back to verse 38.

"After these things, Joseph of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, he asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus." Here John says that he simply went to Pilate, but Mark, the writer Mark, helps us see that Joseph was bold as he approached Pilate. Mark 15, 43 says that he went to Pilate with confidence. The King James uses the word "bold" or "boldly." While the English Standard Version says that he took courage. Now a question. How can Joseph be a cowardly, secret disciple, but yet be a bold disciple? For Joseph to go to Pilate in this manner, he exposed himself to great danger.

He immediately identified with Jesus, so he alienated himself from the Jewish leadership, but he immediately put his life at risk with the Romans. He was identifying himself with a man who was executed as an insurrectionist, as one who defied Rome, even defying the emperor, but being executed as a king, the king of the Jews, he would have been seen as opposing even the emperor. So we see Joseph. He was cowardly, yet he turned out to be bold in the right circumstance. We will come back to this fact later in our application. But what about this second man, Nicodemus? Verse 39 speaks of Nicodemus. Let's go back to the verse.

And Nicodemus came also, who had first come to him, or Jesus, by night, bringing a mixture of spices. This would have been myrrh and allos, and it gives a list of weight here, about a hundred pounds. Now, as I said before, we have a lot of information about this man, Nicodemus. John tells us here that Nicodemus had come to Jesus at night. This was a reference back to John chapter 3, verses 1 through 21. Nicodemus had a lengthy dialogue with Jesus in chapter 3. John chapter 3 also tells us that Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin as well. Now, unlike Joseph, the scriptures do not tell us that Nicodemus was a disciple or a secret disciple.

Only John mentions Nicodemus taking part for caring of the body of Jesus. This puts us, as Bible students, in a, I call, a place of speculation. What I mean here is we can only speculate about Nicodemus and his spiritual condition. It would seem safe to say that Nicodemus was, just like Joseph, a secret disciple. As a matter of fact, many of the Bible commentators that I referenced go ahead and say that they speculate he was a secret disciple as well. But we cannot definitively and emphatically say that the scripture says that.

Now personally, personally, as your pastor and a student of the Bible, I believe, or speculate that Nicodemus was just like Joseph. I believe we can assume that he was a secret disciple. I believe his association with Joseph of Arimathea is evidence of that. I believe his association with the body of Jesus helps us make that speculation. I believe that his actions here at the burial with the body tell us this about Nicodemus. So we see Nicodemus. Again, it's my opinion, it's my speculation that he was cowardly, yet he turned out to be bold in the right circumstance as well. And again, we will come back to this in a moment.

So in summary, what do we see here in verses 38 and 39? Those who cared for the body of Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, but more than that we see two secret disciples, cowardly disciples. And we have them now turning into very bold disciples in their identification with Jesus. If they had come out as disciples before, they would have risked conflict with the Jews. Now in coming out as disciples in this bold manner, they risk conflict with the Jews and with the Romans as well. They even risk their lives here with this association with Jesus. Now in application, we have a tremendous life lesson that we all need to see here.

Now before we get into the life lesson, I want to contrast these men with the other disciples. Think about this. The disciples, those chosen men who had openly followed Jesus in his life, they were open in their identification with Jesus for over three years. Yet when the crucifixion came, they all ran away with the exception of John. But Joseph, Joseph and Nicodemus did not openly follow Jesus during his lifetime, yet they publicly identified with Jesus in a very bold way at his death. Now what's the lesson here? What's the lesson that you and I can apply to our own lives?

We must see that there are some who publicly, who vocally follow Jesus early on in their Christian life. Oh, but yet when the right trial comes around, guess what will happen? They'll turn coward. They will become inward and introspective, and they will have a fear of men, and they will be about self-preservation. I've known men like that. I've seen people do that. Some, they will vocally, publicly declare Jesus and their allegiance to Jesus, but yet when the right circumstance comes along, they become fearful of men, it's self-preservation, and they turn cowardly.

But yet, their son, they genuinely come to faith in Christ, and maybe they have a quiet disposition, maybe they do not have the confidence, for whatever reason they are not as bold in their Christian journey. Oh, but yet when the right set of circumstances comes along, they boldly step up, and they publicly identify with Christ, even in such a way where it surprises certain people. Now I want to be careful here. I am not trying to excuse lost behavior. There are people who are never born again, and yes, they can never publicly identify with Christ as a true believer. I'm talking about true, genuine, born-again Christians.

I'm thinking about an individual, and again, I rarely, rarely name names. Years ago, in my home church, I remember this individual, he publicly and openly declared that he came, had come to faith in Christ, attended church regularly, was very bold and very vocal in his witness inside the church and outside of the church, but yet when circumstances came, when trials came along, he always went the wrong way. It was always about self-preservation. See, God's taught us here that trials prove us for who we really are. But I've also seen people who had a quiet disposition. Maybe they lacked the confidence.

Maybe they had these inward struggles, and they weren't as bold as certain individuals, yet when the right circumstance came, God used those circumstances to mature them, and they stepped forward to be a bold witness for Christ. Let's continue. I want us to notice our second major truth in our outline, our second major truth in our outline, how they cared for Jesus' body, how they cared for Jesus' his body. Now, we see this really in the middle of verse 39. I will pick up in verse 39. "And Nicodemus came also, who had first come to him by night, bringing a mixture of myrrh and allos." These are spices, about 100 pounds in weight.

"And so they came, they took the body of Jesus, and they bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one yet had been laid. Therefore, on account of the Jewish day of preparation, because the tomb was nearby, they laid him there." Again, we have verses that if we're not careful, we can zoom right past them. We need to take our time and see that this was no ordinary burial. Now you might say, "Sure, Jesus was going to come out of the tomb on the first day." So that's not an ordinary burial.

Now that's true, but we need to see how Jesus was buried, how these two faithful men cared for the body. Now there are four observations out of these verses I want us to make, four specifics. First I want us to see that this was a burial for a rich man. This was a burial for a rich man. Now to see this detail, we need to look in two places. Back in the end of verse 39, and then going ahead to verse 41. Verse 39, the last part says that Nicodemus had a large amount of myrrh and allos, or spices. Now this first tells us that Nicodemus was a wealthy, a very wealthy man. These goods would have cost a significant amount of money.

And then second, this was no ordinary amount of spices for a burial. Commentators, or Bible scholars tell us that the amount listed here would have normally been used for the body of a very important person. Someone who was very wealthy. Someone who was in a position of prominence, even a king. But then verse 41 tells us that this was a new tomb, meaning it had never been used. Chapter 27 verse 60 tells us that this was Joseph's own personal tomb. This tomb, it would have been very expensive to have constructed. Tunes were normally carved out of solid rock and were sealed with a large round stone.

Because of the expense, tombs were usually used again and again and again. At times they were also built to accommodate more than one body. But that's not the case here. This was a new tomb. And this tomb was originally built for Joseph, who was a very rich man. So two things tell us that this was a burial for a rich man. Now the second observation, this was a proper Jewish burial. Go back to verse 30. And so they took the body of Jesus, they bound it in linen wrappings with those spices, as is the custom of the Jews. These men worked real hard to give Jesus a proper Jewish burial, even in the midst of difficult circumstances.

Jewish custom was to wrap the body with linen strips or cloth, applying the spices in between the strips. The amount of spices listed here ensured that the entire body would have been thoroughly covered by the spices. Now the purpose was to help cover the odor of a decomposing body, even in a tomb. But an important cultural detail needs to be seen here. I stated this was an appropriate Jewish burial, but not a normal burial for a Jew who had been crucified. Typically the Jews would bury Jewish criminals outside of the city. So Joseph and Nicodemus were breaking with Jewish custom. Also Pilate was breaking with custom.

Normally the Romans did not allow criminals executed for sedition to be buried. It was their custom to leave the bodies on the cross for the vultures and for animals. And this was a warning to the populace. Some Bible scholars say this was another way Pilate was getting at those Jewish leaders, this giving up of a body for burial. So Joseph and Nicodemus, they gave Jesus a proper Jewish burial, not a criminal's burial. And then our third observation. This was in a borrowed tomb. Go back to verse 41. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.

I already mentioned this fact earlier when I stated that Jesus was buried as a rich man. But I want to restate that this was a borrowed tomb. Joseph's personal tomb. Matthew 27 verse 59 and verse 60 says, "And Joseph took the body and he wrapped it in a clean linen shroud," verse 60, "and he laid it in his own tomb in which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and he went away." Just as Nicodemus had made a great monetary sacrifice here, Joseph is doing the exact same thing. Both men were going to great expense for this burial. Matthew 27 again verse 59 and 60 says that Joseph used his own tomb.

So Jesus was buried in Joseph's tomb. And it was a borrowed tomb because it was a temporary burial and we know the rest of the story. And then our fourth observation. This was in accordance with the Old Testament law. This was in accordance with the Old Testament law. Go back to verse 42, "Therefore, on account of the Jewish day of preparation, because the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there." Now we learned last week why the Jews were in such a hurry. The Jews were wanting everything associated with the crucifixion done so as to prepare for the Sabbath day, which was a high day passover.

Joseph and Nicodemus were doing the very same thing. They wanted Jesus buried before sundown so as not to violate the Jewish Sabbath. Now question. Does this action put these two men in the same category as the Jewish leadership? Remember they were hypocritical in their desire to obey Deuteronomy and not violate the Sabbath. But that is not the case here. The Jews again were hypocritical. They violated the scripture in every way to have Jesus killed, but yet they wanted to supposedly obey the word, not to violate the passover or Sabbath. Joseph and Nicodemus were not hypocritical. They were simply faithful Jews.

They were faithful in worshipping on the passover, faithful in caring for Jesus' body in accordance with the Old Testament scriptures. So in summary, what do we see here? We see two faithful men who did two very personal things. They incurred great personal expenses in this burial. Nicodemus providing a large amount of spices. Joseph providing his own personal tomb. They took great personal risks in asking for the body and bearing the body. They risked their lives with the Romans and they risked their lives with the Jews. But they were faithful to the end. Now a question in application.

Do we as Christians today, do we do as these two men did in their day? Does our allegiance to Christ come at great expense? And do we take risks in our allegiance to Christ? I think about a few specific areas of our own lives. What about our own monies? You know, we work and we make our own money and we pay our bills and we provide for our own families. But let me ask you this question, do we use our monies even at great sacrifice for kingdom work? I've said this from the pulpit. I've shared this with certain individuals and I definitely have discussed this with Brother Keith.

I have yet to stand in this pulpit and ask any of us to give sacrificially, to give in a way in which we would call sacrificial in our day. But maybe that time's coming. Maybe soon we will be in a place where we have to be bold in our giving, giving of our monies in such a way where it will cost us. But what about our possessions? Think about Joseph. He had a new tomb. But yet he gave it to the Lord. One thing I didn't mention is this, he did not think that Jesus was going to rise from the dead. Why? Because he sealed Jesus in that tomb. He was giving that tomb away. And my question for us is, do we use our possessions for others?

Do we use our possessions for the kingdom? Do we use our possessions for the church? If we fast forward in the scriptures and we go to the early church, they even sold possessions. Why? Why do we use those possessions for kingdom work? Again, I have yet to come to the place in the pulpit ministry where I have called us to give in such a way where we have to sell possessions or give possessions away. I've heard stories. I never forget one of the churches that I served, they built a building years ago. The pastor at the time led those individuals, those Christians, not to borrow money.

They were people who drove cars to the church and brought the title into the office and said here it belongs to the church. Use it for the death. Use it for the building. There were people who gave jewelry, personal possessions. Why? What were they doing? They were using their possessions for kingdom work. But what about our jobs? What about our careers? Remember Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus? Listen, they risk losing their jobs. Have we put our jobs on the line? Have we put our careers on the line for the sake of the church and kingdom work?

Most all of you know that we are partnering with Anchored in Truth, which is the mission's ministry of Grace Life Church in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. We're partnering to do missions work around the world. My wife and I always go to the True Church Conference, which is in February. You'll hear some more details about that coming up, which is right around the corner. One of the joys that we have is when we go to the conference, we stay over and we worship and we go to Sunday School. It's rare that I get the joy and the privilege of going to Sunday School.

Last year when I was in the conference and we were in Sunday School, there was a couple there who had recently moved back to Muscle Shoals. They were originally from Muscle Shoals. But the short story was they moved to another city to help with a church plant, a church start. They stayed there for five years and then moved back. What am I showing you? They put their career on the line, their job on the line. Why? Because they were the sake of the church, for the sake of kingdom work. So my question for you is this. Would you be willing to put your money and your possessions, even change jobs and careers for the sake of the church?

Now I'll say it like this. I don't believe any of us have made such great risks or taken such great risks where we could risk our lives. But that's what these men did. Does this put them in direct opposition with Rome? Now I want to bring this back to what I said earlier. Again, I'm wrapping up this application part of the message. I want to bring this back to this secret disciple, this Joseph and Nicodemus. Again I'm speculating that Nicodemus was exactly like Joseph. And I want to give us two things that I believe help us understand the process here. First is time and second is circumstance.

We do believe, we know, the Scripture teaches that Joseph was a true disciple, but yet he was fearful of men and he was about self-preservation. But sometimes when we see true Christians and they have a hard time being bold, it just takes time to grow them. And a lot of times God will bring circumstances. They come to a crossroads. They come to trial. And that time, plus those circumstances, brings about maturity. Don't we see that here with these men? Jesus is on the cross and he dies. What does Joseph do? His circumstances and the time of being that secret disciple all come together to demonstrate a mature believer willing to take risk.

An application I want you to see. No matter where you are, maybe you're truly born again and you struggle. You struggle with being as bold as you should be and I believe in time and with circumstance and God working in your life, you will stand up and be the courageous, even risk-taking disciple that God wants you to be. Now in moving to the conclusion, I want to ask you to write down one word. One word. I want you to write down this word, sovereignty. This word, sovereignty. Here we see that Christ, he is sovereign. He was in control over all of these circumstances.

You might say, "Pastor, you've said that numerous times." We need to see this. Christ demonstrated his sovereignty in his dying. He was in complete control all along. Every Old Testament scripture was fulfilled concerning his death. And Christ demonstrated his sovereignty in his burial as well. None of this was by coincidence. None of this was by happenstance. All of this was in accordance with the scriptures. Isaiah's prophecy. Isaiah 53 verse 9 reads, "And they made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth." What about Christ's grave with the wicked?

What about Isaiah saying that they made his grave with the wicked? Who was he crucified with? A thief on the right and a thief on the left. But what about this scripture about the rich man? And with a rich man in his death? This is speaking of Joseph. Joseph of Arimathea, who gave Jesus a rich man's tomb. So we see that Christ was in complete control even in his burial. Now in application of all of this, I want us to see that we should be holding on to this one word, sovereignty. But this causes me to ask a couple of questions. Do you serve a sovereign God who is in control of your life? I mean, you have been born of God, born from above.

You are a new creation in Christ. And are you serving a sovereign God who is in control of his death and in control of his burial and he is in control of your life? Or do you serve a hopes of God? Is this sovereign God a hopes of God for you? I hope I'm right with God. I hope I can come to Christ one day. I hope I get all these things worked out. That wasn't Joseph. I don't believe that was Nicodemus. A sovereign God was in control of their life and he gave them the strength and the courage to step up in that day and that time. So my question for you is, do you serve a sovereign God who is in control of your life?

I mean a sovereign God who personally works in you. He works in your heart. He works in your mind. He works in life circumstances. There is no denying that there is a personal relationship with you and this sovereign God. But I'm afraid there are many people that sit in our Baptist churches. They have a hopes of salvation. They hope that they are right with this God. Even some have a sovereign God in theory, not in practice. There's a lot of ways I can describe those who are not right with God. But for me, when I study these scriptures, I see a sovereign God who is in control of the crucifixion.

He is in control of his burial and I cannot help but go back to the fact that he is a sovereign God in control of my life because he chose to save me so many years ago. And I hope that describes you as well. So what are we looking at this morning? The care of Jesus' body, so much more that the title says. Let's pray and then we'll close.