The Advent of Easter, Part XXIII by Pamela Christian—Copyright © 2019
This post represents the events leading up to and just after Jesus’ battered and lifeless body was laid in the tomb—the three nights and three days His body was entombed with Roman guards outside.
Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea, and a member of the Jewish Council, went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Joseph’s request was predicated on Deuteronomy 21:22-23 where bodies of hanged criminals were not to defile the land by remaining on a tree overnight. Pilate was surprised that Jesus had already died, as crucifixion was typically a longer death process, usually requiring the breaking of the victim’s legs to prevent them from using their legs to raise their body up to better breathe. The fact not a single bone of Jesus was broken, fulfills prophesy (Psalm 34:20, Exodus 12:46, and Numbers 9:12).
Joseph, along with Nicodemus, were disciples in secret for both men feared the reprisal of their fellow Council Members. Nicodemus, also wealthy, brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight for perfuming the body as a show of respect and honor. The quantity was truly befitting for interning a king. Taking the body of Jesus, they wrapped it in a clean linen shroud according to the customs of the Jews. However, because of the impending Sabbaths, they cut short their treatment of the body and laid Jesus’ body in Joseph’s own new nearby tomb. The tomb had been cut out of a rock. Joseph rolled a great stone over the entrance to the tomb and the men left, while Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, solemnly observed. Jesus being laid in this particular tomb fulfilled the prophesy of Isaiah 53:9.
Because the body was inadequately prepared for burial, the women planned to return to properly treat the body, following the Sabbaths. Because of the Sabbaths, according to their own laws, the women were caused to wait, which no doubt added to their grief.
Upon the next day, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered before Pilate stating, “Sir, we remember how that imposter said wile he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore, order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate allowed them to make the tomb as secure as possible by sealing the stone at the entry, and stationing Roman guards outside for the next days and nights.
What do you suppose was the conversation of Jesus’ disciples? What about the twelve whom Jesus had personally chosen to be His apostles? While they were commemorating the first Passover where God had delivered their ancestors from the oppressive Egyptian slavery, they suffered this great loss of the very One they believed would deliver them. They had all seen Jesus do miraculous works. They had all heard His teaching and recognized Him as an amazing scholar of the Scriptures without being one of the educated religious leaders of the day. They had all believed Jesus to be their political deliverer. Yet, Jesus didn’t try in the least to resist arrest or defend Himself during the illegal trial. Why did He risk arrest and more during His years in ministry, so often, angering the religious leaders and the Roman officials, only to willingly succumb? They surely doubted Jesus’ claims about Himself. I wonder if they even doubted the claims about the original Passover—about God Himself? Imagine the supreme perplexity they suffered, while mourning the loss of a man they loved—of the One they believed was given by God to secure their political freedom.
Consider sitting around the table during the Feast of Unleavened Bread—the Passover celebration which is to continue for seven days. As they ate the bread and drank the wine they must have pondered what Jesus meant the night before when He instructed them to eat the bread as His body, and drink the wine as His blood, in remembrance of Him. Didn’t He also say about this meal “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God”? And when He took the wine He said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” What did He mean when He spoke of the new covenant in His blood? And what about His words, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise”? Who was this he—this third person He spoke about? Was He speaking of himself?
Surely, their thoughts were all consuming and overwhelming. Everything at this point seems completely lost—all hope they’d enjoyed is shattered and gone.
For April 19-20, 2019 read and meditate on the following Scriptures:
Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12; Deuteronomy 21:22-23; 2 Chronicles 16:14; Isaiah 53:9; Psalms 34:20; Matthew 27:57-66; Mark 9:31; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 22:14-22; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42
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