The Burial of Christ
Estimated reading time: 17 minutes
We died, were buried, and rose with Christ
Usually, when we talk about the gospel, we talk about how Jesus Christ lived, died, and was raised. But look what it says in Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 15:1–4 APNT:
1 Now I make known to you, my brothers, the gospel that I preached to you and [that] you received and in which you stand
2 and by which you have life. With what word I preached to you, you remember, unlessyou have believed fruitlessly.
3 For I committed to you from the first according to what I received, that Christ died forour sins, as it is written,
4 and that he was buried and rose after three days, as it is written.
The burial must be significant.
John 19:31 APNT:
31 Now the Judeans, because it was the day of preparation, said, “These bodies should not remain on their crosses, because the Sabbath is dawning, for the day of that Sabbath was a high day [the first day after Passover was a high day]. And they begged Pilate that they might break the legs of those [who were] crucified and take them down.
Passover—and the crucifixion—occurred on the 14th of Nissan, which in that particular year fell on Wednesday. Remember that in Jewish reckoning, the day starts at sunset and goes until the next sunset.
John 19:32–37 APNT:
32 And the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of that other [one] who was crucified with him.
33 And when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was dead already and did not break his legs [as was prophesied].
34 But one of the soldiers struck him in his side with a spear and immediately blood and water came out
35 and the one who saw [it] testified and his testimony is true. And he knows that he spoke the truth that you also may believe.
36 For these [things] happened that the scripture would be fulfilled that said: A bone of him will not be broken.
37 And again another scripture that said: They will gaze at him whom they pierced.
Jesus was the Passover lamb that year. Everything that was happening to the Passover lamb was happening to Jesus that day. None of the bones of the Passover lamb could be broken.
At about 3:00 PM on the 14th of Nissan, when they were killing the first lamb for the Passover in the temple, that was the exact time that Jesus Christ died. Jesus was the lamb.
The special Sabbath, the high day, would begin at sunset (Hebrew days were from sunset to sunset). The time between the death of Jesus Christ (and the Passover lamb), about 3:00 PM, and sunset (about 6:00 PM) is when the burial details occur. That gives them a relatively small period of time, about three hours, to get Jesus buried before the special Sabbath (not the weekly Sabbath on Saturday) would begin.
The time period between about 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM (sunset) is what they called “the evening” or “between the evenings.”
Mark 15:42–43 APNT:
42 And when the evening (3:00–6:00 PM) of the preparation had come, that was before the Sabbath [the special Sabbath, the high day],
43 Joseph who was from Arimathaea, an honorable counselor [a member of the Sanhedrin, either a Pharisee or a Sadducee] who also was waiting for the kingdom of God, came and was bold and approached Pilate and requested the body of Jesus.
Joseph from Arimathea is not mentioned in any of the gospels before this event, and he’s never mentioned anywhere after this event.
He “was waiting for the kingdom of God.” What could that mean? As a member of the Sanhedrin, he would have been one of the ones voting on whether or not to put Jesus to death.
Luke 23:50–51 APNT:
50 And a certain man, whose name [was] Joseph, a counselor from Arimathaea, a city of Judea, was a good and just man.
51 This [man] did not agree with their will and with their deed and was waiting for the kingdom of God.
He “did not agree with their will and with their deed.” He did not agree with their vote. He did not vote for it.
Matthew 27:57 KJV:
When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple:
John 19:38 APNT:
After these [things], Joseph, who was from Arimathaea, requested from Pilate, because he was a disciple of Jesus and was hiding for fear of the Judeans, that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave permission and he came and took the body of Jesus.
He was a disciple of Jesus—maybe that’s what “waiting for the kingdom of God” means.
When you read the stories in the gospels or the book of Acts, you need to picture yourself in the scene because not every single detail is explicitly written.
How did Joseph know the exact time that Jesus died? He must have been nearby, close enough to see (even though many of the disciples had scattered). He really did believe that Jesus was the Messiah and the coming King. He must have believed what Jesus said, that he would have to die and be in the ground for three days and three nights. So Joseph was waiting for the kingdom of God. So, Joseph prepared for Jesus’s burial.
How did Joseph have access to Pilate? Why did Pilate grant him the body?
The normal custom was that only family members would be able to request a body, but when someone was crucified as a criminal, even the family members would not bury that person in the family plot.
It’s important that Joseph was requesting Jesus’s body so that it would not be placed in the common grave with the rest of the criminals. Already, God is ensuring that there would be no question that Jesus was buried. He would be buried by himself, not with other bodies. He couldn’t be mixed up with someone else who was in a common grave. No one could make the case that just his body had been removed from a common grave; he had his own grave, and no other body was in it.
Mark 19:44 APNT:
And Pilate marveled that he had already died. And he called the centurion and asked him if he had alreadydied.
From 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM was relatively short as crucifixions go, so Pilate was surprised that Jesus had already died.
This short period (relative to typical crucifixions) also shows that no one killed Jesus Christ; he laid down his life at the exact right moment he was supposed to. He stayed on the cross only as long as was required to fulfill what he needed to do to be the Passover lamb.
It takes a little bit of time for Pilate to call the centurion and ask whether Jesus had already died. Let’s just say there’s about an hour involved.
Mark 19:45–46 APNT:
45 And when he learned [it], he gave his body to Joseph.
46 And Joseph bought linen cloth and took him down and wrapped him in it and placed him in a grave that was hewn out in the rock and he rolled a stone on the door of the grave.
He had previously bought the linen cloth.
Matthew 27:59–60 APNT:
59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a cloth of clean linen.
60 And he placed it in his new tomb that was hewn in rock. And they rolled a large stone [and] placed [it] over the opening of the tomb and they went away.
This new tomb was located in a garden near where Jesus was crucified (John 19:41–42).
Joseph planned this. He prepared with all the details. He prepared a new tomb; normal people would not be buried in a new tomb or with clean linen. Kings would be put into a brand new, never-before-used grave. Normally, a family plot would be used, and multiple people would be put into it.
The Only One in That Tomb was Jesus
Once again, we see that the situation ensured that the only body in that tomb would be Jesus’s. Later, the angels asked, “Why are you seeking for the dead among the living? He is not here.”
You can see that Joseph had to have been wealthy to have this tomb dug out of the sandstone at his own expense. It’s not his family tomb. It’s close to where the crucifixion occurred.
Matthew 27:60 APNT:
And he placed it in his new tombthat was hewn in rock. And they rolled a large stone [and] placed [it] over the opening of the tomb and they went away.
“They,” who’s “they?” The King James Version says “he,” but the Aramaic says “they.” There must have been another person involved in this.
In the section on The Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53, it prophesies about the Messiah:
Isaiah 53:9a NET:
They intended to bury him with criminals, but he ended up in a rich man’s tomb…
Even in his burial, prophecy was fulfilled.
So who is the other person who was with Joseph? In John 19:38, Joseph took the body of Jesus.
John 19:39–42 APNT:
39 And Nicodemus also came, who previouslyhad come to Jesus during the night, and he brought with him a mixture of spices of myrrh and of aloe, about one hundred Roman libras [about 75 pounds of spices].
40 And they took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen and with spices, as is the custom for the Judeans when they bury.
41 Now there was a garden in that location in which Jesus was crucified and in that garden, a new tomb in which no one had yet been placed.
42 And they placed Jesus there, because the Sabbath was beginning and because the grave was nearby.
Normally, no more than five pounds of spices would be used when wrapping a body for burial. For most people (such as Lazarus), it might be only one pound. That much spice, 75 pounds, would have only been done for a king; so, that’s an indication that Nicodemus also viewed Jesus as the Messiah and king.
The cost of the spices for Jesus’s burial, in our terms, would have been $150,000–$250,000!
For another reason why it is reasonable to think that Nicodemus believed that Jesus was the Messiah and King, look back at Chapter 3.
John 1:1–3 APNT:
1 Now there was a certain man there from the Pharisees. His name was Nicodemus, a ruler of the Judeans.
2 This [man] came to Jesus at night and said to him, “My Master, we know that you were sent from God [as] a teacher, for no man is able to do these signs that youdo, but he with whom God [is].”
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly I say to you, if a man is not born again [or born from above], he is not able to see the kingdom of God.”
John 1:12–3 APNT:
12 If I have spoken to you about [things] on the earth and you do not believe, how will you believe me if I speak to you about [things] in heaven?
13 And no man has ascended into heaven, but he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man who is in [or of] heaven.
14 And as Moses raised up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man is going to be raised up,
Moses took an image of a serpent and put it on a stake, like the cross, and lifted it up. When people were bitten by a snake and looked at it, they would be healed. Jesus was showing Nicodemus that he would be lifted up on a stake, but in the process, he would bring healing to all who looked to him. Did Nicodemus believe him? Yes, look at Chapter 7.
John 7:48–52 APNT:
48 Have any of the leaders or of the Pharisees believed in him,
49 exceptonly this cursed people, who do not know the law?”
50 Nicodemus, one of them, who had come to Jesus in the night, said to them,
51 “Does our law condemn a man, unlessit hears from him first and knows what he has done?”
52 They answered and said to him, “Are youalso from Galilee? Search and see that the prophet will not rise up from Galilee.”
All they could see was that Jesus was from Galilee. Actually, there were prophets from Galilee—so they didn’t even know the Scriptures that they were basing their claim on.
Joseph of Arimathea would have been at that meeting and would have heard Nicodemus take a stand. If Joseph hadn’t known about Nicodemus before, he certainly would have now. They probably discussed matters together after this point. Certainly, they must have worked together. Joseph arranged for the tomb and linen cloth, and Nicodemus arranged for the spices. They had to be prepared in order to bury the body in the manner of the Jews, but as fast as possible, before sunset.
John 19:39–42 APNT:
39 And Nicodemus also came, who previouslyhad come to Jesus during the night, and he brought with him a mixture of spices of myrrh and of aloe, about one hundred Roman libras [about 75 pounds of spices].
40 And they took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen and with spices, as is the custom for the Judeans when they bury.
41 Now there was a garden in that location in which Jesus was crucified and in that garden, a new tomb in which no one had yet been placed.
42 And they placed Jesus there, because the Sabbath was beginning and because the grave was nearby.
Their Actions Made Them Ceremonially Unclean
The fact that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus handled a dead body would make them unclean. They could not participate in the Passover or in the following Feast of Unleavened Bread. They must have believed that what they were doing was important and worth the cost to them.
We read that later, after the end of the week and the start of the next, the women came with more spices. Why would they need more spices if there were already 75 pounds of spices used?
The word for the spices that the women were preparing was a completely different word than the one for the spices that Nicodemus brought. The ones used in the burial were Myrrh and Aloe. What the women were bringing could be translated as oil, anointing oil, or even incense. This would have been part of the normal burial customs at that time.
These cultural details are not written because they would have been understood by the people at that time. We need to dig a little deeper in order to fully understand it today, the way they understood it back then. We think a new tomb or a new grave is normal, but that was not the case in their culture.
We have to set aside our Western thinking and look at it through Eastern eyes.
It was important for him to be buried—in the grave—for three days and three nights. So, from sunset Wednesday through sunset Saturday, he was in the tomb. He arose at sunset on Saturday, after having been buried for three days and three nights.
Matthew 12:39–40 APNT:
39 But heanswered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, yet a sign will not be given to it, except the sign of Jonah the prophet.
40 For as Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.
Although that was not their intention, the chief priests were the ones who ensured that he would stay buried for three days and three nights.
Matthew 27:62–66 APNT:
62 And on the next day [Thursday] that was after the preparation [Wednesday], the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered with Pilate
63 and said to him, “Our lord, we are reminded that that deceiver was saying while he was alive, ‘After three days, I will rise up.’
64 Command therefore to guard the grave until the third day, so that his disciples will not come [and] steal him in the night and say to the people that he has risen from the deadand the last deception should become more evil than the first.”
65 Pilate said to them, “You have soldiers. Go, watch as you know [how].”
66 And they went [and] set a watch on the tomb and sealed that stone, with the soldiers.
Their intention was to prevent someone from stealing the body. But what they actually accomplished was to make sure that he stayed buried for three days and three nights.
Jesus didn’t go into the grave with common criminals. He was given the burial of a king in a rich man’s tomb.
God made sure that when they found the empty tomb early on Sunday morning, there would be no doubt that he had risen from the dead. There were no other bodies in the tomb to confuse matters.
We don’t read anything more about Joseph and Nicodemus. But I would like to speculate that they were there on the Day of Pentecost. There are traditions that say Joseph of Arimathea went to the British Isles and proclaimed the gospel there. But we don’t know for sure.
What we do know is that we died with him, were buried with him, and rose with him. Every believer is identified with what Jesus accomplished during that time, including the burial.
What Does it Mean to be Buried With Him?
Romans 6:1–3 APNT:
1 What then should we say? Should we continue in sin that grace would increase?
2 Let it not be so! For [we are] those who are dead to sin. How can we live in it again?
3 Or do you not know that we who are baptized in Jesus Christ are baptized in his death?
Why does it used the word “baptized” here?
At BibleStudyTools.com are helpful definitions.
There are actually two words for baptism: bapto and baptizo.
- to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of vessels sunk)
- to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one’s self, bathe
- to overwhelm
Not to be confused with 911, bapto. The clearest example that shows the meaning of baptizo is a text from the Greek poet and physician Nicander, who lived about 200 B.C. It is a recipe for making pickles and is helpful because it uses both words. Nicander says that in order to make a pickle, the vegetable should first be ‘dipped’ (bapto) into boiling water and then ‘baptised’ (baptizo) in the vinegar solution. Both verbs concern the immersing of vegetables in a solution. But the first is temporary. The second, the act of baptising the vegetable, produces a permanent change. When used in the New Testament, this word more often refers to our union and identification with Christ than to our water baptism. e.g. Mark 16:16. ‘He that believes and is baptised shall be saved’. Christ is saying that mere intellectual assent is not enough. There must be a union with him, a real change, like the vegetable to the pickle! Bible Study Magazine, James Montgomery Boice, May 1989.
Another example of baptizing is placing a piece of cloth into a vat of dye. When it comes out, the color change is permanent.
Galatians 3:27 APNT:
For those who were baptized in Christ have put on Christ.
It’s literally “baptized to Christ” or “baptized Christ.”
Romans 6:4–7 APNT:
4 We are buried with him in baptism to death, that as Jesus Christ rose up from the deadin the glory of his Father, so wewill also walk in new life.
5 For if we were planted together with him in the likeness of his death, so we will also be in [the likeness of] his resurrection.
6 For we know that our old man was crucified with him that the body of sin [sum total of the sin nature] should be annulled, so that we should no longer serve sin.
7 For he who is dead is set free from sin.
There are three key words in Romans 6 and 7: know, reckon, and yield.
Know, Reckon, and Yield
Romans 6:11 APNT:
So also you should count [reckon] yourselves that you are dead to sin and alive to God in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 6:11 AMPCE:
Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:13 KJV:
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Romans 6:13 APNT:
And also do not present your members as an instrument of wickedness for sin, but present yourselves to God as men who have life from the dead and let your members be an instrument for the uprightness of God.
This is summarized in Colossians.
Colossians 2:12–13 APNT:
12 And you were buried with him in baptism and in him you have risen with him, for you believed in the power of God who raised him from the dead.
13 And you, who were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive with him and he has forgiven us all our sins.
Colossians 3:1 APNT:
1 Therefore, if you have risen with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God.
2 Think what is above and not what is on the earth,
3 for you are dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 And when Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
Remember the pickle!
See Also
Jesus Christ Our Passover Lamb
Jesus Christ Our Passover Series
Scripture References
Scripture quotations marked (AMPCE) taken from the Amplified Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from The NET Bible® Copyright © 1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. www.netbible.com. All rights reserved.
This teaching is also available on the Acts Now Fellowship website.
Bookstore Suggestions:
