The Burial of Jesus

John 19:41-42- 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. So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.

In God’s plan, this burial of Jesus was so important that it is said to be one of the essential components of the gospel itself (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). We can consider many reasons for this.

· This burial fulfilled the Scripture. Isaiah 53:9 says, "And they made His grave with the wicked;" so that meant the Messiah would be buried in a grave – and He was.

· This burial fulfilled the prediction of Jesus. Jesus said that He, like Jonah, would be buried away for three days (Matthew 12:40), and so it had to be fulfilled.

· This burial demonstrated that Jesus was truly dead; it was proof of the glory of the coming resurrection. No one could tell Joseph of Arimathea or Nicodemus that Jesus did not really die.

· This burial was important because burial spices and preparations protected His holy body from decay; as it was said in Psalm 16:10: "You will not allow Your Holy One to see decay."

· This burial gave both Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus a way to proclaim their relationship with Jesus; it called them out of their state of secret discipleship.

· This burial and the days of Jesus in the tomb tested the faith and devotion of the disciples; it made them die a certain kind of death for those days they knew Jesus lay in the tomb.

· This burial and the days of Jesus in the tomb were ways to prove that at the cross Jesus defeated not only sin, but also death. The burial and the empty tomb show that Jesus conquered sin and death.

· This burial and the days in the tomb were important because there was important work for Jesus to do during that time in the tomb. 1 Peter 3:18-20 tells us that Jesus "went and preached to the spirits in prison." Though the Bible doesn’t explain this as much as we would like, it seems that as the body of Jesus lay lifeless in the tomb, His Spirit went to Hades, the abode of the dead. From there He led the faithful dead to heaven, in light of His then-completed work on the cross. He also preached a message of judgment and coming condemnation to the evil spirits that were imprisoned in the depths.

· This burial was another great and final connection of the Son of God with the humility of man. There was an aspect of transaction in the great work of Jesus on the cross; but there was so much more. There is also a radical aspect of identification, where Jesus connects with you in every way possible, and He invites you to connect with Him. He was buried with us, in the humiliation of utter humanness. We are buried with Him – spiritually by faith, ceremonially by baptism. He identified with us; we by faith identify with Him.

Based on The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik.