Luke 23:50-56 - The Burial Plan

A couple of points that I want you to get because they're going to set up next week. The soldier was sure he was dead, and just to be sure, he pierced his side. A Roman soldier understood death; they're pretty good at identifying a dead body. He was dead. He had to die. This will become more important next week when we talk about some of the arguments against the resurrection.

Let's go to Luke 23, verses 52 and 53. "This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone where no one had ever yet been laid." This can be important to us as well. Back to Joseph's status in society, not everybody could get an audience with Pilate. But Joseph, being a member of the Sanhedrin, was allowed that audience. Under Roman law, the Sanhedrin could decide religious matters, matters of cultural celebration, matters of religious dispute. So, he's a prominent figure within the culture. The Roman government is interested in keeping the peace, and so he was allowed access to Pilate.

When we go into John chapter 19 again, we learn a little more, verses 38 through 40. "After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body."

Then I'm going to take us back into Mark for a moment, Mark chapter 15, verse 44. "Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. Remember, crucifixion is supposed to take about three days. He's dead, how'd that happen? And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead." And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph.

Now, let's go back to our main passage, Luke 23, and I want you to consider a couple of other things that are going to happen here with Joseph, verse 53. "Then he took it down, meaning Jesus' body, and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone where no one had ever yet been laid." The Sabbath, right before the Sabbath coming into Passover, one of the easiest ways for a Jew to defile themselves was to touch anything dead. Joseph is not only going to touch the Dead, but he's going to take Jesus off of the cross. And I'm going to take you down a mental journey, and it's going to be a little disturbing, but I want us to be disturbed a little bit.

That means he's going to undo Jesus' hands from the nails. That means he's going to undo Jesus' feet from the nails. That means he's going to be wiping off the blood, the dirt, the sweat from Jesus' body. That means he's going to embrace that corpse to get it off the cross. For you to really understand what Jesus did for you, you've got to embrace the corpse. He died for you. We can't just pass from the crucifixion to the resurrection because he had to conquer death and Hell. He died for you, so that when it's our turn to die, they don't have to worry about it; it's a celebration. "I'm going to be with Jesus, who cares?"