Luke 23:50-56 - The Burial Plan

Well, scripture already addresses that. They watched where he was buried, and it's corroborated throughout the Gospels. Why is this all so important? Well, let's go to Isaiah chapter 53, and there's an important verse in this passage dealing with the suffering servant, this discussion of the coming Messiah, verse 9. "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."

That was always the plan. That was always the plan. Joseph, you're my guy. Somewhere along the way, Joseph was probably drinking his morning coffee, talking with his wife, saying, "You know, we're getting older. We probably ought to put our funeral plans in place, so if the kids know what to do with us." "Yeah, let's get that done." They didn't know they were going to be a part of this. That was God's plan.

Question is, what is God wanting to do with you? You have no clue how big of God's plan that is. Things that you think are just normal, every day, run-of-the-mill, "You know, I just feel like I ought to do this," for some reason, that reason has divine purposes behind it.

And then, of course, we read that the women rested on the Sabbath day according to the Commandment. Well, which commandment is that? That's one we should all know from The Ten Commandments, Exodus chapter 20, verse 10. "The seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it, you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates."

They were keeping the Sabbath. That was the Commandment. Isn't that interesting? God put the Sabbath in the middle of this story. Why? Because that was the plan. Jesus had to die; he had to go to the grave; he had to stay there, so that his resurrection couldn't be argued. God's plan is amazing. I hope you don't miss that.

Here's where I want to close, though, and I alluded to this before: you don't see the disciples in this story. Not the ones we would think of. You see the faithful remnant. When you study scripture throughout its entirety, you see the importance of the remnant. God uses the remnant over and over again to bring about his purposes in mankind. Joseph and Nicodemus were the remnant, hidden in the shadows, but now it was time. "You men have to step out and be seen so that my plan can go forward."

And so, that's the question for you: is it time for you to step out and be seen? It's time to come out of the shadows and risk everything. I'm willing to be seen. This morning, we had two baptisms in our first service—two young men taking a stand, being seen. "I'm going to follow Jesus all the days of my life."

But to take a stand for Jesus brings risk. You might not get to be a part of the Sanhedrin anymore. There might be people who don't want to hang out with you anymore. There might be people who make fun of you, make fun of your God. But are you ready to stand in the light and be seen? Are you ready to get dirty for Jesus?