John 19:38-42

Jesus is Buried

John 19:38-40     Nicodemus Comes into the Light

38 After all this, Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus,
but a secret one due to his fear of the Jews,
asked Pilate if he could take the body of Jesus.  

To increase the deterrent purpose of crucifixion, Roman practice generally left the dead bodies of their crucified victims on their crosses, to be eventually torn to pieces by wild animals and birds. Joseph asked a decided favour from the governor.

Pilate gave permission.  So he went and took his body. 
39 Nicodemus came too, the one who first came to him by night.  
He brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about fifty kilograms. 

With the death of Jesus, the Spirit that he had poured out had already begun to operate. Joseph had overcome his previous fear, and openly and courageously showed his interest in and respect for Jesus. And Nicodemus came out from the darkness. Fifty kilograms of myrrh and aloes constituted an extravagant amount, his gesture not unlike the gesture of Mary, the sister of Lazarus, who had anointed the feet of Jesus with her pound of costly pure nard “for his burial” [12:3].

40 They took the body
and wrapped it in linen cloths with the perfumes
according to the custom the Jews follow for burying.

According to the custom the Jews follow for burying,  bodies were usually not buried in the earth. They were covered with spices, placed on a shelf or a slab in a closed tomb and allowed to decompose. After a time, the bones were collected, removed from the tomb and placed in an ossuary. The care exhibited, and the abundance of spices used in this case, may have suggested the entombment of a king.

John 19:41-42     A Garden

41 There was a garden in the area where he was crucified,
and in the garden there was a new tomb
in which no one had yet been placed.
42 Because it was the Jewish Preparation Day
and the tomb was at hand,
they placed Jesus there.

The Passion narrative had begun with Jesus and the disciples leaving the room where they had shared their last supper together and going to a garden (where Jesus had been soon found and arrested.). Jesus’ hour, begun in a garden, finished in a garden. The wheel had turned full circle. 

In the author’s mind, the mention of a garden setting for Jesus’ entombment probably carried a veiled reference to the Garden of Genesis and the creation of Adam and Eve. In the original garden, in the beginning, the first human had been created – formed in the image of God [Genesis 1:27], and given free access to the tree of life [Genesis 2:9]. The man and the woman were unwilling to accept their dependent relationship to God, and chose rather to stand before God as equals. They were expelled from the garden and lost access to the tree of life – drawing the reality of death to themselves and their offspring. The Word of God, truly like God, freely accepted to become human as Jesus, dependent on God and prone to death. Jesus did not cling to his likeness to God, but deliberately accepted death. Because of his deliberate choice, redeemed creation was soon to spring forth from within a new garden.

Next >> John 20:1-10