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Luke 23 50-56 THE BURIAL OF JESUS 01 11Feb2022 Luke 23 50-56 Joseph and the burial of Jesus
📖 Luke 23:50-56
01 – 11 Feb 2022 – Joseph and the burial of Jesus - Luke 23:50-56 - THE BURIAL OF JESUS - Bible reading: Matthew 27:57-58
“Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You are giving us this opportunity to study about the burial of Your body. We give you all the glory. In Jesus name, we pray, Amen.”
Friends, we now begin a fresh study of THE BURIAL OF JESUS, which is in Luke 23:50-56. We have completed the study of THE DEATH OF JESUS.
There is much for us to learn from the burial of the body of Jesus.
We have understood that to appropriate the Gospel of Jesus, we must die with Him, we must be buried with Him and we must rise with Him. We have looked into the death of Jesus and how our ‘self’ must be crucified together with Christ. We will now look at what it means for us to be buried with Christ and we will look at what it means to rise with Christ.
Luke 23:50-56 Now behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man. (51) He had not consented to their decision and deed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God. (52) This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. (53) Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before. (54) That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near. (55) And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. (56) Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.
As we consider the burial of Jesus, we meet with Joseph of Arimathea. We will now look at Joseph, as it is given in the Gospel narratives.
Matthew 27:57-58 Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. (58) This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him.
Mark 15:42-45 Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, (43) Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. (44) Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time. (45) So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.
John 19:38-39 After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being 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 the body of Jesus. (39) And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.
The burial of the body of Jesus was done in a highly honourable manner. This was such a big contrast to the manner of the death of Jesus.
Isaiah 53:9 And they made His grave with the wicked—But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
Before we get into the study of the burial, we must study the life of Joseph and learn some lessons from his life.
Joseph was a prominent council member . This council was the apex body of the Jewish leadership. This was the group before whom Jesus was tried and we know that this was a mockery of a trial.
Luke 22:66 As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, came together and led Him into their council, saying,…
Probably, Nicodemus too was a member of the council. We can, therefore, take into consideration that there were, at the least, two members of the council, who would not have consented to the death of Jesus.
Joseph had not consented to crucify Jesus . He had, obviously, expressed his disagreement with the decision but his voice was ignored.
This is a lesson for us to understand in life. God places us in different situations. When we see wickedness and evil taking place in our circles of influence, we must raise our voices against the evil and also express the righteous ways of God.
We have a prophetic role in our generation. We are to be the salt and light of our community. Society may not accept our views but our role is to express disapproval over unrighteousness and also express the ways of God into the circumstance. Even if our opinion is not accepted, the truth would have been spoken into the context.
Exodus 23:1-2 “You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. (2) You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice .
Just because the crowd is going in a direction, which is a perversion of justice, we ought not to be a part of the crowd. This is one lesson that we learn from Joseph of Arimathea.
We will learn a few more lessons of life from Joseph before we spend sufficient time to understand the burial of the body of Jesus and how we are called to be buried with Him.
Thought to ponder
Do you see yourself as the prophet of God, for our times?