The Death and Burial Of Christ

How can we atone for our sins? A Canadian Press photo shows how one man from Havana, Cuba, tried to appease God's wrath. The man is lying on his back on a dirt road. Attached to his ankle is a chain several feet long. The other end of the chain is wrapped around a rock. The caption explains that the bearded man is inch by inch pulling the rock on a pilgrimage to a sanctuary dedicated to St. Lazarus.

The man's devotion is misguided, for we can do nothing – absolutely nothing – to atone for our sins. God has provided instead the free gift of forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ.

tel-eh'-o, “it is finished”, “paid in full.” Yes the price for our redemption from sin was paid in full by our Lord and Saviour's death on the cross, (John 19:30). Christ Jesus was dead, He had given up His spirit. That was not enough for those gathered there. This particular year the first day of the Feast of Unleavened bread fell on a Sabbath. They had to be sure Christ Jesus and the two thieves were dead, they had to have all three bodies down before sunset, when the new day began.

John 19:31-42
31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken,"  37 and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced." 

38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.  40 Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

1. Blood and Water (vs. 31–34)

Those who were tied to a cross could live for several days. Those nailed to the cross died sooner. There was also a small seat or knob that the person on the cross could push up and rest on. By resting on this seat they could take pressure off their lungs and breath easier, but to rest on the seat was painful so soon they would push themselves off of it.

It was the Roman custom to leave the rotting bodies of the crucified victims on the cross as a warning to others. However according to Jewish law, a dead body was not to remain “overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you” (Deut. 21:22–23). This was particularly true on the day before the Sabbath. On the day Christ Jesus was crucified it was the day of Preparation before the Passover Sabbath, which was a “high day.” Because of this the Jews were particularly eager that the legs of the men be broken and the bodies be removed.

Pilate granted their request, and the soldiers broke the legs of the other two who were “crucified with Him,” they must have shown some signs of life. “But when they came to Jesus,” they did not break His legs because He was obviously dead. Yet a soldier “pierced His side” (v. 34). Why would he do this if Christ Jesus was already dead? The Romans were efficient at their job, and so he was probably thinking, “Well, the Man is dead but I’ll make doubly certain.” And so the thrust of the spear brought forth blood and water which has become a symbol of God’s atoning work for us. The blood and water coming forth so shortly after death was both a miracle (Isaiah 53:5) and a natural occurrence, Christ Jesus was really dead. The flow of blood and water removed any doubt that Christ Jesus was dead. If only blood had came out He might have still been alive. In the face of those who would argue that the death of Christ Jesus was an illusion, John was saying this Man of flesh had died! 

According to the Chicago Tribune, on June 22,1997, parachute instructor Michael Costello, forty-two, of Mt. Dora, Florida, jumped out of an airplane at 12,000 feet altitude with a novice skydiver named Gareth Griffith, age twenty-one.

The novice would soon discover just how good his instructor was, when the novice pulled his ripcord, his parachute failed. Plummeting toward the ground, he faced certain death.

But then the instructed did an amazing thing. Just before hitting the ground, the instructor rolled over so that he would hit the ground first and the novice would land on top of him. The instructor was killed instantly. The novice fractured his spine in the fall, but he was not paralyzed.

One man takes the place of another, takes the brunt for another. One substitutes himself to die so another may live. So it was at the cross, when Christ Jesus died for your sins so that you might live forever.

The sacrifice was complete, and now His life was offered. Christ Jesus’ blood has been shed and now gushed forth a cleansing stream of forgiveness. And all you have to do is ask, ask Christ Jesus to come into your life and cleanse you.

2. An Eye Witness – (vs. 35-37)

When you want to know something or know about something which do you prefer, first hand or second hand information? It was no different with those first century Christians. Eyewitness accounts were considered more valuable than secondhand accounts. John was there at the crucifixion and he wrote down what he saw. 

What did he see? He saw the Passover Lamb without blemish offered up for all of our sins. 

• He saw the Passover Lamb die.
• He saw the cleansing blood flow from the pierced Passover Lamb.
• He saw that the Passover Lamb had no broken bones.
• He saw the Passover Lamb fulfill prophecy.

In looking at Christ Jesus upon the cross, John saw the Passover Lamb and more; He saw the Son of God “who takes away our sins”. He will take your sins away if you will ask Him to. Why not ask Him today?

3. A Last Gift (vs. 38–42)

After a criminal had hung on a cross for awhile, the body would be taken down and thrown into a common grave. And if the Romans had had their way the criminals would not have been buried at all, just thrown on the trash heap.

Burying the dead was a crucial and pious duty in Judaism, an important act of love. Being left unburied was too horrible to be permitted even for criminals.

Sometimes what is not given in life is given in death. John tells us that two disciples who had been “secret believers,” “closet disciples,” emerge and publicly ask Pilate for the body of Christ Jesus. Judged and inspired by the “glory” of the Cross, it seems that they openly confessed that they were now followers of Christ Jesus.

By this courageous act, it seems they may have done in death for Christ Jesus what they had not done in life. Confessed Him as their Messiah. And you can just imagine that Pilate was eager to get rid of the body. After all this had been a troublesome case for him.

These are men of status and wealth, both of them members of the Sanhedrin. Joseph came originally from Arimathea, a Judean town sixty miles from Jerusalem.

Nicodemus, a “ruler of the Jews,” had heard of the new birth in a visit with Christ Jesus one night (John 3:1–21). More than likely they were among those rulers who “believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees … did not confess Him” (John 12:42). But now, after a long time of silence and fear, they come forth to announce their commitment to Christ Jesus.

Their gift to Christ Jesus was a “new tomb” and a dignified, but hasty, burial. After all, they would be well aware that at six o’clock the “high day” of Passover began. Theirs was extremely generous mixture of myrrh and aloes, wrapped in the new clothes in which the body was buried. Why go through all of this lavish expression of devotion. It could be because they did not want to see this man, “who did no wrong,” thrown into a common grave with common criminals. Or it could be that they realized that Christ Jesus was the Messiah that they had been waiting for.

How about you today? Have you yet come to the realization that Christ Jesus is the Messiah that you have been waiting for? That His blood, shed on that cross; alone can deliver you from the penalty of sin...which is death.