Week 4: Burial

Joseph and Nicodemus

Two highly touted men take on the burial duties for Jesus’ body. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all point out Joseph of Arimathea. Yet, only John notes that Nicodemus was also there. Something significant can be learned from these two men and their role in burying Jesus.

Joseph of Arimathea

We don’t know a lot about Joseph of Arimathea. He was a member of the Jewish council that condemned Jesus, but Luke notes that he himself did not consent to their decision or action. Also, according to Luke, he was looking for the kingdom of God. He is in high enough standing with the political powers in Jerusalem that he asks Pilate for Jesus’s body. He is granted his body and purchases a fine cloth that he uses to wrap the body. Joseph then takes his own tomb, a new tomb, and buries Jesus within it.

These tombs were expensive, though probably not extravagant, like some Roman tombs. Often people have noted that Jesus borrowed Joseph’s tomb for a little while. Although that’s a nice thought, it implies that Jesus has a choice. He is dead. Maybe they prearranged the burial spot, but none of the accounts mention that. It read more like a sudden decision by Joseph. Jesus couldn’t have borrowed anything from anyone at that point because he wasn’t alive to borrow it. Dead people don’t borrow things. His lifeless body was at the whims of worldly powers and authorities.

So a righteous follower of the way, Joseph of Arimathea, tends to Jesus when Jesus doesn’t have the power to tend to himself. He honors him with his own grave.

He appears to do it all in secret. Some argue that he does it secretly because he doesn’t want to be disgraced before the Jewish council, and the text notes that he was scared of being discovered as a disciple of Jesus. Yet, I think there is something a little more to it. I’m sure word would’ve gotten out either way. I think he does it quietly, humbly, and faithfully because that is why he loved Jesus. He understood on some level that the way of Jesus, the way of the kingdom of God, was not about standing proud with power to receive applause but about being buried in trust and obscurity to receive the promise.

Nicodemus

Nicodemus appears three times in the Gospel of John. He is a pharisee and member of the Jewish council. His first appearance is the most extensive. In John 3, Nicodemus ironically comes to Jesus at night to discuss openly with Jesus who he is and what his intentions are. In this well-known dialogue, Jesus teaches Nicodemus that he must be born again of water and Spirit. Weirdly enough, the discussion has no conclusion. It doesn’t even say if Nicodemus left, believed, rejected, etc. The conversation just hangs there with no conclusion. Scholars even debate where in the text Jesus’ own words stop and the narrators begin. It seems intentional. Will Nicodemus be born again? The reader longs to know.

Nicodemus briefly appears in John 7 as a member of the Jewish council, where he is described as the one who came “at night.” He reminds the council that they cannot find someone guilty before hearing their case first. Then for the following twelve chapters, there is no mention of Nicodemus till suddenly, somewhat abruptly, he appears at the burial of Jesus, where he is once again mentioned explicitly as the man who came “at night.” He brings with him nearly 75 pounds of burial spices and perfumes. This is way beyond what would usually have been brought. In fact, this is way beyond what would’ve been used to honor even high-standing members of the Jewish council. Craig Keener, in his commentary, points out that this elaborate burial gift would have amounted to something like 30,000 denarii or days' wages.

Though both Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea appear to be Jesus' disciples in secret or in the dark, they are the ones who do the work of the burial. Where all of the boisterous and bold disciples of Jesus have fled through the crucifixion narrative, these two step forward. They find their new life in tending to Jesus' dead body. They are Gospel formed by burying Jesus.

Might we need to do the same in our faith journey? Is your faith dependent upon weekly, glitzy entertainment, or is it formed in the dark intimacy of Jesus’s death and burial?