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.

And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.

Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.

Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.

So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby. (John 19:38–42)

One of the Roman emperors who hated both Jews and Christians was the emperor Hadrian. In 135, after the second Jewish revolt (132-135), Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem as the Roman city, Aelia Capitolina. He also renamed Judea “Palaestina” (that is, Palestine), after the ancient enemies of the Jews. In Jerusalem, Hadrian also sought to erase all memory of Jesus. So, one of the things he did was to go to the site of Golgotha (an ancient quarry covered with gardens and tombs), and built a huge raised platform (a rectangular retaining wall filled with dirt) on the location of this in an effort to bury Calvary and the tomb of Jesus. On top of that platform, he built a Temple to Venus.

Two centuries later, the emperor of Rome, Constantine professed to be a Christian. In 325 at the Council of Nicea, Macarius, the bishop of Jerusalem from 314 to 333, petitioned Constantine to demolish Hadrian’s temple and uncover the tomb of Christ. In 326 AD Helena, Constantine’s mother, visited Jerusalem and was told the site of Hadrian’s temple was the site of Jesus burial and resurrection.

The church historian Eusebius records that Constantine not only destroyed the Temple, but ordered his men to keep digging and excavating. Eusebius, writing in 329 says this is what happened, “As soon as the original surface of the ground, beneath the covering of earth, appeared, immediately, and contrary to all expectation, the…monument of our Saviour’s resurrection was discovered. Then indeed did this most holy cave present a faithful [picture] of his return to life, … and afforded to all…visible proof of the wonders of which that spot had once been the scene, a testimony to the resurrection of the Saviour clearer than any voice could give.”

Whether he found the exact tomb or not, to look upon the tomb of Jesus is surely the most wonderful thing, precisely because it is empty. There is no other empty object in the world that provokes such veneration, such fascination, such adoration precisely because, and only because it is empty.

But before it was empty, there was a day when it was occupied. The story of whose tomb it was, why it was used for Jesus, how Jesus was laid in there is a story of two secret disciples who went public. It’s a story about fear turning into faith, cowardice turning into courage. It’s a burial story about buried faith coming to life.

I. The Proclamation of Belief

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.

And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came,

John tells us about two men who come to serve Jesus after He had died: Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus. We’ve met Nicodemus before. He came to see Jesus by night, recorded in chapter 3. He likely came at night to avoid being seen as a Pharisee interested in the teachings of Jesus. John also mentioned that Nicodemus objected to his fellow-Pharisees prejudiced treatment of Jesus. “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?” (John 7:50–51)

This is the first time John has mentioned Joseph of Arimathea, but unlike Nicodemus, Joseph is mentioned in each of the other three Gospels, where we learn additional information. Matthew tells us: “Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.”

Mark tells us Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God,

Luke puts it this way: “Now behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man. 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.

It appears Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin, the council of seventy, who served as the highest court in Israel. He was from the city of Arimathea, the location of which is uncertain. He was wealthy, but it appears he was a believer in Jesus: a good and just man. He had not agreed with the condemnation and execution of Jesus. He was waiting for Messiah, for Messiah’s kingdom, and somewhere along the line, according to Matthew, he had become a disciple of Jesus. He had believed, trusted, accepted that Jesus was the chosen one, the predicted one, the true, anointed prophet, priest and king.

But John fills that out for us. He says, Joseph was a disciple, but a secret one, for fear of the Jews. In John’s Gospel, the Jews usually refers to the Jewish leaders, especially the Sanhedrin who were based in Judea, close to Jerusalem. Joseph feared the reaction and response he would get if he publicly supported Jesus in the face of the growing opposition to Jesus.

Think of how often he had to have silenced himself. How many times did the topic of Jesus come up, and Joseph said nothing? How many times did the Sanhedrin begin to act to prosecute Jesus, and he did not speak up? When the illegal court proceedings went on on Thursday night and Friday morning, he did not agree, and he did not consent, but did he object?

Here was a man who had a chance to stand up for Christ when it counted, but his fear won the day, his protection of his wealth won the day, his career and position and stability and comfort and family life was too much to risk. It was too much to put it all on the line. So he silenced his conscience, silenced the warning in his heart, silenced the call to courage with what felt like the reasonableness of his fears.

Fear always seems so rational. Fear of being a public Christian seems based in sensible, practical reasons. If I come out and own my belief in Christ, I could destroy these relationships I’ve taken years to build. I would damage my credibility with them, and then how will I reach them in the future? If I come out and own Christ, it could really jeopardise my job, my career. And then what kind of provider would I be for my family?

The problem is, that future always seems to recede and get further away, never closer. Problem is, Jesus told us that provision is guaranteed when we seek first the kingdom of God.

But now, the moment to own Christ during His ministry was gone. Jesus had died. Whether or not Joseph and Nicodemus had heard or understood the prophecies about the resurrection, it seems now, and only now, do they own up to being believers, go public with their faith, and do an act of service for Christ.

You see, ordinarily, crucified men would be left on the cross to be devoured by vultures. When there was a specific religious request to have them taken down, as there was on this occasion because of the Passover, then the bodies would be put into a common grave for crucified criminals. The only thing that would prevent that would be if a relative went to the governor and specifically requested the body of the criminal, and that wouldn’t necessarily be granted.

Mark tells us Joseph… coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Coming and taking courage. After all his fearful ducking and diving, all his fearful disguising of his faith, finally he finds his courage. To go to Pilate and ask for the body was tantamount to calling yourself the family of Jesus. Joseph was now going to be identified as a sympathiser with Jesus, as a supporter of Jesus, indeed as a disciple of Jesus. The Sanhedrin would almost certainly turn their hatred on him; he might very quickly lose his position. After years of self-protection, Joseph is finally willing to put it all on the line, now that Jesus is dead.

Indeed, Joseph realised that he was probably the only one who could have succeeded in this. The family of Jesus would not have had the standing to get access to Pilate. No one else on the Sanhedrin was going to do it. So, using his influence, he appears before Pilate and asks Pilate for the body. Mark’s Gospel gives us a little more information on this meeting:

Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time.

So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. (Mark 15:44-45)

Nicodemus, too. After years of this balancing act, years of pleasing multiple masters, he is also willing to now nail his colours to the mast. Now he is willing to face opposition and hatred and scorn, once Jesus has died.

II. The Preparation of His Body

And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.

Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.

Nicodemus and Joseph, being wealthy and being council members would have had servants and assistants. They would have had these servants help them with this whole process. First, either the cross would have been lowered, or ladders used to reach the cruel nails, each of which would have been pulled out with difficulty. Once Jesus’ limp and lifeless body was off the cross, they would have wrapped the body in a large linen cloth that went around the body twice, from head to toe. With that around, they carried Jesus to the Tomb, or to a preparation area, sometimes called the ‘court’ of the nearby Tombs.

Jewish burial was not trying to do an embalming or preservation, as the Egyptians would do. Instead, the body was anointed with sweet perfumes to both honour the person, and also mask the unpleasant odours of decomposition.

We’re told Nicodemus brought about a hundred pounds of a perfume mixture of myrrh and aloes. This is not an impossibly large amount: similar amounts and larger have been listed for the burials of kings or even famous rabbis. But it is large: 100 Roman pounds is about 32 kilograms, an amount usually reserved for royal burials. This was a large expense, a costly amount. To give you an idea, just one pound of myrrh could cost 300 denarii – a year’s wage for a labourer. One hundred pounds was 30 000 denarii. In today’s money, anywhere between $500 000 and $3 million.

Jews buried with a large shroud that covered the body from head to toe, from and back. Linen strips were used to tie the legs, hands to the body. Sometimes a separate cloth or napkin was placed on the face, and this would be also tied or wrapped with linen strips. The spices were placed in between the strips of linen, and not on the body directly. It was in powdered or resin form.

Of course, Joseph and Nicodemus are defiling themselves according to Jewish Law, becoming ritually unclean because of touching a dead body. They are foregoing the celebration of the rest of the Passover because of this deed. For them, this is worth more than continuing to keep the rituals.

I try to imagine Nicodemus and Joseph now looking at the body of Jesus, now in the horrible form of death: the skin taking on it bluish pallor, eyes sometimes open with permanent fixed stare, the multiple wounds and bruises now taking on their deep maroon colours. Here was their master: and He had succumbed to death. Their fellow Sanhedrinists had had their way, and had Him killed. And now, all they could do was treat His body with loving respect, dress it, anoint it. Perhaps they felt the regret of adoring Jesus so late. And yet their love was true, even though it was late, their devotion was real, though it was overdue, their public courage was now here, though it was at the last minute.

III. The Place of His Burial

Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.

So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby. (John 19:38–42)

As we said, it appears that the site of Golgotha was adjacent to a rock quarry that had been used in about 600 B.C. It had been abandoned as a rock quarry. The abandoned quarry was covered with reddish-brown soil in the 100’s BC in order to create a garden. The area also supported cereal crops and an orchard of fig, carob, and olive trees.

The soft limestone and man-made caves would lend themselves to be used as tombs, sepulchres. There was still plenty of space, and it was outside the city walls, which was required in Jewish law.

Wealthy people could purchase one and use it for themselves and their family. Bodies would lie in a tomb, decompose, and eventually the bones would be gathered and placed in an ossuary – a bone-box, which was also kept in the tomb. So one tomb could be used for multiple family members over more than one generation.

It would have been a costly exercise to buy a tomb. Rock-hewn tombs cost a significant amount of labour. The location close to Jerusalem would have been prized. A tomb like this would have been close to 4000 denarii, about $400 000 in today’s money.

Joseph had bought just such a tomb, which was still new, not used. Jesus’ family had no money for a tomb, and here Joseph treated Jesus as if it had been a family member.

In life, no house, no home my Lord on earth might have; in death, no friendly tomb but what a stranger gave.

What may I say? Heav’n was His home; but mine the tomb wherein He lay.

Again, for him to use his property, to house the body of Jesus, would have made the Sanhedrin extremely angry.

It also means that there was no mistaking whose tomb and which tomb this was, as if people could have made a mistake and gone to the wrong tomb. This was a new tomb, owned by Joseph, there was no doubt where it was, whose it was, and who had been placed in there by sunset on Friday.

The other Gospels tell us that the women who had been at the cross watched from a distance as Joseph and Nicodemus and their servants prepared the body, placed in in the tomb, and rolled the stone across the entrance.

We look at these men and we cannot fault what they offered: costly gifts. We cannot fault how they offered it: publicly, risking shame and rejection. The one thing we can fault is when they offered it. We might say “better late than never”. And that’s true. It took the death of Jesus to bring them to give up their cherished reputations. But better than late is in the present moment. Seek the Lord while he is near, says Isaiah suggesting opportunities do not last forever. Mordecai said to Esther, “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)

The time to own Christ is now. The moment of discipleship is now. Some Christians say to their consciences what Felix said to Paul, “Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.” (Acts 24:25)

That’s the heart of a secret disciple. Later. When it is more convenient. When things line up. When it doesn’t cost me. People who tried delay tactics with Jesus met a stern rebuke. First let me go and see to the winding up of my father’s estate. “Let the dead bury their dead, you come and follow me.” Let me first say goodbye to my household, “

But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62)

Jesus knows that tomorrow-commitment never comes. Tomorrow-evangelism stays in tomorrow. Tomorrow-discipleship never comes. The time to face our fears is now.

There may be many a secret disciple listening to this, waiting for some event to trigger your commitment, to trigger your public owning of Christ. Joseph and Nicodemus had the death of Jesus to trigger theirs. But that will not happen again. The next event on the divine calendar is the return of Christ, the rapture of His church, and then it will be too late. There will be no more deeds to be done, no more souls to be won, no risks to be taken for His name, no dark places to reclaim. When that trumpet sounds, all there will be to do is to count up what you have already done, to tally up the total of your deeds for Christ, to now give an account of what you have done for Christ, what you did with the talents He entrusted you, if you multiplied what He invested in you, or if you buried it in the ground.

Buried commitments need to come out the ground.

“Joseph could not, when the Saviour [needed] burying, have been true to Him without burying Him. And now that the Saviour does not lack burying, but wants in all His living power to be preached among the sons of men, if we love Him we must do all that lieth in us to spread the knowledge of His name. Come out then, come out then, ye that are hidden! …Joseph of Arimathæa, where are you? Come forward, man! Come forth; your time has come! Come forth now! If you have followed Christ secretly, throw secrecy to the winds! Henceforth be bravest of the brave, among the body-guard of Christ, who follow him whithersoever he goeth. Have no fear nor thought of fear, but count it all joy if you fall into manifold trials for his name’s sake, who is King of kings and Lord of lords, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”