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John 19:28-42
It was a long Labor Day Weekend, I know there were some significant losses here on the East side of Washington State. From around Selah and Naches then near Rosalia in the small town of Malden, and around Colfax – our prayers are with you. I also heard there are fires in Oregon as well. We need to hold up these places in prayer over such loss.
A bit of review – Jesus is on the cross, He has been hung between two others. John doesn’t tell us this but Matthew Mark And Luke tell us they were thieves deserving the sentence of death according to the Roman law at that time. If the humiliation of this criminal’s death was not enough, the Roman soldiers who hung Him there are casting lots for His clothing. Mary, Jesus’ mother, and other women were there. And at least John the beloved disciple was there. It’s here that Jesus takes a painful moment to push up on the spike in His feet so He could gasp for air and give them to each other. And that’s where we pick it up.
John 19:28-42 (NIV) Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders 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. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 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. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 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. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 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. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
There’s a lot in here again today. But let’s look at a couple of things. First the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and L – as well as John tell us that Jesus willingly gave up His life. You know how we talked last week about the world rejecting Him they did – but no one took His life from Him. Jesus willingly gave His life for humanity. And that’s part of why the sacrifice works. Remember also that Jesus had to accomplish work here as the Messiah for the sacrifice to truly be a sacrifice. And again in that same frame of thinking He had to willingly give His life up for the sins of the world which rejects Him. Not just the Jews – His own people, but the entire world as well represented by the Roman government.
Another part that I notice is Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, Joseph who is connected somehow and Nicodemus who is high enough in the ranks of the pharisees, they are able to contact Pilate and get permission to take Jesus’ body and give Him a proper Jewish burial. Before you just write that off think about paying for a complete burial today. It’s in the thousands of dollars, a simple cremation is around, on average $1,800.00. They brought 75 lbs. of the spices and the burial cloths to take care of Jesus’ body properly and that would have been expensive then as well. And remember – Nicodemus was from the ranks of the Pharisees. We don’t for sure if Joseph was or not – the Scriptures don’t tell us. But we know that there were others who were not named within the ranks of the Pharisees who did believe in Jesus Christ secretly as the Messiah.
And then there is the place where Jesus is buried. It’s a tomb that no one has ever used, nearby Golgotha where He’s crucified, and it’s in a garden. I find it interesting that the first Adam through which sin and brokenness enter into the world in a garden. And it’s in a garden where they place the body of Christ.
And finally it’s the start of the Sabbath. Now remember that the Sabbath was started because God rested on the 7th day. Actually at the end of what we think of as the 6th day. And that word we translate as rested actually means to cease – or to stop striving. And it is that same day of the week that God – this time hanging on a cross – stops His striving and His work, and is buried in a tomb in a garden.