Luke 23:50-56
Buried and Finished
I have mentioned that Luke gave us the greatest detail of Jesus’
final trip to Jerusalem. In fact, Luke gave us far more than did any
other writer, but because he gave so much detail to that section of
Jesus’ life, most of the remainder of Luke’s gospel are summaries.
These seven verses are a summary of those three days.
These few verses pinned by Luke record 3 days of time. They are 3
days filled with brokenness, 3 days filled with fear, 3 days filled
with confusion, 3 days filled with loss.
The followers of Jesus were at a loss over His death. We might say
they were in a state of shock. Luke does not record that, but it was
so. In fact, Luke only mentioned one man, Joseph of Arimathaea.
1. We know very little of this Joseph.
2. What he did for Jesus’ body is the only reference we have of
him in all the Bible, yet God must have been very pleased
with this man for the kind deed he did for Jesus is mentioned
in all four of the gospel accounts.
I. What we know about Joseph.
A. He was from Arimathaea.
1. That is a city in Israel but little else.
2.. At the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, Joseph lived just
outside the walls of Jerusalem.
B. \\#Matt 27:57\\ tells us that he was rich and that would
explain how he could have such an expensive piece of
property.
C. Luke and \\#Mark 15:43\\ call him a counsellor.
1. Mark added, "an honorable counsellor" while Luke tells
us that "he was a good man, and a just."
2. The word used for counsellor along the additional
detail that Luke gave confirms that he was a member
of the Jewish Sanhedrin.
Luke 23:51 (The same had not consented to the
counsel and deed of them;)…
3. The Sanhedrin was the Jewish religious and political
body that held the dishonest and corrupt trial that
condemned Jesus to death.
4. Luke was making it clear that Although Joseph was on the
Sanhedrin, he did NOT approve Jesus’ death.
D. Luke, Mark, and John all tell us that Joseph was a secret
disciple.
John 19:38 And after this Joseph of Arimathaea,
being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear
of the Jews….
E. You say, "Preacher, that is all very interesting, but you
are supposed to be telling us about brokenness.
1. What makes you think Joseph was broken over Jesus’ death?
2. Because of what Joseph did.
II. What Joseph did:
A. Joseph went and earnestly pleaded for the body of Jesus.
Luke 23:52 This man went unto Pilate, and begged
the body of Jesus.
Mark 15:43 Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable
counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of
God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and
craved the body of Jesus.
1. These are not the words used for "asking." These are
the words used for earnestly, vehemently, pleading
for the body of Jesus.
2. At last someone was standing up for Jesus!
a. Joseph was a secret disciple that would be hidden
no longer.
b. Seeing what they did to HIS Jesus was just more
than he could bear.
c. In Joseph’s coming out party, he came out before
the man who had just ordered Jesus’ death!
d. Friend, that took more than just a little bit of
courage.
3. Might I share with you that many politically victims
of the cross were never released to the family and
never buried.
a. If the crime was egregious enough, the body
would be left on the cross to rot.
b. It was an tactic of fear and dread to help keep
the people in order.
c. I have read where some say that Jesus’ crime
probably did not warrant that type of hostility.
d. However, I would remind you that the church was
insurrection against Caesar.
e. I would think if Rome wanted anyone to be left as
an object lesson it would those who rebelled
against Caesar.
f. But Joseph, who had been a secret disciple for
fear of the Jews, marched into Pilate’s court
and not only requested, but vehemently begged
for the body of Jesus.
g. By the way—and I mean this will the utmost
respect—I notice that not one of the eleven
disciples were with Joseph.
(1) I understand.
(2) They were afraid for their lives, but this
man was too broken to think about that.
(3) He wanted to body of his Lord and he did not
care what it cost him—even his own life.
B. Joseph took the body of Jesus off the cross.
Luke 23:53 And he took it down….
1. Oh, don’t you hate it when the body of our Lord is
just an "it."
a. I am not attempting to correct the Scriptures.
b. A body without its spirit is just an "it"--oh, but
let that sink in for a moment.
c. Joseph took "it" down, broken, bruised, bleeding,
lifeless, shredded.
2. I know some of Jesus’ lady followers were there.
a. I have often thought that it was they who wept for
Jesus as they took Jesus to the cross.
Luke 23:27 And there followed him a great
company of people, and of women, which also
bewailed and lamented him.
28 But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters
of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for
yourselves, and for your children.
29 For, behold, the days are coming, in the
which they shall say, Blessed [are] the barren,
and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which
never gave suck.
30 Then shall they begin to say to the
mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover
us.
31 For if they do these things in a green tree,
what shall be done in the dry?
b. \\#Matt 27:55, Mark 15:40, Luke 23:49\\ all say
they were at the cross, "afar off."
c. But they did not take Jesus’ body down from the
cross. Joseph did.
d. At first I thought, "He was a rich man. He
probably had his servants do it," but the more
I thought about it, I thought "No." This was
his burden. This was his love. This was his
gift to his Lord."
e. Oh, how God the Father must have looked down on
this man with pleasure!
C. Joseph prepared the body of Jesus.
Luke 23:53 ...and wrapped it in linen...
1. I don't mean to suggest that Joseph did it alone, because
he did not. Nicodemus helped him.
John 19:39 And there came also Nicodemus, which
at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought
a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred
pound weight.
40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound
it in linen clothes with the spices, as the
manner of the Jews is to bury.
2. That is interesting because Nicodemus was the man who came
to Jesus "by night" \\#John 3:2\\ and \\#John 3:1\\ calls
Nicodemus "a ruler of the Jews."
a. Jesus called him "a master in Israel," meaning a
master teacher of the law.
b. All of that indicates that Nicodemus was also on the
Sanhedrin and was also most likely a secret disciple
of Jesus.
3. Isn't it interesting that two secret disciples--both
Jewish leaders--came out of hiding that afternoon to
bury their Lord?
4. And isn't it interesting that those that had openly
followed Jesus all went into hiding that afternoon?
a. Again, I'm not throwing stones at them.
b. I would have been hiding too.
c. But these two men who had hid themselves were like the
prophets of God who did not bend their knees to Baal
in the Old Testament.
(1) They were God's reserves and when the front line
followers of Jesus had to retreat, the reserves
stood up in their place.
(2) That God for them, their courage, and their love.
5. They spared no expense.
a. They gave Jesus the kind of funeral that the eleven
could have never afforded.
b. We just read how Nicodemus brought 100 pounds of
spices to anoint Jesus' body.
c. \\#Mark 15:46\\ said that Joseph bought "fine linen"
and together these two men wrapped the body of Jesus
and prepared it for burial.
(1) Jesus' family did not wrap His body.
(2) Jesus' disciples did not wrap His body.
(3) The women followers--although they were there--
did not wrap Jesus' body.
(4) These two men did!
D. Joseph placed Jesus' body into his own tomb.
Luke 23:53 ...and laid it in a sepulchre that was
hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.
Matthew 27:60 And laid it in his own new tomb,
which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled
a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and
departed.
1. Oh, I wish I could say that Joseph did it knowing that the
tomb would be empty again in just a few days, but I don't
think he did.
2. I believe Joseph was burying Jesus believing that after he
buried Him, that would be it. It would be as Jesus said,
"Finished."
3. I imagine that some even thought that was what Jesus meant
when He shouted it from the cross!
a. "I'm finished! Bury Me and forget Me!"
b. But that is NOT what Jesus meant and thank God there
is another chapter in this book that will change
everything.
4. But for Joseph, even if he could not give the gift of
faith, he gave what he had--his tomb.
And here we must stop... at a comma in the plan of God. For the next
three days, there will be brokenness, fear, confusion, and loss, but
even in that emotional desert, God must have loved and appreciated
what Joseph of Arimathaea did for His Son.
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