BLOG

The Gospel of John, Crucifixion, part 12

John 19:38 says,

³⁸ After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body.

All four gospels mention Joseph. John says he was a secret disciple, at least until that moment, when his actions exposed him to the wrath of the chief priests.

Joseph of Arimathea

Luke 23:50, 51 tells us,

⁵⁰ And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man ⁵¹ (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God…

Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin, or “the Council.” It appears that he had voted against condemning Jesus at His trial, for “he had not consented to their plan and action.”

Mark 15:43 says that Joseph was “a prominent member,”

⁴³ Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

The Jewish Encyclopedia says of Joseph of Arimathea,

“Wealthy Jew (probably a member of the Essene fraternity) who, out of sympathy with Jesus, gave him burial in one of the tombs cut in the rocks near the city of Jerusalem… According to Mark, Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin, of noble birth, and belonged to those who ‘waited for the kingdom of God’ (or for the Messiah); that is to say, he was one of the Essenes.”

Whether or not Joseph was an Essene is debatable. This view seems to be based solely on Mark’s terminology that he “was waiting for the kingdom of God,” which they identify as an Essenic aspiration.

Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, the main translation used for centuries in the Roman Church, translates Mark 15:43 and Luke 23:50 to say that Joseph was a Nobilis Decurio. A Decurio was an official in the Roman government, appointed for life, who could judge cases and appeal to Caesar. Thus, Joseph is referred to by this title in many other early manuscripts.

http://www.keithhunt.com/Joseph1.html

Matthew 27:57 gives us one final detail in the description of Joseph,

⁵⁷ When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.

He was rich enough to have prepared for himself a very expensive tomb on the Mount of Olives, which he then donated for Jesus’ burial. Joseph was no longer a young man, and tombs like this could not be cut out of the rock quickly. So he had prepared for his own burial years in advance, not knowing that he would never be buried there but in far-off Britain.

Old histories and traditions abound which tell us that Joseph became wealthy on account of his tin mines in Cornwall (England). Tin had been used for many centuries already to make bronze, which was a mixture of copper and tin that was much harder and stronger than pure copper. Herodotus, the Greek historian known as the Father of History, tells us in 400 B.C. that the copper that the Greeks used came from the Cassiterides, “tin islands,” or the British Isles.

Diodorus Siculus, a historian living in the time of Augustus Caesar, tells us about the overland trade route which led through Gaul (now France), saying,

“This tin metal is transported out of Britain into Gaul, the merchants carrying it on horseback through the heart of Celtica to Marseilles and the city called Narbo” (Vol. 1, p. 311).

It appears that Joseph’s mining interests in Cornwall made him the most important source of tin for the Roman Empire and may have had something to do with his title as Nobilis Decurion. He was thus one of the richest members of the Sanhedrin, gaining his wealth honestly through trade, rather than through extortion of the poor, as we see happening in Jerusalem among the chief priests and Sanhedrin members.

Early historical references to Joseph tell us that he was soon expelled from the Sanhedrin and that toward the end of Tiberius’ reign in Rome, Joseph and his son, Josephes, were exiled, along with others. The stories tell us that rather than being executed, he and others were put into an oarless boat into the Mediterranean Sea, putting his fate into the hands of God.

The boat found land, so no one died in that ordeal. Joseph went to Marseilles on the coast of southern Gaul (France), and he then traveled north on the trade route to Britain, where he lived out the rest of his days.

We do not know if Joseph was yet alive when Rome invaded Britain in 44, but we know that Pilate was exiled to Vienne just before Tiberius died in 37, and Herod Antipas was exiled shortly thereafter to Lyons in 39. All of these events occurred during the high priesthood of Theophilus (37-41 A.D.), son of Annas, to whom Luke, many years later, addressed his gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.

Nicodemus

Joseph of Arimathea had a friend, a fellow secret believer in the Sanhedrin, named Nicodemus. John 3:1). He had come to Jesus for a secret night meeting, not wanting to face the wrath of his fellow chief priests, and Jesus had given him much to ponder. Later, when Jesus was condemned, he joined with Joseph of Arimathea to defend Jesus before the Sanhedrin, and this exposed both of them as believers in Jesus.

John 19:39, 40 says,

³⁹ Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds [litra] weight. ⁴⁰ So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

So we find that these two men coordinated their efforts. Joseph went to Pilate to ask him for the body of Jesus, because he, as Mary’s uncle, had a legal claim to Jesus’ body. Nicodemus, meanwhile, fetched “myrrh and aloes” along with linen wrappings for Jesus’ burial. A litra was 12 ounces, whereas today’s “pound” is 16 ounces. So the spices weighed about 75 pounds, or 34 kilograms.

The Burial

John 19:41, 42 concludes,

⁴¹ 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. ⁴² Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

John tells us that this was not just a tomb but had a beautiful garden area in front of it for mourners to sit and remember the one who was entombed. Being “in the place where He was crucified,” it was located on the Mount of Olives, though it was not the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus had been arrested.

John omits the fact that this tomb belonged to Joseph, although it could hardly be assumed otherwise, since Joseph certainly would not steal someone else’s expensive tomb. Luke 23:53 confirms what John says with no new information.

Matthew 27:59, 60 tells us specifically that this was Joseph’s own tomb that he had prepared for himself,

⁵⁹ And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰ and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.

Mark 15:47 tells us,

⁴⁷ Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses [and also of “James the Less” in Mark 15:40] were looking on to see where He was laid.

“James the Less” (i.e., lesser known) was one of the twelve disciples, not to be confused with John’s brother. James the Less was called “James the son of Alphaeus” in Mark 3:18. There was yet another James who was Jesus’ brother and the author of the New Testament letter, but this James was not a believer until Jesus appeared to him after His resurrection.

Shortly after Jesus’ resurrection early Sunday morning, the women who had seen where Jesus was buried came with more spices (Mark 16:1; Luke 24:1). Apparently, they were unaware that Nicodemus was coming with a load of spices while Joseph was putting Jesus’ body into his own tomb. Nicodemus probably arrived late after the women had gone away, and for this reason they determined to bring spices as soon as the Sabbath had ended.

The spices, of course, were not needed, because Jesus’ body did not decay. Later, Peter was to remind his audience on the day of Pentecost, saying in Acts 2:27,

²⁷ Because You will not abandon My soul to Hades, nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

Peter was quoting David’s prophecy in Psalm 16:10. Some may attribute this lack of decay to the spices themselves, others to the fact that a body would not begin to stink until three days had passed (depending on the weather). Whatever the case, the prophecy of David was fulfilled.