Matthew 27:55-66

And we miss you and hope you can join with us soon.

Okay, Matthew 27, verses 57 to 66.

Matthew 27:57–66

It's great that you've brought your Bibles.

! It's taken a pandemic, hasn't it, for you to bring your Bibles.

It's a good thing.

General elections.

You know, the day after a general election,

the stickers of the party that have lost the election

begin to be taken off, don't they?

The posters in people's windows begin to be taken down.

Because in a political election,

the loser just kind of slides away, don't they?

Nobody celebrates the losing party in an election.

And I think we're tempted to feel a little bit like that

when we come to this part of Matthew 27.

All the hopes that were in Jesus,

all the plans that the Jews had,

they thought that he would be the great Messiah,

but on Good Friday he's put to death.

And it feels like it's all over.

And yet we know, don't we, from the Gospel,

that actually it isn't all over.

And death, wonderfully, is not the end of the story.

But I want us to go to that evening, Good Friday evening,

and I want us to see, first of all,

unwavering devotion to Jesus.

Can you see it with me?

Verses 55 and 56.

Unwavering devotion to Jesus.

Listen to what Matthew writes.

I'm in the right passage.

Do you see what it says?

Verse 55,

There were also many women there,

looking on from a distance,

who'd followed Jesus from Galilee.

Ministerington,

among whom were Mary Magdalene,

and Mary, the mother of James and Joseph,

and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

So these followers of the crucified

are an example of devotion to Jesus.

Even when the cause of Jesus appears to be defeated.

Even when the cause of Jesus is clearly unpopular

in the eyes of the world.

Now these women,

they are comparatively minor characters,

aren't they, in the Gospels?

Minor characters.

And yet here,

in the midst of the Passion narrative,

Matthew wants you to know

that these women stuck by Jesus.

Even when the main characters,

the superstars,

the disciples,

the apostles have fallen away.

The shepherd was struck.

Do you remember that?

And the sheep have been scattered.

But not all the sheep have been scattered.

There are these remarkable sheep

that didn't run away.

And who were these women?

Well, first of all,

as we look carefully at the verse,

it wasn't that there was just a few of them.

It wasn't that there was just a handful.

Look what Matthew says.

He says,

there were many women.

But there are three in particular

that he names.

Doubtless,

they were known to Matthew

and the church of his day.

There's Mary Magdalene.

There's Mary,

the mother of James and Joseph.

And there's the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

You remember that last lady?

She is the lady that pestered Jesus

back in chapter 20

and said,

when you come into your kingdom,

let one of my sons sit on the right hand

and the other on the left hand.

And these women show their devotion to Jesus.

Look what it says about them.

It says,

in the end of verse 55,

they followed Jesus.

That is a basic statement

of what a Christian is,

of what a disciple is.

What is a Christian?

It is somebody who follows Jesus,

who follows the crucified.

The same verb is used in the 12 disciples.

Do you remember,

they left all

and they followed him.

And so there's neither male nor female

when it comes to the benefits

of redemption

or discipleship.

It says they followed him from Galilee.

That is,

they left home.

And for these past several months,

they've followed him.

It's a considerable sacrifice

for these women to make.

It's a sacrifice of time

and resources.

They followed Jesus

and they ministered to him.

Luke 8 verse 2 says

Luke 8:2

that these women actually

were quite wealthy

and they gave and supported

Jesus and the disciples financially.

They gave resources

to supply Jesus and the disciples.

And so in other ways,

they showed their following Jesus

in practical ways.

They show their love for Jesus,

don't they,

in this verse,

by looking on from afar.

It's probably as close as they can get

to the cross.

But there is this unwavering devotion.

Unwavering devotion,

which is shown by the women,

but not by Jesus' closest disciples.

Where are they?

Where are they to be found?

We don't know.

In Calvary,

in John 1925,

he tells us that

John was there near the cross.

But all the rest of them

have run.

Matthew mentions,

doesn't he,

only these women.

These women,

they stand forever

as an unwavering

and an enduring devotion

to Jesus.

When all the others

have abandoned him,

they remain standing

to the end.

When everyone else

has left the tomb

a little bit later on,

the guards are positioned,

but in verse 66,

there's this lovely vigil

of these women.

Mary Magdalene was there.

And the other Mary,

sitting opposite the tomb,

unwavering devotion.

Now what does this mean

to you and I?

You will know if you've read

kind of modern

historical and theological circles,

they make an awful lot

of these women.

And they want to assign

to these women

and say,

well,

here they are given

an apostolic authority.

Here they are,

they are appointed

preachers of the gospel.

And you'll find

that an awful lot

is made of Mary Magdalene.

It's amazing to me

the amount of biography

that people are able

to dredge up

about Mary Magdalene.

Amazing tales.

In the Bible,

we're told,

first of all,

that she drove out

seven demons.

In Mark 16,

Mark 16:9

verse 9.

And the second thing

we learn is that

she came from Magdala.

That's all we know about her.

That's it.

That hasn't stopped,

does it?

Sensational mythology

building up around her.

And so if you've seen

the Da Vinci Code,

it's coming,

isn't it,

to the West End.

You'll know that somehow

she ends up in France,

she marries Jesus

and they have children.

I've just ruined the book

and the play for you.

But that is what

the Da Vinci Code is about.

And all this kind of mythology

but what matters to us

is what does the Bible

actually say?

It's not very glamorous

to the world,

is it?

But it is glorious

in God's eyes.

And it implies

that they followed Jesus.

And that's the glorious thing

about Mary Magdalene.

She was a follower

of Jesus

to the very end.

And these women,

they work behind the scenes

of Jesus' journey

to Jerusalem.

They use their gifts

to support Jesus' ministry.

And they show their

unwavering devotion

to the Lord.

And it is glorious

because it is so ordinary.

It is so ordinary.

They follow Jesus,

they serve Jesus

to the end,

and that is what God noticed.

And that is what

set them apart

in God's sight.

And that earns them

a mention

in the passages,

in the passion narratives

of Scripture.

What is it

that pleases God?

What is it

that prompts God

to make mention

of you

before the angels?

It's not

the great exploits

that you perform.

It's not

your popularity.

It's not

the famous names

that you might be able

to drop

in your conversation.

But it's that

you know

and follow

and serve

his son.

Listen to what God

says through Jeremiah.

He says this,

Let not the wise man

glory in his wisdom.

Let not the mighty man

glory in his might.

Let not the rich man

glory in his riches.

But let him

who glories

glory in this,

that he understands

and knows

that I am the Lord.

And so when God

engages in name dropping,

he loves to mention

nobodies.

Nobodies like Mary,

the mother of James and John.

Who was she?

She was a mum

and she followed Jesus.

That's it.

And it is glorious

and it is wonderful.

And God drops her name

and that is because

in God's economy

the last are first

and the first are last.

And so think,

how many great

ancient emperors

aren't even mentioned

in the Bible?

Giants of world civilization

that aren't even

given a footnote

but devoted servants

of Jesus

are remembered by name.

Here is the glory

of the ordinary.

The ordinary Christian life.

The twelve disciples,

they've got a glamorous ministry.

They are up front.

They're up front and centre.

They are the highest profile.

They are celebrities

of the early church.

But don't forget,

it would not even

have been possible

without the faithful

and unsung

and often unnoticed

ministry of these women

travelling along with them,

supplying their needs,

financially providing for them.

But God notices.

And God notices

and he puts it forever on record

at this critical moment

in the gospel.

The record of the death

and the burial of Jesus.

And they're not only given

an honourable mention

in passing,

they are the unique

hand-picked,

God's hand-picked

star witnesses

to the resurrection

of his son.

How about that?

God honours those

who honour him.

And so we face the battle,

don't we,

Christian man or woman

or boy or girl,

that you don't value

your usefulness

as a disciple

by how prominent

you may be in the kingdom.

Because in the kingdom

we are all servants,

we use our different gifts

to follow the same king.

And not one of us,

not one of God's children

will miss his or her award.

He will make sure of it.

God takes pleasure

in his faithful

and wavering

Christian devotion

to his divine son.

And so you toil away

in the home

or the office.

You quietly encourage

the saints behind the scenes.

You persevere

in the fight

against stubborn sins.

You serve families.

You change nappies.

And all of that

is known to God.

And he sees that.

And he is pleased.

And all of it

is done with an eye

of unwavering devotion

to Jesus.

Now unwavering devotion

to Jesus,

let's see secondly

the utmost respect

for Jesus.

So back in Deuteronomy 21,

in the Jewish law

it said that anyone

who was crucified

on a cross,

who was hung up

on a tree,

needed to be taken down,

their body taken down,

by sundown.

But the Romans,

they weren't bothered

by that.

They would leave people

on the cross for days

to rot on the tree

or they would

bury them

in a mass grave

at the site

of the execution.

It's a shameful end

for the saviour.

But there's one man

in Jerusalem,

one man who's got

the utmost respect

for Jesus

and one man

who's got sufficient

influence to prevent

this indignity

from happening.

And once again,

he's a minor character,

isn't he,

in the story?

But he is God's man

of the hour

and Joseph Barimathea.

He is an example

to you and I

of honouring the saviour.

Honouring the saviour

at great personal cost

and liability.

What do we know

about Joseph Barimathea?

Well, not very much

to be honest.

Verse 57

tells us

he was a rich man

and he was

from Barimathea

and he was called Joseph

and he was a disciple

of Jesus.

And we could learn

that he was wealthy

from verse 60.

You're not able

to kind of get

a new tomb

in Jerusalem.

They don't come cheap.

Luke in his account

tells us

that he was a council member.

He was part of the

Jewish ruling

Sanhedrin.

And that he was a good

and he was a just man

and he had not consented

to their decision

and to what they had done

to Jesus.

This man is a member

of the elite.

He's a member

of the Sanhedrin

and yet he was a disciple

a follower of Jesus.

And that was a very

dangerous thing to be

and it was especially

a dangerous thing to be

if you were a member

of that Jewish ruling council.

But here is a man

that doesn't lack backbone

and doesn't lack courage.

Look at verse 58.

He goes to Pilate

and he asks

for the body of Jesus.

He's got sufficient influence

that Pilate commands

the body to be given to him.

And so here is a man

who acts in absolute defiance

of the clear consensus

of the council.

He stands alone.

and he makes a startling request

of Pilate

and it is motivated

by the utmost respect

for Jesus' dignity.

It's a costly decision.

It would have made

his former associates,

his bitterest enemies.

And it's a great reminder

to you and I

that to publicly identify

with the disgraced

and humiliated king

of the Jews

may destroy your reputation.

And in this case

it may well have been

political suicide.

To make a public stand

on matters pertaining

to the truth of God's word.

To stand for God's truth

and the cause of Christ

and his righteousness

maybe in work

or in your family

or in school.

And you know

it would be so costly.

And we are called upon

by God

to step out publicly

and to identify with Christ.

To be loyal to him.

You can imagine, can't you,

what the columnists

and the media

would call Joseph.

The comments on Twitter

and Insta.

How unpatriotic.

How undignified.

How backward.

How dishonorable.

You see,

if you're going to show

the utmost respect

for Jesus

you are going to invite

the utmost disrespect

from the world.

And that is the way

it was

and that is the way it is.

It's the way it always will be.

But isn't Jesus worth it?

Jesus,

Jesus,

the apparently failed

candidate for king

in the eyes of the world.

An object of utmost ridicule,

dying in disgrace,

the laughter of the world

in his years.

But for Joseph,

even in his death,

Jesus is worthy

of utmost respect.

He's honored by God.

He becomes Jesus'

personal funeral director.

And what did that involve?

It says fairly carefully,

literally,

that when Joseph

had taken the body,

it's really careful language

how he treated

and respected

the body of Jesus.

and loved it.

He wrapped it in

a clean linen cloth.

He laid the body

in his tomb

which he'd hewn

out of the rock.

And he rolled

a large stone

against the door

of the tomb

and departed.

It was unpleasant work.

It was difficult work.

It was despised work.

But in showing

the utmost respect

for his Lord,

Joseph becomes

the key man,

doesn't he?

In this final aspect

of our Lord's humiliation

is burial.

There's simply no way

is there that Peter

or James

or John

could have waltzed

into Pilate's office

and said,

could we have the body?

They could never have

saundered in there,

the disciples,

and requested

such a favor.

But it took a prominent

member of the Jewish council

who could do it

and had the guts

to do it.

And again,

all of this

is in the plan of God.

So do you remember

Isaiah 53?

In verse 10,

his grave was assigned

with the wicked.

He was crucified,

wasn't he,

with the wicked.

And yet,

he was with a rich man

in his death

because he'd done

no violence

nor was there

any deceit

in his mouth.

And so Jesus'

body by right

should have been

flung onto

the mass grave

with the other corpses

of crucified criminals,

left in a heap

with other wicked men

and yet the prophet

says God will

sovereignly intervene

by means of a rich man.

Joseph Arimathea,

and this intervention

by God

is making a theological point

that Jesus is innocent.

There's no deceit

found in his mouth.

Jesus of Nazareth

is worthy

of the utmost respect,

not the indignity

of a mass grave.

But it also helps us

with a practical point,

isn't it?

How would

Jesus,

how else could it

be verified

that Jesus of Nazareth

rose bodily

from the dead

if he'd not been buried

in a specific

identifiable

new tomb?

Owned by

a specific

well-known

figure in the community

with several witnesses.

And so it is,

we are ready

for the resurrection.

Joseph's tomb

becomes the staging

post

for the most

miraculous miracle

in all of history.

Christ bodily

raising from the dead.

And Joseph

gives Jesus

his very own tomb

for a very

dignified burial.

Jesus didn't need it

for long.

It was only on loan.

And Jesus'

grieve is temporary

and so is ours

if we are in Christ.

As I want you to think

as we finish

that Jesus

lay in

Joseph's tomb.

Jesus lay

in Joseph's place.

Jesus lay

in a grieve

of Joseph's

own making.

A grave

that Joseph

had hewn

out of the stone.

Joseph

had prepared

his own grave.

It had his own

name on it.

He was going

there someday

but Jesus

lay in his

grave

instead.

dead.

And so even

in this final

step of

humiliation

of our Lord

as our

substitute

just as he

was in his

sufferings

and in his

death

in his burial

!

Jesus is

taking your

place.

It's not

that the

mortal remains

of Joseph

and Arimathea

are still

kind of

lying somewhere

out there

in Palestine

but in a

metaphorical

sense

you have

prepared a

grave for

yourself.

Your sins

have hewn it

out

and written

the epitaph

but if

Jesus has

laid in

your grave

if Jesus

has tasted

death's

sting

on your

behalf

in your

place

you don't

need to be

afraid of

dying anymore.

And that

is such good

news isn't it

because for the

last three to

four months

what have we

seen in our

culture?

We've seen a

culture terrified

of dying.

And yet

because of

Christ's

sufferings

and death

and his

burial

you who are

in Christ

we must not

be terrified

of dying.

He's

tasted

death's

sting.

The German

reformer

Usainus

writes this

Jesus

would be

buried

so that

we might

not be

terrified

in view

of the

grave

but that

we might

know that

he has

sanctified

our graves

by his

own burial

so that

they are no

longer graves

to us

but bed

chambers

and resting

places

in which

we may

peacefully

and quietly

repose

until we

are again

raised to

life.

and so

there's

unwavering

devotion

to

Jesus

and

there's

utmost

respect

for

Jesus

and I

noticed

as I was

preparing

do you

notice the

cast

around the

cross

you've

got a

cohort

of

Roman

soldiers

you've

got a

group

of

relatively

unknown

Galilean

women

and you've

got a

wealthy

member

of the

Jewish

aristocracy

and I

think it's

hard to

think of

a more

diverse

cross

section

of

society

at that

time

and all

of them

together

were united

as followers

of the

crucified

and even

though

his cause

seemed

finished

and defeated

and it

seemed

final

as we'll

see he is

not in the

grave anymore

and he

is risen

and so

Christ

says

to all

and to

every

one of

us

take

up

your

cross

and

follow

me

and we

may not

consider

the cost

of doing

that

too high

but may

we be

willing to

bear his

shame

and to

be followers

of the

crucified

let's pray

together