Buried (Good Friday 2025)

Mark fifteen, forty two through forty seven.

And when he had come, since it was the day of preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, and when evening had come, since it was the day of preparation, that is the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died, and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead.

And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph.

And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock.

And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.

Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joseph, saw where he was laid.

This is the word of the Lord.

Please be seated.

What we read through this evening were those moments in the Gospel according to Mark, in which Jesus is described as the Son of God.

And we've looked at how this is the central claim of Mark's gospel.

And there is one section of Mark which we haven't covered, which we are squeezing in here on Good Friday.

That way we don't miss it, because otherwise we would have missed it because I got sick and I wanted to preach all of Mark.

So settle in for 50 minutes.

I'm just kidding.

This is going to be very short, but I wanted to cover it because I wanted us to see this.

Joseph of Arimathea is the one who buries Mark.

And Joseph was a respected member of the council.

That is, he would have been a part of the Sanhedrin.

Now, likely he wasn't there when they had convicted Jesus and when they had charged him with the false charge of blasphemy.

He was probably asleep during that false trial.

But he was a respected member of that council.

But John's gospel tells us that he had been a disciple of Jesus.

That is, he was one who had followed the teachings of Jesus, but he'd followed them from afar because John's gospel tells us that he was a disciple in secret of Jesus for fear of the Jews.

And so Joseph of Arimathea had spent much of the past several, perhaps several years, perhaps years, six months, we don't know, some length of time before this, hearing the teachings of Jesus, seeing that they were true.

And he was able to recognize that they were true because the gospel had already begun working in his heart.

He was a true believer, and he was one whose eyes were fixed looking for the kingdom of God.

But he was trapped by this cowardice.

Because the threat of the Jews was that if anybody proclaimed Christ as Lord, or if anybody started to speak well of Jesus, that they would be kicked out of the synagogue.

And so this man has a lot to lose.

He's a respected member of this council, and the council that he's a respected member of just crucified Jesus.

So he is the one who comes up and he asks for the body of Jesus.

It says in verse 43 that Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

So Joseph is living this life of quiet fear.

And then after the crucifixion, something changes in his heart.

And he takes courage.

And he had to take courage quickly because the Sabbath was coming.

When sundown came on that Friday night, it would have been the Sabbath, and he would have no opportunity to take the body and to bring it into the tomb that he desired to see it buried in.

But this night he takes courage quickly.

The moment came for him to act, and he took it.

What is it that Joseph had seen?

What changed in his heart?

I think it was the same thing that we just read that the centurion saw.

It was the way that he died.

He saw the courage of Christ, and he saw that Christ had a courage that would go even unto death.

And I think Joseph of Arimathea saw that take place.

He might have begun to understand that perhaps this death might have something to do with his own salvation, that it might in some way be a part of his own rescue.

Well, in this small way it is, because it rescues him from that fear that he had been living in, and he makes the step to identify boldly with Jesus, going up to the cross and saying, I will take the body and I will honor the body.

That's a dangerous thing to do because when he makes himself publicly known as a friend of Jesus, that means that he'll take on all of Jesus' enemies.

But to Joseph of Arimathea, he saw that the friendship of Jesus was more powerful than any enemies he might gain by being his friend.

So he goes to get the body from Pilate, and Pilate is surprised to hear that Jesus had already died.

Normally, crucifixion takes much longer than this.

That is part of the process of crucifixion, is that it's a long, drawn-out process, but Jesus did not have his life taken from him.

And Jesus was not clinging to his life.

Jesus went to the cross so that he might offer up his life.

Perhaps this is another thing that Joseph of Arimathea saw on the cross.

And Pilate summons the centurion and says, Is he really dead?

Is this true?

It seems too quick.

And the only other centurion we've had introduced in this was the one who witnessed Jesus as the Son of God on the cross.

And so we must assume that it's probably the same man.

So this one who now considers him the Son of God comes and acts as this intermediary between Pilate and Joseph of Arimathea.

Pilate, who, as we've seen, does not want to do much to satisfy the Jews and likely would not want to do anything to honor someone he had crucified as king of the Jews, instead, likely at the recommendation of the centurion, offers the corpse to Joseph.

So what does Joseph do with the body of Christ and this newfound courage?

Well, it's an odd pair, it's not just Joseph, but we learn from John's gospel that it's also Nicodemus.

Nicodemus was another member of the council who used to visit Jesus by night so that he wouldn't be seen as a friend of Jesus.

Now, perhaps because of what he witnessed on the cross, he joins up with Joseph of Arimathea, and they both take courage together to identify publicly with Jesus.

The crucifixion and the courage of Christ is just multiplying courage already.

And so these men who have much to lose identify themselves with Christ, and they start to, so to speak, put their money where their mouth is.

In verses 46 and 47, it says, And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock, and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.

Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joseph, saw where he was laid.

So sundown is coming quickly, so he must move fast.

So he quickly goes and buys a linen shroud to wrap Jesus in.

And he takes him down and he wraps the body of Christ in a linen shroud.

Now it's important that Mark draws our attention to the linen shroud that he is wrapped in, that he is wrapped in.

When we see a linen shroud throughout Scripture, you ought to think this is the clothing of the high priest who goes into the Holy of Holies on the day of atonement to atone for the sins of God's people in the presence of God.

Jesus, in his death, is wrapped in this linen shroud.

He is dressed in the garments of the high priest, but he does not go into the Holy of Holies in the temple.

Instead, he is taken and he is placed in a tomb.

But it is not an ordinary tomb.

The tomb that he is placed in would have belonged to Joseph of Arimathea, and Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man.

And so it was a rich man's tomb that he is buried in, just as it was prophesied in Isaiah 53, verse 9, where it says that he will be counted among the wicked, but he will be buried in the tomb of a rich man.

Isaiah 53:9

The purpose of the cross, the point of what the councils gathered together to accomplish against Christ was his humiliation.

And at his death, they expected to see the utmost picture of his humiliation.

But instead, he is taken down and treated with honor, buried in the tomb of a rich man.

Jesus is honored in his death.

And so this tomb, which would have been at great expense, cut out of the side of a rock.

He took and he placed the body of Jesus into the tomb, having wrapped him in this linen, and he rolls a stone against the entrance of the tomb.

This stone will become very important, but in the book of Mark, you cannot see the word stone without your mind going to the temple.

The longest discourse in Mark, we'll see this come up again on Sunday, is a discourse about what's going to happen to the temple stones.

And so what Mark is showing us here is that the burial of Christ is this courageous offering where the body of Christ is dressed in the garments of a high priest, and then he is laid in what becomes a makeshift temple, what becomes a picture of the Holy of Holies, where the true high priest enters this temple not carved by human hands.

Actually, it was.

But he makes his way in this temple of stone, and he is buried there as the perfect offering.

Joseph of Arimathea could not have known all that he was doing or all that he was participating in.

But the Lord had begun to work courage in his heart by what he had seen.

And his actions serve as a testimony and a participation in the true work of what Christ was doing.

Christ is the Son of God.

We've read it in every text we've read today.

But he dies the death of utter humiliation.

But his death of utter humiliation will not remain there.

Because in his burial, he is shown to be one who is deserving of great honor, the highest honor.

And in his death, in the linen shroud, it becomes the temple, because what is the temple but the dwelling place of God?

And the Holy of Holies is the place where the offering is made for our atonement.

In that tomb, the offering was made.

Tombs are not a place of hope.

Tombs are a place of destruction and desolation.

Tombs are where identity is lost and dust returns to dust.

But this tomb that Jesus is buried in is not an impure tomb.

It is one that becomes the Holy of Holies to us.

As we see that this is the place where the atonement was made, the high priest goes in and he would leave the linen garment in there.

There is a great risk in going into the Holy of Holies.

In fact, a rope would be tied to his ankle so that if he died while he was in there, because he was impure, and the offering that he made was not accepted or was deemed to be impure, then he would die within the Holy of Holies, having been in the presence of the Lord.

And so they would drag him out by the rope.

But Jesus is not like an ordinary high priest.

He does not go into the Holy of Holies in order to offer up the blood of bulls and goats.

That is not the atonement that we celebrate.

That's not why we call it Good Friday.

He goes into the Holy of Holies to offer up himself, the Son of God.

The Son of God is sufficient to atone for our sins.

That's what was offered.

So take courage like Joseph of Arimathea.

Look to the cross and see the courage that Christ showed on the cross.

Recognize that in identifying with him, that his friendship is greater than any threat of enemies that we might take, and see the wonder of what was in that tomb.

The Son of God Himself, who atoned for our sins.

Let's pray.

And we know that God chose his own love towards us.

And that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Father, you recognize our impurity.

It is not a secret to you.

And yet, you who knows all things are able to hide our sin from you.

You do not treat us according to our sin, but you treat us according to the depth of your steadfast love.

Lord, what do we see in that tomb other than the highest and most wonderful offering?

And Lord, we are the benefactors of this incredible price that was paid.

Lord, we praise you for being our true high priest who lives to intercede for us.

We praise you for the freedom that you've purchased us.

Lord, we praise you that this tomb that you were buried in became the holy of holies.

Lord, that the atonement was satisfactory and that we are truly freed from the weight of guilt.

Lord, we praise you that this tomb is a symbol of hope.

Because we know that the stone that closed the tomb and sealed it will not remain sealed.

And Father, we look in incredible hope because we know that that tomb on Sunday will be empty.

And that the life which you laid down, you will take up again.

And that means that the lives which we lay down will be taken up again in you.

Because, Lord, the death that you died was our death.

Your burial was our burial.

So, Lord, we look forward to our resurrection in you.

We lift this up in Jesus' name.

Amen.