Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and placed it in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had yet been laid. Sermons
I. SECRET DISCIPLES. Among secret disciples of our Lord were Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus. The residence of the former was Ramah, or Ramathaim, the name signifying a hill; while some identify it with Ramleh in Dan, others with Ramathaim in Ephraim, and others, again, with Ramah in Benjamin. But the character of the man is of much more importance to us than his place of abode. Accordingly, one evangelist describes him, as has been ingeniously pointed out, according to the Jewish ideal, as a rich man, - so St. Matthew; a second according to the Roman ideal, as an honorable (εὐσχήμων) councillor, or councillor of honorable estate (Revised Version), - so St. Mark; while a third according, to the Greek ideal, as good and just, somewhat similar to the Greek καλὸς καὶ αγ᾿αθός, implying a person of good social position and respectable culture, and thus presumably of correct morals, - so St. Luke. In any case, the third Gospel represents him as a moral man and a religious man - two characteristics that should never be dissociated. We are further informed that Joseph, being one of the seventy Sanhedrists, protested against the conduct of the Sanhedrim in their condemnation of our Lord. Though it is not expressly stated, we may be sure that Nicodemus, the same who is characterized as coming to our Lord by night, if present, joined him in the protest; but 'they were a small minority, and so the majority of that body accomplished their counsel and crime. Of Joseph's discipleship St. Matthew says, "Who also himself was Jesus' disciple;" and St. Luke, "Who also himself waited for the kingdom of God." The also in both cases implies that he was a faithful follower of Christ, though in secret, as well as the more open disciples; while St. John tells us the reason of the secrecy in the words, "secretly for fear of the Jews." He now laid aside his timidity, and proved himself no longer deficient in Christian courage; for he went in boldly (τολμήσας) to Pilate and craved the body of his Lord. Though "not many mighty according to the flesh, not many noble," are called; yet, thank God! there are still some such. Among these, Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, a master in Israel, a Sanhedrist, or member of the great national council, who had absented himself, or at all events refused consent to the condemnation, "brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight," for his burial. On mention of Nicodemus, it is remarkable we are still reminded of his night interview with our Lord. "He that came to Jesus by night," says St. John, and again, "which at first came to Jesus by night," as is added by the same evangelist. know he too has been emboldened by the cross. Joseph, on obtaining the body, laid it in his own new tomb, so that the prediction was fulfilled to the effect that, though his grave was made with the wicked intentionally, that is, according to the intention of his enemies, yet was actually with the rich in his death. Crucified with malefactors, it was intended and expected that he would share their fate in burial. Not so, however; for though he died as a criminal, he was not buried as one. II. THE SURPRISE OF PILATE. The usual time for death to supervene in the case of persons crucified was some three days, the very shortest a day and a half. Consequently Pilate expresses his astonishment, and requires the evidence of the centurion to satisfy him of Jesus death. He first asks in surprise if he were already dead (τέθνηκε), and then, calling the centurion, inquires if he had been any while dead (ἀπέθανε). Here the accurate use of the Greek tenses is worthy of attention, and brings out the governor's amazement more clearly. His first inquiry is expressed by the perfect, and refers to the state - if he was already in the state of death; satisfied of that, and not a little surprised, he asks an additional question (ἐηρώτησεν,) of the centurion, and in this second inquiry he employs the aorist in relation to the occurrence - if death had occurred any length of time previously, or how long, in any case to make sure it was not a swoon. It has been stated and maintained, on respectable medical authority, that the direct cause of Christ's death was rupture of the heart. In that case the blood passed from the interior of the heart out into the heart-sac, and, like all extravasated blood, separated into the red clot and watery element. This would agree well with the suddenness of the Savior's death, after only some six hours on the cross - a circumstance which, as we have just seen, took Pilate himself so much by surprise; whereas crucifixion usually caused death by exhaustion, and after many hours' lingering. This would also agree well with the loud voice of that cry which the Savior uttered when he yielded up the ghost. This would agree well with the quantity of blood shed to fill that fountain, of which the prophet speaks, saying, "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness;" for in crucifixion the loss of blood is diminished by the nails choking up the wounds they make. This would agree well with such Scriptures as the following: - "Reproach hath broken my heart; My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels." This would, moreover, agree well with the fact that when he poured out his soul unto death, his bodily sufferings, bitter as they were, had less effect than his mental agony in producing that death. This would still further agree well with what occurred when the soldier pierced the Savior's side with his broad-headed spear. That rude Roman had no command to inflict such a wound; it was mere bootless barbarity on his part. The body was dead; why gash it so, except perhaps to make sure it was death and not syncope? Nevertheless, he fulfilled prophecy without thinking it; he realized the opening of the prophet's fountain without knowing aught about it. He made a passage for the blood and water already escaped from that broken heart; he helped to open the fountain that cleanseth from all sin. III. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BLOOD AND WATER. The blood and water that flowed from the fountain thus opened in the Savior's side are significant of the two great blessings which believers partake through Christ. There was blood for redemption, water for regeneration; blood for remission, water for renewal; blood for pardon, water for purity; blood to put away the guilt of sin, water to purge away its filth; blood for justification, water for sanctification; blood for atonement (and this is the special work of the Son of God), water for purification (and this is the province of the Spirit of God); blood and the sacramental wine is a symbol of it, water and the baptismal element is a sign of it. Thus the two great agents in salvation - the Son of God and the Spirit of God; the two great works they accomplish - redemption and regeneration; the two great doctrines of a standing and spiritual Church - justification and sanctification - are kept fresh in the memory and visible to the eye by the sacramental seals of the covenant. In allusion, probably, to this St. John (1 John 5:6) says, "This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not with water only, but with the water and with the blood" (Revised Version). These two must always go together; these two flowed forth together from the pierced side of the Savior; these two the apostle has joined together. These two form the streams of the prophetic fountain; and by means of the twofold stream of this fountain "ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." "Rock of ages, cleft for me, IV. THE FUNERAL. The funeral consisted, as far as we can learn, of few persons. There are only four persons named by name as present on the occasion - two men and two women; though it is probable that a few females besides, who had accompanied him from Galilee, were also at least spectators, as St. Luke tells us that "the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulcher, and how his body was laid." Joseph wrapped the body in the fine linen he had purchased, and sprinkled the myrrh and aloes among the folds, then laid the body in the rock-hewn tomb, and rolled a stone of large size to close therewith the entrance of the sepulcher. In these several operations, but especially in that of rolling the huge stone, Joseph was assisted, we may be certain, by Nicodemus, and both by their servants or attendants; while Mary of Magdala, and Mary the mother of Joses, and the other women from Galilee, were looking on. They beheld (ἐθεώρουν), carefully observing the place and manner of the sepulcher. - J.J.G.
Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished. (Taken with We are surrounded by numberless combinations devised by men for all manner of purposes — religious, political, judicial, social, commercial, scientific, industrial, artistic, educational, etc. Men widely abandon endeavours after striking individuality in thought or conduct, and throw themselves blindfold into the stream of fashion which carries the multitude away. Men seek to recover their lost sense of power by combination with others in doctrine, in capital, indeed in all departments. The will of each individual becomes, as it were, a single minute cog in a mighty wheel-work of engineering, which carries everything before it. All this is not favourable to the sense of responsibility for conduct here or hereafter. There is a special delusion which attends the combinations in which men seek to recover the sense of power, and to unite their forces in order to accomplish their ends. This delusion consists in mistaking joint responsibility for divided responsibility. The persuasion is extended widely that union is not only strength in administration and enterprise, but that it distributes the oppressive burden of responsibility in equal or nearly equal and insignificant shares between all the persons who are joined together in any undertaking; so that although the practical result of their united action may be morally indefensible, or even utterly wicked and injurious, no single person can be justly blamed, or rendered accountable for the whole criminality of the result — since the wickedness has been effected by an organisation or administration consisting of numbers of agents who have assisted or consented in the work. A characteristic proverb has descended to us from the last century to this effect: "A cathedral chapter would divide even a murder between them" — a proverb unfairly singling out one particular kind of Christian combination for censure, yet embodying two truths applicable to every association, civil and religious.1. That even well-disposed men will sometimes agree to do in company what they would not dare to do as individuals. 2. That no man's personal accountableness to God can ever be swallowed up and lost in an impersonal organisation. The relation of the individual to the moral government of God is primary, dominant, and inalienable; it cannot be diminished by the concurrence of others. Before God the combination of men in counsel and action results always not in divided responsibility but in joint responsibility. Each member is responsible for the whole result of what he consents to, or carries into action. There can be no divided liability for a conjoint iniquity. If this were not so, it would require men only to join hand in hand to go unpunished. But how should God judge the world unless in all such cases the responsibility is joint, not distributive? This is also the principle of human legislation and administration. It is not, therefore, good to undertake, as if merely nominal, any real responsibilities.This truth, that a man is responsible for whatever he consents to, ought — 1. To be proclaimed in relation to ecclesiastical organisations and missionary societies. 2. The principle may be seen in the working of political party. Educated men are guilty, in a free country, of all the national iniquity against which they do not protest with determination. 3. The principle of personal liability needs application to commercial affairs and civil life. The Almighty God stands behind every creditor and every customer, in readiness to assert and enforce every just claim to the uttermost. The Infinite Defender of Right is behind every person who is wronged. The highest Law Court is omnipresent and sleepless. We cannot put an end to the great battle between selfish interests, but we can do much by public spirit and sound legislation to alleviate its woes. On the whole I must express my conviction, however, that the commercial world will bear an honourable comparison with the political and ecclesiastical, when tried by this principle of the responsibility of each member in every combination. (Edward White.) Homilist. Men, like sheep, are gregarious. The combination is —I. NATURAL. The wicked, in the text, are supposed to be in danger, and nothing is more natural than for men to crowd together in common danger. Fear as well as love brings men together; the one drives, the other draws. II. USELESS. No combination of men, however great in number, vast in wisdom, mighty in strength, affluent in resources, can prevent punishment from befalling the wicked. It must come. 1. The moral constitution of the soul. 2. The justice of the universe. 3. The almightiness of God, render all human efforts to avoid it futile. (Homilist.) (J. Parker, D.D.) But the seed of the righteous shall be delivered The text is a twofold proposition — that combinations against God and godliness only incur failure and penalty; and that the triumph of righteousness is equally sure. There are among men's habits three general kinds of "wickedness," or disobedience to God's laws, entailing upon them three several orders and degrees of retribution or punishment: violations of the laws which govern the spiritual or moral man, the animal man, and the social man.1. If the mind-laws, which include the intellectual and moral aspects of man, be disobeyed, that is if the process of education be not contemporaneous with the progress of years, the mental faculty languishes in the stagnation of its undeveloped powers, the mental man grows and abides an ignoramus, a stereotyped boor; and if the means of grace be in like manner neglected, the spiritual man rises not into the dignity which the love of God designed for him. 2. If the body-laws, or the principles which regulate the health, be disregarded by habits of excess or even ordinary indulgence or neglect of exercise, the penalty is a diseased body, and personal infirmity. 3. If the estate laws be disregarded, which make industry essential to getting, and frugality essential to saving what is got, and forethought essential in the way of insurance upon life or property, the punishment meets the man in his estate, in his condition of life, that is, in the form in which he has sinned. When we pray for a sound and enlightened mind, do we turn to the Word "whose entrance giveth light"? Do we seek to inform our minds, correct our judgments, and enrich our memories? When we pray for health and strength to labour and enjoy, do we avoid those varieties, artifices, and excesses in food and drink, and those sluggish habits of inactivity and sloth, which make health physically impossible? When we pray for prosperity in our worldly affairs, do we still, on conscientious principles, "labour, working with our hands the thing that is meet"? Do we glorify God in our attention to our business? Where can there be a more cogent, impressive, animating motive than the sterling fact, "Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your bodies and spirits, which are His"? Man can no more do without God, or act independently of God and His laws, than the rays of light can dispense with the sun. All the errors of individual character, all the failures in educational theories, all the mistakes of experimental legislation, originate in the fundamental fatal effect of reckoning without God, setting aside the great elemental fact that He is at the root, progress, and issue of all things, and that to put Him out of our calculations, to supersede His constitution, is to start upon false premises, to provoke and compel a failure, to reason and range in a vicious circle, for ever retracing its impracticable, unprogressive steps. "The wicked shall not go unpunished." "The seed of the righteous shall be delivered." (Joseph B. Owen, M.A.) People Barabbas, Herod, Jesus, Joseph, Pilate, SimonPlaces Arimathea, Cyrene, Galilee, Golgotha, Jerusalem, JudeaTopics Body, Cloth, Cut, Dead, Fine, Folding, Hewn, Laid, Lain, Linen, Placed, Rock, Rock-hewn, Sepulcher, Sepulchre, Sheet, Shroud, Stone, Taking, Tomb, Wherein, Wrapped, YetOutline 1. Jesus is accused before Pilate, and sent to Herod.8. Herod mocks him. 12. Herod and Pilate become friends. 13. Barabbas is desired of the people, 24. and is released by Pilate, and Jesus is given to be crucified. 26. He tells the women, that lament him, the destruction of Jerusalem; 34. prays for his enemies. 39. Two criminals are crucified with him. 46. His death. 50. His burial. Dictionary of Bible Themes Luke 23:53 4354 rock Library A Soul's Tragedy'Then Herod questioned with Him in many words; but He answered him nothing.'--LUKE xxiii. 9. Four Herods play their parts in the New Testament story. The first of them is the grim old tiger who slew the infants at Bethlehem, and soon after died. This Herod is the second--a cub of the litter, with his father's ferocity and lust, but without his force. The third is the Herod of the earlier part of the Acts of the Apostles, a grandson of the old man, who dipped his hands in the blood of one Apostle, … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture The Dying Thief 'The Rulers Take Counsel Together' Jesus and Pilate Words from the Cross The First Word The Second Word The Seventh Word March the Twenty-Seventh the Silence of Jesus The Saviour's Last Hours. The First Cry from the Cross The Believing Thief Christ's Plea for Ignorant Sinners Exodus iii. 6 The Penitent Thief Bourdaloue -- the Passion of Christ The Hands of the Father. The Last Season Second Stage of the Roman Trial. Jesus Before Herod Antipas. Dead with Christ. Some More Particular Directions for Maintaining Continual Communion with God, or Being in his Fear all the Day Long. The First Word from the Cross Things Omitted from Mark's Gospel. 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