The Burial of Jesus

Meditations of the Gospel of Mark

 October 16, 2020

The Burial of Jesus

 Pilate couldn’t believe that Jesus was already dead, so he called for the Roman officer and asked if he had died yet. The officer confirmed that Jesus was dead, so Pilate told Joseph he could have the body.

Mark 15:44-45

Read: Mark 15: 40-47

After Jesus’ resurrection, there were claims he had never actually died. Mark makes it abundantly clear that Jesus had died and was buried.

“On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.” (Genesis 2:3-4) 

Jesus had completed his work as the Messiah of God, so on the seventh day he rested from all of his work.

Joseph, after receiving permission from Pilate to bury Jesus, had to hurry as it was already late in the evening on Friday. The Sabbath begins at sundown on Friday and continues through sundown on Saturday. He had to purchase a burial shroud and place Jesus in a tomb before sundown. 

Burial at that time was a two-part process. First the body is placed in a tomb and anointed with spices. The tombs would hold multiple bodies and people would be coming to place more bodies in the tomb, or retrieve the bones. The spices would diminish the odor from decomposition of the body. Stage two occurred about one year after burial when the family would return to the tomb and gather the bones and place them in an ossuary.

My Takeaway: As I reflect on Mark’s account of the death and burial of Jesus, I am struck by the courage of Joseph to do the right thing even at great personal risk. In the midst of the pandemic, Joseph’s courage inspires me to continue to find places where I can join with the Body of Christ in worship and in the sharing of the sacrament of Holy Communion.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.) 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2020 by Alex M. Knight 

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle. 

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.