MATTHEW 27 The events of this one day in the city of Jerusalem have affected the history of mankind, the world and the universe; more than any other day. It wasn’t merely the natural calamities of supernatural darkness and an earthquake so severe that rocks were broken and graves were opened; but one Person died that day over whom death had no claim. Every one in heaven, on earth and in hell as well as creation itself, were affected by the death of the One sinless Person who gave His life that day, as a ransom for all. The Jewish Sanhedrin plotted to kill Him; the morally weak Roman curator, Pontius Pilate, condemned Jesus to die; the unstable crowds of people called for Him to die; the Roman soldiers skilled in dealing with death – all were powerless to take the life of the One who holds the keys of life and death. Jesus was in control of all of the events of that momentous day because He is the sovereign God.
Judas died in remorse, shame and guilt by hanging himself on a tree. Jesus died on “the tree” in victory and triumph over all foes, bringing salvation and freedom from the guilt of sin to millions of people. Thirty pieces of silver lay scattered on the floor of the temple when the betrayer died at his own hand. Precious blood was shed that paid the redemption price for hundreds of millions of sinful people when Jesus died at the hands of cruel men, and yet had the power to dismiss His own life by His own authority. The contrasts we read of through the Gospel of Matthew continue as Judas died alone in disgrace on a tree, and Jesus died in declared innocence and triumphant power over sin, death and hell. Millions will live forever who can say, “Jesus died for me!”
Two things are recorded in Matthew’s account of the trial of Jesus that are not written in the other three Gospel accounts. At the trial of Jesus before Pilate, Pilate’s wife sent a warning to her husband to have nothing to do with “that just man.” He was dealing with an innocent Person. Then a little later, the second incident happened when Pilate took water and washed his hands before the people to declare his innocence of perverting justice in the worst possible way. That was a mockery of a Jewish custom we read of in Deuteronomy, that was originally to absolve an innocent person from implication in a wrongful death. Pilate could wash his hands all he wanted, but he was responsible for ordering Jesus to be executed. When he did that, he used the same words as his wife to describe Jesus as “This just (righteous) man.” People have picked up and use that same phrase today on certain occasions when they say, “I wash my hands of the whole thing!”
The next section of this chapter, describes the crucifixion of Jesus at Calvary. During the first three hours He was on the cross, He was involved in some interaction with people. In the hours between twelve o’clock and three, there was silence in the supernatural darkness. Then came the last four cries of Jesus from the cross, and then He “gave up the ghost,” “dismissed His spirit,” “gave His life a ransom for many,” “died for the ungodly.”
A number of people are mentioned in the narrative who were involved in the burial of Jesus’ body. As one reads this passage of scripture and considers the fact that this was when the Lord Jesus Christ became the accepted Sacrifice, the Passover, the Lamb of God which the righteous and just God, accepted as full payment for my sins; all one can do is wonder, worship and sometimes cry for joy and sorrow at the same time. I praise Him for substituting Himself in my place. Then I consider that all over this world for nearly 2000 years, God’s children read again and again the Matthew account of that day, and worship the Lord!
The Second Sanhedrin Trial, v.1-2 Jewish law forbade night trials, so this second trial was to try to make some semblance of legality about what all the Sanhedrin knew was deception and unlawful. The Roman government had taken away the authority of Jewish leaders to carry out capital punishment, and the reason the Sanhedrin had for condemning Jesus was that as far as they were concerned, He made Himself the Son of God. For a mere man to do that was blasphemy which was a death sentence. In order to make the Roman rulers willing to kill Jesus, they had to have a Roman law that was broken, so they ended up with the decision of saying He made Himself a king in opposition to Caesar. That charge would bring a death sentence according to Roman law.
Unsubstantiated charges have been made against those who follow Christ from that day to this. Opposition against believers in Christ is to be expected by those who “live godly in Christ Jesus.” All of the apostles were killed or imprisoned because of false charges laid against them, so it is likely to soon be our turn if the Lord doesn’t come for us soon. Many nations of the world today are openly opposed to Christianity and carry out death sentences against believers in Christ. Christians owe our first allegiance to our Lord Jesus Christ and His claims upon us. Also, the standards of righteousness that are in the Bible, are our guide for life and service. Changing laws to suit the changing morals of society is not Christian, nor is it biblical, so we who have our faith in Christ do not adapt to the changes in social practices.
Judas Iscariot’s Remorse, v.3-10 It is possible for a person to set in motion plans they have for their own advantage, before they stop to think the whole matter through and the possible outcome. Judas did that and soon regretted the chain of events he had started because of his covetous heart. There is a difference between remorse, and repentance that leads to salvation. Remorse doesn’t involve a commitment to turn from sin or a change of direction. Judas had a change of mind about the thirty pieces of silver he had received for betraying Jesus. What he had coveted, he came to loath and hurled it into the sanctuary of the temple. But “blood money” paid even to a covetous person doesn’t bring any satisfaction. The same devil that moved him to covetousness, moved him to despair and self-murder.
Poor hopeless Judas not only hung himself, and in the fall his body burst open, but the “son of perdition” ended in hell with all who reject the Lord Jesus Christ. “Deeper down than Tyre and Sidon, shall the Christ-rejector go.” The only other person we read of in the scripture who is called “son of perdition,” is the anti-Christ who will also follow the directives of Satan. The prophecy that was fulfilled is quoted in Zech.11:12 and in chapters 18 and 19 of Jeremiah.
The religious leaders had no qualms or concern about paying money to kill an innocent person, but they were careful to not break their ritual requirements regarding temple money. Judas had not defeated the plans of God, and the disciples had understood that by the time the Lord ascended into heaven as recorded in Acts chapter one. Acts 1:18 states that Judas’ “blood money” paid for the potter’s field to bury strangers in. The priests and leaders had lost all sense of right and wrong in their deep-seated malice against the Lord Jesus. They were not about to guide Judas to a place of repentance where a sacrifice for sin could be found. They wouldn’t take back the money they had paid for murder, and neither they nor Judas were inclined to turn to God in humble repentance for grievous sin.
Jesus before Pilate, v.11-26 The leaders of the Jews knew their reason for putting Jesus to death would be rejected by the Roman judge. The charges of blasphemy according to Jewish religion, would not be heard in a Roman court nor would it be a reason for the death sentence. Under Roman rule, the death sentence was dealt with only under Roman law, not local laws. On the other hand; forbidding people to pay taxes to Rome, claiming to be a king, and causing riots would be taken seriously by Roman authorities. Those were the charges laid against the Lord Jesus Christ when the Jews took Jesus to Pilate’s judgment hall early in the morning.
Pilate’s first question to Jesus was in response to the formal charge made by the Jews that He claimed to be a king. Jesus answered questions that were honestly asked, but refused to respond to spurious questions or those that we call “loaded questions.” When insincere questions are asked, or questions that are deliberately asked to trap a person because they are misleading; silence is the right way to respond. Composure when compared to foolishness has weight that exposes deceit for what it really is.
When Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”; Jesus’ reply was an assent to the question, and then He explained to Pilate the nature pf His kingdom. That part of the conversation we read about in the Gospel of John chapter eighteen. That was when Pilate realized Jesus was not a menace to Roman authority. “My kingdom is not of this world,” and the fact that outwardly Jesus had no marks nor attitude of arrogant kingship, moved Pilate to ask again, “Are you a king?”
It was then Jesus said He was born to be king, the King of Truth. Pilate knew then that Jesus wasn’t into politics, nor did He have any interest in starting an insurrection against Rome. One wonders whether his response, “What is truth?” was a cynical denial of the possibility of knowing truth, a mocking jest of being able to know truth, or a sincere desire to know what no one had ever been able to tell him.
The unusual composure of the Lord Jesus before Pilate, the Jewish antagonists and the crowd of accusers, was a fulfillment of the words in Isaiah fifty-thee, “…as a sheep before its shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.” Anything He would have said would have openly clarified His perfect innocence. There was a higher purpose behind all that happened at that trial: the accusations, the obvious jealousy and envy, the perversions of justice and the deceit. It was in God’s eternal purpose to bring us to Himself through the Lamb of God bearing away our sins in His own body on the cross. The substitution of the Perfect Sacrifice on behalf of guilty sinners was the way God dealt in legal justice for sins committed. “He suffered, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God.”
Pilate didn’t consider Jesus’ silence as an admission of guilt. He was amazed that He could remain silent in the face of such obviously false accusations. He marveled that the Jews could be so envious, and that Jesus was so composed and in control of the situation. He likely was amazed at his own lack of courage because he knew himself well enough to know that he would have to do what was wrong in order to keep the peace – and keep his job.
As a way out of his dilemma, and to put an end to this sham and mockery of “a trial of justice,” Pilate offered the people a choice between Jesus and Barabbas. The choice was obvious. One was already a condemned insurrectionist and a murderer, Barabbas, and the other an obviously innocent person, Jesus. Barabbas had actually already done what they were charging Jesus with doing – insurrection against Rome. Even an ungodly judge like Pilate could see behind the ridiculous accusations against an obviously spiritual teacher. To have them choose Barabbas who was an insurrectionist and a murderer to be released, and to insist that Jesus be crucified, seemed to be to Pilate beyond his comprehension.
The moral and spiritual depravity of man, only needs a certain set of circumstances and people will make incredibly evil choices for no sensible reason. It seems beyond belief that not just one or two people, but a whole multitude can turn against one person who is holy, just, pure and kind in a very short time. People are willing to go against their own consciences, common sense, morality, human dignity and what is obviously right; to accommodate to the pressure of evil people and practices around them. What happened in Pilate’s judgment hall when the people turned against Jesus, who less than a week before they had honored; has happened, is happening and will happen to those who are Christians. When people testify to their faith in Christ and their loyalty to Him is obvious, they will be openly opposed by those who reject divine truth and the unchanging standards of God’s moral law.
Pilate still hesitated to release Jesus to be crucified as he looked for a way to pacify the Jews and yet deliver Jesus, an innocent person. The warning message from his wife would have given his superstitious mind a further reason to release Jesus. Truly, jealousy is crueler than the grave. The threat of reporting to Caesar his unwillingness to yield to Jewish religious traditions, was the
“final straw that broke the camel’s back.” Pilate was afraid that if a formal complaint was made to Caesar, he would lose his position. The Romans weren’t about to put an army in an insignificant place like Judea to keep the peace. That was Pilate’s job. The outcome of the matter, as far as he was concerned, was in his hands.
To wash his hands in front of the people in a way Jews did to absolve an innocent man from being implicated in a wrongful death, did not cancel Pilate’s guilt. To “wash our hands” of something we do not want to be held responsible for, doesn’t take away our responsibility to do what is right. We can try to excuse ourselves from hard decisions or unpopular activities, but that doesn’t free us from our responsibility. To say that the Jews alone are responsible for the death of Jesus when they said, “His blood be on us and on our children,” is not correct. It was because we had all sinned and comes short of the glory of God that Christ died for the ungodly. God demonstrated His love for us in Jesus dying for us on the cross. Pilate was guilty, the Jews were guilty and all mankind is guilty of condemning an innocent Person to take our place on the cross and suffer for all of us.
Pilate resorted to having Jesus terribly beaten as a way to try to satisfy the blood-lust of the Jews. But by that time the blood-thirsty mob of people were ready to riot, so Pilate ordered his soldiers to crucify Jesus. This trial was an open perversion of justice, and yet the result has brought blessing and salvation to many. Those who love the Lord Jesus Christ are, and will forever be, thankful that Jesus did not call for legions of angels to deliver Him in the garden of Gethsemane, nor did He use his own power to deliver Himself from the false accusations, false trial, and terrible judgment for sin that He had to endure. The scriptures were fulfilled when “the plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows,” before Jesus was led out to be crucified.
Jesus is Mocked, v.27-32 The mockery of Jesus by the soldiers was not ordered by Pilate, bit it was done at his official residence, the Praetorium. Therefore, even though he was not involved in what those soldiers did to Jesus, he was responsible for it because he was the one in authority there. A person in the place of authority is accountable not only for what he does and what he allows to be done in his area of jurisdiction, but he is responsible for what he does not restrain.
Lacking restraint from those over them, the “whole band” of soldiers, which would have been perhaps several hundred who were stationed there, gathered together to mock the Lord Jesus Christ. Bored soldiers mock each other when they are waiting for something to do, but there was something beyond the ordinary when they mocked our Lord Jesus. It seemed like there was unleashed, latent animosity against the Jews, and Jesus was condemned because he was called “The King of the Jews.” When there is one object of mockery, sinful people soon try to outdo each other in acts of cruelty. One person or more had already scourged the back of the Lord Jesus with official sanction from Pilate. When He was released to them to be crucified, they knew they were free to do what they wanted.
With a discarded scarlet cloak wore by Roman officers, a crown made of thorns, a small stick as a scepter, and spitting as the lowest action of dishonor; they abused the Lord both physically and emotionally. The prophetic words of Psalms 22 and 69 were fulfilled. Cruel contempt for the “King of the Jews,” seemed to drive them further into cruelty until the head and face of the Lord
Jesus was beaten, bloody and unrecognizable. His back had the stripes of the scourging that opened the flesh, and resembled a plowed field.
Those soldiers made Him out to be a sham king and openly mocked Him in pretending to do Him homage. It was likely the anti-Jewish sentiment, that was vented upon the One who was the true King of the Jews but had been rejected by His own people. What a marvelous act of grace was to follow, when Jesus actually gave up His life, that some of that band along with the centurion who was over them, believed on Him. His own clothes would be part of the soldiers’ share of the humiliation of Jesus when they drove nails into His hands and feet. Cyrene was a city in the part of Africa we call Libya today, so that was where Simon came from when he came to Jerusalem for the Passover. It may have been a further way for those soldiers to demean Jesus, to force Simon to bear the cross after Jesus like a servant would carry a king’s throne for him to sit on. Yet, in spite of all the indignities that were heaped upon the Lord Jesus Christ, He was the One who was in control as prophetic scriptures concerning Him were being fulfilled. His dignity, and compassion were intact as He spoke to the weeping women on His way to Calvary. They could not take away anything from Him, or do anything to Him that He did not allow.
People living in that pivotal day in human history, showed their contempt for the Son of God by beating Him, putting a scarlet robe on Him, crowning Him with thorns, putting a twig in His holy hands as a scepter and spitting on Him as their expression of homage. However, there is a way of showing worse contempt for the Lord Jesus Christ that is popular today. To ignore a person of importance who should be honored by everyone, is more demeaning than physical abuse. That is what is being done to Jesus today. To disregard Him who is King of kings as not being worthy to even think about let alone take His words seriously, is the heights of disrespect.
Yet, people go even farther by not considering Him worthy of honor. “Santa Claus” is more important to children than Jesus at Christmas time. The chocolate Easter Bunny or Easter eggs, are of far more interest to children and their parents, than the crucifixion of Jesus who died for our sins and was raised again. To put Him down in such a way as to link Him with fairy tales is a major way to humiliate the Son of God and put Him to an open shame. For parents to never tell their children about Jesus or read the Bible and Bible stories to them, is to deprive them of faith and hope. Some people even use the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as a curse word to vent anger and disgust. Our Lord is still being put to shame by people today.
For believers in Christ to not be willing to remember Him in the way He commanded, or to consider their own interests and pleasure a priority, is to dishonor Him. To consider what we want to do of more importance than His request, “This do in remembrance of Me;” is to demean our Savior and Lord by putting Him and His desires lower than our own. May every child of God commit himself or herself to giving our Lord Jesus Christ the honor that is due Him. May we never in any way, be linked in attitude with those who despised and rejected the Man of sorrows who was acquainted with grief – who bore our griefs and carried our sorrows.
Jesus was Crucified, v.33-56 To refrain from making precise descriptions of crucifixion is a very effective way of making it significant and real to those who read the words. Simplicity of descriptions adds power to the point to be made, because the minds of each person can make words come alive personally. The depths of one’s own experience limits us to what we can really understand. A child will perceive to a limited degree what an adult will grasp more fully. Yet, it is the faith of each person in the Lord Jesus Christ that is important, not how much they know or can fully understand. One person’s description of the same event may give a different or expanded view of the same thing.
The crucifixion of Christ really defies description. God in His holy justice, looked at all that was done there by “His only begotten Son,” and saw infinitely more than human minds can conceive. Those who have been made righteous because of the righteousness of Christ and the sacrifice He made for us, have been saved. It is by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we have been saved and from that view we look at the cross-death of our Lord as a personal matter. “He was made sin for us.” “He suffered the just for the unjust to bring us to God.” “He bore our sins in His own body on the tree.” “Christ died for the ungodly.” “Christ died for our sins.” “The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Indifferent people look for excuses to avoid facing the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. They want to disassociate themselves from the injustice of crucifying an innocent person, by relegating the death of Jesus to not being any more than a historical event that has no relevance to them. They will not accept the fact of their inability to deal with their own sin problem by making themselves think, “It is not all that bad. After all, everybody does things that are wrong sometimes.” Willfully unbelieving sinners, deny there was any more significance to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ than any other person’s death. Atheists and agnostics in essence say; “Jesus died, so what? So does everybody else! What’s the big deal about His death?”
Those of us who love the Lord Jesus Christ, appreciate His substitutionary death on our behalf more than we can express. We don’t understand the extent of divine justice because we can’t perceive absolute holiness. We understand the concept of holiness and justice, but the reality of it is beyond our grasp. That is why three hours of darkness hid the Savior, the Lamb of God, from human observation. Angels, demons, humans, and whatever other “families” there are in the universe will never know all our Lord passed through “err He found His sheep that was lost.” There are some things divine Persons reserve for themselves because they are too far beyond our comprehension.
Descriptions in Matthew’s Gospel account, are basically those that human beings can understand and associate themselves with. “The place of the skull” to us can mean the place of death like we associate with the skull and crossed bones. It could be that the place of the skull could have been shaped like a skull or there was a perceived image of a skull in a hill, or at least in the mind of some people. It may have been on the emotional mind of some people who had seen people crucified previously in that place, that they called it the place of the skull.
“Wine mingled with gall” is a reference to a Jewish pain-killer that was foretold in Psalm 69. Our Lord Jesus, who “tasted death for every man,” did not allow anything to interfere with our assurance that He knew to the fullest extent, any pain that sin has brought on all men. Pain at its maximum limit will cause a person’s death. Jesus went to the farthest extent that sin has taken us away from God, and even there, death had no claim on Him. He was absolutely sinless. He could not and did not die until He chose to give up His own spirit. Nothing alleviated the extent of suffering Jesus endured; so, no one can say He did not include them no matter how far astray they might have gone.
As far as the physical actions of crucifixion are concerned, they are not given in the biblical accounts. We know “they pierced My hands and My feet” is a reference to nailing the Lord to the tree. We know “as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.” For a cruel soldier to be looking into the compassionate eyes of the One he was nailing to a piece of wood, and not hear Him cry out; would have deeply convicted his soul. The reticence of the description is what adds impact to the words, “They crucified Him.”
After dividing His garments and gambling for His seamless coat, the soldiers sat and watched Him. Others passed back and forth in front of the cross and insulted Jesus, mocked Him, and challenged Him, but those soldiers just sat there and watched Him. The chief priests and all the religionists mocked Him as well as the two thieves. They all joined their voices: the rabble crowd, the religionists, and the robbers. We read in another account that He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Those people went even further in their words of unbelief, rejection, and insults. They challenged Him to do something spectacular. Their blasphemy against God and the evil they did, were prophesied in the Old Testament prophesies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Psalms. The written condemnation over His head was a charge that was true, and before the day was over, the centurion and soldiers all knew the man they had crucified was a righteous man. They also knew Jesus was the Son of God.
The challenges made against the Lord Jesus were that He could not save Himself. The truth was that He would not save Himself so that He could save us. Then they said, “He saved others,” and that challenge was true, although they meant it to mean that He was incapable of doing that and was deluding the people He told, “Thy faith hath saved thee.” The challenge to Him as the “King of Israel,” was because they wanted the pomp and glory of a conquering king rather than a suffering Savior. We know that if there was no cross there would be no Christ, nor crown. Suffering comes before reigning.
They challenged the Lord Jesus further to “come down from the cross.” The love of Christ for sinners was so great in its demonstration there, that there was nothing in Him to tempt Him to come down before He had “accomplished all things.” Those deceitful mockers even promised if He would come down, they would believe Him. The sign he had given them was an even greater one – He would arise again from among the dead in three days. As a final indignity, they challenged Him by saying God, His Father, would not save Him. The implication was that if He was really the Son of God, He would not have allowed His Son to suffer like He was, and to be abandoned to suffer alone.
The great darkness over all the land at the time of the full moon indicates this truly was an event that happened by the power and authority of God over all creation. After three hours of darkness and Jesus’ silent suffering, the soldiers and those in fearful darkness were startled with a loud cry from the Lord Jesus. The tone of voice and the words of the first verse of Psalm 22 were plainly heard from the “loud voice.” That was not the voice of a weak sufferer nearing death, but the call of one with a soul-searing question. The name “Eli” means “My God,” and Elias are similar, making those listeners think He was calling for help. Another one ran to get vinegar as He said, “I thirst.” It seemed light now that the light was coming back on and some of those watching reverted to a further mocking jibe at His claim to be the Messiah. One wonders at the response of the listeners to the loud cry of triumph, “It is finished!” and then the confident voice of One who knew He had done completely the will of the Father, “Father, into Thy hand I commend My spirit!”
In a loud victorious cry, the Lord Jesus Christ called out, and then in a deliberate act of His own will, He dismissed His spirit. That was when creation gave vent to the lack of normal control the Creator has over His creation. The absence of light was one thing, that would have created a measure of fear and trepidation. When rocks broke around them and under them, and gravestones fell down or rolled back, even the centurion and the guarding soldiers were terrified. No matter what the Jews said, those soldiers knew all of those things happening at once was not a coincidence. The Jewish leaders and the priests would have been even more frightened when the curtain separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place was torn from top to bottom.
Through all of this darkness, the trembling earth, loud cries, and all the commotion; there stood watching from a distance, a group of women of faith. They had heard Jesus, had believed in Him, had followed Him the ninety miles or so from Galilee because they knew what He had said was true. They boldly stayed with Him when the disciples had fled and deserted Him. They had followed Him all that way and they were not about to desert Him there, even though He had to suffer alone.
When we realize all that our Lord Jesus Christ went through on the cross and all that He accomplished on our behalf; we are moved to give Him our heartfelt thanks and expressions of sincere gratitude. When we understand a little of what God got from that sacrifice of perfect righteousness for unrighteous sinners; we are compelled to marvel and wonder. For the eternal future, we will never stop worshipping our Savior for all He did for us when He was on the cross. We will never cease worshipping Him for who He is, and the new life He has given us that was His to give. The bread and the cup of the Lord’s Supper, are our present and visible reminders of the events and effects of the greatest day in history when our Lord Jesus was crucified. The results of all of His accomplishments in that vicarious act will be experienced forever.
Jesus is Buried, v.57-66 Most of the disciples of the Lord were likely either poor or moderately poor, with the exception of Matthew, the ex-tax gatherer. Zacchaeus didn’t let his wealth keep him from seeking Jesus with no regard for the public’s perception of him. He was a tax collector who would have been despised anyway. Joseph of Arimathea was in a different position in society as a member of the Sanhedrin. The council of seventy men had a lot of authority over the people and was supposed to set the moral direction of the nation. Both Joseph and Nicodemus, members of that council, did not make it openly known what their association with the Lord Jesus was. They were both rich men, but now, when it was an obvious need to give honor and dignity to the Lord Jesus Christ by burying His body, they openly stepped out of the shadows.
Joseph had a new unused tomb that had no other remains in it that would make it inappropriate as a place to bury the Lord. He likely had designed it and cut it out of a rock to be a burying place for himself someday. However, a great Person needed to borrow it for the weekend, and the Spirit of God moved on Joseph, “a good man, and a just,” to give it for a higher purpose to a higher Person. He stepped out into the open and took immediate action to get the body of Jesus for an honorable burial before it would be taken and cast out to where the bodies of criminals were incinerated. He acted with courage and alacrity, and in faith took the matter in hand. He urgently asked for permission to take the body of Jesus off the cross and bury it in “his own new tomb.”
Sometimes we may be fearful to stand out before men in a crowd and testify as to our faith, but when a crisis comes and there is no time to waste, we find the necessary courage to act. God doesn’t leave us alone in such times, and our faith in Him is greatly strengthened when we go forward without knowing what will happen to us personally. The importance of the moment, and the action that needs to be taken, overrides the momentary embarrassment and fear. That is faith in action!
Joseph would likely be criticized later by other members of the Sanhedrin, and he may have had to pay some kind of high cost of which we have not been told. All we read, and all we need to know is that he was God’s man for that moment and that purpose. It is an encouragement to know, that often there is another hesitant person like Nicodemus who was wondering what to do. When one person takes the right step and makes the first move, then another steps up to help finish what needs to be done. One of those men had the grave and the cloth. The other one had one hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes. When put together, it made a burial that was “fit for a king.”
Some of the women who were observers at the cross where Jesus died, were also at the grave where the Lord Jesus Christ was buried. True love for the Lord Jesus will help a child of God to go through times of fear, disappointment, loss, and potentially hopeless situations. Those women knew who Jesus was, what he had done for them, and where He was buried, and then they were ready to prepare themselves for what they would do three days later. He had said He was going to rise again, and those women believed Him. For seventy-two hours they waited, but when that time had passed, they were back at the tomb to see what was going to happen next. They knew that the burial of Christ was not all. They wanted to be in on the rest of the story.
Following that first night in which Jesus was in the tomb, another delegation went to Pilate. Priests and Pharisees both took seriously the claim of Jesus that He would rise from among the dead on the third day. They were as impacted by Jesus’ words about what would happen after He died, as they were when they heard them before He died. Perhaps they had thought the teaching of Jesus was an error, but they knew if people believed Jesus rose from the dead, that would spread like wildfire and people would believe another miracle had taken place. The precautions they made seemed to be very great with the guard and the seal, but even Pilate seemed to have some doubts as to the outcome of the event. “Make it as sure as ye can” indicates that the darkness, the great earthquake, the opened graves, and torn veil in the temple, would have all unsettled him as much as it did the whole city.
When the Gospel is described and defined in 1st Corinthians 15, the message starts with “Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures.” The reason for His death was to take away our sins. Death and its reality can be observed, but the reason behind death, or what caused it has to be believed by faith. His death was for our sins. His burial was an observable fact, and it is a normal thing to bury a dead body. Scripture was fulfilled in His burial, “He was with the rich man in His death,” even though He died in the company of wicked men. The honor was given by two rich men, where honor was due. It was in God’s sovereign plan to have the right man in the right place at the right time to do the right thing for the body of the Son of God.
It is incumbent on every believer to be ready and willing to do whatever God places in front of us, and do it as best we can. He chooses to use whomever He wants, even obscure people who seem timid, but when the bold was nowhere to be seen; those who were available, though often overlooked, stepped into the gap and filled the need in an honorable and appropriate way. Joseph and Nicodemus go back into obscurity as far as being recorded by name in the scriptures, but the “good man and just,” and the man who “came to Jesus by night,” were there when needed.
These men, and the circumstances of that late afternoon, were so important that the Spirit of God has put their names and what they did in that very short time, into the pages of holy scriptures to be remembered and read for all eternity. No Christian, whether they be famous, or not even known, is unimportant to God. Some may live for God and serve Him for a long time and have a whole lot written about them like Abraham, David, Peter, and Paul, and others are briefly mentioned like Stephen, Joseph, and Nicodemus. But let none of us think that there is nothing for us to do or no role to fill. What people think about a person is not what is important. If we are ready and willing to do anything for our Lord, that is what He wants and expects. Do not compare yourself and your service with that of others who are in the family of God.