The CROSSroads: Personal Lessons from Mark's Gospel by Rev. Mitch Schultz

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:34:25utc

Lesson Forty-Nine: BURIAL (Mark 15:42-47)

"Joseph took down the body and wrapped it in linen." (vs.46)

Last week in the same way as for the death of Diana Princess of Wales, many were shocked by the sudden death in a plane crash of John F. Kennedy Jr. On his way to Martha's Vineyard and flying in poor weather conditions the plane nose-dived into the ocean and was not recovered for three days. Yesterday they buried him at sea. It was a burial with full military honors. The Navy decided that he had lived an exemplary life, qualifying him for this special honor.

There were no such honors planned for the body of Jesus. Considered a common criminal his body would be dumped like rubbish becoming food for the scavenging birds and the worms. God, however, laid it on the hearts of two men to prepare the body for a proper burial. A burial in a sealed tomb and the certainty of a dead body would add drama to what God had in mind.

Joseph was from Arimathea and served as a "prominent member of the Jewish Council." (vs.43) According to Luke he was a "good and upright man" (23:50) who fought courageously against the Sanhedrin's decision to condemn Jesus. He, along with Jesus' old friend Nicodemus from John 3, now obviously born again, had perhaps studied the scriptures enough to know that Jesus died as the Lamb of God on the Passover. Both men loved Jesus deeply, and it was they, interestingly, not the disciples, who had the courage to request for Jesus body from Pilate. The other disciples were apparently still in hiding. On this day of Preparation (for the Sabbath) God was directing these men to prepare the body, not for a burial but for his resurrection.

The burial of Christ would be significant for a number of reasons. As stated already the activity surrounding his burial, such as embalming, would confirm without any shadow of a doubt that he was dead. There would have been enough people involved in the moving of the body from the cross to see that he was dead. It would have certainly confirmed his death to his followers. His burial would also fulfill the scriptures. We go to Isaiah 53 again from where we have drawn so much already and we read that "he was assigned a grave with the wicked and the rich in his death..." (vs.9)

The burial of Jesus body would bring a closure to the problem of sin. His physical burial then would have spiritual significance. It was not only his body that was buried that day but also the sin for which he had died on the cross. In fact, I was buried with him on that day, joining him in his death. In God's eyes the penalty for sin is complete, the debt has been paid and the punishment taken. "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into his death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new Life." (Or. 6:4)

There is something else very significant about the burial of Jesus and it as to do with darkness. Prior to his last cry you remember the world was plunged into a black cloud of darkness as through to say "this is the condition of mankind." The separation of man from God because of sin and the depth of that gulf was clearly felt that day. David Shroedder in his study on Mark, The Broken God, captures the mood well when he says, "from noon until three p.m.. God turned out the lights on the world." For three hours and then for a subsequent three days the world was sucked into an overwhelming and unbearable darkness as the distance between man and God was more vivid then ever. God is dead, and for three days it seems that Satan has triumphed. We celebrate his death today because we know about the resurrection, but for those who loved Jesus this darkness was like a thick blanket upon the soul. They mourned his death. That is why it was with a deep heaviness of heart that the Mary's watched him buried (vs.47) and the disciples hid in fear behind locked doors. (John 20:19) Every ounce of hope now lay buried with Christ in that tomb and all expectations of great things expired. Death seemed to rule.

For those who do not yet know the hope of Jesus' resurrection, the description of darkness that I just gave is their daily existence. Many do not realize how dark this existence is. Spend long enough in the dark and you'll understand what I am saying. You easily get used to the dark. Without Christ and without the hope of the resurrection death is a loud bell seeking to warn people to the reality of their lostness. Many sadly, ignore the sound of that bell.

I attended the funeral of a young teenager several months before we left England and the lights never came on during that service. I mean spiritual lights. In the darkness the liberal minister and the pagan family groped for words to explain away the overwhelming sense of gloom that hovered in the sanctuary. It was the only funeral I ever attended where God was absent. The young boy had died a tragic and needless death. A bus driver ejected the boy from his buswhen he became overly disruptive, and as he stepped from the bus, he began to hurl insults at the bus driver. This continued as the boy crossed in front of the bus to cross the street. An oncoming car hit him while he was still shaking his fist at the bus driver.

As one who knew the hope of Jesus I stood alone in the room as hollow words continued to come from empty people and the chill from that darkness made me shiver. My sense of the lostness of people has never been so strong as that moment. What these people did not know is that God himself has been plunged into this darkness with them and he has conquered it. He has been there and he longs to remove people from the darkness and make sense of death. Death does not need to be seen the way I saw it that day. It could have been a great opportunity to speak of the one who came to give his life to save people from a greater death and how he has provided a way out. "Since the children have flesh and blood he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death -that is, the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." (Heb.2:14,15)