Laid in the Grave

S. Mark xv. 39–47

Every Roman legion was divided into twenty companies, each numbering, when the army was on a war footing, a hundred soldiers, and commanded by an officer hence called a “centurion.” The one of whom we are reading doubtless belonged to the detachment stationed in Antonia; and when the quaternion of soldiers was told off to see the execution duly carried out, such was the interest and excitement aroused, he deemed it advisable to accompany them himself.

He witnessed, therefore, all that took place from the time that Jesus left the Praetorium; and there were many things 1 that filled him with wonder. He knew well how a Roman could set his face as flint, and meet death without a sign of fear; he had no doubt often seen it on the field of battle. But there was something in our Lord’s whole demeanour, in His forgetfulness of self, in His thoughtful care for others, and especially in His prayer that those who were crucifying Him might be forgiven, which was quite beyond his experience. He was amazed, too, at the manner of His death, — at the loud expiring cry; and when, in addition to all this, he felt the very ground quake beneath his feet, he gave utterance to the conviction forced upon him by these things, in the memorable confession: “Truly this was a righteous Man; this was the Son of God.” We must interpret the testimony by the standard of the centurion’s knowledge, not by that of Christian faith. It is quite possible that he knew something of the Messianic expectations of the Jews and of the claims of Jesus to be the Son of God (for the title was one which the priests frequently cast in His teeth as He hung upon the Cross), and it may be that he had come to the conclusion that One Who could deport Himself as He had done, whatever claims He made, could be no Pretender. But it is perhaps more probable that he looked at the whole scene simply from the heathen standpoint, and felt that he had had before him a character that approached nearer to his own ideal of righteousness than anything he had ever seen before.

Whichever interpretation we accept, it was a noble witness to the truth; and to the lasting honour of him who bore it, no less than three Evangelists have been guided by the Holy Spirit to place it on record.

From the heathen centurion we turn to the Jewish disciple, Joseph of Arimathaea. The part that he played in the last offices for the Dead has been deemed worthy of even greater honour, for it finds a place in all the Gospels.

Apart from this a special interest attaches to his name for Englishmen, from his supposed connection with this country. He is one of the few Scriptural names that are associated with ra yei>6/j.eva, i.e. all that had happened, and ret yi.v6/xeva, the things that were happening at the time of the earthquake. The former, which has the greater authority, has been accepted in the above. the early legends of British history. He shares the distinction with Pudens, Claudia, and S. Paul. Tradition says that he was sent by S. Philip as a missionary to this island, and that, settling at Glastonbury, he erected the first Christian church in Britain, made of wicker twigs, on the site where the noblest abbey was subsequently built. His pilgrim’s staff, which he drove into the ground, is said to have taken root and grown into an umbrageous thorn, to protect him from the heat. We smile perhaps at the legend, but it was only the romantic dress in which an imaginative age clothed an important truth. It tells how, from a small and unpretending enterprise, the founder, whoever he may have been, was able to raise up a vast monastery, within the walls of which he took refuge himself, and offered means of shelter to others from the bustle and turmoil of the world.

But all this rests upon uncertain authority. In the Gospels we read that he was a native of Arimathaea, in all probability the later name of Ramathaim, where Samuel was born.

He was a man both of birth 2 and position, enjoying the highest dignity coveted by a Jew as a member of the Supreme Council of the nation. He was the only councillor of whom we know for certain that in the trial before the Sanhedrim he gave his vote for our Lord’s acquittal. It is extremely probable that Nicodemus did the same, though it is not recorded. They were men between whom we may trace many correspondences, both in social position and in natural temperament. The conduct of both in connection with the Burial of our Lord bespeaks forethought and preparation. It is not improbable that, when they realised that they could do nothing to avert the execution of the sentence, they determined that, though unable to help Him while living, they would at least honour Him in His death. So it was that Joseph prepared, or resolved to give up, the newly-made tomb, which he had designed for himself; and that Nicodemus procured, by a lavish expenditure, spices for embalming far in excess of the usual requirements.

It was the custom of the Romans to leave the bodies of the crucified to waste away upon the cross, or to be devoured by birds and beasts of prey. The Jewish law, resting on the belief that crucifixion was “a reproach to God,” ordered that bodies should be removed before sunset and buried. The place of burial was the polluted Valley of Hinnom, amidst all that was unclean and vile, where the worm of corruption never died. But it had been foretold ages before by David that the Holy One should “see no corruption,” and Isaiah had declared that His should be no unhonoured grave, but that He should rest “with the rich in His death.”

Now, as soon as Joseph learned that Jesus had given up the ghost, he waxed bold, and went in to the Praetorium, and, caring nothing for the dangers he encountered by such a venture, begged of Pilate that the Body of the Crucified might be given to him. It was a common custom for Roman governors to yield to such a request only on consideration of a bribe in money; and Philo has suggested that Joseph had recourse to the expedient, but the statement of S. Mark that Pilate “gave” — in the original it is “gave as a free favour” — the Body to him contradicts the idea. The request seems to have taken him by surprise; he could hardly believe it possible that Jesus was dead, for in crucifixion criminals usually lingered for two days or more. The answer, however, to his inquiries from the officer who was responsible for the due execution of the sentence, satisfied him that He had been dead some time, sufficiently long to preclude the possibility of a swoon being mistaken for death.

The readiness with which the petition was granted affords additional evidence of the spirit of revenge which seems to have stirred Pilate so strongly against the Jews after their victory over him. To rescue the Body of Jesus from the common fate of criminals, and to deliver it up for an honourable burial at the hands of a wealthy citizen like Joseph, was an act of retaliation in exact accord with his feelings towards them, and a rebuff well calculated to sting them to the quick.

The centurion gave up the Body according to the Governor’s directions, and from that moment no indignity could be offered to it. Joseph and Nicodemus, with their attendants, carried it into the sepulchre. They would pass through the entrance into an open court or chamber, in the rocky sides of which the recesses were cut, and there paid the last offices that the utmost reverence and care could suggest. They laid the Sacred Form in the most honourable niche, and rolled the Golal — the round flat mill-stone — before the entrance; then the Sabbath began, and all were at rest.

“And Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of Joses, beheld where He was laid.” It has been beautifully said that “it is the glory of woman that she seldom forsakes those she loves, even when things are darkest.” It finds its fullest illustration in the example of those who, when all the disciples, save the one who was most like them in womanly devotion and love, had forsaken Him, took their station at the foot of the Cross: who, when driven back by the soldiers, or priests and rulers, watched with anxious gaze from a distance, and, when all was over, were unable to tear themselves from His grave. Their love and devotion received its reward, for it was to them that He Whom they loved gave the first manifestation of His risen life; and it was they who were chosen to bear the glad tidings of His victory to the sorrowful disciples.

Note: In S. Matt, xxvii. 54 it is said that his confession was due to” the earthquake and those things that were done;” but there is a diversity of reading,

Note: S. Matt, and S. Mark give the latter, S. Luke the former half. Probably the real utterance combined both.

Note: There are no less than eight places, each of which has been claimed as its modern representative.

Note: This is generally implied by eiKrxwtiv.

Note: Both were Sanhedrists, both rich. If Nicodemus is identified with Nicodemus Ben Gorion, of Talmudic fame, he was proverbially wealthy. He was a timid follower of Jesus at first, coming to Him “by night” only, but afterwards braved everything for Jesus’ sake. So too with Joseph, — the attention called to his becoming bold implies that he was making a venture alien to his natural temperament.

Note: The Hebrew in Deut. xxi. 23, literally rendered, is “a curse of God is he that hangeth” etc., and the Jews debated whether the ambiguous phrase implied that it was a curse pronounced by God, or, so to speak, felt by Him, i.e. a reproach to Him. The latter was generally accepted, because so many Jewish patriots were hanged.

Note: el 7rdlcu aircdavcv.