And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his
death; because he hath done no violence, neither was any deceit
in his mouth.--Isaiah liii. 9.
It is usual, amongst many nations, for the bodies of those who
fall by the hand of the public executioner, not only to be denied
the rites of burial, but to be exposed to marked contempt. Though
Jesus made his grave with the wicked, yet it was also with the rich
in his death. Crucified at Golgotha amidst two thieves, he shall
receive an honourable burial. All the Evangelists have recorded the
circumstances of his interment, and nobly distinguished the name of
Joseph of Arimathea, for the marked respect with which he treated
the body of the despised Nazarene. Timidity kept him from before
publicly acknowledging his attachment to Jesus; yet it is remarked,
though a member of the Sanhedrim he consented[101] not to the deed
and counsel of those who condemned the Lord of life and glory.
Fully aware of the contempt and scorn affixed to the followers of
the crucified Jesus, his noble, disinterested spirit now led him
resolutely to face it all; to rescue, if possible, the body from
further abuse and dishonour. He went boldly unto Pilate, and begged
the body. His request is granted, Pilate having ascertained from the
centurion, that Jesus had been some time dead. Joseph is now joined
by Nicodemus, (who at first came to Jesus by night,) and these two,
high in rank and office, the one an honourable counsellor, the other
a ruler of the Jews, are busily engaged in paying the last sad
tribute of respect to the remains of their dear departed Lord. One
having provided an hundred pounds weight of spices to embalm the
body after the custom of the Jews, and the other supplying the fine
linen, they proceed to deposit the body in the sacred chamber of the
tomb. The receptacle of this mighty dead was not the royal mausoleum
of Judah's kings, but a new sepulchre, hewn out of a rock, in Joseph
of Arimathea's garden. There laid they Jesus, where never man before
was laid. No funeral pomp or pageantry of state, that solemn mockery
of wo, adorned his funeral procession. Though its attendants were
few, yet the tears of affection and love bedewed his mangled body,
and the voice of lamentation and sorrow reverberate through this
solemn vault of death. How was the mighty fallen! That arm, then
motionless in death, ne'er did a deed of violence; that tongue,
whose universal law was kindness, was then silent as the grave;
and that mouth, in which deceit ne'er found a place, was closed by
the iron hand of death. Behold here "an Israelite indeed, in whose
spirit was no guile." Surely the grave never before contained such
a prisoner. Its triumphs were complete, when Jesus was brought into
the dust of death.
[101] Luke xxiii. 50, 51.