The Burial of Jesus in the Garden of Peace

John 19:38-42 Each week we confess that it was for us and for our salvation that Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried—that he rose again and ascended into heaven.  All of it for us and for our salvation.

We know why Jesus Christ was born of Mary—so that he could stand in our place as one of us, doing what God wants us to do and suffering the punishment we deserve.  We know why Jesus died—to forgive us our sins by his shed blood.  We know what he rose again—to give us an eternal life like his own.  And we know what he ascended—to pray for us as we travel to the heavenly home he has prepared for us.

These events from our Lord’s life, we confess and believe, were done for us and for our salvation.  But there is one event that most of us do not give much thought to and that is his burial.  This too was part of his saving work for us and we will consider it as we visit the garden where his tomb was found—what we will call the garden of peace.  The Bible says that:  Later, a man named Joseph from Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus.

That one word “later” contains all that had happened on Calvary.  The hammering of the nails and the placing of the sign above Jesus’ head.  The words of our Lord:  forgiving those who crucified him, proclaiming his victory, caring for his Mother and finally commending himself into his Father’s hands.  In that word “later” is his last breath and the spear cast into his side with the water and blood that flowed from a heart of love. 

Jesus died just as he said that he would die and he would rise again just as he promised-- but between those two events something else occurred, for us and for our salvation—his burial. 

It was customary for criminals who were crucified to be left on the cross as a warning to others.  The Roman poet Horace called this “feeding the crows of the cross.”  Even for those who were buried, they were usually just thrown into a pauper’s grave.  But for Jesus—for the one who had suffered and died for our sins—his burial would be different.  The bible says that:

(Joseph was a follower of Jesus, but he did not tell anyone, because he was afraid of the Jewish leaders.) Pilate said Joseph could take Jesus’ body, so he came and took it away.  Nicodemus went with Joseph. He was the man who had come to Jesus before and talked to him at night.

            Already in the early hours of Calvary you can begin to see the power of the cross of Jesus to change things and people. 

The Roman centurion went from being a pagan soldier doing his duty to a confessor of Jesus as the Son of God.  The thief on the cross went from being a criminal on the way to hell to a citizen of heaven.  And these two prominent Jewish rulers—Joseph and Nicodemus-- went from being men who secretly admired to Jesus—to disciples courageous enough to take a stand against their own kinsmen and the Roman authorities and honor Jesus in death.

            Just a few hours earlier all of these men (Joseph, Nicodemus, the thief and centurion) would have been afraid and embarrassed to be associated with the humble man of Galilee.  They would have worried what their friends and co-workers would have said about them if they admitted to being disciples.  But they were changed by the cross and the man who died there.

            So it must for all of us.  Our love for Jesus must be greater than our love for our kinsmen.  Our loyalty to God must be more than that we owe to our co-workers and friends.  Our willingness to be counted as a follower of Jews must be more important than any fear of embarrassment. So it was for these two prominent members of the Jewish council.

You can imagine what the words of Jesus spoken to Nicodemus (that the Son of Man must be lifted up) now meant to these Jews as they stood at the cross and saw Jesus lifted up beneath the sign that read:  Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.  The sign was meant to ridicule Jesus and the Jews but it spoke the truth about who he was and what these men did next added their “amen” to that unintended confession.  The bible says that:

Nicodemus brought about 100 pounds of spices—a mixture of myrrh and aloes. These two men took Jesus’ body and wrapped it in pieces of linen cloth with the spices. (This is how the Jews bury people.)

            I was not aware of it until I began researching this sermon but the amount of spices brought to prepare Jesus’ body for burial was what was expected for a king. 

Far from being left on the cross to rot or thrown in a pauper’s grave, Jesus received a burial fit for a king.  Nicodemus and John had been too afraid—too ashamed-- to show their loyalty while Jesus was alive—but now in the shadow of the cross—in the garden of peace, they treated Jesus as he truly was--their rightful king.

I find this a very comforting scene!  How often have we despaired of seeing someone we love come to faith in Jesus Christ?!  They have heard the Gospel.  They are surrounded by believers.  People are praying for them to receive salvation and yet it seems as if there is always something standing in the way and we begin to wonder and worry if they will ever confess Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Here in these two men is the reason we should never despair or give up.  It was late in the game for both of them—but not too late to put their faith in the Savior God had promised in the Garden of Eden to send.  The Bible says that:  In the place where Jesus was killed on the cross, there was a garden.           

In the beginning, there was garden.  In that garden was life, rich abundant life.  But sin entered that place and fellowship between God and man was broken and death entered the garden.  Adam would live the rest of his life exiled from the garden and would return to the earth from which he was created and so would every one of his descendants.  Every one!

But the Lord made a promise there, that he would send the seed of a woman to make things right again.  It was a covenant promise sealed with the blood of an innocent animal which suffered and died for Adam’s sin—to cover his shame.

Here now in this garden near the cross, that promise was fulfilled.  Yes, there was death here—but it was death leading to life.  Once again innocent blood was shed to cover the shame and sin of man.  But this time it was God’s own Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world who died.  He was the fulfillment of the promise that God made in Eden to send the seed of the woman to save us.

He had crushed Satan every step on the way and on the cross he proclaimed his victory.  But Satan had struck him just as God said he would and now the second Adam would return to the dust of the ground just like all his brothers—just like Adam in the beginning.

But from this garden, life would spring forth!  Before his death Jesus talked about this moment.  He said:  Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 

As John and Nicodemus and the faithful women prepared Jesus’ body for burial and laid him in the ground, whether they realized or not, they were planting the seed that bears the fruit of eternal life for all who trust in him—just as God promised in Eden.  The Bible says that:  In the garden there was a new tomb. No one had ever been buried there before.

Early on the first day of the week, the One who is life in himself and gives life to all who follow him was raised from the dead—the first-fruits of an eternal harvest—and despite the fact that he had promised this very thing, none of his disciples were there to greet him, they thought that he was a ghost, and had to be convinced that he actually did what he said he was going to do.  After his resurrection he told his disciples: 

These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 

            And they were.  Prophecy after prophecy fulfilled.  Conceived in a Virgin.  Born in Bethlehem.  Healer of men.  Announced by a forerunner.  Pierced for our transgressions.  Rejected by his people.  A humble king riding on a donkey.  Hundreds of prophecies fulfilled. Faithful to his word every step of the way, even when that way led to a grave, also prophesied.

700 hundreds of years Jesus’ burial in the garden, the prophet Isaiah promised that after being pierced for our transgressions and wounded for our iniquity the Messiah’s grave would be with the rich at his death.  And so it was that a very wealthy man, Joseph of Arimathea, asked for Jesus’ body and laid it in his tomb.

There is not one promise our Savior did not keep.  There is not one part of our life that he has not redeemed.  His rest in the grave sanctifies our graves so that they become just like his—simply resting places for a time until our bodies are raised from the dead, never to need a grave again in the endless Sabbath rest that God has promised to his children.  The bible says:

The men put Jesus in that tomb because it was near, and the Jews were preparing to start their Sabbath day.

            God established the Sabbath in the Garden of Eden as a sign and testimony that his work for mankind is complete and sufficient.  Here in the garden of peace, where Jesus was buried in the shadow of the cross, we see the fulfillment of all the Sabbaths that came before. 

Everything necessary for our salvation and forgiveness and life with God has been accomplished by Jesus Christ.  His work for us and for our salvation is complete and sufficient.  Once again we have peace with God.  And we can rest in the Good News that God gives this to us all as a free gift through faith in Jesus. Amen.