ACC ~ John 19 v38 - 42

OVERVIEW:

The outstretched arms of Jesus remain so on the cross till evening, just as Moses’ arms remained outstretched at the crossing of the Red Sea until all were safely across (JUSTIN). Jesus is taken down from the cross by the pious and worthy Joseph of Arimathea (TERTULLIAN, BEDE) and Nicodemus (AUGUSTINE). Joseph means “increased” while Nicodemus is a combination of “victory” and “people,” both of which are fitting descriptions of Christ’s work (AUGUSTINE). Notice that it is Nicodemus, who seems to have been a repeat visitor to Jesus after his first encounter (AUGUSTINE), and Joseph of Arimathea who bury Jesus, rather than one of the twelve (CHRYSOSTOM). Notice also how the Evangelist ensures the reader understands what happened to the body of Christ, lest anyone think that either the soul or the Godhead was buried (THEODORET) in the tomb that Isaiah prophesied would be a glorious resting place (JEROME).

John speaks of wrapping Jesus’ body in linen cloths as opposed to a single cloth (AUGUSTINE), which has since become a custom of the church at the Eucharist of consecrating the Lord’s body not on silk or gold cloth but a clean linen cloth (BEDE). If we seek to be buried with Christ, we must leave all that is unclean behind us as we enter the new tomb clothed in the clean linen cloth of righteousness (ORIGEN). Christ was, so to speak, a new dead man buried in a new clean tomb, his burial to new life thus parallel to his pure and virgin birth (ORIGEN). The new tomb, in other words, is like a new womb awaiting the new life contained in it (JEROME, AUGUSTINE). Christ earnestly desired that his burial should be confessed no less than his resurrection, since the veracity of the two is intimately connected (CHRYSOSTOM). Jesus’ burial in a garden hearkens back to what took place in the garden in Genesis (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM). The true vine is planted in the garden (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM), and we are planted with him when we are buried with Christ in baptism even as we shall also rise with him (ORIGEN).

19:38 | After the Crucifixion, Joseph Asks for Jesus’ Body

JESUS AND MOSES

JUSTIN MARTYR: For, it was not without design that the prophet Moses, when Hur and Aaron upheld his hands, remained in this form until evening. For, indeed, the Lord remained upon the tree almost until evening, and they buried him that evening. Then on the third day he rose again. DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO 97. [1]

[1] ANF 1:247**.

JOSEPH REWARDED FOR HIS PIETY

TERTULLIAN: Surely Joseph knew that what he handled with full respect [1] was a body. This is that Joseph who had not consented with the Jews in their crime, the blessed man who did not enter the counsel of the ungodly or stand in the way of sinners, nor did he sit in the seat of mockers. [2] It was right for him who buried the Lord to have been a subject of prophecy and now to be deservedly blessed. AGAINST MARCION 4.42-43. [3]

[1] Or, piety.

[2] Ps 1:1.

[3] ANF 3:421**.

JOSEPH IDEALLY SUITED TO BURY JESUS

BEDE: It was providentially ordered that he should be rich, in order that he might have access to the governor, and righteous, in order that he might merit the charge of our Lord’s body. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK 4.15. [1]

[1] CCL 120:637-38.

BODY LANGUAGE

THEODORET OF CYR: Observe how often mention is made of the body. See how often the Evangelist shows that it was the body that was nailed to the cross, the body begged by Joseph of Pilate, the body taken down from the tree, the body wrapped in linen clothes with the myrrh and aloes, and then the name of the person given to it. And Jesus is said to have been laid in a tomb. Thus the angel said, “Come see the place where the Lord lay,” [1] naming the part by the name of the whole. And we constantly do just the same. In this place, we say, such a person was buried; not the body of such a person. Every one in his senses knows that we are speaking of the body, and such a mode of speech is customary in divine Scripture. DIALOGUE 2. [2]

[1] Mt 28:6.

[2] NPNF 2 3:227**.

19:39 | Nicodemus Brings Spices for Burial

NICODEMUS A REPEAT VISITOR

AUGUSTINE: For Nicodemus had at first come to Jesus by night, as recorded by this same John in the earlier portions of his Gospel. [1] By the statement given us here, therefore, we are to understand that Nicodemus came to Jesus, not only then, but he might that he was a regular visitor afterward in order, by hearing, to become a disciple. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 120.4. [2]

[1] Jn 3:1-2.

[2] NPNF 1 7:435*.

THE MEANING OF JOSEPH AND NICODEMUS

AUGUSTINE: Joseph and Nicodemus buried him. As some people have explained their names, Joseph means “increased.” Because Nicodemus is a Greek name, many will know that it is a compound of “victory” and “people,” since nikos means “victory” and demos means “people.” So, who was increased by dying if not the one who said, “If the grain of wheat does not die, it remains alone. But if it dies, it is multiplied”? [1] And who by his very dying won a victory over the people who were persecuting him, if not the one who by his rising will sit in judgment on them? SERMON 218.15. [2]

[1] Jn 12:24.

[2] WSA 3 6:187*.

JESUS RECEIVES A BURIAL BEFITTING HIM

CHRYSOSTOM: Not one of the Twelve, but perhaps one of the seventy—for now, deeming that the anger of the Jews was quenched by the cross—approached without fear and took charge of his funeral. Joseph therefore came and asked the favor from Pilate, which he granted. And why should he not? Nicodemus also assists him and furnishes a costly burial. For they were still disposed to think of him as a mere man. And they brought those spices whose special nature is to preserve the body for a long time and not allow it quickly to yield to corruption, which was an act of people imagining nothing great respecting him. Nonetheless, they exhibited very loving affection. But how is it that not one of the Twelve came, neither John, nor Peter nor any other of the more distinguished disciples? Nor does the writer conceal this point. If anyone says that it was from fear of the Jews, these men also were occupied by the same fear. For Joseph too was, it says, “A secret [disciple] for fear of the Jews.” And no one can say that Joseph acted this way because he now had no fear of their power. Rather, he came despite his fear. But John, who was present and had seen him expire, did nothing of the kind. It seems to me that Joseph was a man of high rank (as is clear from the funeral) and known to Pilate, which is why he obtained the favor. And then he buried him, not as a criminal, but magnificently after the Jewish fashion, as some great and admirable person. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 85.3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:320**.

PROPHECY OF TOMB

JEROME: Long before this sepulcher was hewn out by Joseph, its glory was foretold in Isaiah’s prediction, “His rest shall be glorious,” [1] meaning that the place of the Lord’s burial should be held in universal honor. LETTER 46.5. [2]

[1] Is 11:10.

[2] NPNF 2 6:62*.

19:40 | Jesus’ Body Wrapped in Linen Cloths

JOHN SPEAKS OF MORE THAN ONE LINEN

AUGUSTINE: For those Evangelists who have left Nicodemus unnoticed have not affirmed that the Lord was buried by Joseph alone, although he is the only one introduced into their records. Neither does the fact that these three are all at one in informing us how the Lord was wrapped in the linen cloth by Joseph, preclude us from entertaining the idea that other linens may have been brought by Nicodemus and added to what was given by Joseph. So John may be perfectly correct in his narrative, especially as what he tells us is that the Lord was wrapped not in a linen cloth but in linen clothes. [1] At the same time, when we take into account the handkerchief that was used for the head and the bandages with which the whole body was wrapped, and consider that all these were made of linen, we can see how, even though there was really but a single linen cloth [of the kind referred to by the first three Evangelists] there, it could still have been stated with the most perfect truth that “they wound him in linen clothes.” For the phrase “linen clothes” is one applied generally to all textures made of flax. HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS 3.23.60. [2]

[1] John uses the Greek term othoniois, which the Latin renders linteis. Augustine’s discussion is not intelligible unless this variation is recognized.

[2] NPNF 1 6:209**.

LINEN CLOTH USED IN THE EUCHARIST

BEDE: It has come down as the custom of the church of consecrating the Lord’s body not on silk or gold cloth but in a clean linen cloth. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK 4.15. [1]

[1] CCL 120:638

A CLEAN LINEN CLOTH, A CLEAN LIFE

ORIGEN: If you still live to sin, you cannot be buried with Jesus or laid in his new tomb because your old self still lives and cannot walk in newness of life. Therefore the Holy Spirit was careful to hand down through the Scriptures that it was a new sepulcher in which Jesus was buried and that he was wrapped in a clean linen cloth. He did this so that everyone who wants to be buried with Jesus by baptism might know that nothing of the old state should be brought to the new tomb, nothing of uncleanness to the clean linen cloth. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 5.8.4. [1]

[1] FC 103:355**; AGBL 33:424.

19:41 | A New Tomb in the Garden

A NEW DEAD MAN IN A NEW TOMB

ORIGEN: Observe whether the harmony of the three Evangelists here is not fitted to make an impression: for they have thought it right to describe the tomb as one that was “quarried or hewn out of the rock.” Whoever examines the words of the narrative will see something worthy of consideration, both in them and in the newness of the tomb—a point mentioned by Matthew [1] and John—and in the statement of Luke [2] and John, that no one had ever been interred there before. For it became him, who was unlike other dead people (but who even in death manifested signs of life in the water and the blood) and who was, so to speak, a new dead man, to be laid in a new and clean tomb, in order that, as his birth was purer than any other (because he was born not in the way of ordinary generation but of a virgin), his burial also might have the purity symbolically indicated in his body being deposited in a sepulcher that was new, not built of stones gathered from various quarters and having no natural unity, but quarried and hewn out of one rock, united together in all its parts. AGAINST CELSUS 2.69. [3]

[1] See Mt 27:60.

[2] Lk 23:53.

[3] ANF 4:459**; SC 132:448-50.

THE VIRGIN TOMB

JEROME: Christ himself is a virgin. [1] His mother is also a virgin. In fact, although she is his mother, she is still a virgin. For Jesus has entered in through the closed doors, [2] and in his sepulcher—a new one hewn out of the hardest rock—no one is laid either before him or after him. LETTER 48.21. [3]

[1] See Jerome Against Jovinianus 1.31.

[2] Jn 20:19.

[3] NPNF 2 6:78**.

NEW WOMB, NEW TOMB

AUGUSTINE: As in the womb of the Virgin Mary no one was conceived before him and no one after him, so in this sepulcher there was no one buried before him and no one after him. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 120.5. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:435*.

TESTIFY TO THE TRUTH OF THE BURIAL

CHRYSOSTOM: It is providentially ordered that he should be placed in a new tomb where no one had been placed before, so that his resurrection might not be deemed to be that of someone else who was lying there with him. And, because the place was near, the disciples would easily be able to come and be spectators of what happened. And not they alone, but also his enemies, should be witnesses of his burial. For when they placed seals on the tomb and stationed soldiers to watch it, these were the actions of people testifying to the burial. For Christ earnestly desired that this burial should be confessed no less than the resurrection. This is also why the disciples are very earnest about showing that he died. For all succeeding ages would confirm the resurrection. But Jesus’ death, if at that time it had been partially concealed or not made entirely evident, would be likely to harm the account of the resurrection. Nor was it for these reasons only that he was laid nearby, but also that the story about the stealing might be proved false. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 85.4. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:320**.

IN PARADISE THE FALL, IN A GARDEN OUR SALVATION

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: And since we have touched on things connected with paradise, I am truly astonished at the truth of the types. In Paradise was the fall, and in a garden was our salvation. From the tree came sin, and until the tree, sin lasted. In the evening, when the Lord walked in the garden, they hid themselves. [1] And in the evening the robber is brought by the Lord into paradise. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 13.19. [2]

[1] Gen 3:8.

[2] NPNF 2 7:87*.

THE VINE PLANTED IN THE GARDEN

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: A garden was the place of his burial, and a vine was what was planted there, as he said, “I am the vine.” [1] He was planted therefore in the earth in order that the curse that came because of Adam might be rooted out. The earth was condemned to thorns and thistles; the true Vine sprang up out of the earth, that the saying might be fulfilled, “Truth sprang up out of the earth, and righteousness looked down from heaven.” [2] And what will he that is buried in the garden say? “I have gathered my myrrh with my spices”; and again, “myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices .” [3] Now these are the symbols of burial. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 14.11. [4]

[1] See Jn 15:1.

[2] Ps 85:11 (84:12 LXX).

[3] Song 5:1; 4:14.

[4] NPNF 2 7:96-97**.

19:42 | They Laid Jesus There

BURIED WITH CHRIST IN BAPTISM

ORIGEN: Surely if no one had as yet been laid there, men and women were afterward laid there. For this is the meaning for those who consider carefully. … He who said, “We have been buried with Christ through baptism and have risen with him,” [1] has himself been after Christ buried together with Christ in a new and spiritual tomb hewn in the rock. It is the same for all who have been buried together with Christ in baptism so that they may rise with him from the new tomb of the Firstborn from the dead who holds the preeminence in all things. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 143. [2]

[1] Rom 6:4.

[2] AEG 6:101*; GCS 38 2 (11):296-97.