ACC ~ Luke 23 v50 - 56

OVERVIEW:

Joseph is a Jew from Arimathea and a council member, part of the Sanhedrin, which rejected Jesus. At Jesus’ birth in a cave and his death in a tomb, a just man named Joseph oversees that his body is carefully attended to (EPHREM THE SYRIAN). Jesus will take his sabbath rest in the tomb, for the tree of life must be planted in a tomb in fulfillment of Scriptures. On the third day, he shall bring the reign of his kingdom to all creation when he rises from the dead (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM).

Joseph takes Jesus’ body down from the cross and wraps it in linen, linking Jesus’ birth and death, since at birth Jesus was wrapped in cloth bands. Joseph places Jesus in a rock-hewn tomb where no one else had lain, for just as Jesus died a death that was not his own, so he is laid in a borrowed tomb (MAXIMUS OF TURIN). The clean linen cloths and the tomb where no one had ever been laid show that his death and burial are as pure as the circumstances surrounding his birth (ORIGEN). Although humiliated during his journey to the cross and shamed by the crucifixion, Jesus’ body is given the high honor of being laid in a new tomb, just as his body was carefully contained in the virginal womb of Mary (MAXIMUS OF TURIN).

The final preparations are by women who will be the last to the leave the tomb, the first to return to it, and the first eyewitnesses of the resurrection (AMBROSE). They return to their homes for their sabbath rest to observe the Old Testament stipulations and to prepare spices and myrrh for a dead body that they plan to anoint when the sabbath has ended, because they thought he was going to remain in the grave (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA).

23:50-53 | Joseph of Arimathea Prepares Jesus’ Body

A RIGHTEOUS JOSEPH CARES FOR HIS BODY

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Mary stands for Eve, and Joseph stands for another Joseph. He who asked for his corpse [1] was also named Joseph. The earlier Joseph was a righteous man who did not denounce Mary publicly. [2] The other one was also a righteous man because he did not consent to the detractors. So that it might be clear that the Lord was entrusted at the beginning to one having this name when he was born, he further allowed one with this name to prepare him for burial when he was dead. This name receives the full reward for serving him at his birth in the cave and for having served his corpse at the tomb. COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 21.20. [3]

[1] :1–24:53 PRELIMINARY REMARKS | ON THE GOSPEL

[2] Mt 1:19.

[3] ECTD 326-27**.

THE TREE OF LIFE PLANTED IN THE TOMB

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: We seek to know exactly where he was buried. Was his tomb made with hands? Does it rise above the ground, like the tombs of kings? Was the sepulcher made of stones joined together? What is laid upon it? O prophets, tell us exactly about his tomb. Where is it? Where should we look for it? They answer, “Look at the solid rock that you have hewn.” [1] Look and see. You have in the Gospels, “In a rock-hewn tomb.” What is next? What kind of door does the sepulcher have? Again, the prophet says, “They have ended my life in the pit, and they have laid a stone over me.” [2] I am “the chief cornerstone, chosen, precious.” [3] He that is “a stone of stumbling” [4] to the Jews but of salvation to those that believe was for a while within a stone. The tree of life was planted in the earth, to bring blessing for the earth that was cursed and to bring release for the dead. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 13.35. [5]

[1] Is 51:1.

[2] Lam 3:53 LXX.

[3] 1 Pet 2:6; cf. Is 28:16.

[4] 1 Pet 2:8.

[5] FC 64:27-28**.

WRAPPED IN SWADDLING CLOTHES BY MARY, IN LINEN CLOTHS BY JOSEPH

MAXIMUS OF TURIN: Someone might say of last Sunday’s sermon, in which we preached that there was no less glory in Joseph’s grave receiving the Lord than in holy Mary’s womb begetting him, “What comparison can there be between the womb and the grave, since the one brought forth a son from its innermost bowels while the other only gave him a place of burial?” But I say that Joseph’s love was no less than Mary’s, since she conceived the Lord in her womb and he did so in his heart. She offered the secret place of her inmost members to the Savior; he did not deny him the secret place for his own body. She wrapped the Lord in swaddling clothes when he was born; he wrapped him in linen cloths when he died. She anointed his blessed body with oil; he honored it with spices. Each one’s service is similar and each one’s love is similar; hence each one’s reward must also be similar. But there is this difference: an angel called Mary to her service, but righteousness alone persuaded Joseph. SERMON 39.1. [1]

[1] ACW 50:94.

JESUS BURIED IN A BORROWED TOMB

MAXIMUS OF TURIN: Let us see why they placed the Savior in someone else’s grave instead of his own. They placed him in another person’s grave because he died for the salvation of others. They did not impose death on him. He endured death for us. Death did not just happen to him, but it benefited us. Why should he, who did not have his own death in himself, have his own grave? Why should he, whose dwelling remained in heaven, have a burial place on earth? Why should he have a grave? For only three days, he did not so much lie as one dead in a tomb as rest as one sleeping in a bed. The brief period of time itself certainly indicates sleep rather than death. A tomb is the dwelling of death. Christ who is life did not need a dwelling for death, nor did he who is always living require a habitation of the deceased. We have correctly laid up this life in our own tomb so that as he gives life to our death, we may rise with him from the dead. SERMON 39.3. [1]

[1] ACW 50:95**.

THE PURITY OF JESUS’ BIRTH AND HIS DEATH

ORIGEN: When it will be our professed purpose to treat such things, we will explain at greater length on a more suitable occasion the matters of his burial, tomb and the man who buried him. For now, it is sufficient to notice the clean linen in which the pure body of Jesus was wrapped and the new tomb that Joseph had hewn out of the rock, where “no one was yet lying.” … It suited him, who was unlike other dead people but who even in death revealed signs of life in the water and the blood. He was, so to speak, a new dead man, laid in a new and clean tomb. His birth was purer than all the others, since he was not born in the ordinary way but of a virgin. At his burial, the new tomb where they deposited his body also symbolically indicated his purity. It was not built from stones gathered from various quarters not having natural unity. It was quarried and hewed out of one rock, united together in all its parts. AGAINST CELSUS 2.69. [1]

[1] ANCL 23:72-73**.

THE WOMB AND TOMB THAT HELD THE BODY OF JESUS

MAXIMUS OF TURIN: Let us see, then, what happens to the Lord’s body after they take it down from the cross. Joseph of Arimathea, a righteous man, as the Evangelist says, took it and buried it in his new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. Blessed is the body of the Lord Christ, which in birth comes forth from a virgin’s womb and in death is placed in the grave of a righteous man! Clearly this body is blessed. Virginity brought it out, and righteousness held it! Joseph’s grave held him incorrupt, just as Mary’s womb preserved him inviolate. In the one, a man’s impurity does not touch him; in the other, death’s corruption does not hurt him. In every way, holiness and virginity are bestowed on that blessed body. A new womb conceived him, and a new grave enclosed him. The womb is the Lord’s womb. It is virginal. The tomb is virginal. Should I not rather say that the tomb itself is a womb? There is, in fact, a great similarity. Just as the Lord came out from his mother’s womb living, so also he rose living from Joseph’s tomb. Just as he was born from the womb in order to preach, so also now he has been reborn from the tomb in order to evangelize. The last birth is more glorious than the first. The first conceived a mortal body, but the last brought out an immortal one. After the first birth, he descends to hell, but after the last birth, he returns to the heavens. The last birth is more religious than the first. The first kept the Lord of the whole world locked in the womb for nine months, but the last held him in the belly of the grave for only three days. The first offered hope to all rather slowly, but the last raised salvation for all quite quickly. SERMON 78.2. [1]

[1] ACW 50:190**.

23:54-56 | The Preparations of the Women

THE WOMEN ARE THE LAST TO LEAVE AND THE FIRST TO RETURN

AMBROSE: Not everyone can bury Christ. Although the pious women stand far away [1] because they are pious, they watch the place closely to bring ointments and anoint him. The anxious women are the last to leave the tomb and the first to return to it. Although stability is lacking, diligence is not. Women hesitate, and devotion cools. They are present at the time of the resurrection, and when the men were chased away, an angel commanded only the women not to be afraid. [2] First in zeal, they summon Peter, [3] but they are behind him in confidence. Then he arrives without fear, and he who had come later is the first calmly to enter [4] as he who had received the keys of the kingdom, [5] in order to open for others. The resurrection is an earthquake for the faithful, because the sluggish body awakes itself from the sleep of death. [6] It is a cause of dread for the ignorant, because, disturbed by the trembling of the body and the movement of the earth, the ignorant depart from faith and belief in the resurrection. EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 10.144-46. [7]

[1] Mt 27:55.

[2] Mt 28:1-8.

[3] Jn 20:2.

[4] Jn 20:6.

[5] Mt 16:19.

[6] Mt 28:2.

[7] EHG 436**.

THE WOMEN COME TO ANOINT HIS BODY

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Wise women followed our common Savior Christ, gathering whatever was both useful and necessary for faith in him. When he gave his flesh as a ransom for the life of us all, they wisely committed themselves to care for his body. They supposed that the corpse would continue to remain in the grave. COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 153. [1]

[1] CGSL 611*.