ACC ~ Mark 15 v42 - 47
OVERVIEW:
Jesus was placed in a tomb made for someone else to demonstrate that death did not belong to this one (AUGUSTINE). The Lord of glory was buried with utter simplicity, without the accouterments of richness (BEDE). The three days are counted in this way: He died on the first day, was in the grave the whole of the second day and arose on the morning of the third day (IGNATIUS, AUGUSTINE). We can be sure that Jesus died because his death was validated to Pilate by a centurion’s inspection (AUGUSTINE). The incarnate Word was not the body as such but was the Word embodied. The Word was not changed into bones and flesh but took upon itself flesh. Jesus descended into the nether world while his body remained in the tomb (ATHANASIUS). Joseph of Arimathea’s concealed discipleship became revealed in his courageous act of devotion (CHRYSOSTOM).
15:42 | The Day Before the Sabbath
YESTERDAY HE WAS SLAIN
GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: Yesterday the lamb was slain, and the door posts sprinkled with his blood, while Egypt mourned for her firstborn. But the destroying angel and his sacrificial knife, fearful and terrifying, passed over us, [1] for we were protected by the precious blood. This day we have wholly departed from Egypt, and from Pharaoh, its cruel tyrant, and his oppressive overseers. We are freed from laboring with bricks and straw, [2] and no one forbids us celebrate the festival of our passing over, our pasch, and to celebrate not with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. [3] … Yesterday I was crucified with Christ; today I am glorified with him. Yesterday I died with him; today I am given life with him. Yesterday I was buried with him; today I rise again with him. ON THE HOLY PASCH AND HIS OWN RELUCTANCE. [4]
[1] Cf. Ex 12.
[2] Cf. Ex 5.
[3] Cf. 1 Cor 5:8.
[4] TLG 2022.015, 35.397.6-16, 18-20; SSGF 2:220.
REVIEWING THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE THREE DAYS
AUGUSTINE: Scripture again witnesses that the space of those three days did not imply whole days in their entirety. Rather the first day is counted as whole from its last part, and the third day is itself also counted as a whole from its first part; but the intervening day, i.e., the second day, was absolutely whole with its twenty-four hours, twelve of the day and twelve of the night. For he was crucified first by the voices of the Jews in the third hour, when it was the sixth day of the week. Then he hung on the cross itself at the sixth hour, and yielded up his spirit at the ninth hour. [1] ON THE TRINITY 4.6, 10. [2]
[1] Cf. Mt 27:23-50.
[2] NPNF 1 3:74.
15:43 | Joseph of Arimathea Went to Pilate and Asked for the Body of Jesus
THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
IGNATIUS: At the sixth hour he was crucified. At the ninth hour he yielded up his spirit. Before sunset he was buried. During the sabbath he continued under the earth in the tomb in which Joseph of Arimathea had laid him. [1] TO THE TRALLIANS 9. [2]
[1] Cf. Mt 27:57-60; Mk 15:42-47; Lk 23:50-53; Jn 19:38-42.
[2] ANF 1:70; TLG 1443.001, 2.9.5.3-5.
THE BOLDNESS OF JOSEPH
CHRYSOSTOM: This was Joseph, who had been concealing his discipleship. Now he became very bold, after the death of Christ. For neither was he an obscure person nor unnoticed. He was one of the council, and highly distinguished, and as we see, courageous. [1] For he exposed himself to death, taking upon himself the enmity of all by his affection to Jesus. He begged for the body and did not desist until he obtained it. Not only that, but by laying it in his own new tomb, he actively demonstrated his love and courage. [2] THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW, HOMILY 88. [3]
[1] Cf. Mk 15:43; Lk 23:50.
[2] Cf. Mt 27:60; Mk 15:46; Lk 23:53.
[3] NPNF 1 10:522*; TLG 2062.152, 58.778.5-15.
15:44 | Summoning the Centurion, Pilate Asked Whether He Was Already Dead
WHETHER WE CAN BE SURE THAT JESUS DIED
AUGUSTINE: As the Gospel declares, those who were present particularly marveled at this: After the lament in which he expressed the figure of sin, he immediately gave up his spirit. For those who were suspended on the cross were tortured by a lingering death. Consequently, the legs of the thieves were broken, in order that they might quickly die and be taken down from the cross before the Sabbath. [1] But that he was found to be already dead was a cause for amazement. And we read that Pilate also wondered at this, when the body of the Lord was asked of him for burial. [2] ON THE TRINITY 4.13.16. [3]
[1] Cf. Jn 19:31-32.
[2] Cf. Mk 15:43-44.
[3] Cetedoc 0329, 50.4.13.13; FC 45:151; cf. NPNF 1:78.
15:46a | A Linen Shroud
BURIED WITH UTTER SIMPLICITY
BEDE: The vanity of the rich, who even in their graves cannot do without their riches, receives its condemnation from the simple and unassuming interment of the Lord. Hence indeed the custom of the church was derived, that the sacrifice of the altar should not be commemorated by wrapping the elements in silk, or any colored cloth, but in linen; as the body of the Lord was buried in clean fine linen. [1] EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK 4.15.46. [2]
[1] Cf. Mt 27:59; Mk 15:46; Lk 23:53; Jn 19:40.
[2] Cetedoc 1355, 4.15.1668; CCL 120:638; GMI 434; cf. HOG, loc. cit.
15:46b | They Laid Him in a Tomb
WHETHER HIS BODY REMAINED IN THE TOMB WHEN HE DESCENDED INTO THE NETHER WORLD
ATHANASIUS: This above all shows the foolishness of those who say that the Word was changed into bones and flesh. For if this had been so, there would have been no need of a tomb. For the body would have gone by itself to preach to the spirits in Hades. But as it was, he himself went to preach, while the body that Joseph wrapped in a linen cloth laid away at Golgotha. [1] And so it is demonstrated to all that the body was not the Word, but body of the Word. LETTER 59, TO EPICTETUS 6. [2]
[1] Cf. Mt 27:59-60; Mk 15:46; Lk 23:53; Jn 19:40-41.
[2] TLG 2035.110, 6.1-6; NPNF 2 4:572. It was not the Word laid in the tomb but the body of the Word. The Word was not changed into bones and flesh but assumed bones and flesh. Jesus descended into the nether world while his body remained in the tomb.