ACC ~ Matthew 27 v57 - 60

JOSEPH TOOK THE BODY TO HIS OWN NEW TOMB

CHRYSOSTOM: This was Joseph of Arimathea, who had been hiding his discipleship up to this time. Now, however, he had become very bold after the death of Christ. Joseph was not an obscure person. He was highly visible, a member of the council and highly distinguished. From this it becomes clear that he was a man of special courage. For he exposed himself to death, taking upon him the enmity of all by his affection for Jesus. He not only dared to ask for the body, but he did not desist until he obtained it. He did more than receive it and bury it in a splendid manner. He even laid it in his own new tomb. Joseph thereby showed both his love and his courage. This did not occur randomly or without purpose. It occurred so that there should not be any unsupported suspicion that one had risen instead of another. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 88.2. [1]

[1] PG 58:778; NPNF 1 10:522.

OBTAINING THE TOMB

JEROME: Joseph of Arimathea is referred to as a rich man not because the writer of the Gospel wanted to boast that very wealthy and noble men were disciples of Jesus but rather in order to show why he was able to obtain Jesus’ body from Pilate. For the poor and obscure did not have the right to approach Pilate, the representative of Roman power, and obtain the body of the Crucified. In another Gospel, this same Joseph is called bouleutēs, which means “councilor” or “senator.” [1] Some think that the first psalm was composed with him in view: “Blessed is the one who does not walk in the counsel of the impious,” [2] and so on. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 4.27.57. [3]

[1] Mk 15:43; Lk 23:50.

[2] Ps 1:1.

[3] CCL 77:277-78.

THE CLEAN LINEN SHROUD

ORIGEN: “He wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and put it in a new tomb” where no one was buried, thus preserving the body of Jesus for its glorious resurrection. But I think that this shroud was much cleaner from the time it was used to cover Christ’s body than it ever had been before. For the body of Jesus retained its own integrity, even in death, so that it cleansed everything it touched and renewed even the new tomb which had been cut from rock. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 143. [1]

[1] GCS 38.2:296.

THE NEW TOMB

JEROME: We are able to discern from the spiritual sense of Scripture that the body of the Lord must not be covered in gold nor in jewels and silk but in pure linen. This may also mean, however, that the one who wrapped Jesus in clean linen is he who received him with a pure mind. … His body was placed in a new tomb lest it be imagined after the resurrection that one of the other interred bodies had arisen. The new tomb, however, may also signify Mary’s virginal womb. The great stone was placed at the entrance to the tomb in order to show that it could not be opened without the help of several persons. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 4.27.59-60. [1]

[1] CCL 77:278.

THE ACTS OF JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

HILARY OF POITIERS: Joseph of Arimathea, having asked Pilate to return Jesus’ body, wrapped it in a shroud, placed it in a new tomb carved out from a rock and rolled a stone in front of the entrance to the tomb. Although this may indeed be the order of events and although it was necessary to bury him who would rise from the dead, these deeds are nevertheless recounted individually because each of them is not without some importance. Joseph is called a disciple of the Lord because he was an image of the apostles, even though he was not numbered among the twelve apostles. It was he who wrapped the Lord’s body in a clean linen shroud; in this same linen we find all kinds of animals descending to Peter from heaven. [1] It is perhaps not too extravagant to understand from this parallel that the church is buried with Christ under the name of the linen shroud. [2] Just as in the linen, so also in the confession of the church are gathered the full diversity of living beings, both pure and impure. The body of the Lord, therefore, through the teaching of the apostles, is laid to rest in the empty tomb newly cut from a rock. In other words, their teaching introduced Christ into the hardness of the Gentile heart, which was uncut, empty and previously impervious to the fear of God. And because he is the only one who should penetrate our hearts, a stone was rolled over the entrance to the tomb, so that just as no one previous to him had been introduced as the author of divine knowledge, neither would anyone be brought in after him. ON MATTHEW 33.8. [3]

[1] The sheet full of animals of all sorts that is shown to Peter in a vision (Acts 10:11-12) symbolizes, according to Hilary, the church that takes into itself people of all races and conditions. By analogy, the sheet that wraps Jesus is a symbol of the church.

[2] Rom 6:4; Col 2:12.

[3] SC 258:256-58.

THE GREAT STONE

ORIGEN: We say, therefore (lest this passage be understood crudely), that he who said “we were buried with Christ through baptism” and we have risen with him [1] is himself buried after Christ and with Christ in the new, spiritual tomb cut from rock. Furthermore, all who are buried with Christ in baptism, so that they may also rise with him from the new tomb, belong to the “firstborn from the dead who holds primacy in all things.” [2] Joseph did not roll many stones over the entrance to the tomb but only one “great” stone. [This stone] was greater than the power of those who lay in wait but not greater than the power of the angels who descended from heaven and removed the stone and sat on it. [3] For all things which surround the body of Jesus are thereby clean and new and not simply “great” but surpassingly great. [4] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 143. [5]

[1] Rom 6:4; Col 2:12.

[2] Col 1:18.

[3] Mt 28:2.

[4] Mk 16:4.

[5] GCS 38.2:296-97.

Mt