And Nicodemus also, who at first came to Jesus by night, came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds [weight].
Nicodemus appears here for the third and last time in John's Gospel, and every mention recalls how he began — as a man who came in the dark. Now he comes in the open, in daylight, carrying an enormous weight of burial spices.
Writers trace his story across the Gospel as a slow sunrise.
There are three stages in his history. I call John 3 midnight, John 7 twilight, and John 19 daylight. It was darkest midnight in that man's soul when he crept quietly to Jesus, hoping that nobody saw him. He was starting to get a glimmer of light when he slipped in a word for the Lord in chapter 7. But the death of Christ produced in Nicodemus what His life had never done.
A dangerous hour brings hidden disciples into the open. What frightened others made these men bold.
God uses a dangerous time to call out His own hidden ones... The death of Jesus, which made others afraid, made Joseph bold... And he was not alone. Nicodemus had been known longer, but at first he had no good name for moral courage. Now he joins in the last acts of love, with a large offering of myrrh and aloes. The cross of Christ, which unbelief stumbles over, puts his faith to work and shows it. The two, made brave by grace, make up for the missing service of the twelve.
Writers differ here. One warns that a bold act in a crisis is not the same as following Jesus day after day under reproach.
To follow Jesus all the time under reproach, and to commit yourself for ever on His account, is very different from acting only when some great occasion comes. By then there is no room left for that steady following, and the sheer scale of the evil forces us to separate from it.
Nicodemus had once come at night with a question he could not answer. Now he comes to bury the One he questioned.
If we ask humbly and in His presence, "How can these things be?" He Himself will give the answer. Yes, the cross of His Son will explain the question. As it was with Nicodemus, so we too will learn to value the death of Jesus... Jesus died so that we might live. His death not only opens our dull hearts to divine love; it also answers our questions about God and His kingdom.
People used myrrh and aloes to prepare a body for burial. Aloes have a strange double quality.
In the aloes there is that which is bitter to the taste but sweet in fragrance. Death was bitter for the Lord Jesus as He endured the cross... There was all the shame. Man's proud and wicked heart invented everything it could to insult the holy One in the hours of His sufferings... But how rich is the fragrance of His perfect obedience and submission to God's will. And how rich is the fragrance of the love shown in all He bore for God's glory and our blessing.
One writer measures the offering against the One it honoured.
Nicodemus brings a mixture of myrrh and aloes, fragrant spices used for the dead, and a large quantity of them. This fits this Gospel. No amount of precious spices could fully show the fragrance of the death of the Son of God.
The quantity is the point. This was not a normal burial. It was a royal send-off for a man the nation had just executed as a criminal.
These two Israelites are true children of Abraham. They claim the body of the Lord and set it apart, with the same faith Abraham had. They are also true subjects of the King of Israel, so they honour that body with the honours of a son of David. They spend large and expensive perfumes on it. They lay it in the garden, in a new, untouched tomb, where the smell of death had never yet passed.
The Gospel records not just the act but the amount.
They had done what they could. That service done to Christ has never been forgotten. The inspired Word keeps the names of these two, and it records the weight of the spices Nicodemus brought as well. God never forgets service done to Christ, or in His name... They could look for no glory from men at that time for doing such a service.
- Midnight. Every mention of Nicodemus recalls his first, fearful, night-time visit. God never edits that starting point out of his record.
- Daylight. The cross finished what the teaching started: what Christ's life had not drawn out of him, Christ's death did.
- Boldness. Danger draws hidden disciples into the open. Two men made up for the missing service of the twelve — though writers differ over how much credit courage in a crisis deserves.
- Fragrance. The spices are bitter and sweet at once: bitter like what He bore, sweet like His obedience. No amount of them could fully express it.
- Remembered. Scripture records the exact weight. God never forgets service done to Christ, even when men give no glory for it.
They took therefore the body of Jesus and bound it up in linen with the spices, as it is the custom with the Jews to prepare for burial.
Two members of the ruling council had kept their faith hidden. Now, in daylight, they prepare the body of Jesus for the grave with a costly weight of spices, as Jews buried their dead.
The verse assumes a practice its first readers knew. Bandages were wound round the body, with the spices packed in among the cloths.
Among the Jews they simply wrapped the body round with bandages, with a quantity of spices enclosed. Nicodemus supplied "a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds in weight."
The word John uses is not the ordinary word for burying. One commentator points to the Greek word behind it:
The word is not thaptein but entaphiazein. It is the word used for embalming, or at least for preparing a body for burial, as here.
A criminal's body belonged in a criminal's grave. His did not go there.
His grave was appointed with the wicked; but this could not be allowed to take effect: He was with the rich in His death. Joseph's tomb was the only fitting place for the body of the Holy One, who could not see corruption, during its brief stay there. God's providence justified Him there, until the resurrection should justify Him openly.
The same judgment that fell on Him at the cross now insisted He be honoured:
The same unyielding judgment which had dealt with Him at the cross now demanded the fullest honour to Him, as judicial testimony that His sacrifice was accepted.
Both materials carry meaning.
Nicodemus has traded his timidity for boldness. He brings so large an amount of spices to signify that the death of the Lord Jesus has in it a sweet fragrance, one that will delight the heart of God the Father for the ages of eternity. The wrapping in fine linen reminds us of the perfect purity of the life of the Lord Jesus in every detail. That life was laid down for a time, in sacrifice, but with a view to taking it up again.
That fragrance did not end at the tomb:
He has left His death behind, but we cannot leave it behind. His resurrection glorifies that death; it does not erase it. The myrrh and aloes perfume His garments still (Ps. 45:8). Up in the glory of heaven, the hearts of His redeemed still see Him as a "Lamb slain" (Rev. 5:6).
The word "they" covers two men who had kept their faith to themselves until now.
God uses a dangerous time to call out His own hidden ones. Joseph of Arimathea can be a secret disciple no longer… The death of Jesus, which caused others to fear, made Joseph bold… Nicodemus, who at first had no reputation for moral courage, joins in the last acts of love with an abundant offering of myrrh and aloes. The cross of Christ, such a stumbling block to unbelief, tests and displays his faith. The two grow brave by grace and make up for the missing service of the twelve apostles.
The scene puts a question to every believer who stays hidden:
Is it not a call to secret believers, timid disciples who keep in the shadows, to come out boldly into full daylight and confess their Saviour and Lord?
Burying Him "as is the burial custom of the Jews" was the act of people who did not expect Him back.
You would look in vain for proofs of understanding and power in the believers at this time. Yet the divine nature showed itself in their attachment to Jesus. All this time they were seeking the Living among the dead. They did not know the Scriptures, nor the power of God. They did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.
Those same cloths had more to say when He rose. One writer sets them beside the grave clothes of Lazarus:
When Lazarus came out of his tomb he was bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and he needed friendly hands to loose him. The sacred body of Jesus did not need such friendly service. It did not rise from the dead wrapped in the garments of death. He left them behind Him undisturbed by His rising… all that spoke of bondage and of prison had been left behind.
- Custom — Jews wound the body in linen bandages with spices packed among them. The word John uses points to embalming, not just to laying a body in the ground.
- Care — His grave was assigned with the wicked, yet He was with the rich in His death. The Holy One could not see corruption, and Joseph's tomb was the only fitting place for Him.
- Cost — The spices speak of a death fragrant to the Father. The linen speaks of a spotless life. That perfume still clings to Him in glory.
- Courage — The hour that frightened the bold made the timid brave. Two hidden men filled the gap left by Jesus' twelve disciples. Their example calls every quiet believer into daylight.
- Conquest — They buried Him without knowing He must rise. The linen they wound round Him stayed in the empty tomb — the sign that death had lost.