So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
John 19 ends with a rushed burial: sunset was near, the Sabbath was about to begin, and the only grave ready stood right beside the cross. Was that only convenience, or was God at work in the haste?
The pressure of the hour
The verse gives a practical reason for the choice of grave: time had run out. But look at who buried Him — two men who had never dared to admit they followed Jesus.
J. N. DarbyThe Saviour was rejected and despised. Yet in His death He was to be with the rich and the honourable. Two men had not dared to confess Him while He lived. Now they are awakened by the greatness of their nation's sin and by His death itself, and they care for His dead body. So God fulfilled His words of truth. Joseph and Nicodemus place the Lord's body in a new tomb in a garden near the cross. It was the Jews' preparation day, so they could do no more at that moment.
A rich man's grave, a rushed burial
A condemned man could expect a criminal's grave. Jesus received something else, and the closing Sabbath cut the burial short.
The Christian's FriendHis grave was to be with the rich: "And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death." He would probably have been buried in the public ground kept for criminals, where the two thieves were likely thrown. But now that man had fully satisfied his hatred, God takes care of the One who had glorified Him even to death... Notice that the Sabbath day was at hand, so the burial could only be temporary. They would finish it after the Sabbath. The women who loved the Lord also made preparations to embalm Him at a later moment.
Hidden disciples in the open
Both men had kept their faith quiet. What silenced everyone else moved them to act.
William KellyGod uses a dangerous time to call out His own hidden ones. Joseph of Arimathea can be a secret disciple no longer. He was a rich man and an honourable councillor. But wealth and position only make confessing Christ harder. Fear of the Jews had prevailed until now. The death of Jesus, which made others afraid, made Joseph bold... The cross of Christ is a stumbling block to unbelief, yet it tests his faith and brings it into the open. The two men grow brave by grace, and they supply the service the twelve disciples failed to give.
One writer turns their example into a question.
A. J. PollockDoes this not speak to secret believers, to timid disciples who keep in the shadows? They should come out into full daylight and confess their Saviour and Lord.
A grave that had never held a body
John records that this tomb had never held anyone. One writer finds a first in human history there.
J. T. MawsonIt was a new tomb in more than one sense. It was new because never before had the grave received a sinless occupant. There had always been a natural link between the grave and the dead, for God had said, "you are dust, and to dust you shall return." But there was no such link between the body of Jesus and the grave. For the first time in human history the grave received a body that could not decay, because it was sinless. Yet His burial was as real as His death. Here is the gospel: "Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried." And we cannot stop there: "he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures."
Why a garden
John tells us the tomb stood in a garden. That setting reaches back to where death first entered the world.
Samuel RidoutIt is fitting that it should be in a garden. Death entered in a garden, and our first parents were driven out of it. When the consequences of sin had been put away, the garden appears again... What fruit for all eternity has grown in this garden where the tomb was! There the grain of wheat was sown that has produced such a harvest... There they laid Him. This was a preparation indeed — a preparation for the eternal Sabbath of God, in complete contrast to the legal "preparation of the Jews."
"They laid Jesus"
John does not say they laid a corpse there. He names the Person.
William Kelly"They laid Jesus." This again contradicts views of human destiny that treat the body as something abandoned for ever at death. The Lord's body is spoken of as Himself.
Summary
- Near — they chose that tomb because the Sabbath was closing in and it stood close by. The haste was real, and God used it.
- Named — that same nearness drew out two hidden disciples, Joseph and Nicodemus. Their fear turned to courage when everyone else fell away.
- New — the grave had never held a body, and now it received One whose body could not decay.
- Garden — death began in a garden, and God answered it in a garden. This burial pointed to God's eternal rest, not just a Jewish holy day.
- Gospel — the burial is part of the message, not a footnote: He died, He was buried, He rose again.