Remembering the Tomb
Text: John 19:31-42
It is great to be here today as we once again go back in time some two thousand years and
look at the weekend that divided time and changed the world. Last week we took a quick glance
at the final moments of the life of Jesus where for you and me he allowed himself to not only
hang on the tree and suffer so much physically, but also be disappointed by his friends,
betrayed by another, deserted by all & even somehow forsaken by God! Why did he do this?
Because he couldn’t give up on any of us.
We want to continue this week with that weekend so long ago by looking at what occurred on
the Saturday.
Charles Swindoll wrote a novel about these events about a shopkeeper who was not that
religious but found Jesus curiously kind & caring. Then he began to hear stories about his
wonders and when the time came for Jesus to be crucified the shopkeeper just couldn’t figure out
why the people were asking for this man’s crucifixion. So, the keeper finds himself going with
the crowd to see the execution of Jesus and once he sees all of this the shopkeeper becomes a
believer! It has him repeating the words of the soldier as he announces ‘yes, Jesus was the Son
of God’!
But, what next? What do you do when you see the Son of God die? The shopkeeper simply goes
home & stares at the ceiling!1
As we said Jesus suffered horribly on the cross. We see in the cross a number of things:
- The love of God- Romans 5:8
- The payment for us- ‘Father, forgive them’
- The sacrifice of Jesus- John 1:29- the Baptist’s announcement
But, while we are seeing this in the cross we are reminded that something else happened!
John 19:30- Jesus died!
Now, as we look at the cross let us remember that Jesus didn’t beat the cross by staying alive
and outlasting its torture- but instead, even if for a moment, it appeared to all who are
interested that the cross beat him! The moment came when Jesus actually breathed his last and
his body that was so full of life became a corpse.
And then his body made the journey into the tomb- a trip by the way that he said he must make-
Matt.12:39,40
From the accounts that the other gospels give concerning what happened when Jesus died,
apparently nothing in the universe could handle the thought that the Son of God could be dead.
Even Nature herself went wild with the thought of her Lord dying- earthquakes & rocks torn.
As we asked with the shopkeeper, what do you do when the Son of God dies?
If you can, place yourself there and try to figure out what you would have done. Where do you
go if you are a friend?
What if an enemy?
From our text of John 19 that was read earlier notice what transpires:
- First, who goes to get Jesus?
Amazingly, Peter, James, John or any of the apostles do not step up to take care of the body of
their Lord, but it is a man named Joseph of Arimathea!
What do we know about this man?
He was a secret disciple- he was someone who definitely believed in Jesus but was not brave
enough to admit it. We also know that he was looking for God’s kingdom & he boldly asked Pilate
for the body (Mark 15:43)
So, we know that while the apostles who were so open at first went & hid, one disciple who was
hidden went into the open!
He’s joined by Nicodemus- who was the only leader of the people to ever speak up publicly on
behalf of Jesus but he brings enough myrrh and aloes that are usually reserved for a king!
Just like Isaiah said some 700 years earlier (53:9) Jesus was going to be buried with the rich.
So, at the end of vs.42 it says ‘they laid Jesus there’!
What would it have been like to take the body of Jesus off the tree?
To remove the nails from each hand & feet?
To take off the cruel crown of thorns?
What about wrapping the body?
All the time thinking this was the Son of God!
We also know from Mark 15:46- that once he is laid in the tomb a great stone is rolled in front
but it is done by his friends! Why?
Not to keep Jesus in, but to keep others out!
- Secondly, we know that the women who loved Jesus deeply followed Joseph to observe where
the tomb was. Now, for what was about to happen they needed to know where the body of Jesus
was placed. They observe his burial, say their good-byes and we are told go home because it is
the Sabbath (Luke 23:56)
- Thirdly, the enemies of Jesus demand a seal be placed at the tomb and so they go and
guard the tomb. (Matthew 27:62-66) Why?
They say the disciples might steal the body. They also say that they can remember Jesus
promised to rise again. Could this be another reason for placing guards outside the tomb?
As the Sabbath approaches- one thing is clear- this is the worst Sabbath ever for all concerned
parties.
The enemies shake with fear because of the thought that if he rises from the dead they just
killed the Son of God.
The followers after all they saw & heard are now saddened with extreme anguish.
One truth stands out above all others:
the Son of God is in a tomb!
As special as a man as Jesus was he now has gone the way of all men! Hebrews 9:27, 1 Kings 2:2
If you’re his follower there’s only one conclusion:
it’s hopeless now- as long as he was alive there was some hope. Our dreams are crushed.
Why did the Son of God die?
Why did the Son of God go into the tomb?
What hope do the rest of us have of life if God’s own Son succumbed to death, and this type of
death?
There are two things that I want to focus on this morning the first being one that speaks to our
souls which leads to the second that speaks to our hearts. It’s hinted at something Jesus
uttered while on the cross in Luke 23:42,43
While Christ’s body was going into the grave, he wasn’t going to be idle. While the shopkeeper
and many more like him would go home and stare at their ceilings in a sea of hopelessness-
Christ wasn’t just going to lay around- something was going to happen in the grave!
- What was it?
Revelation 1:17,18- Jesus was going to take control of death!
He was going to show the world that death cannot destroy and the grave cannot control!
Go back to Genesis 3:15- we talk about power but if all we saw in the cross- was just a bite at
the heel- what kind of power did Jesus display when he went into the realm of the dead and
crushed Satan’s head?
If Jesus went to take control, who had it before?
Hebrews 2:14,15- through death- Jesus destroyed him! (Col.2:14,15)
Now, notice something here- when Jesus sees John after taking control he calms him down by
simply touching him & telling him not to be afraid. (He did this before- Matt.17:7) The death &
burial of Jesus were not meant to terrify us but to prepare us!
Which if Jesus now controls even the realm of the dead, what does that say about us today?
- Jesus knows our pains & understands our fears! (Hebrews 2:17,18)
More than that he sympathizes with our weaknesses. There was something taking place that
Saturday that the people who saw it didn’t know. As hopeless and desperate as Saturday was
Sunday was coming and a new world would begin.
What does Jesus want to tell us?
Don’t be afraid! I’ve been in the tomb, I’ve been seemingly beaten by this old world- but I win!
I have the power!
He says to us in the midst of our pain & fear, in the times that we feel so weak & helpless,
throughout the moments that we don’t know which way is up and if we’re ever going to come out of
this thing alive or normal,
‘wherever you are->I’ll be with you-> I’ve been there before.’2
Because of the tomb- because Jesus actually died- I know he knows the pain & hurt that this
world can bring to us and the greatest question I have is does he care?
Yes, he cares, I know he cares, his heart is touched with my grief, when the days are weary the
long nights dreary I know my Saviour cares!
Psalm 31:7,8
How do we grab hold of such a wonderful Saviour?
Romans 6:1-5- be buried with him- so we can be raised again!
1. Charles Swindoll, The Shopkeeper’s Story- Suddenly One Morning (Nashville, TN: Word
Publishing, 1998)
2. F. Lagard Smith, Meeting God in Holy Places (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1997)
p.25
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