The burial of Jesus.
We may consider this in relation to all the persons concerned—Jesus himself, Joseph of Arimathaea, Pontius Pilate, and the Marys.
I. JESUS SUBMITTING TO BURIAL. Jesus himself had departed. It was only the deserted house that was now left. Still this was the body of Jesus, and the burial of it had a significance in regard to the spirit that had once inhabited it.
1. The burial proves the death of Christ. If he had risen immediately it would have been said that he had never died at all—that he had only fainted. But that in his state of exhaustion he could have been torn down from the cross and sealed up in a tomb without receiving any nourishment; that he could then have come forth and walked about with no traces of suffering upon him,—all this is simply impossible.
2. The burial completes the humiliation of Christ. It is an humiliation for the body to be handled by others as lifeless clay, and then to be laid in the tomb, put out of sight as a dreadful thing, soon to become repulsive and loathsome. Christ's body never saw corruption; but it was humbled to the grave.
II. JOSEPH BEGGING THE BODY OF JESUS.
1. This reveals his true discipleship. Joseph was a rich man in a high position. It was highly dangerous for such a man to avow himself a Christian. But the privilege of burying the body of his beloved Master encouraged him to run the risk. We are best known as Christ's by what we will do for him, especially when our service involves sacrifice.
2. This also reveals the tardiness of his confession. It was a late avowal. Why had not Joseph owned his faith during the lifetime of Christ? He was too like those who build the tombs of the prophets. His courage was real, but it was half spoilt by the fact that it was not manifested when it would have been most valuable. How many opportunities of Christian service are missed by delay in coming out openly on the Lord's side! It is well to treat the bodies of our departed friends with respect; but this is a small service compared with the help and love we could show them during their lifetime. The Josephs who can only bury a dead Christ are not of the stuff out of which apostles are made.
III. PILATE SURRENDERING THE BODY OF JESUS. The miserable man should have protected the life of the Prisoner whom he knew to be innocent. His surrender of Jesus to death at the clamour of the Jews was more than an act of weakness, it was treason against justice. Now it is too late to save the life of the Prophet of Nazareth. The awful crime has been committed, and it can never be undone, Through all the ages it will brand the name of Pilate with an indelible mark of ignominy. Yet the governor will make a little concession. A friend of Jesus—especially as he is rich and influential—may have the lifeless corpse. Thus we see men who are false to their real duty and the sacred trust that is laid upon them showing a reasonable kindness in small things. But this cannot atone for their great, black wickedness.
IV. THE MARYS AT THE TOMB. Sorrowful and loving, they sit and watch by the tomb. It is all they can do for their Lord, and they cannot bear to leave him. Their faithful love is rewarded. To them is given the first news of the Resurrection. Cleaving to Christ will be rewarded by many a surprise of joy. From the very tomb new hope will come to those who hold faithfully to him.—W.F.A.
HOMILIES BY MARCUS DODS
Christ before Pilate. No. 1.
Caiaphas had a purpose to serve by giving Jesus up to the Romans. Little did he know that while he thought he was making a tool of every one, he was merely God's tool for accomplishing his purposes. The harmony of the purpose of God, the scheme of Caiaphas, the law of Rome, and the relation of the Jewish court to the Roman procurator, explains fully how, when the Sanhedrin took counsel against Jesus to put him to death, the result was that they resolved to deliver him to Pilate. In their conduct notice:
1. Their scrupulosity about entering the palace. They would not cross a Gentile threshold during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Types in this of all who are able to be religious without being moral; who shrink from violating some ceremonial rule, but without scruple violate their own convictions—whited sepulchres, outwardly spotless, but inwardly full of rottenness and corruption.
2. The satanically prompted cunning of their accusation. They had but an hour ago been obliged to acquit him of such charges, and to condemn him on the ground of his claiming to be the Son of God. But Pilate is too keen sighted to be deceived by their show of loyalty. He cannot believe that since last Passover this great conversion from hatred to love of his government has taken place. One cannot but reflect what a pregnant moment this was for Pilate, when our Lord seemed to wish to open the deepest desires of that severe Roman heart, and prompt him to long, with the Jews, for a spiritual kingdom. Before answering his question, "Art thou the King of the Jews?" he must first know, as John tells us, in what sense Pilate uses the words, "Sayest thou this thing of thyself? Is it not possible that thou too for thine own sake shouldest seek to know this King of the Jews for whom Israel has longed?" There were officers under Pilate whose heathen upbringing had not prevented them from discovering the spiritual grandeur of Jesus, and desiring to belong to his kingdom. But it was too much for Roman pride to be taught by a Jew how to find peace, and even to submit to this bound Jew before him as to a King. A mirror is here held up to those of us who do not "of ourselves" ask Christ what his claims are, who think it quite right that other people should accept and acknowledge him, but cannot bring themselves to do so. Pilate was a man who represents thousands in every age, who persistently and on principle live for the world, and seal up the deeper nature in them that the world does not satisfy; who try, as it were, to live down their own nature, their own immortality. Have your own spiritual necessities taught you the meaning of God's promise of a King to the Jews?—D.