A Holy Saturday
42 And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. 45 And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 46 And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.
- Mark 15:42-47
Throughout history, the burial of Jesus has been a contested point of the story. Some say Jesus didn’t really die on the cross. Maybe he passed out, was taken down, and recovered somewhere. Muslims say he was taken to heaven before he died on the cross. Others say dogs ate his body. But from the earliest of days, the burial of Jesus was an important and well-recorded point. All four gospels mention his burial, and the earliest Christian creed, the Apostles’ Creed, includes it.
But why does Jesus’s burial matter so much?
Because only a dead Jesus saves.
Only a dead and buried Jesus experienced the full wrath of God against our sin.
Only a dead and buried Jesus can resurrect.
If he wasn’t dead and buried, the resurrection couldn’t have happened, and if the resurrection didn’t happen then, as Paul said, “our preaching is in vain and our faith is in vain” (1 Cor. 15:14).
The details Mark includes lead us to conclude that Jesus really did die and was really buried. Verses 42-43 tell us that by evening, because it was the day of Preparation, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin council, took courage and went to Pilate to ask for the body. Those details matter because of what comes next. Verse 44 says Pilate was surprised to hear Jesus was already dead. Crucifixion could take days. Jesus was dead in a few hours. So he called the centurion who oversaw the death. After confirming, Pilate gave Joseph his body. This wasn’t normal practice. Usually, to complete the humiliation of crucifixion, the body was thrown into the trash heap. So why did Pilate give the body to Joseph? Mark doesn’t say. All he says is that he did, and that’s important because it’s different from the normal way of things. It’s the kind of thing that is only written down if it’s true.
But it’s important for other reasons too. It’s a fulfillment of prophecy. The Old Testament prophesied this kind of burial for the Messiah. Joseph was a rich man. Only a rich man would have a tomb like this prepared. Isaiah said the Messiah would have his grave made with a rich man in his death (Isaiah 53:9) and that the tomb would be cut out of a rock (Isaiah 22:16). We know from John’s gospel that this tomb was in a garden (John 19:41), and that also points to a profound truth. The Puritan commentator Matthew Henry puts it this way, “In the garden of Eden death and the grave first received their power, and now in a garden they are conquered, disarmed, and triumphed over. In a garden Christ began his passion, and from a garden he would rise, and begin his exaltation.” In his death, Jesus is undoing the terrible events of the Garden of Eden.
And he’s undoing something deep in his people. If you’re in Christ, his burial represents your burial. As Paul says, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death.” That’s important because of what comes next. “In order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).
In other words, when that stone was rolled over Jesus’s grave, he took your sin in there with him. He buried it away in his death, which means you don’t have to bear the punishment anymore. Yes, you still have some darkness in you, but there is also now a new light. His death purchased it, and his burial sealed it.
Your sins are there in that grave, dead and gone in the sight of God, never to be resurrected.
Still, you might think, “Okay, but what if I mess up? I mean, really mess up. Isn’t there some point at which this can’t be true for me anymore?”
John Bunyan was a man who knew that feeling well. He wrote a book called Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ. It was devoted to John 6:37, where in the KJV Jesus says, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”
Bunyan confronts our doubts:
But I am a great sinner, say you. “I will in no wise cast out,” says Christ. But I am an old sinner, say you. “I will in no wise cast out,” says Christ. But I am a hard-hearted sinner, say you. “I will in no wise cast out,” says Christ. But I am a backsliding sinner, say you. “I will in no wise cast out,” says Christ. But I have served Satan all my days, say you. “I will in no wise cast out,” says Christ. But I have sinned against light, say you. “I will in no wise cast out,” says Christ. But I have sinned against mercy, say you. “I will in no wise cast out,” says Christ. But I have no good thing to bring with me, say you. “I will in no wise cast out,” says Christ.
He will in no wise cast you out. Do you know why? Because he was already cast out for you.
His grave is the grave for your sins—all of them.
If that’s true, then Good Friday truly leads to Holy Saturday, which leads to Resurrection Sunday.