JANUARY 27, 2026 – BURIAL

READ: Jn. 19:31–42: … Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen … a new tomb … So there they laid Jesus …

The Passover Lamb has been slain—the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world (1:29)! But there is no feast yet—only deep sorrow.

According to the ceremonial law (Deut. 21:22), bodies must not remain on the cross, lest they defile the land. Because the Sabbath is approaching—a great Sabbath connected to Passover—the Jews request that the bodies be removed. They must be certainly dead.

The soldiers break the legs of the two criminals, but Jesus is already dead; the water and blood flowing from His pierced side prove it. This excludes any theory of a false death. Again Scripture is fulfilled: Ps. 34:20; Zech. 12:10. John testifies to these facts.

Two members of the Sanhedrin take charge of Jesus’ burial: Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Joseph is a wealthy man who secretly followed Jesus and had opposed His condemnation (Lk. 23:51). Out of love for his Savior, he overcomes his fear and goes early Saturday morning to Pilate to ask for Jesus’ body. Pilate, knowing Jesus is truly dead (Mk. 15:44), grants it. Joseph takes the body from the cross.

Nicodemus (3:1ff), who knows Joseph, also comes to Golgotha. Together they wrap the body in linen with spices and lay it in a new tomb in a garden near the place of crucifixion. This tomb that belongs to Joseph (Matt. 27:60) is cut into rock (Mk. 15:46), and unused. Jesus’ burial fulfills Is. 53:9: “With the rich at His death.”

Why did Jesus have to be buried? 

Sing: Hymn 21:6,7 (1984) / 25:6,7 (2014)