Ver. 43.— Joseph of Arimathwa. St. Jerome says thut this city was called Ramathaim-Zophim (the lofty place), where dwelt Elkanah and Hannah of old, and where Samuel was born. Joseph was most probably a native of Arimathea; but he was now a citizen and counsellor of Jeru- salem. He was an honourable counsellor (cvoxhuwy Bovdevtts), a councillor of honowr- able estate (Revised Version). St. Matthew says he wasa rich man. It is evident that he regarded himself as a settled inhabitant of Jerusalem, since he had thus provided himself with a place of sepulture. He was waiting for (mpocdexdpuevos )—literally, look- ing for—the kingdom of God. St. Matthew (xxvii. 57) says that he was a disciple of Jesus. These circumstances explain his desire to bury our Lord. He boldly went in (ToAunoas eiojAOe)— literally, he took courage and went in—unto Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. A poor man would not have dared to approach Pilate for such a purpose as this. St. Chrysostom says, “ The courage of Joseph is greatly to be admired, in that, for the love of Christ, he exposed himself to the danger of death.” The fact that he was “looking for the kingdom of God” explains his conduct. It shows that he believed in Christ, and through his grace hoped for everlasting salvation ; and in this hope he thought little of showing his rever- ence for Christ, and so “ boldly went in unto Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus.”
Ver. 44.—And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. It must have been somewhat early in the afternoon, probably not long after three o’clock, when Joseph went. The day being the Preparation, the Jews were anxious to satisfy the letter of the Law (Deut. xxi. 13), and that, more especially, because the coming sabbath was a “high day.” So they had gone early to Pilate to obtain permission to accelerate the deaths of the sufferers by the terrible additional punishment called oKeAoKomia. This violence was not inflicted upon our Lord, because he was already dead; and so another Scripture was fulfilled, “A bone of him shall not be broken.” But it was necessary that Pilate should be assured of the fact that death had taken place before he gave up the body; and thus, in the pro- vidence of God, another evidence was given of the reality of Christ’s death. Joseph
ou. xv 1—47.] THE GOSPEL
ACCORDING
TO si. MARI. 31)
eee — ee
asked for the body (educa). Then Pilate asked the centurion “whether he had been any while dead.” The verb here is in the aorist, and the adverb means “ formerly” (ei mara dredave); literally, if he died some time ago.
Ver. 45.—And when he learned it of the centurion, he granted (éd3wpjcaro) the corpse (7d rrGua) to Joseph.
Ver. 46.—And he bought a linen cloth
(owSdva). This was a fine linen garment, or | shroud, something like that in which the |
young man fled the night before (ch. xiv.
51, 52). And taking him down (kaleAdy |
avrdv), It appears from these words that Joseph himself, assisted probably by Nicodemus and others, actually took the body of our Lord down from the cross, wrapped the sindon round him, and laid him in his own new tomb, which had been hewn out of the rock. The word rendered “tomb” is uynuetov, as being intended to be
| trance.”
a memorial of the departed. And he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb: The door here means “the opening,” or “ en- Thus, while our Lord died with the wicked, he was with the rich in his death (isa. liii. 9).
Ver. 47.—And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses bebeld where he was laid (e0ewpouv mov Tiber); literally, were behola- ing where he was laid. These women were two of the group mentioned at ver. 40. The remained, after the body of our Lord had been deposited, in sad and silent contemplation. The women appear to have broken up into two groups. One group went alone tr purchase spices and ointments, which it was necessary for them to do before six o’clock, when the sabbath commenced; in readi- ness for the embalming. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses and Salome appear to have bought them after six o’clock on the Saturday night.
HOMILETICS.
Vers, 1—15.—The trial before Pilate. How true it is that “ God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all”! Jesus was first examined by Annas, then tried before Caiaphas, the hich priest, then formally condemned by the Sanhedrim, But these mock-trials, with all their injustice and their indignities, were not enough to exhaust the appointed humiliation and suffering. Christ must needs be brought before the Roman governor, who had come up from Casarea to Jerusalem to attend the Feast of the Passover. In order that he might endure the curse attacbing to every one that bangeth on a tree, in order that he might fulfil his own prediction that he should die by crucifixion, he must needs be sentenced, not merely by a Hebrew, but also by + Roman tribunal. The passage before us exhibits the several agencies by which ths condemnation of Christ was brought about.
I. THE MALICE AND ENVY OF THE PRIESTS. Pilate “ perceived that for envy the chief priests had delivered him up.” They both hated the spiritual teaching of the Prophet of Nazareth, so much at variance with their own ; and they were jealous of the influence which he had acquired over the people, not only in Galilee, but in Judea, The hatred and envy of the priests, Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes, had been abundantly shown by their treatment of Jesus for some time past, but was made more apparent by the events of the past nicht. Their apprehension of him in the garden, their treatment of him before the high priest, had been flagitionsly malicious and unjust. And now their charge against him at the bar of Pilate—a charge virtually of political treason against the authority of the Roman empire—was a proof of the length to which their hatred and hypocrisy could proceed. They brought this charge, simply because they thought that this would tell most against him in the estimation of the procurator.