Matthew 27: The Burial of Jesus
Holy Week Saturday before Easter Sunday
When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
Meditation on the Burial of Jesus
“Mary Magdalene and the other Mary”? Would you like to be remembered in history as “the other Mary.” Who was she? Certainly not Mary the Mother of our Lord. That Mary would be remembered. This Mary was noticed yet forgotten.
What is important here is that the two Marys were “sitting opposite the tomb.” Sitting. How long? Why?
No doubt the two Mary’s were grieving. Remembering. Consoling one another. Reporting news to whoever might pass by or show up. Giving expression to their loyalty, fidelity, affection.
The death of Jesus along with the burial of Jesus marked the end. It marked the end of the family of disciples traveling from town to town on an adventure in teaching, healing, and encouraging hope. I suspect a genuine sense of comradery and loyalty developed in the group during this active period. Now, it had come to a stop. It was over. Hopes and expectations were dashed.
A suffocating pall of gray disappointment fell over the followers of Jesus. This gray fog morphed into a nihilistic abyss of black emptiness. The stone had been rolled in front of the hewn tomb. It was over.
PRAYER
Holy Spirit, we know that with Jesus’ burial it was all over. But, on Easter morning you raised the Son of God to new life. When it’s all over for us, we ask that you raise us to eternal life with Jesus Christ. Amen.
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Ted Peters is a Lutheran pastor and emeritus seminary professor. He is author of Short Prayers and The Cosmic Self. His one volume systematic theology is now in its 3rd edition, God—The World’s Future (Fortress 2015). He has undertaken a thorough examination of the sin-and-grace dialectic in two works, Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society (Eerdmans 1994) and Sin Boldly! (Fortress 2015). Watch for his forthcoming, The Voice of Public Christian Theology (ATF 2022). See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com.
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