By Remembering the Death and Burial of Jesus

As a pastor, you might imagine that one of the most difficult times that we have the opportunity to serve is when we are called to walk with a family after the loss of a loved one and to help us consider death and the meaning for each and every one of us. At the funeral, to help us consider why we gather together, I often point to Ecclesiastes 7:2

“It is better to go to the house of mourning

than to go to the house of feasting,

for this is the end of all mankind,

and the living will lay it to heart.”

The purpose of a funeral is as much to remember the person as it is to consider our own death, and then to consider how we will choose to live. Today’s passage will bring us to a similar place and specifically point us to the most significant death, the most significant person’s death for which God’s purpose is to change our lives.

Our annual theme is Enjoying Life in His Name. Having walked through the gospel of John, we have reached John 19:31-42 and the death of Jesus Christ. Just as in a funeral, it can be difficult to find rejoicing in that day, I want to encourage us to see we can enjoy life in Jesus’ name by remembering the death and burial of Jesus.

Earlier this week, in my e-mail to our church family, I encouraged us to read John 18-19 slowly but continuously and to let this portion of the text soak into your heart and mind.

Consider:

• Jesus has been with his disciples for approximately 3 years.

• On the night before his death Jesus prayed (John 17) out loud for his disciples to hear him. He prayed for himself, he prayed for his 11 remaining disciples, and he prayed for people like us.

• As Jesus was pouring out his heart, Judas was betraying him.

• A group of guards and soldiers were gathered to arrest Jesus as if he were a dangerous criminal.

• Jesus is tried and convicted even though He was innocent. It is hard to imagine the intensity of those hours.

Then Jesus is brought to Pilate. Pilate and Herod along with their soldiers brutalize our savior.

• He was scourged. He was mocked to include the crown of thorns forced upon his head. He was beaten.

• The physical torture was so intense, Jesus is too weak to carry the cross as he was cast out of Jerusalem, just a week after He had been hailed as a conquering King.

Jesus was stripped, nailed to a cross, and lifted to spend the remaining hours struggling for every breath.

• For the first time, Jesus felt utterly alone. He cried out “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?”, yet His concern was for others up until His final breath.

Jesus died while we were sinners because we needed a savior, a redeemer, new life, and living water. Jesus went to the cross in complete obedience to the father, because it was the only way. This passage is the heart of the gospel and good news.

Twenty or so years later Paul would summarize the gospel message in 3 simple and yet very important verses.

[Moved after the title slide] 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

The gospel is simple.

• So simple that a small child can understand and yet it is so complex that we spend our entire adult lives searching it.

There are 4 elements to the gospel presented in 1 Cor 15. First, Jesus died. Second, that Jesus was buried. Third, that Jesus rose from the dead and fourth, that Jesus appeared to living people who could testify that they saw the risen Christ.

Our passage today gives us very specific information about the first two aspects of the gospel – his death and burial.

Please join me as we read God’s Word about the death and burial of Jesus

Read John 19:31-42

As we allow that to settle upon our hearts, and consider what it means to Enjoy Life in his name, I would like us to consider three truths about the death and burial of Jesus.

The first truth we can know is critical to the gospel.

I. Jesus’ death was a real death (vv. 31-35)

When Lee Stroebel began his attempt to prove the gospel was false, this is where he started because if the death and resurrection were false, Christianity would collapse.

But he was not the first to seek to discredit the gospel in human history.

• Some say that Jesus died and was buried and rotted in his grave (no resurrection version).

• Others say that the Bible is fictional literature (no Christianity version).

• Still others suggest that the reason Jesus “rose” from the dead is that he never died. He was passed out and the cool tomb woke him up (Jesus is a magician version).

This is why Paul ties it all together. The gospel is a unit. If you have no death of Jesus, then you do not have a resurrection of Jesus and Christianity falls like a house of cards.

Lee Stroebel attempted to use his God given skills as an investigative reporter to prove that the gospel claims were false. He traveled the world and spoke to modern experts only to conclude that he had failed, and that the gospel is true.

Thankfully, we do not have to go that far to see the truth because our text addresses the first two parts of that gospel message. John wants to prove that Jesus died a real death.

The Jews asked that all the criminals be killed quickly (v. 31)

John 19:31 Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

The Jewish leaders were preparing for Sabbath.

• This is one reason why we believe Jesus was crucified on a Friday (Sabbath day starts Friday evening at sundown and ends Saturday evening at the same time).

This was not just any Sabbath – it was connected to the Passover -- the most important Jewish feast of the year. The time they celebrated Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt.

They are apparently concerned about Deuteronomy 21:22-23.

Deuteronomy 21:22-23 “If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.

They did not want Jesus or the criminals hanging on the cross and defiling the land.

Josh Moody points to this saying – “Note the perversity of the Jewish Leaders’ thinking: This day that is coming up is especially holy. Therefore, let us make sure that the condemned criminals are fully dead before that day begins. But what is more, they want to “finish off’ the Son of God before it comes to their precious Sabbath – a Sabbath designed so that they could worship God, not kill him!”

Their blindness is even more apparent when one see Jesus as the Passover Lamb himself. According to the Bible (1 Cor 5:7 - For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed) Jesus is Passover for all who trust him as Lord and Savior.

• The Jewish leaders were not thinking that of course.

• This text shows how blind they were.

If they could have only seen what we know to be true - They were celebrating the wrong Passover.

• the amazing sacrifice, Jesus, the Passover lamb whose death was so effective that it separated my past, present, and future sin from me as far as the east is from the west.

But they couldn’t see it – The Jewish leaders wanted them killed quickly, but this was not the norm.

The Romans were content to wait for days for criminals to die. After they died, they left them there to be eaten by birds and other animals. As horrible as that sounds, that was how the Romans got the message across to not mess with Rome.

But the Jews after forcing Pilate to crucify Jesus did not want the suffering men or the rotting corpses to interfere with their Passover celebration. They wanted to go right back to their normal lives.

So they wanted Pilate to take another action – ensure all three were dead and take the bodies down so the Passover celebration can move forward.

But make no mistake, this is no act of good will on their part. They accomplished their goals (kill Jesus), now it is time to move forward with the religious ceremony celebrating God’s deliverance.

The irony is hard to miss isn’t it. If only they would look to Jesus, then they could receive ultimate deliverance for their sin.

The soldiers broke the legs of the criminals to expedite their death (vv. 32-33)

John 19:32-33 So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; 33 but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.

Sometimes the Bible uses very simple language to describe horrific events.

• John 19:18 says they crucified him (just 2 words in Greek). But these words pack a punch. The act of crucifixion was so awful Romans were exempt in all but the most serious cases.

• A similar situation is here. The soldiers would take an iron mallet and beat the criminal’s legs until they could not function.

Without the use of their legs, these criminals would have only their arms to support their weight. It would not be long before they gave out and the victim would be unable to breathe. It would be 10-15 minutes of sheer agony.

Those criminals were not coming off that cross until they were dead. Jesus, however, was already dead. They had no need to go through the trouble of breaking his legs.

The soldiers pierced Jesus instead (v. 34)

John 19:34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

Just because they did not break Jesus’ legs, does not mean they chose to do nothing. A soldier wanted to ensure that Jesus was not resting or passed out. He did something that would surely rouse him. He took his spear and pierced his side.

• There are many articles written about the medical side of this verse. You can read them if you are curious. But the fact that blood and water came out unequivocally proved death.

• I think John’s point is simple. Jesus is truly dead. All theories surrounding some comatose state that was reversed in the tomb must be wholeheartedly rejected.

John’s testimony about this event is true (v. 35)

John 19:35 And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe.

John makes it clear that what is written here is not based on hearsay or that He just filled in the gaps. He saw it. Eyewitness testimony to the death of Jesus.

Jesus’ death is a fundamental part of the gospel. As we consider this truth, I also want to broaden our thinking about Jesus’ death beyond just the details. Let’s consider some of the ...

Benefits of Christ’s death

I believe it is good and right to reflect on Christ’s sufferings – to feel the weight of these hours, to be somber over a moment like this, but that is not where things end because Jesus did not approach the cross with death as the end.

Jesus pursued the cross because He knew what was on the other side, God’s glory and our benefit.

The gospel of Mark shows some added detail that demonstrates how Jesus pursued the cross.

• During the trials, the chief priests cannot find two people to agree so Jesus speaks giving them the evidence they need to convict him of what they see as blasphemy.

• Pilate knows that Jesus is innocent. He is looking for a way out of this mess. Jesus refuses to speak. All Jesus would have to do is provide a reasonable defense for the bloodthirsty behavior of the Jews.

Jesus speaks when they need evidence, and he remains silence when evidence would set him free. It is an amazing picture of Jesus pursuing, not avoiding the cross and He did it for you and me.

Let’s take a quick side trail and see what else scripture says about the death of Jesus. What benefit does his death provide?

• We have been sanctified through Christ’s Sacrifice

Hebrews 10:10-12 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God

Jesus offered himself once for all. Praise God no more sacrifices. The Blood of animals could not wash away my sin. I give thanks because we can be in a right standing with God because Jesus’ death made that possible.

Remember how the people mock Jesus on the cross. “If you are the son of God, save yourself.” Oh, what a statement. If Jesus saved himself, then he could not have saved us.

• Jesus’ death satisfied God’s Wrath

1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

The Bible says that God wrath is on the wicked every day. How could one ever be in a position for God’s wrath to be satisfied?

The overwhelming testimony of the Bible is Jesus’ death was the one and only thing that could satisfy God’s wrath against sin.

• Jesus took our place

2 Corinthians 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

I find the cross to be wonderful and scary.

I am glad that I do not have to face the penalty of my own sin.

I am glad that I do not have attain righteousness, but that righteousness is given to me.

All because Jesus took our place.

• Jesus reconciled us to God

Colossians 2:13-14 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Jesus’ death canceled the certificate of debt that was hostile to us. But notice what it took the progression from death to life, our sin nailed to the cross is the only means to take it out of the way and to reconcile you and I to a Holy God.

Friends, in the midst of the brutality or the cross, there is powerful rescue. Jesus’ death makes our salvation possible, he satisfied God’s wrath, took our place, and reconciled us to God.

• That is why the gospel is good news.

• In fact, it is great news, ecstatic news, awesome news.

No matter how you came into today, as we see this truth, I hope your heart is about ready to explode in thanksgiving and love for your savior.

• What more reason do we need to grow in our love for him?

• What could he give us now that would be better than the gift he already gave?

• What could motivate us to forsake sin, to put it to death, than our savior pursuing death, taking our place, satisfying God’s wrath, and making us right with God?

• What could motivate us to serve Christ more than his death?

If you have not yet chosen to put your faith in Christ as your Savior…

• What more do you want God to show you, how else could He prove his love for you?

• I am praising God because we are seeing people make this choice every week. God is at work building his church and growing His family as new believers comes to see their need for Jesus. Children of God of all ages…it is never too late.

• It’s more than just me asking...God is appealing to you that you would believe the gospel. God wants you to ask your questions – because He wants you to see the answers - because the Truth in the gospel is too beautiful to pass by.

It is true - Jesus’ death was a real death. And it is even more amazing when we see that it is true that

II. Jesus’ death fulfilled the OT promises (vv. 36-37)

Two weeks ago, we learned that Pilate said to Jesus, “Do you not know that I have authority to release you or to crucify you?”

• Wow, somebody thinks highly of themselves…

• He thinks he is control of this show. Hello. Pilate, you only have the amount of authority that God gives you.

But that is true for everyone in the gospel story. Jesus will not be taken anywhere the Father does not want him to be…

• He has a mission to fulfill and yet while Pilate, Herod, The Jewish Leaders, the soldiers, and even the crowds all act in their own self-interest. Yet Jesus remains in control.

• Ultimately, Jesus dies because he gives his own life.

John 10:17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

I love how God sovereignly orchestrates the entire event. Jesus fulfills the OT promises. We see it again today in the OT passages that need to find their fulfillment in Jesus’ death.

Not one of his bones will be broken

God commanded how His people would remember, through the Passover feast, that the Angel of death passed over Israel as God saved them out of Egypt and now God shows us that he again is saving us from death through the Passover Lamb.

1. The Passover Lamb

As they prepared the Passover lamb for the feast. Part of those instructions were:

Exodus 12:46 “It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it.

Numbers 9:12 They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break a bone of it; according to all the statute of the Passover they shall observe it.

As we trace the theme of the Passover lamb in the Bible, you discover it finds its conclusion/fulfillment in the death of Jesus. Therefore, if Jesus is going to be the Passover lamb, then there must be some continuity between Jesus and the lamb.

Here it is. Jesus our Passover lamb (1 Cor 5:7) could not have any of his bones broken.

• When the Jews go to Pilate and say please break their legs so we can end this, we are about to have a problem.

• But God is sovereignly in control of the whole thing. Jesus gives his life before the soldiers get the command.

Can you see how God is in control even of these details.

• When the soldiers get this order from Pilate, they go out to Golgotha, they go to the first cross and carry out their orders, then again at the third cross, but coming to Jesus…

• If they were going to test to be sure he was death, why not whack his legs too?

• If I am a soldier in that situation, what does it matter?

• If he is dead, a broken leg will not make him more dead than he was before. Why would I change my action?

• Why does a soldier need to pierce his side instead?

Hold that thought. First, I want us to see

1. God’s care for the righteous

Psalm 34:19-20 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all. 20 He keeps all his bones, Not one of them is broken.

Psalm 34 is about God’s care for the righteous. In this context, John would be saying that even in Jesus’ suffering, God is still sovereignly caring for his righteous one.

• So, yes, there is a forsaking where the Father turns away from the Son. But the time of forsaking is short lived. After the death of Jesus, that forsaking is over.

• The Father still cares for his son.

They shall look on him who they pierced

I can’t imagine being there, watching the scene unfold.

• The soldier with the iron mallet approaches the first criminal on the cross

• We hear the bones break and the men scream.

• The scene is repeated again with the second criminal.

• We watch them struggle for every breathe pinned to the cross

• Then we see the soldier walk to our savior. His body limp, head slumped over,

• the soldier with the hammer stops. Instead, the one with the spear thrusts it in his side.

Zechariah 12:10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

In Zechariah 12, God promises to pour out a spirit of grace and mercy while his people look upon him who they have pierced, and mourn for him.

In this prophesy, it points us to see Jesus as God incarnate “They will look on Me whom they have pierced and ultimately them point to Christ’s second coming when the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the repentant remnant of Israel, will truly mourn that they once killed their King.

Are you catching the reasons why these truths are so important?

• On the one hand, the gospel is so simple that we can say it in a single sentence. A 4-year-old can believe it and explain it.

• Yet, it is amazingly complex. If I asked you to explain the gospel would you have gone to Exodus 12:46 to talk about the Passover lamb followed by John 19 to give me the details of Jesus’ death, and then take me to Zechariah 12:10 to show that if Jesus had not been pierced, then we could not have a second coming? I would not have done that!

Can we rejoice together over the beauty of both the simplicity and the complexity of the gospel…

Because it is true that Jesus died a real death that he fulfilled the OT Scripture. It is also true that…

III. Jesus’ burial provides the basis for his later resurrection (vv. 38-42)

We have heard today that Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and appearances form the basis of the gospel message. Each component is crucial to the overall story.

We will rejoice over the resurrection and the appearance in the coming weeks, but for today see how the truth of the burial is a necessary element of the gospel which God orchestrated for His purposes.

God sovereignly ensured that Pilate granted the request for the body

The Romans would not normally allow a person in Jesus’ position to be buried. After rotting and being eaten by birds the Romans would typically throw away what remained. Even the Jews would not allow a criminal to be buried in the family tomb. Instead, a common grave outside the city would be the location for their physical remains.

God ensures that neither option occurs. Instead we find…

Joseph and Nicodemus, as disciples of Christ, had remained in the shadows for fear of the Jews. But now, when the risk was greatest for being found out as a follower of Jesus, their courage overshadows Pilate’s cowardice in how they choose to honor Jesus in his death.

John 19:40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

God enabled Joseph and Nicodemus along with their servants to give Jesus a proper burial.

And then…

God sovereignly provided a proper burial location nearby

John 19:41-42 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

John concludes chapter 19 preparing us for the resurrection.

• For a real resurrection to happen, you must have a burial. Rather than being placed in a mass grave where it would be virtually impossible to confirm a bodily resurrection (Jesus’ appearances would be open to the charge of being a ghost), but instead God ensured he was placed in a grave used by no one else.

• The tomb was known, the tomb was guarded (according to Matthew), and the tomb only had one person in it. Come Sunday, when no one is there, we know that Jesus bodily rose from the dead.

If I could just summarize for one minute …

1. I wanted us to see the beauty of the both the simplicity and the complexity of the gospel. Our text gave us two of the basic pieces of the gospel, but in the OT quotations also gave us God’s plan of salvation history from the Passover lamb to the cross to the return of Jesus.
2. I wanted us to be clear about the gospel like the Bible is clear about the gospel. Jesus died (for real), was buried (for real), rose the third day (for real), and appeared to many (for real).
3. And like anytime we consider death, I wanted us to think for a few moments about what Jesus’ death accomplished for us. He took our place, He satisfied God’s wrath, He paid our debt, and he saved us that we might Enjoy life in His Name