28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,”37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
The Burial of Jesus
38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Shew! What a place to pick up this narrative.
Our faith is so dependent on, so entwined in this passage and its deep and eternal meaning…
When Elon Musk was asked if he believes in God he said… “something must be responsible for all this… you can call it god”.
I was listening to a testimony the other day and Joe Rogan asked a media personality why he believes in Jesus… Where did his faith come from …And his answer was, “When I read about what Jesus endured on the cross I was convinced”...
Understanding and being transformed by what happened on the cross is the difference between believing in a god and being a follower of Christ…
There is something about the cross…
The evidence for God is undeniable… This is obvious and intuitive… Romans says that ‘it is plain to see if anyone just looks around…’
The cross is something otherworldly… Something unique and foundational… anyone who takes the time to read and truly contemplate the cross cannot be unchanged… This is the experience of the centurion and the soldiers around him as recorded in Matthew… when they saw Jesus die on the cross and all that came with it… “surely He was the son of God”…
There is something about the cross… The body and the blood…
All of History has been looking forward keenly to the cross… And we look back on the cross
Andrew mentioned prophecy two weeks ago… the Old Testament is full of prophecy about the cross… Prophecy is on Jesus’ mind in this passage… Even here in the last moments… 28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, …
The few hours on the cross and leading up to it fulfilled how many prophecies Andrew?.... 28 on the day of crucifixion??
The point is …Jesus knew what had to be done and all was completed… One might look at it and say that Jesus was working through a list He had in his head right? Trying to prove perhaps that he is from God, that he is the Messiah… Maybe…
Well yes… except he had no control of the events… in a human sense anyway… His work is finished, yes, but only in the sense that He has played His part in the Father’s plan…
He had no control over the type of death, or the mocking, or the ploughed back, the name of the place he is crucified at… that he would be lifted up…
Yet all these things have been prophesied about and brought together so God’s plan of redemption could be completed, …but also so that we are left in no doubt that this is of God… that this is his plan and we are without excuse… All these prophecies being fulfilled cannot be managed by men… They can't be coincidence
We have seen repeatedly in John, Jesus perform miracles, …why? …so that the people would know that he is from God…
Lot’s of things can be stage managed these days… to be sure that it is a God thing, miracles are needed, which are impossible for it to be coincidence … In a grand gesture, God makes the earth shake and the temple curtain tears… But grandest of all while Jesus hangs on the cross the skies go dark… darkness covers the land… Matt 27:45 …From the sixth hour to the 9th hour darkness comes over the land … This cannot be faked…
Did you know that we can predict eclipses these days? In fact we can go back and very accurately work out when there were eclipses… Well not me of course… Let’s trust it to NASA…
Now what time is the sixth hour? The day starts at sunrise and that was when the Jews would start counting… 06:00… Which means that the 6th hour is noon …it was dark until 15:00.
So let’s say this is true…
What does NASA say? Was there some kind of eclipse around this time in History that we can squeeze into our narrative?
Jesus started his ministry at 30 for three years… right? 33 years after His birth
First question then, is when was Passover in AD 33 …
Passover was Friday 3 April…
Okay… so was there an eclipse around that time? Even close would be amazing…
NASA … yes NASA… says 3 April AD 33 there was an eclipse over Jerusalem… No ways… unbelievable…
What time? And how long… Eclipses vary in length and the time of day… From 12:00 until 15:00 for 2h50 minutes…
This is amazing… The ‘coincidence’… Personally I’m not sure how I feel about this… This is only for interest’s sake… right? God could have covered the sun any day of any week for as long as He liked… I believe that and know it to be true… But the coincidence is striking… And pretty cool…
Surely this is the son of God…
Jesus knowing that the end has come, fulfills another prophecy in receiving wine vinegar… back in psalm 69 it was predicted that he would be given vinegar to drink…
Other prophecies are fulfilled in that His bones are not broken and His side is pierced… One of the details that has always stuck with me is that when Jesus is pierced in His side blood and water flow out… what a strange detail to add… Modern science has of course shown us that this is proof of death. Jesus’ lungs have filled with water and the soldier’s spear has gone in deep and punctured his lung releasing water along with the blood…
The reality of the picture on the cross, so beautifully described, but cannot of course be fathomed…
This is the pivotal point in History… Everything changes here… At the cross.
There are mixed up in this story, two very interesting men, who on their own perhaps show the power of the cross and of the message of Christ… Everything changed for these men when Jesus is crucified… at the cross.
These two men, Nicodemus and Joseph, are powerful people…
The Jewish authority of the day is dominated by the Sanhedrin… a political and religious body… most of these 70 men are Sadducees and then there are a few Pharisees in the mix… all learned men… Rabbis… sages.
Our two heroes are pharisees, held in high esteem as pious, religious men… They are a part of the Sanhedrin…
While the Sadducees were more political and were interested in power and finances… (Interestingly they did not believe in life after death)… they worked closely with the Roman officials… Sometimes for them and sometimes against them…
These two men are not just interesting, they are fascinating… We get the feeling sometimes that there were two camps when it came to the Jewish people and Jesus ministry… the fishermen and other local yokels who followed Jesus… and on the other side there were educated religious men who were corrupt and self seeking… Rejecting Jesus en masse…
But here we see two men from the elite… The most elite… who sought out Jesus and wanted to hear from him… they had a lot to lose if anyone knew that they were followers of Jesus… Their jobs, their family’s and most importantly their status in the community… these are the men who have jumped on their camels and climbed through the eye of the needle, so to say…
We first meet Nicodemus when he comes at night to question Jesus… In secret where no one else knows what he is up to … What does this tell us about him? Is he scared? Probably.
Is he weak? and is he a man of little faith who is not prepared to stand his ground? NO…
For many of us we have little idea of what it takes to risk anything for Christ… the majority of us are surrounded by Christian friends and a community who are supportive of our faith… but some others here, may have a better understanding of what it took for Nicodemus and Joseph to even enquire about Jesus… knowing with certainty that if they followed Jesus, they would definitely be kicked out of the Sanhedrin and all social circles…
In fact, coming in the dark of night to question Jesus was an act of extreme bravery… we are dealing with brave men here… Nicodemus is the man who stands up to his fellow pharisees in John 7 and tells them that Jesus must not be judged without evidence… He takes on the whole Sanhedrin… without saying that he is a follower
How does Nicodemus come to take an interest in Jesus? In John 3 when he approaches Jesus and says, “You must come from God… I know this because you are performing miracles” This says a lot for Nicodemus because the purpose of the miracles is to prove… as we have learned that he is from God and Nicodemus has picked up on this… He was searching.
Joseph, the Bible tells us in Luke 23:50 Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, 51 who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God… he was searching.
Today’s passage tells us that he is a follower of Jesus, but in secret, because he is afraid of his fellow leaders…
Matthew 27:57 As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 58 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.
He is a good man, a rich man, an upright man, he was on the Jewish council, he stood against the unlawful persecution of Jesus… He was even a follower of Jesus…
When did he become a follower? We don’t know… But up until now he had been a follower behind the scenes… In secret.
Isn’t it interesting… who should have been taking Jesus' body and burying it? Where are his disciples?
These two men who have until now been backroom figures are brought out at the darkest time when all others have deserted Jesus… Well not quite, other gospels tell us that some of the women too were in attendance…
Something about the crucifixion… Jesus on the cross… has brought these men out from being behind the scenes to front and centre… The power of the crucifixion has insisted that these men take on a difficult and expensive task…
They should have been running away… all hope is lost… we must have been mistaken about Jesus… fortunate to have escaped before it was known that they were actually followers…
They each make sacrifices … one gives up his own tomb, the other brings 30 kg of expensive spices… they go to peel Jesus' broken body off the slab it is laid on … They then carry His body to the tomb and most intimately… they carefully wrap his body in pieces of cloth… This is, this is an act of love… His body broken and his back just strips of meat, carefully covered and bandaged…
Remember Peter who denies Jesus while there is still hope ? “You are one of His followers”… “No I’m not…”
Yet these men… when all hope is lost … Jesus is dead… they choose this time to express their faith in, and love for Jesus… not by proxy, not sending someone else, not just money, but directly, in person… Joseph went to Pilate himself to ask for Jesus’ body… We are followers of Christ… once hidden, but now exposed… we are prepared to take the societal hit for His sake…
We were hidden in fear, but now is the time to stand for Jesus…
We know of course that this is an act of love because there is no upside for these two… Best case scenario, no one ever finds out… Why would they do it?
Something happened at the cross that changed it all…
The irony is not lost on us… from the very group who sentenced Jesus, the Sanhedrin, ...we have two of the most dedicated followers… who would have thought?
This is a God thing… perhaps more impressive than the darkened skies… Another prophecy fulfilled as Jesus is buried in a rich man’s tomb… In fact two of the most elite get to see Jesus dead and buried…
John refers to himself I am sure when he says, “35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.
But how much better to have two such prominent witnesses of Jesus’ death… which is so important, that it could be disputed later… one can’t think of two better witnesses than members of the Sanhedrin… the very people who sentenced Him to death…
The question I am left with is…
What changed these men from reclusive followers to those who are prepared to sacrifice it all?
I have searched for a possible obvious explanation…
Maybe it was the contrast of the self serving, shallow, injustice of the Sanhedrin with the holy, pure life of Jesus?
Maybe it was the earthquake and the dark skies.
Maybe they saw his humility in death.
Maybe these men who were looking for the coming of God’s kingdom saw the fulfillment of prophecy? As we do…
We are not told…
I am left with the thought that… There was something about the cross…
What does it mean when we say the crux of the matter is? This is the essence… the most important point… central to all else … that has been or is to come…
Where do you think the word CRUX comes from?
Yes, The cross… it is the very definition of the central point …the crux… the central point of Christ’s ministry and our faith and well as the root for the word CRUX…
Paul says.1 Cor 2: 1-2
“And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified”
Paul does not of course mean that, he does not know anything else, but rather he is using hyperbole to make a point like saying …”I have told you 10 000 times.” “A million people turned up this morning”
The cross is the most important thing.
The cross somehow changed these men.
1 Corinthians 1
22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
How did our two heroes step over the stumbling block… I think the answer is also found in this short passage…
They were called by God…
Matthew 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.
God draws these men to him… The Holy spirit opens their eyes to who Jesus is and what is happening on the cross… Because they were already searching… God comes to them and opens the eyes of their hearts… And once they know in their hearts that the cross is the fulfillment of God's kingdom, that the cross is the power of God for the forgiveness of men, then… Not even the dire position of Jesus’ horrific death could hold them back…
The spirit draws them and they respond…
The lesson for us here…
If men are searching, He will draw them to Himself and they will know His grace and the hope he gives… to overcome anything…
The cross did not just change these two men… the disciples were also changed… From fearful men, to those who lead a worldwide revolution… after three years of preaching they still didn’t grasp Jesus’ mission… until the cross…
The power of the cross did not just of course stop here… millions of people..men and women have been changed by the power of the cross… Many here can testify to this…
I wonder if you are like Nicodemus and Joseph… Followers from afar, because the message attracts you, you ask questions… it makes sense, but haven’t experienced the saving power of the cross… The cross changes everything… have you felt the tug of the Holy Spirit on your heart, waiting for your response? The cross will change you forever…
For us here at Medway… The cross is and has to remain central to our faith and our meeting together… the cross is where God’s power, character and plan are on display…
