John 19:31-42 | ???
One final time, the religious leaders will seek death even as they pine for the law (and particularly, sabbath law). They wouldn’t dare want to risk having to deal with dead bodies on the sabbath, so they make sure that those on the crosses would die in time to do what’s necessary. It’s gruesome and an utter picture of their misplaced bloodlust for the Law above life, that which God gives in the first place.
John does not break from his usual willingness to provide details the other gospels do not. One example here is the note that both “blood and water” came out of his side when pierced. Blood and water. Eucharist and baptism.
Not all the religious leaders were satisfied with Jesus’ death. Joseph of Arimathea - a rich man - saw to Jesus’ proper Jewish burial. And Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin itself, was there at the request for Jesus’ body. This was surely a risk for him.
Blood. Water.
…and a garden. They laid him in a garden.
Remember where we began with John. “In the beginning…”, a harkening back to the very first line of the Bible, the Torah, and the creation story. “In the beginning…”. That story goes on to say that the creative work of God, in which God gives life, began in a garden.
Keep it in mind for tomorrow.
John 19:31-42
It was the Preparation Day and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies to remain on the cross on the Sabbath, especially since that Sabbath was an important day. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of those crucified broken and the bodies taken down. Therefore, the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men who were crucified with Jesus. When they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead so they didn’t break his legs. However, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. The one who saw this has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that he speaks the truth, and he has testified so that you also can believe. These things happened to fulfill the scripture, They won’t break any of his bones. And another scripture says, They will look at him whom they have pierced.
After this Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate if he could take away the body of Jesus. Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one because he feared the Jewish authorities. Pilate gave him permission, so he came and took the body away. Nicodemus, the one who at first had come to Jesus at night, was there too. He brought a mixture of myrrh and aloe, nearly seventy-five pounds in all. Following Jewish burial customs, they took Jesus’ body and wrapped it, with the spices, in linen cloths. There was a garden in the place where Jesus was crucified, and in the garden was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish Preparation Day and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus in it.
Genesis 1:1 (NIV)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Prayer
God,
Thank you for the life of Jesus, the death of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus. I confess that it’s easier for me to believe I can live my life according to the meaning of these things than to imagine the actuality of their occurrence. It’s not every day that I’ve seen someone actually crucified on a cross. And I’ve certainly never seen someone resurrected to new life three days later.
But man…do I choose to live my life according to the truth(s) of these things.
May the new life you give continue to wake me up each day to live according to his way.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.