BOOK V a St. John b St. Mark 2 1 6 6 the deed of his colleagues. It must have been generally known, that he was one of those which waited for the Kingdom of God.' But he had advanced beyond what that expression implies, although secretly, for fear of the Jews: he was a disciple of Jesus. It is in strange contrast to this fear,' that St. Mark tells us, that, 'having dared,' he went in unto Pilate and asked for the Body of Jesus.' Thus, under circumstances the most unlikely and unfavourable, were his fears converted into boldness, and he, whom fear of the Jews had restrained from making open avowal of discipleship during the life-time of Jesus, not only professed such of the Crucified Christ, but took the most bold and decided step before Jews and Gentiles in connection with it. So does trial elicit faith, and the wind, which quenches the feeble flame that plays around the outside, fan into brightness the fire that burns deep within, though for a time unseen. Joseph of Arimathæa, now no longer a secret disciple, but bold in the avowal of his reverent love, would show to the Dead Body of his Master all veneration. And the Divinely ordered concurrence of circumstances not only helped his pious purpose, but invested all with deepest symbolic significance. It was Friday afternoon, and the Sabbath was drawing near.3 No time therefore was to be lost, if due honour were to be paid to the Sacred Body. Pilate gave It to Joseph of Arimathæa. Such was within his power, and a favour not unfrequently accorded in like circumstances. But two things must have powerfully impressed the Roman Governor, and deepened his former thoughts about Jesus: first, that the death on the Cross had taken place so rapidly, a circumstance on which he personally questioned the Centurion, and then the bold appearance and request of such a man as Joseph of Arimathæa. Or did the Centurion express to the Governor also some such feeling as that which had found utterance under the Cross in the words: 'Truly this Man was the Son of God'? 1 τολμήσας. 2 At the same time I feel, that this might have been represented by the Jews as not quite importing what it really was-as rather an act of pietas towards the Rabbi of Nazareth than of homage to the Messiahship of Jesus. * The ἡμέρα παρασκευῆς in connection See the proof in Wetstein, ad loc. Jerusalem, on a conical hill, somewhat east of the road that leads from Jerusalem to Nablus (Jos. Ant. viii. 12, 3)— the Armathaim of the LXX. The objections of Keim (which it would take too long to discuss in a note) are of no force (comp. his Jesu von Naz. iii. p. 516). It is one of the undesigned evidences of the accuracy of St. Luke, that he describes it as belonging to Judæa. For, whereas Ramah in Mount Ephraim originally belonged to Samaria, it was afterwards separated from the latter and joined to the province of Judæa (comp. 1 Macc. x. 38; xi. 28, 34). THE ENTOMBMENT IN THE GARDEN. a 615 СНАР. XV The proximity of the holy Sabbath, and the consequent need of haste, may have suggested or determined the proposal of Joseph to lay the Body of Jesus in his own rock-hewn new tomb,' wherein no one had yet been laid. The symbolic significance of this is the St. Luke more marked, that the symbolism was undesigned. These rockhewn sepulchres, and the mode of laying the dead in them, have been very fully described in connection with the burying of Lazarus.2 We may therefore wholly surrender ourselves to the sacred thoughts that gather around us. The Cross was lowered and laid on the ground; the cruel nails drawn out, and the ropes unloosed. Joseph, with those who attended him, 'wrapped' the Sacred Body in a clean linen cloth,' and rapidly carried It to the rock-hewn tomb in the garden close by. Such a rock-hewn tomb or cave (Meartha) had niches (Chuchin), where the dead were laid. It will be remembered, that at the entrance to the tomb'—and within the rock '—there was 'a court,' nine feet square, where ordinarily the bier was deposited, and its bearers gathered to do the last offices for the Dead. Thither we suppose Joseph to have carried the Sacred Body, and then the last scene to have taken place. For now another, kindred to Joseph in spirit, history, and position, had come. The same spiritual Law, which had brought Joseph to open confession, also constrained the profession of that other Sanhedrist, Nicodemus. We remember, how at the first he had, from fear of detection, come to Jesus by night, and with what bated breath he had pleaded with his colleagues not so much the cause of Christ, as on His behalf that of law and justice. He now came, bringing a roll' of myrrh and St. John aloes, in the fragrant mixture well known to the Jews for purposes of anointing or burying. vii. 50 It was in the court' of the tomb that the hasty embalmment--if such it may be called-took place. None of Christ's former disciples seem to have taken part in the burying. John may have withdrawn to bring tidings to, and to comfort the Virgin-Mother; the others also, that had stood afar off, beholding,' appear to have left. Only a few faithful ones, notably among them Mary Magdalene and the St. Luke other Mary, the mother of Joses, stood over against the tomb, 1 Meyer regards the statement of St. Matthew to that effect (xxvii. 60) as inconsistent with the notice in St. John xix. 42. I really cannot see any inconsistency, nor does his omission of the fact that the tomb was Joseph's seem to me fatal. The narrative of St. John is concentrated on the burying rather than its accessories. Professor Westcott 2 See Book IV. ch. xxi. BOOK V a St. Luke a watching at some distance where and how the Body of Jesus was laid. It would scarcely have been in accordance with Jewish manners, if these women had mingled more closely with the two Sanhedrists and their attendants. From where they stood they could only have had a dim view of what passed within the court, and this may explain how, on their return, they prepared spices and ointments for the more full honours which they hoped to pay the Dead after the Sabbath was past. For, it is of the greatest importance to remember, that haste characterised all that was done. It seems as if the clean linen cloth' in which the Body had been wrapped, was now torn into 'cloths' or swathes, into which the Body, limb by limb, was now hound,' 2 no doubt, between layers of myrrh and aloes, the Head being wrapped in a napkin. And so they laid Him to rest in the niche of the rock-hewn new tomb. And as they went out, they rolled, as was the custom, a great stone'-the Golel -to close the entrance to the tomb,b probably leaning against it for Ohal. ii. 4 support, as was the practice, a smaller stone--the so-called Dophek. It was possibly where the one stone was laid against the other, that on the next day, Sabbath though it was, the Jewish authorities had the seal affixed, so that the slightest disturbance might become known.3 * manh 476 'It was probably about the same time, that a noisy throng prepared to follow delegates from the Sanhedrin to the ceremony of cutting the Passover-sheaf. The Law had it, "he shall bring a sheaf [literally, the Omer] with the first-fruits of your harvest, unto the priest; and he shall wave the Omer before Jehovah, to be accepted St. John computes it at about 100 litras. As in all likelihood this would refer to Roman pounds, of about twelve ounces each, the amount is large, but not such as to warrant any reasonable objection. A servant could easily carry it, and it is not said that it was all used in the burying. If it were possible to find any similar use of the expression (λírpas), one might be tempted to regard the litras as indicating not the weight, but a coin. In that sense the word litra is used, sometimes as = 100 denars, in which case 100 litras would be about 2507., but more frequently as 4 drachms, in which case 100 litras would be about 127. (comp. Herzfeld, Handelsgesch. p. 181). But the linguistic difficulty seems very great, while any possible objection to the weight of the spices is really inconsiderable. For the kind of spices = used in the burying, see Book IV. ch. xxi. (at the burying of Lazarus). In later times there was a regular rubric and prayers with Kabbalistic symbolism (sce Perles, Leichenfeierlichk. p. 11, Note 12). No doubt, the wounds in the Sacred Body of our Lord had been washed from their gore. 2 The Synoptists record, that the Body of Jesus was wrapped' in a 'linen cloth; St. John tells us that it was 'bound' with the aloes and myrrh of Nicodemus into swathes' or 'cloths,' even as they were found afterwards in the empty tomb, and by their side 'the napkin,' or soudarion, for the head. I have tried to combine the account of the Synoptists and that of St. John into a continuous narrative. 3 But see the remarks on this point in the last chapter of this Book. THE CUTTING OF THE 'WAVE-SHEAF.' for you." This Passover-sheaf was reaped in public the evening before it was offered, and it was to witness this ceremony that the crowd had gathered around the elders. Already on the 14th Nisan the spot whence the first sheaf was to be reaped had been marked out, by tying together in bundles, while still standing, the barley that was to be cut down, according to custom, in the sheltered AshesValley across Kidron. When the time for cutting the sheaf had arrived that is, on the evening of the 15th Nisan, even though it were a Sabbath, just as the sun went down, three men, each with a sickle and basket, set to work. Clearly to bring out what was distinctive in the ceremony, they first asked of the bystanders three times each of these questions: "Has the sun gone down?" "With this sickle?" "Into this basket?" "On this Sabbath? (or first Passoverday)”—and, lastly, "Shall I reap?" Having each time been answered in the affirmative, they cut down barley to the amount of one ephah, or about three pecks and three pints of our English measure. This is not the place to follow the ceremony farther-how the corn was threshed out, parched, ground, and one omer of the flour, mixed with oil and frankincense, waved before the Lord in the Temple on the second Paschal day (or 16th of Nisan). But, as this festive procession started, amidst loud demonstrations, a small band of mourners turned from having laid their dead Master in His restingplace. The contrast is as sad as it is suggestive. And yet, not in the Temple, nor by the priest, but in the silence of that gardentomb, was the first Omer of the new Paschal flour to be waved before the Lord.'1 'Now on the morrow, which is after the preparation [the Friday], the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while He was yet alive, After three days I rise again. Command, therefore, that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest haply His disciples come and steal Him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Take a guard, go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, the guard being with them.' But was there really need for it? Did they, who had spent what remained of daylight to prepare spices wherewith to anoint the Dead 1 See 'The Temple and its Services,' pp. 221-224. 617 CHAP. XV BOOK V Christ, expect His Body to be removed, or did they expect-perhaps in their sorrow even think of His word: 'I rise again'? But what on that holy Sabbath, when the Sanhedrists were thinking of how to make sure of the Dead Christ, were the thoughts of Joseph of Arimathæa and Nicodemus, of Peter and John, of the other disciples, and especially of the loving women who only waited for the first streak of Easter-light to do their last service of love? What were their thoughts of God-what of Christ-what of the Words He had spoken, the Deeds He had wrought, the salvation He had come to bring, and the Kingdom of Heaven which He was to open to all believers? Behind Him had closed the gates of Hades; but upon them rather than upon Him had fallen the shadows of death. Yet they still loved Him-and stronger than death was love. |