Luke 23

Luke 23:49

Parallels: John 19; Mark 15; Matthew 27

While Christ continues hanging on the cross, his side is pierced, but his legs are not broken: Joseph begs the corpse, and lays it with respect in his sepulchre. Mat. XXVII. 35—61. Mark XV. 40, to the end. Luke XXIII. 49, to the end. John XIX. 31, to the end.

LUKE XXIII. 49.

AND while our Lord was thus expiring on the cross, all his familiar acquaintance mingled themselves with the crowd of spectators, and stood at a distance, viewing these things with weeping eyes and sympathizing hearts: and of this number there were many pious women, who had attended him when he was in Galilee, and had there ministered to him, and liberally assisted him and his disciples with their substance; (compare Luke viii. 2, 3. Vol. I. p. 334, 335) [and] had now followed him from Galilee to Jerusalem, where they had

LUKE XXIII. 49. AND all his acquaintance, and [many] women, [MARK, who, when he was in Galilee, followed him and ministered unto him, and] followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things: [MAT. XXVII. 55. MARK XV. 40—41—.]

Many pious women.] I hope I shall give no offence by saying, what I am sure I say very seriously, that the frequent mention which is made in the evangelists of the generous and courageous zeal of some pious women in the service of Christ, and especially of the faithful and resolute constancy with which they attended him in these last scenes of his sufferings, might very possibly be intended to obviate that

haughty and senseless contempt which the pride of men, often irritated by those vexations to which their own irregular passions have exposed them, has in all ages affected to throw on that sex which, probably in the sight of God, constitute by far the better half of mankind; and to whose care and tenderness the wisest and best of men generally owe and ascribe much of the daily comfort and enjoyment of their lives.

The legs of Jesus are not broken:

constantly attended on his preaching in the temple, nor would they leave him in this great and last trial: Among whom there was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses; and there was also the mother of the apostles James and John, whom we have so often mentioned as the sons of Zebedee the fisherman; and Salome also, and many other zealous and affectionate women, who came up with him to this passover at Jerusalem, and who had the courage to attend him, even when his apostles themselves had forsaken him and fled.

Then, as the day was drawing to a close, the Jews were very solicitous, because it was now the preparation for the sabbath, that the bodies might not remain all night upon the cross, which their law expressly forbade (Deut. xxi. 22, 23); and more especially they were concerned that this profanation might not happen on the sabbathday (for that sabbath, being the first which followed the passover, was a great day of peculiar solemnity): they went therefore and entreated Pilate that he would send an order to the soldiers, who were watching the crucified persons, that their legs might be broken, the more effectually to dispatch them, if they were not quite dead, and [that] they might then be taken away. And Pilate upon this gave orders that it should accordingly be done:

b And the mother of the sons of Zebedee.] Though the construction of the original be dubious, yet I think it very rational to conclude that this mother of the sons of Zebedee, or of James the greater and John, was a different person from the mother of James the less and Joses; both as the sons of Zebedee, though such distinguished friends of Christ are never called his brethren, as James and Joses are (Mat. xiii. 55, and Mark vi. 3, Vol. I. p. 405), and as some scriptures plainly intimate that no more than two of the apostles were the sons of Zebedee. (See Mat. x. 2; xxvi. 37; Mark iii. 17.)

c And Salome.] This Salome, who is mentioned here by Mark, is commonly supposed to be the mother of Zebedee’s children mentioned by Matthew: but as it is expressly said there were many other women present, she might possibly be some other disciple, and there is no sufficient

reason to conclude they were the same. (Compare Mark xvi. 1.)

d For that sabbath was a great day.] It was (as Dr. Whitby in his paraphrase has well observed) not only a sabbath, but the second day of the feast of unleavened bread, from whence they reckoned the weeks to pentecost; and also the day for presenting and offering the sheaf of new corn: so that it was indeed a treble solemnity. See note b on Luke vi. 1, Vol. I. p. 280.

e Might be taken away.] It was customary, as bishop Pearson (on the Creed, p. 218) has abundantly proved, to let the bodies of persons who had been executed continue on the crosses or stakes till they were eaten up by birds of prey: but as this was forbidden to the Jews, the Roman governors probably used to oblige them by permitting such bodies as belonged to them to be buried.

VOL. 2.

ut his side is pierced.

the soldiers therefore, who guarded the execution, came and brake the legs of the first male-factor, or of him that hung nearest the place where they had been sitting; and then passing by Jesus, who hung in the middle, they went and brake the legs of the other who was crucified with him. But coming afterwards to Jesus, they did not break his legs, as they saw it was needless, since it was plain he was already dead; and they were now impressed with some degree of reverence even to his corpse, by the amazing prodigies which they had just now seen. But yet one of the soldiers had so much boldness and inhumanity, that he pierced his side with a long lance or spear, which he had in his hand; and immediately there came out of the wound both blood and water mingled with it; which made it plainly appear that, had he been living, the wound would have been mortal, having reached his very heart; and consequently put it out of all doubt that he was really dead, before he was taken down from the cross.

And as this was so important, and indeed so fundamental a point, it may not be improper to add, that it was one who saw [it] who has bore [this] testimony, and recorded so remarkable a circumstance; and therefore his witness is undoubtedly true: and now he is writing this he solemnly declares that he knows, by the most certain testimony of his senses, that what he saith is true; and he makes this declaration that you, whoever you are, into whose hands this history may come sooner or later, may believe, and may be confirmed in your adherence to that gospel which is established on the death and resurrection of Christ.

¶ There came out blood and water.] I do not pretend to determine whether this was, as Dr. Drake supposes (in his Anatomy, Vol. I. p. 106), the small quantity of water enclosed in the pericardium, in which the heart swims; or whether the cruor was now almost coagulated, and separated from the serum: either way, it was a certain proof of Christ’s death: for he could not have survived such a wound had it been given him in perfect health.

¶ So important and fundamental a point.]

The grand evidence of Christ’s mission in his resurrection, which implies the certainty of his death: and thus crucifixion might have seemed, on a slight view, a less proper execution than some others, such as beheading, burning, and the like; but this wound would effectually exclude all pretences of his having been taken down alive by his friends; and accordingly that is an evasion which, false and malicious as his enemies were, we do not find they ever had recourse to.

s were done that the scripture might be fulfilled.

For, however inconsiderable these things may appear, they were permitted in the course of Divine Providence to be done, that thus the scripture might be remarkably fulfilled, in what it says concerning the paschal lamb, which did in so many circumstances resemble Christ (Exod. xii. 46, and Num. ix. 12), “Not a bone of it shall be broken:”h a precept which, among many others, was given on purpose to lead the minds of believers to reflect on the harmony and unity of design carried on (though by such a variety of persons, in no concert with each other) under the Old Testament and under the New. And again, there is another scripture, which says, concerning the Jews, when they are to be converted to the Messiah in the latter days, “They shall look on him whom they have pierced” (Zech. xii. 10); for which reason God permitted them not only to pierce the hands and the feet of Jesus with nails, but also to open his side by that deep and large wound which we have now been mentioning.

And quickly after these things, as it was near sunset, and the evening was now come, because (as we have observed) it was the preparation, or the close of the day before the sabbath (John xix. 31), for it was Friday evening, and the sabbath, which would begin at six o’clock, was near at hand, in which no work could lawfully be done; Behold, there came to the governor’s palace a certain rich man of Arimathea (a city of the Jews, anciently called Ramoth, which lay in the tribe of Ephraim, and was the city of Samuel, that celebrated prophet), and he was named Joseph, and was a person of considerable note, being an honourable counsellor, or member of the sanhedrim, who had a general reputation as a benevolent and upright man. The same was not concerned with the rest of his fellow senators in putting Jesus to death, and had not given

h Not a bone of it shall be broken.] Dr. Arthur Young (in his Historical Dissertation on Revelation designed to prevent Superstition, Vol. I. p. 196, 203, 204) has a particular thought on the reason of this prohibition, that it was intended to oppose the manner in which the Erytiansacrifices were

sometimes pulled to pieces: but I think the reason suggested in the paraphrase much more certain and important. It is very well illustrated in An Essay on the several Dispensations of God, &c. Pref. p. xxii. & seq.

Joseph goes to Pilate, and begs the body of

the concurrence of his vote to the counsel and action of them that condemned him; [but was one] who also himself humbly and affectionately waited for the kingdom of God, being indeed a disciple of Jesus, though secretly; because he durst not openly profess his belief in him for fear of the Jews and their rulers, who were so strongly prejudiced against him. This man, awakened by the prodigies attending his death to greater courage than he had before, though he knew it must necessarily draw upon him the hatred and contempt of his brethren, yet went in boldly to the presence of Pilate,¹ and begged his permission that he might take away the body of Jesus, to preserve it from further insults, and bury it in a decent and respectful manner.

And when Pilate heard his request, considering how lingering an execution that of the cross was, he thought it strange if he were already dead, and would not easily believe it; and therefore, having called the centurion to him, who was appointed to guard the bodies, he asked him whether he had been dead any time. And when he knew [it] of the centurion, and was certainly informed that, besides all the appearances of his having been dead before, he was afterwards stabbed to the very heart, Pilate, without any further scruple, gave him leave, [and] commanded the body to be delivered to Joseph: which he might be the more willing to do, as he was thoroughly convinced that Jesus was innocent; and it was generally thought by the heathens that the spirits of the departed received some advantage from the honours of a funeral paid to their bodies.

And Joseph therefore, being thus authorized by Pilate, having bought a large piece of fine linen, came to mount Calvary, and with proper assistance took down the body of Jesus from the cross, and wrapped it up in a kind of winding-sheet of clean linen cloth.

¹ Went in boldly to Pilate.] It was indeed courageous act for this rich and noble man, not but know that, if a resurrection should happen, nothing would have been more natural than that he should have been brought into question as a confederate in the pretended fraud of conveying him away.

He and Nichodemus bury it in a new sepulchre.

And there came also at the same time with Joseph to the cross, Nichodemus, another member of the sanhedrim, of whom repeated mention has been made in the preceding story, and who was he that at the first beginning of his public ministry came to Jesus by night (John iii. 1, 2); and, as he was now grown more courageous than before, to testify his great regard for Jesus, he brought with him a mixture of myrrh and aloes, [that weighed] about an hundred pounds. To prepare then for his interment, they took the body of Jesus, without regarding the reproach to which it might expose them, and swathed it up in a great many folds of linen, together with the spices (according to the Jewish custom of burying), intending to embalm it in a more exact manner, as soon as the sabbath was over; and hoping that in the mean time the spices lying near the body might preserve it from the least taint of corruption.

Now it happened very commodiously for his immediate interment, that in the very neighbourhood of the place where he was crucified, there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre belonging to Joseph. There laid they Jesus therefore in [Joseph’s] own new tomb, which he had lately ordered to be hewn in stone out of a solid rock; to which therefore there could be no passage but by the door, and in which no man was ever yet laid, so that there could be no room to imagine any other person rose from thence. And this they did without first carrying the body into any house to embalm it; because (as we have said before) it was the Jewish preparation day, and the sabbath drew on, which did not allow their undertaking a work of so much labour and time: to be ready therefore for the rest commanded on the sabbathday, they used no farther ceremony in interring him, and chose a most convenient place to do it with dispatch, for the sepulchre was very near at hand. And Joseph having thus interred him in his own tomb, and so (as

Swathed it up in linen.] This I take to shewn (Observ. Vol. I. p. 347), the eastern be the most literal translation of the words swathed up their dead. It was, no doubt of his own will; for some were a kind by miracle, that when Christ arose he dis of linen rollers, in which, as Elsner has entan led himself from these swathes.

The women observe where his body was laid

it was prophesied concerning the Messiah, Isa. liii. 9) “made his grave with the rich in his death,”¹ he took care to make all things secure, and having rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, to block up the entrance, he went away to his own home.

And when Joseph and Nichodemus came, and took down Jesus from the cross, Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, who (as was said before) was the mother of James the less and Joses (Mat. xxvii. 56, p. 559), and the rest of the women also who came with him from Galilee, and so affectionately attended during the time of his crucifixion, were now desirous to see how they disposed of him; and therefore when they carried off the corpse, these pious women followed after them, and sitting over against the sepulchre, into which they saw them enter, beheld with diligent observation where and how his body was laid. And perceiving that they did not embalm him, but only wound him up in linen with the dry spices, they resolved to perform this last office of duty and affection to him in the completest and most respectful manner they could; and therefore they immediately returned into the city, and before the day of preparation was quite finished, they provided a great quantity of spices and balms for that purpose, that nothing might prevent them from engaging in it as soon as the first day of the week should open; and, in the mean time, they rested on the sabbathday, according to the Divine commandment, which they would not violate even on so solemn an occasion as this.

¹ Made his grave with the rich in his death.] Let me here be permitted to mention the criticism of a celebrated divine on this passage of Isaiah, which having never (that I know of) been published, may be new to many, as it was to me. Observing that the word רְשִׁירִים may be the dual num-, and that עָשִׁיר is the singular, he would suppose a kind of hendiadys in the construction, and render it, “His death and burial shall be with two criminals, and with one rich man; that is, after having expired between two malefactors, a rich man (that is Joseph of Arimathea) shall undertake the

care of his funeral.” But I must acknowledge that no version of the words pleases me so well on the whole as that of Dr. Sykes, which I read since I wrote the paraphrase above. וַיִּתֵּן Nevertheless he shall avenge or recompense his grave upon the wicked, and his death upon the rich: or, which is equivalent to the former, but perhaps more exact, He shall avenge his grave (that is, his death which brings him down to it) on the wicked, and on the rich when he dies, בְּמִשְׁוֵן. See Dr. Sykes on the Truth of Christianity, p. 256.

Reflections on the regard shewn to the body of Jesus.

IMPROVEMENT.

WE have seen the sorrows of our expiring Lord: let us now, see: like these pious women, raise our eyes to him with an holy and unfeigned affection, and behold him pale and breathless on the accursed tree. Let us view him by faith, till the eye affects the heart, and till we learn to glory in nothing but his cross, whereby the world may be crucified to us, and we may be crucified to the world. (Gal. vi. 14.)

How wonderfully does the providence of God appear to have regarded the body of Jesus, which had so long been the temple of the indwelling Deity; even when it was deserted of that Spirit which had lately animated it; and while it hung (amazing thought, that it ever should have hung!) between the bodies of two thieves on a cross, without the gates of Jerusalem! He, who has all hearts in his hand, interposed by a secret but powerful influence on the soldiers, who brake the legs of the malefactors, to spare those of Christ; that so nothing which looked like a prophecy of him should want its proper accomplishment. But his side was pierced; and how deep was the wound, when immediately there came out of it blood and water! Happy emblem of the blessed effect of his death! He came both by water and blood (as he who saw and testified this important fact leads us to improve it, 1 John v. 6); and by this means at once atones the injured justice of God, and purifies the souls of them that believe in him.

Our indignation rises against the man that could, by such an outrage as this, abuse the dead body of our Redeemer: but oh, let us seriously remember the hand which our sins had in all that was now done. He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities. (Isa. liii. 5.) And therefore it is said concerning those on whom the ends of the world are to come, that they shall look on him whom they have pierced, and mourn. (Zech. xii. 10.) May we mourn over him with a genuine evangelical sorrow, when we consider whom we have pierced; and how deep and how often we have pierced him; and upon what slight temptations; and under how many engagements rather to have bathed his wounds with our tears, and even to have exposed our own hearts to the sharpest weapon by which the madness of sinners might have attempted to injure him.

The boldness of Joseph, and even of Nicodemus himself, deserves our notice on such an occasion. They are not ashamed of the infamy of his cross, but come with all holy reverence and affection to take down those sacred remains of Jesus; nor did they think the finest linen, or the choicest spices, too valuable on such an occasion. But who can describe their consternation

Judas repents when Jesus is condemned.

and distress when they saw him, who they trusted should have delivered Israel, a cold and bloody corpse in their arms; and left him in the sepulchre of Joseph, whom they expected to have seen on the throne of David? We leave for the present his enemies in triumph, and his friends in tears, till his resurrection; which soon confounded the rage of the former, and revived the hopes of the latter; hopes which must otherwise have been for ever entombed under that stone with which they now covered him. But happy and comfortable is the thought that this his transient visit to the grave has (as it were) left a perfume in the bed of dust, and reconciled the believer to dwelling a while in the place where the Lord lay!