Mark 15:40-47

7. WOMEN WATCHING. DESCENT FROM THE CROSS.
THE BURIAL. 15:40-47

TEXT 15:40-47

And there were also women beholding from afar: among whom were both Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome; who, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him; and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem.
And when even was now come, because it was the Preparation, that is the day before the sabbath, there came Joseph of Arimathea, a councillor of honourable estate, who also himself was looking for the kingdom of God; and he boldly went in unto Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. And when he learned it of the centurion, he granted the corpse to Joseph. And he bought a linen cloth, and taking him down, wound him in the linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out of a rock; and he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 15:40-47

917.

What purpose did Mark have in mentioning the women of Mark 15:40?

918.

Have we heard of Mary of Magdala, or Magdalene, before?

919.

Please attempt to identify the persons here mentionedi.e.: (1) James the less, (2) Joses, (3) Salome.

920.

What is the meaning of the expressionministered unto him?

921.

Why the many women who followed Jesus i.e., why were they there?

922.

Can we definitely identify Friday as the day of the crucifixion?

923.

Are we to understand from Mark 15:43 that Joseph of Arimathaea was a member of the Sanhedrin?

924.

Just what was involved in looking for the kingdom of God?

925.

What could Pilate learn from the centurion he could not have found out from Joseph?

926.

Why use a linen cloth for the body?

927.

To whom did the tomb belong?

COMMENT

TIME.Friday.
PLACE.Calvary or Golgothathe tomb.

PARALLEL ACCOUNTS.Matthew 27:45-66; Luke 23:49-56; John 19:28-42; John 19:40-42.

OUTLINE.1. Women watching, Mark 15:40-41. Mark 15:2. The descent from the cross, and the burial of Jesus, Mark 15:42-47.

ANALYSIS

I.

WOMEN WATCHING, Mark 15:40-41.

1.

Watched from a distance.

2.

They were: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the less, and of Joses and Salome.

3.

Earlier they had followed Him and ministered to Him in Galilee.

4.

There were many other women present who had followed Him to Jerusalem.

II.

THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS, AND THE BURIAL OF JESUS, Mark 15:42-47.

1.

Joseph of Arimathaea came in the late afternoon of the day before the Sabbath to ask of Pilate the body of Jesus.

2.

Pilate was surprised Jesus was already deadhe confirmed the report by asking the centurion.

3.

Upon a sure knowledge of the death of Jesus, the corpse was given to Joseph.

4.

Joseph bought linen in which to wrap the body of JesusJesus-' body was taken down from the cross and laid in a rock-hewn tomba stone was rolled against the door of the tomb.

5.

Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses noticed the place of His burial.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

I.

WOMEN WATCHING.

All the synoptists mention this group of women, Luke without enumeration of their names. Luke has a similar group (or, more strictly, the same) at chap. Mark 8:2-3, with some names enumerated. Here three are mentioned as belonging to the company that followed him, when he was in Galilee, and ministered unto him (Luke 8:3, ministered to him of their substance), and many other women are mentioned (by Mark alone) as having come up with him unto Jerusalem.They stood afar off (so all the synoptists), looking on, and with them (Luke) were all his acquaintancei.e., the group contained generally those of his friends who were present in Jerusalem. Of course the mention of this group, being introduced after the record of his death, relates to no single moment, and does not imply that the same persons were together during the whole time of the crucifixion. John has already spoken of all whose names are given here as standing earlier beside the cross. It is a touching fact that the mother of Jesus appears only there, beside the cross, and not among those who stood afar off.Mary Magdalene. Now earliest mentioned, except in Luke 8:2. Her connection with her Lord began, as that passage leads us to believe, with his act in casting out of her seven demonsi.e., in relieving her of some specially severe form of demoniacal possession; for there is no good reason to spiritualize the healing, as James Freeman Clarke has done (The Legend of Thomas Didymus) into the deliverance from falsehood, murder, pride, luxury, selfishness, unbelief, and despair. There is no evidence for identifying her with any other Mary of the Gospels or to cast doubt on the purity of her life. The most probable derivation of her name is from Magdala, or Migdol, the watchtower, a town on the shore of Lake Gennesaret. After the healing she became one of the ministering women; but her recorded connection with her Lord has to do mainly with the scenes of his death and resurrection.Mary the mother of James the less, or the little. Probably a descriptive name, given because he, like Zacchaeus, was small of stature.And of Joses. (See Mark 3:18). There are unanswered questions about this family group, but it seems most probable that the James and Joses here mentioned are not to be identified with those who appear among the brethren of the Lord at Mark 6:3.Salome is to be identified with the mother of Zebedee's children in the parallel passage in Matthew, and probably with the sister of our Lord's mother in John 19:25.

Between the record of the death and that of the descent from the cross John inserts the narrative, which he alone has preserved, of the breaking of the legs of the two robbers, in order to hasten their death before the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, and of the piercing of the side of Jesus with the soldier's spear, in order to test the reality of his death, or rather to decide the question, if there was any doubt. It is from the outflow of blood and water that the inference is drawn respecting the physical cause of his death.

II.

THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS AND THE BURIAL OF JESUS.

Mark 15:42. The natural inference is that the death occurred not long after the ninth houri.e., at between three and four o-'clock by our reckoning. The Sabbath would begin at sunset. It was common enough for the Romans to leave the bodies of the crucified on the crossindeed, they often remained there till they were devoured by birds or fell to pieces in decaybut this execution had taken place under Jewish auspices, and the Jews would not be willing, in view of the prohibition in Deuteronomy 21:23, that the body of Jesus should remain all night on the cross, and still less over the Sabbath, which as the Sabbath of the passover week, was a great day (John 19:31).The Preparation, that is, the day befor the Sabbath. A valuable definition, because it removes the suspicion that the same word may elsewhere mean the day before the passover.The time, when the even was come, cannot be more closely defined, but it cannot have been long after the death of our Saviour.

Mark 15:43. Joseph of Arimathaea, or who was from Arimathaea. Mentioned on this occasion only, his name and residence being given by all four evangelists. Arimathaea is of uncertain site. It is commonly identified with Ramah, or Ramathaim-zophim, the home of Elkanah, the father of Samuel (1 Samuel 1:1; 1 Samuel 2:11)a place which is known in the Septuagint as Armathaim. The identification is probably correct, but the site of Ramah has long been in doubt. The best modern theory follows a somewhat ancient tradition in locating it at Neby Samwil, about four miles north-west from Jerusalem. This site would satisfy all the requirements of the history, and may be regarded as probably the true one. Concerning Joseph himself, we learn from Matthew that he was a rich man; from Mark, that he was an honorable counsellor, or, more probably, a counsellor of honorable estate, a rich and prosperous man. Luke as well as Mark calls him a counsellor, which means, here, a member of the council, or Sanhedrin, of the Jews. Luke further calls him a good man and a just, and adds that he had not consented to their counsel and deed. Apparently, he had been absent from the meeting; perhaps intentionally omitted from the call, perhaps absent at daybreak, when the meeting was held, at his home in Arimathaea. Concerning his relations to Jesus, we have in Mark and Luke that he waited, or was looking, for the kingdom of God (compare Luke 2:25; Luke 2:38), by which is meant that he was a devout Jew who delighted in the promises of God concerning his coming kingdom and was expecting their early fulfillment. The phrase does not declare that he was a disciple of Jesus, but it does represent him as one of those who were ready for discipleship. Matthew says, however, that he was a disciple of Jesus, and John says the same, adding, but secretly, for fear of the Jews. Thus he belonged to the class mentioned in John 12:42-43. Not until now, apparently, had his convictions in favor brought him to frank confession. His position was a trying one, and he had not had moral power to conquer its difficulties. But now, the Lord being merciful unto him, as he was to Lot in Sodom (Genesis 19:16), he was brought forth out of his false position, love and sorrow being the messengers that led him forth. He camei.e., to the place of crucifixion. Perhaps the word, standing where it does, indicates that he arrived at the place when Jesus was dying or dead, having only then come into the city from his home. If he had been at Arimathaea since the night before, he may have known nothing of what was going on; in which case the sudden amazement would swell the tide of his indignation and horror, and easily lead him beyond his former self in devotion to the Crucified one. The participle does not merely mean boldly; it means, waxing bold, coming to new boldness. The word is peculiar to Mark. In this new boldness he went in unto Pilate, to his house or place of judgment, whither the chief priests would not go for fear of defilement (John 18:28). There he cravedor, literally, askedthe body of Jesus. So, identically, the synoptists; John, asked that he might take away the body of Jesus.

Mark 15:44-45. The mention of Pilate's wonder and inquiry is peculiar to Mark. Plainly, Pilate did not know of the breaking of the legs of the robbers. Only a few hours had passed, and it seemed impossible that Jesus was dead. Not improbably, there was a shock to Pilate's mind in the tidings: he had honestly wished to save him, and so soon all was over! Calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead long (palai), not any while. There is a certain rough tenderness in Pilate here; he would do what he could to preserve the Crucified One from insult and help him to honorable burial; so, the death being officially confirmed, he gave the body (or, rather, granted the corpse) to Joseph. So the best text: ptoma, instead of soma. Here John adds, he came therefore, and took away his body. Here, also, John tells of the coming of a helper to Josepha man of the same class, a fellow-member of the Sanhedrin, another secret discipleNicodemus, who came to Jesus by night (John 3:1). His accession now is a surprise to us, but it may not have been to Joseph. He has appeared before only in that nightly conversation, and as pleading for candor in the judgment respecting Jesus, and taunted by his companions as if they already suspected him of a kind of discipleship (John 7:50-52). He now brought a mixture of myrrh and aloesi.e., of the aromatics used in preparing the dead for burialabout a hundred pounds weight. This was not necessarily bought beforehand; speedy burials were common in that land, and rapid preparation must have been common too. Moreover, there is no reason to doubt that Nicodemus knew all the day what was going on. He may have been preparing while Jesus was dying. So there is no reason to suppose, as some have done, that his preparation was parallel to that of Mary of Bethany, made beforehand (Mark 14:8). There is something extremely touching about the coming of these two men to bury the body of him whom they had not publicly confessed when he was alive. The shock of sorrow and indignation quickened love and rendered secret discipleship no longer possible. If the two men were thus drawn to Jesus in his extremest humiliation, it seems likely that by his resurrection their faith would be confirmed and rendered permanent.

Mark 15:46. The fine linen was the sindon, the same as that mentioned in Chap. Mark 14:51a foreign fabric, probably Indian, said to have been used in Egypt as a wrapping for mummies. In later Greek, however, the word means linen. It can scarcely be said to define positively the nature of the cloth. Mark alone says that it was bought now, at the very time it was to be used. Wrapped him in the linen. The wrapping in this cloth was not a mere enfolding of the body, but, at least in part, the closer wrapping or binding (John, they took the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices) which was customary among the Jews. When Lazarus came forth, he was bound hand and foot with grave-clothes (John 11:44), each limb wrapped up by itself. This wrapping, however, in the case of Jesus, was left unfinished because of haste, the Sabbath coming quickly on. Observe that the very thought of preparing the body thus for burial was inconsistent with all thought of a resurrection. Of the site and ownership of the sepulchre Mark tells us nothing, saying merely that it was hewn out of a rock, or rather, out of the rocki.e., not a natural cavern, such as were frequently used for tombs. Matthew and Luke note the same fact, Luke using a word (laxeutos) that points a little more definitely to the skillful workmanship of which the tomb gave evidence. It was no rude cave in which he was laid, but a carefully-made sepulchre. Luke and John tell us that it was new and had never before been used; Matthew, by a single word, that it was the property of Joseph. From John we learn that it was in a garden or orchard, an enclosed and cultivated placethe same word that is used of Gethsemaneand that the garden was in the place where he was crucifiedi.e., close at hand. The nearness of the spot is given by John, who says nothing of Joseph's ownership as the reason for selecting it, the approach of the Sabbath requiring haste. Having thus placed the body, Joseph rolled a stone unto, or against (epi), the door of the sepulchre. Matthew, a great stone. Visualize the tomb described in the following passage: In Jerusalem has been found a peculiar tomb. The sloping ground has been cut down perpendicularly and the rock is cut out, so that the front wall is perpendicular rock. There is a chamber within, containing a table of stone on which to prepare the body for burial and a stone bowl for water. Within this is the tomb itself, an inner chamber, with shelves to receive the bodies. The entrance to this is an opening in the upright rock-wall three feet square. Running across before this opening, at the foot of the wall in which it is made, is a groove in the floor, one foot deep and six inches wide. In this groove is a round stone, six inches thick, just fitting the groove, and four feet or more in diametera stone like a grindstone. This runs in the groove, and can be rolled up before the square opening so as to cover it, and rolled away from it so as to give entrance. It is so heavy that the full strength of a man is required to roll it away. If Joseph's new tomb were like this, the women might well ask who should roll away the stone for them. The date of this tomb, however, seems to be unknown, and so high an authority in Jewish customs as Dr. Edersheim appears to know nothing of such structures. (See Bible Educator, vol. iv., p. 332.) It is certain that rock-hewn tombs usually had doors of stone that turned on hinges. (See Hackett's Illustrations of Scripture, p. 108; Van Lennep's Bible Lands, p. 580.) If Joseph's new tomb, perhaps unfinished, had such a door, with its fastenings yet uncompleted, he may, for additional security, have caused a stone so large as to be moved only with difficulty to be rolled up against it, on the outside.

Mark 15:47. The women had remained at the cross when no apostle was there, and now they followed to the sepulchre, where new friends were doing the work that belonged to old. Only two are mentioned here and in Matthew; in Luke, the women generally who had followed from Galilee. Matthew shows them sitting over against the sepulchre; Mark says that they beheld where he was laid; and Luke shows them present and watchful during the entombment. He also shows them going home and preparing spices to finish the embalming, but not till after the Sabbath. (See the true division of paragraphs in Luke, in the Revision.) That Sabbath was to be a high-day with the Jews; to the disciples it was a day of despair. In truth, it was the turning-point of time, though neither Jews nor disciples knew it. The crime of the Jews and of sinful humanity was completed; the revelation of God as Saviour had been made; the work of preparatory dispensations was ended; all was ready for the breaking forth of the new power of God unto salvation. But that Jewish Sabbath before the dawning of the first Lord's Day was the time of pause and silence: the Prince of Life lay dead, and all hopes seemed disappointed; the new power was as yet unknown and undreamed of in the world. No day was ever like that, or ever shall be.

Matthew adds the record of what was done after the night had passed: the enemies of Jesus secured the placing of the official seal of the governor on the door of the tomb and the setting of a guard there, under the pretence of fear that his friends might steal his body and declare that he had risen. (W. N. Clarke)

FACT QUESTIONS 15:40-47

1138.

What purpose was there in mentioning the women who followed and ministered to Him of their substance?

1139.

What touching fact is mentioned about the mother of Jesus?

1140.

What was the first mention of Mary Magdalene?

1141.

There is no reason to associate Mary Magdalene with some special acts of sinfulnesswhy do some do this?

1142.

Identify Mary the mother of James the lesswho was Joses and Salome? (Cf. John 19:25; Mark 3:17.)

1143.

John alone records an incident between the record of the death and the descent from the crosswhat was it?

1144.

Is it true that Jesus died of a literal, physical broken heart? Discuss.

1145.

What Jewish law forbid bodies to be left on the cross overnightwhat was the practice of the Romans?

1146.

Why refer to one sabbath day as a great day? (Cf. John 19:31.)

1147.

What is meant by The Preparation,?

1148.

Give three facts about Joseph of Arimathaea.

1149.

Where is Arimathaea?

1150.

What was Joseph's attitude toward the condemnation of Jesus?

1151.

What is meant by the expression he waited, or was looking, for the kingdom of God?

1152.

Joseph was a disciple of Jesusbut what kind?

1153.

When did Joseph arrive at the crucifixion? Show the boldness in the act of asking for the body of Jesus.

1154.

What certain rough tenderness is seen in the actions of Pilate?

1155.

What was probably a shock to Pilate? Why had Jesus died so soon? What had hastened the death of the robbers?

1156.

Who came to help Joseph in the burial of Jesuswhat did he bring.

1157.

What was it that quickened love and rendered secret discipleship no longer possible?

1158.

Did Nicodemus know of the events on the day of the crucifixion?

1159.

What type of cloth was bought for the body of Jesus?

1160.

Was Jesus bound in the cloth even as Lazarus?

1161.

Give three facts about the tomb where Jesus-' body was laid.

1162.

What should we understand in the fact that a stone was rolled in front of the door of the tomb?

1163.

How were doors usually fastened to the rock-hewn tombs?

1164.

New friends were doing the work that belonged to oldwhat was it?

1165.

What day was the turning point of time? Explain.

1166.

What was done after the night was passed?