Matthew 27:57

Here we have an account given of our Lord's funeral and interment in the grave; such. funeral as never was since grave were first digged. Concerning which, we have these particulars observable:

Observe, 1. The preparatives that were made for our Lord's funeral; namely, the begging and perfuming of his dead body; his body could not be buried, till by begging it was obtained of Pilate; the dead bodies of malefactors being in the power and disposal of the judge. Pilate grants it; and to manifest their dear affection to their dead Lord, they wrap the body in fine linen, with spices to perfume it. But what need of odours for that body did not want them, yet the affections of his friends could not with-hold them.

Observe, 2. The bearers that carried his body to the grave, or the persons concerned in solemnizing his funeral, Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus, two rich men, and two secret disciples.

1. They were rich men, senators, honourable counsellors; and so that prophecy was fulfilled. He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death. Isaiah 53:9.

2. They were good men as well as rich men, disciples though secretly, for fear of the Jews. Grace doth no always make. public and open show where it is. As there is much secret riches in the bowels of the earth, which no eye ever saw, so there may be grace in the heart of. Christian, which the world takes no notice of. We never hear any news of Joseph of Arimathea till now; yet was he eminently rich, wise, and good;. worthy though. close disciple. Much grace may be where little is seen. Some gracious persons cannot put forward, and discover themselves, like others; and yet such weak Christians, perhaps, when. trial comes, shall stand their ground, when stronger run away. We read of none of the apostles at Christ's funeral; fear had chased them away, though they professed. readiness to die with Christ: But Joseph and Nicodemus appear boldly for him.

Let it be. caution to strong Christians, neither to glory in themselves nor to glory over the weak. If God desert the strong, and assist the weak, the feeble shall be as David, and the strong as tow.

Observe, 3. The mourners that followed the hearse; namely, the women that followed him out of Galilee, and particularly the two Maries:. very poor train of mourners,. few sorrowful women. Others are attended to their graves by their relations and friends; but Christ's disciples were all scattered, and afraid to own him either dying or dead. Our blessed Lord affected no pomp or gallantry in his life, and it was no way suitable either to the end or manner of his death. Humiliation was designed in his death, and his burial was the lowest degree of his humiliation.

Observe, 4. The grave or sepulchre in which they buried him; it was in. garden. As by the sin of the first Adam we were driven out of the garden of pleasure, the earthly paradise; so by the sufferings of the second Adam, who lay buried in. garden, we may hope for an entrance into the heavenly paradise. It was in. sepulchre hewn out of. rock; that so his enemies might have no occasion to cavil, and say, that his disciples stole him away by secret holes, or unseen passages under ground. And it was in. new sepulchre, in which never any man was laid, lest his adversaries should say, it was some other that was risen, or that he rose from the dead by touching some other corpse.

Observe, 5. The manner of our Lord's funeral, hastily, openly, decently celebrated. It was done in haste, by reason of the straits of time, the preparation for the passover caused them to be very expeditious; the sabbath was approaching, and they lay all business aside to prepare for that.

Learn hence, How much it is our duty to dispatch our wordly business as early as we can towards the end of the week, that we may be the better prepared to sanctify the Lord's day, if we live to enjoy it. We ought to remember that day before it comes, and to sanctify it when it is come.

Again, Our Lord was buried openly, as well as hastily; all persons had liberty to be spectators, that none might object there was any fraud or deceit used in or about his burial. He was also interred decently, his body wrapt in fine linen, and perfumed with odours, according to the Jewish custom, which used not to unbowel, but embalm, their dead.

Observe, 6. The reason why our Lord was buried, seeing he was to rise again in as short. time as other men lie by the walls; and had his dead body remained. thousand years unburied, it could have seen no corruption, having never been tainted with sin. Sin is the cause of the body's corruption; it is sin that makes our bodies stink worse than carrion when they are dead.. funeral then was not necessary for Christ's body, upon the same accounts that it is necessary for ours.

But, 1. He was buried to declare the certainty of his death, and the reality of his resurrection; and for his reason did God's providence order it, that he should be embalmed to cut off all pretensions. For in this kind of embalming, his mouth, his ears and his nostrils, were all filled with spices and odours, so that there could be no latent principle of life in him; being thus buried, then, declares him to be certainly dead.

2. He was buried to fulfil the types and prophecies that went before concerning him. Jonas's being three days and three nights in the belly of. whale was. type of Christ's being three days and three nights in the heart of the earth; and the prophet Isaiah said, He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death. Isaiah 53:9. Pointing, by that expression, at this tomb of Joseph's, who was. rich man; and the scripture cannot be broken.

3. He was buried to complete his humiliation; They have brought me to the dust of death, says David,. type of Christ. This was the lowest step he could possibly descend in his abased state; lower he could not have been laid, and so low his blessed head must be laid, else he had not been humbled to the lowest.

4. He went into the grave, that he might conquer death in its own territories and dominions. Christ's victory over the grave causes his saints to triumph and sing; O grave, where is thy destruction? Our blessed Lord has perfumed the bed of the grave by his own lying in it: So that the pillow of down is not so soft to. believer's head, as. pillow of dust.

Observe, lastly, Of what use the doctrine of Our Lord's burial may be unto us.

1. For instruction; here we see the amazing depths of Our Lord's humiliation. From what, to what his love brought him; even from the bosom of his Father, to the bosom of. grave. Now the depth of his humiliation shows us the fulness and sufficiency of his satisfaction as well as the heinousness of our transgression.

2. For consolation against the fears of death and the grave. The grave received Christ, but could not retain him. Death swallowed him up, as the fish did Jonas, but quickly vomited him up again; so shall it fare with Christ mystical as it did with Christ personal; the grave could not long keep him, it shall not forever keep us; as his body rested in hope, so shall ours also; and though they see corruption, which they did not, yet shall they not always lie under the power of corruption. In. word, Christ's lying in the grave, has changed and altered the nature of the grave; it was. prison before,. bed of rest now;. loathsome grave before,. perfumed bed now. He whose head is in heaven, and need not fear to put his foot into the grave.- Awake and sing, thou that dwelleth in dust, for the enmity of the grave is slain by Christ.

3. For imitation; let us study and endeavour to be buried with Christ, in respect of our sins:. mean, Buried with him into death. Romans 6:4. Our sins should be as. dead body, in several respects.

Are dead bodies removed far from the society of men? So should our sins be removed far from us. Dead bodies in the grave spend and consume away by little and little; So should our sins daily.

Will dead bodies grow every day more and more loathsome to others? So should our sins be to ourselves.

Do dead boodies wax out of memory, and are quite forgotten? So should our sins, in respect of any delight that we take in remembering of them. We should always remember our sins to our humiliation; but never think or speak of them with the least delight or satisfaction; for this, in God's account, is. new comission of them, and lays us under an additional guilt.