JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

TAKING JESUS DOWN FROM THE CROSS AND PREPARING HIS BODY FOR BURIAL – THE HOLY SHROUD – THE HOLY SEPULCHRE

 © Carlos Padilla – March – April – Easter –  Passover 2024

Joseph of Arimathea, city of Judea, good and just man, disciple of Jesus, though secretly due to fear of the Jews and member of the noble council, who did not agree with the sentence from them against Jesus – Yahshua, at the right time he made his faith public and went before Pilate and entered boldly to ask for the body of Jesus. Pilate ordered that it was given to him after it was checked that He had died. Joseph took the Body down from the cross and wrapped it in a new sheet that he bought, and put it in a new sepulchre, hewn on the rock, and rolled a large stone against the door of the sepulchre. This occurred as the night came, and because it was the Preparation, the evening of the Sabbath. Also, Nicodemus, him who had visited Jesus at night (John 3:3 about being born again) came bringing a compound of myrrh and oils, about one hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloth and fragrant oil spices, according to the way the Jews bury. In the place He had been crucified, there was an orchard, and in the orchard was his new sepulchre (Matthew 27:60), that by saying “his” it means it was of Joseph of Arimathea, where no one had ever laid before. There they laid Jesus because it was the Preparation of the Passover and because it was near (Matthew 27:57-61 – Mark 15:42-47 – Luke 23:50-56 – John 19:38-42). But how did they bring down the Lord Jesus from the cross and how did they carry Him to the sepulchre, and what implications and spiritual symbolism does it have?

TAKING CHRIST DOWN FROM THE CROSS – THE DESCENT OF THE CROSS

The bloodstained body of the Lord had been pierced by the thorns of the crown nailed in His forehead. His back was torn by the lashing that broke His skin and His flesh, because the Romans put nails and pieces of bones in the ends with that purpose. His hands and His feet were nailed to the cross with large nails with square shape, those used by the Romans for crucifying. His side was trespassed by the lance of the soldier to make sure He had died, and avoid breaking his legs, something that fulfilled the prophecy that none of His bones would be broken (Psalm 34:20) and it urged them to finish because it was the afternoon of the Preparation of the Passover of the Jews. There was no more blood in the sacred body of Jesus, it has all been shed for the expiation of our sins.

When taking Him down, that Blood of His holy body would impregnate the clothes and hands of Joseph of Arimathea, and of those who helped him, and also the skin of those who embraced the holy body with love and care, as to not damage it when unnailing it, to not tear even more the holy hands and feet of Jesus, now dead. They would take off the crown of thorns of His head with great care, and once down and wrapped in the clean cloth, they would take Him to the sepulchre by some of them, where they would apply the fragrant oils, and would put the shroud, before letting Him resting and recumbent in holy peace. Those men where the most privileged carers of the holy body of Christ.

That holy Body of Christ had been wounded for our transgressions, the same that carried the cross up to Calvary. Today, that Body exists in two forms: one in glory at the side of the Father in Throne of Heaven, that will return in His Kingdom, and another like the Church, the wife, the Body of Christ that we celebrate in the Holy Supper and that is composed by those who love Him and have received Him as Lord and Saviour. That Church, as His body, has been and is persecuted, wounded, thrown to the lions, tortured by the Inquisition or by religions enemy of God, and today even by the laicism of the west that so much has benefited from its charity. A pierced forehead by the crown of thorns, the same that kept the most marvellous mind, the mind of Chrit, that which has created the universe with intelligent design. Hand that had been pierced, those of the Son of the carpenter, the same that had healed the sick, that raised the dead, that fed the hungry and gave drink to the thirsty, carpenter that has built a new eternal world for those who await Him. Feet pierced, the same that walked the Holy Land, those that carried the Gospel to the word, those which walked on waters.

At the foot of the cross, all this that we have been telling, based on the Gospels of the Bible, was seen by the women, Mary, His mother, Mary Magdalene, and the other women. They, together with the soldiers, the executioners, of course Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, John, the beloved disciple of Jesus, and those who were at the foot of the cross, will see how just after Jesus died, came Joseph of Arimathea with a guard and an order to take Jesus of the cross. The narrative may lead to believe that Joseph himself took Jesus down from the cross, but most assuredly Joseph had the help of others, even it could be the soldiers who took Him down, or they were, Joseph himself and Nicodemus, although they must have been men over fifty. Once Jesus had been taken down from the cross and with the cloth, His mother must have wanted to have Him with her, which reminds us of The Piety of Michel Angelo representation, although it is not said in the Bible, it is to be supposed, and if it wasn’t there it must have been in the sepulchre. It is known that the Jews take all the blood left of their dead and clean it to take away from the place, as something sacred. How much more the blood of Yahshua – Jesus shed they would also take! Therefore, after all this, and once wrapped, He would be taken to the sepulchre.

THE HOLY SHROUD OR SHROUD OF CHRIST

Along the centuries much debate has taken place if the Holy Shroud of Turin, La Sindone, the most famous relic of history, may truly be the one that covered the body of Jesus. A Christian investigator, a non-Catholic, but Evangelical, Dr. Gary Habermas together with the co-author Dr. Kenneth Stevenson, have written the book “The Verdict on the Shroud” in which they provide all the scientific information of the results of the evidence. What captures most our attention is the radiation emitted the image in the shroud when it was photographed for the first time. Carbon 14 dated it in the middle of the Medieval, according to a study published in the magazine Archaeometry, where a part of the Shroud was taken, which we know was part of a patch made in the medieval, not from the original. Also, we know that carbon 14 is not very precise, that only a small variation of the concentration of the substance analysed can change the dating by a thousand years. But the radiation produced by the body of Christ at resurrection, if we can think that it was the image of His face and of His body what became printed, it would be reasonable if we can understand that there is no other such case of a man who died exactly like Jesus and that his body can emit such a strong radiation from inside out. The evidence has proven that it was not painted, but in fact there is blood in the wound’s areas. The paintings of Jesus by early artists look like the face in the Shroud, and they are of the first centuries; would it be the one in the Shroud that was already known?

1 Corinthians 15:6 tells how Paul talks of more than 500 brothers who saw Jesus alive after raising, is much stronger evidence than the Shroud, if someone wants to take it into account as evidence of the resurrection of Christ. Maybe science can provide more conclusive evidence, but, in any case, the Shroud of Turin is a remembrance of the death and resurrection of Christ.

THE HOLY SEPULCHRE AND RESURRECTION

Once the laid Jesus in the sepulchre, the women, left, prepared fragrant spices and oils; and rested the Day of Sabbath, according to the Commandment. The first day of the week, very early, came to the sepulchre bringing the spices that they had prepared, and other women with them, and found the stone of the sepulchre moved, and entering they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. It came to pass that while they were perplexed by this and behold two men standing by them with shining garments. Then Mary Magdalene run to Simon Peter and the other disciple and told them that they had taken the body of the Lord. Then both run, and when they came, they saw the linen clothes, and the shroud folded aside. They had not understood yet that it was necessary that He raised from the dead. Mary Magdalene was whipping and looked inside the sepulchre, saw the two angels, and saw Jesus, not knowing it was Him. Jesus told her: Woman, why are you whipping? Then she reacted and said to the Lord: Rabboni! Master. Do not touch me, because I have not ascended yet to the Father.

A new sepulchre of a rich man for the Son of God it corresponds with the prophecy of Isaiah 53, where it tells us that, even though His sepulchre has been disposed with the wicked, He went with the rich in Hi death. He never did violence, nor any deceit was in His mouth.

The Holy Sepulchre has been a place of veneration since the beginning, reason why Adrianus ordered to build on top. But Constantine demolished and ordered to build a Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Today, the archaeological project known as “Custodia Terrae Sanctae” is a place catalogued as the Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, have found more tombs excavated in the soft rock. In the catacombs of Saint Calixtus, on the outskirts of Rome, next to the old Via Apia, the sepulchres are excavated in the soft rock, and there are several floors of sepulchres, on top of each other. One needs to be guided to be able to come out of there. The same system of excavation of the soft rock is similar to the one found in the sepulchres a couple of centuries earlier, in Jerusalem. In the outskirts, some caves excavated in the rock in the settlement of Ketef Hinnom, in Jerusalem, the same way of burial is found. The Holy Sepulchre remained empty, and we await the second coming of Him who laid and raised in the inside.

https://www.yahshua.net/questions-from-archaeology-to-christianity/

CONCLUSION

The forensic doctors who have studied the crucifixion that Jesus suffered have concluded that nobody could have survived to it. Despite of that, still some atheist and other rebels and enemies of truth still exist, who say He did not die, that he fainted, and other falsehoods against reality to try to deny His death and resurrection because it goes against their believe. But many of them while they try to deny the evidence and when trying to find explanation to the impossible of resurrection from the dead, they convert to fervent Christians, like what happened to the main character of the real story, turned to a book and to a movie “The Case for Christ”, the story of an atheist journalist who wanted to prove that Jesus did not die and raise. After his investigation and deep study, after consulting all the historical sources, evidence, and all the erudite in all the fields, historical, scientific, textual, falls surrendered at the feet of Jesus before the unquestionable evidence of data that conclude that, in fact, Jesus really died, and rose the third day.

The cross of Calvary did not hold much time the holy body of Christ and was unnailed, taken down, cared for and loved for burial. The cross has remained in history as a symbol of the victory of Christ over death and over our sins. The blood of Christ shed there is the expiation, but also the one which sanctified those who took Him down from it. The new Holy Sepulchre that held Him, remained empty. It was new, from a rich man, as prophecy forecasted, of Joseph of Arimathea. The large rock was removed without the soldiers being able to stop it, and from its interior, on the third day, came out the giver of life. The Sepulchre could not hold the life of the Son of God raised. The blaze of the light of the resurrection left a radiation that would remain impregnated in the Holy Shroud, wither it is the one in Turin or not. The angels guarded the place and spoke to the women. They and the apostles saw the place empty and then saw Jesus raised. They ate with Him, listened to His last teachings and instructions, could kiss Him and hug Him. The accompanied Him on the way to Bethany, and some privileged saw Jesus ascend to heaven that covered Him with a cloud from their site on that mount. The angels told them that in the same way as they saw Him ascend, we will see Him come in His eternal Kingdom. We await Him with joy and faith while we fulfil the Great Commission. This is the great joy of Easter, from the perspective of Resurrection Sunday. Amen.