Beloved congregation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It ends with Jesus on that cross, and then they pierced his side after he said it is finished and bowed his head. and had given up his life. And we've made that clear. Jesus laid down his life. Jesus bowed his head. Jesus said, into your hands, Father, I give my spirit. And that all the scriptures may be fulfilled. None of his bones was broken. He was the perfect lamb of God. The last Passover lamb on the last Passover. And John says, I've written all of these things that you may believe. And I testify to the truth of all of these things. And this too is part of that truth that you might believe. We have here now another what we call Johanin paradox. So for those of you who are visiting with us this afternoon, we've been working through the Gospel of John. And we have these interesting ironies. These things that when you look at them, they don't seem to match up. So John has been talking since chapter 13 that Jesus, knowing all things and all authority and all glory had been given to him, he went to the cross. And we would say, but that doesn't make sense because if he's all glorified, why is he being humiliated? Why is he going through such suffering? Why is he going through this kind of sorrow? What wondrous love is this? Oh my soul, and we've talked about that, that John keeps asking us to look at Jesus. Oh yes, you've got to look at Pilate, and we have to look at those soldiers, and we need to look at the women, and we need to look at John and Mary, and now we need to take a look at Joseph and Nicodemus too, but don't lose sight of Jesus on the cross, your King. We need to, as the prophecy says, look at Him, who has been pierced, and as Zachariah tells us, they will all look at him who has been pierced and they will mourn, and we will see that that will continue. So what do we make of the burial of Jesus Christ? So later on this afternoon, we will talk about the Nicene Creed, and we will talk about the steps of the humiliation of Jesus Christ. Crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. Some believe that that is a state of humiliation unto the depth of the suffering that Jesus had to go through, that part of that suffering was handling hell's deep agony on the cross when the wrath of God turned upon him and he said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? As that cry comes out from the darkness for you and for me and for my sin, oh my soul, oh my soul. What wondrous love is this? Others see that He was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into hell like we saw from Psalm 139 this morning. Hell meaning Sheol, the place of the dead. Whatever, Jesus Christ is truly dead. And they're going to take that body off the cross and they're going to put Him in the grave. Now what do you make of that? Is that more humiliation for the Son of God or is something else going on here? Is there a glorification in this? There's something that we need to see. Although he's not mentioned, God is here. And though he is not mentioned, Satan now is not here. Satan has done his best, his damnedest best, to try and bring an end to the life of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, like he did with Adam, who is in the grave somewhere on the planet. And now Jesus must go there too. Has the devil won? but in fact the foot of Jesus Christ is coming down and it's going to slam down on the head of that serpent and now the end is near. John is moving us very quickly now to resurrection day, but we need to stop for a moment and we need to see that Jesus' body is taken down, that it is prepared and that it is buried. So that we may see the glory of God now and we may see the beloved Son with whom God is well pleased. And so we read that after all of these things had come to pass, a man named Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for the fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And so Pilate gave him permission. Back to that prophecy of Zachariah. They all have looked upon my servant whom they have pierced and they will mourn. You know, many interesting things are going on right now. Historically, from the other Gospels, we know that the temple curtain has been ripped from top to bottom. And in the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in that so-called humiliation, the Holy of Holies is laid open. You can look right in and you won't die. That must have been something. It's a fact we don't talk about enough. But not only that, the curtain of death has been raised, and people are coming up out of the grave as Jesus is going to go into the grave. What wondrous love is this? People are walking out of the grave in the same way that Lazarus walked out of the grave. Mom and Dad, I'm home. I say that because about 46 years ago last weekend, we lost my sister in an accident. And I always think about that story. What if she had come home, just knocked on the door, and here I am? Could you imagine all of you who have lost somebody you love, and you're just sitting there getting ready for the Passover, and dead people are coming home? The humiliation of Christ? or the power of God, or the power of God in the humiliation of Christ unto the glorification of Jesus Christ, because this is what God can do. He can raise the dead to life, even as Lazarus. But all of those would have to die again. But this is all going on. And in the meantime, a man named Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple but now secret, is moved within his soul to make a pretty bold move. And it's a bold move on two scores. First of all, he is a secret disciple of Christ. So it's been a long time, John chapter 9. Close to a year ago, that we as a congregation considered that man born blind, and they asked whose sin that this man was born blind. And we remember that testimony of the man born blind who Jesus healed, and then he asked those Pharisees, oh, do you want to become one of his disciples too? And they booted him out of the synagogue, and they booted his parents out of the synagogue. If you said you love Jesus, if you honor Jesus Christ in any way, you're a problem. You are now excommunicated. And I'm telling you then, it's not just you can't go to synagogue. You can't go to the family party. You can't be part of the Jewish life. You are a board. You are banned and banished. And you are cut off from all that you've known. And Joseph of Arimathea, a man of wealth, a man of leadership, though he believed in what Jesus was teaching, wasn't willing to give it all up. He was willing to be a closed or a closeted follower of Jesus, walking in the dark, but he was not willing to walk into the light until now. Do you think there's been any more misunderstood person leader, philosopher, religious movement leader than Jesus Christ our Lord? Why is Joseph now willing to do it? How does he understand this? Because Joseph of Arimathea feels badly. Joseph of Arimathea, though on the one hand it seems good, right? Finally somebody's taking care of the body of Jesus. Somebody's willing to say, I don't care what the Jews think now. I know what Jesus taught. I know how he lived his life. I know he was a good man. Perhaps he even thought this was the Messiah. But I need to do something now because I feel so badly what has happened to our Lord and Savior, for him to the rabbi. And it's a complete misunderstanding. And yet, by the grace and the glory of Almighty God, something special is going to happen. Roman law would have left Jesus on the cross. And they would have left Jesus on the cross until the body was completely eaten away by the birds and the insects. The idea was that as you saw these criminals rotting and being destroyed, you would say, I don't know what they did. But whatever they did, I do not want to be an enemy of Rome. I do not want to be a criminal of Rome. It was a masterful deterrent. But that now is not going to happen to Jesus. Jewish law, juxtaposed with it, says this in Deuteronomy, if a man is guilty of a capital offense, is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse. So here's what you need to understand. Your sin is so bad, the Jewish community said, we've handed you over to God, you've died under the curse of Almighty God, but we can't let that which is cursed hang over the holy land right now around the same time they're cutting down the body of Judas Iscariot and he's going to be flung over that hill and now Jesus Christ who we can't let this cursed body hang over the land And so Joseph of Arimathea says, we need to do something now. We need to do something so that that body is taken off the cross and that we can move towards Passover and we can have our preparation day. And so he's willing to stand up to the irritation and perhaps the wrath of the Jews and take care of this. And maybe the Jews would be happy with it. Maybe they don't even really know that he is deep down a disciple on some level of Jesus. I want to just stop there for a minute. Because how many of us don't really live that way? How many of the people that you live with or who know you really know the depth of your love for Jesus Christ? How many of us don't, in fear or in the heat of the moment, get away with something? You know, we'll have a political discussion and we'll say the right thing to a conservative, or perhaps maybe say something, but to really talk about, well, you know what? Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, and I'm his son, I'm his daughter, this is who I am. How often do we really live in that openness of faith? Let's not be too hard on Joseph of Arimathea. Because whatever is going on, and we're going to see what's going on in just a minute, Joseph of Arimathea is now willing to take on Pontius Pilate. So because Joseph of Arimathea, we read from the other Gospels, is a man of means, but he's also a man of leadership and power, he has access to Pontius Pilate. From the other Gospels we read that Pontius Pilate was surprised that Jesus was already dead, and so when they went and asked, can we do the crucifragium, to break the legs. He said, sure, let's go do this, let's get this done. He wants the Jews off his back. I think he wants to wash his hands of it. But now Pontius Pilate is willing to say, you know what, Joseph, I'll give you the body. Now why is that interesting? Well, what's interesting there is normally, actually almost that would never happen. Maybe a family, and I read that mostly it would be a grieving mother, would come to the Pontius and beg for mercy for her son. May we please just bury him. May we begin the process of our grief. Don't you find that interesting? Mary's gone now. In the sense of she's watching but she's not speaking. She's not asking for the body of her son. It's not her. And perhaps there's fear there. Perhaps because she's a woman there is no place for her there. But is it interesting? And we're going to see why that is in a minute too. So Joseph of Arimathea goes to Pontius Pilate. Who says yes? And we think that there is a growing remorse in Pontius Pilate. Remember, his wife had said, walk away from this. He knows that Jesus Christ was innocent. He used Jesus Christ to get at the Jews. And now he says, I will give to you the body. And in a certain way, this is against all odds. Because now we need to talk about the family. Not about the family of Mary and the brothers of Jesus. The open disciples have now gone dark, have gone closeted. Where are the eleven? What's happened to them? John isn't asking for the body. No, it's this man who was in the dark as a disciple is now willing to come out of the dark as a disciple and ask for the body of Christ because God the Father will not allow his son to hang as a curse upon the land. He is, well, let's go to Isaiah, because Isaiah saw it, and he tells us, "...by oppression and judgment he, the suffering servant, Jesus, was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death." though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth." Jesus is now going to get the grave of the honorable. Yes, He's assigned a grave with the wicked, because we as the wicked die, and the day you eat of the fruit you will surely die. As Adam died, so Jesus must die. As Adam is under the dominion of the earth, from dust you are, and from dust you shall return, the second Adam now must go into that dust. But then we think of Psalm 116, verse 15, precious in the eyes of the Lord. is the death of one of his saints. And the word saint means holy one. And who is more holy than Jesus? Well, then whose death is more precious than that of Jesus Christ? Now God the Father is saying clearly to you and to me, though Joseph Arimathea doesn't even understand it, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. He is not the cursed one. He will not be rotting in the corpse as if He is some common criminal. Now I will honor the body of my Son. I will take care of Him. I will make sure that He has a proper burial. This is your God. What wondrous love is this, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes, though he die, yet shall he live again. For unless a man is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. And so as we saw this morning from Psalm 139 about the womb and the tomb, and the tomb as a womb, Jesus now, born of the Virgin Mary and from her womb, will not by her be honored and recognized but by the father in heaven who will now take that same body that he made knit together in Mary's womb given to the son to clothe him on earth now it will clothe him in the grave so that it will be transfigured made new glorified up from the grave he'll rise don't miss what God the father is doing Because what he is saying is, be still and know that I am God. Be still, Satan, and know that I am God. You think you've won the victory? You've not won the victory. You think you've dishonored my son? You think you've put my son in the same position as Adam, like you did with Adam in a garden? So long ago, I'm here to tell you that in a garden, I'm going to put him in a new tomb, an empty tomb, a tomb that's never been used, And I am going to give him the burial of a king. I am going to give him the burial of royalty. Behold, the king of the Jews. Behold, the man. Behold, the Lord your Savior, for in that the corpse is the hope of your salvation. You remember what Paul said? Shall we go on sinning that grace may abound? By no means, do you not know that all of you who were baptized into his death have been raised anew? Well, we must be baptized into his death. That means he has to die. But that body is not going to be humiliated. But now God will glorify it. There's someone else, another person of the night. So Joseph of Arimathea came and he took the body of Jesus and Nicodemus who came first to Jesus by night. It's another one. Another one. Nicodemus in John chapter 7 had spoke up somewhat. Why are we not being honest? Why are we not being fair with Jesus? He was quickly shut down. Are you one of them? And he did. He backed off. And he was scared. Do you children remember that Nicodemus came in John chapter 3 to Jesus at night? What must a man do to be saved? I want to learn about what you're saying, Jesus. How does a man enter the kingdom of God? I tell you, said Jesus, unless a man is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Do I have to crawl back into my mother's womb? He didn't understand it. Again, Jesus misunderstood. Jesus not being heard. And yet God is doing something with Nicodemus because from before the foundation of the world, God had decided that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus would on that day do something magnificent for his son. And apparently Nicodemus had some versions say 75 pounds. Here we have 100 pounds of aloes and myrrh. Just five days before this, Mary had anointed Jesus, remember that? With costly spikenard. And Jesus said she will be remembered for what she has done as Judas and the disciples sneered at her. Why is she wasting all this money? You think about that. You're wasting money on the Son of God? Who's been more misunderstood than Jesus? And who has been more patient than Jesus? Not only with the disciples, but with you and me too. How patient can Jesus be with our Foolishness and the way that we live in the way that we think Jesus Christ isn't worth costly ointment She gets it Jesus said she's anointed me. She's prepared my body for burial He said it was going to happen He laid down his life for his sheep and in time he'll take it up again, but we have to look at that body Nicodemus who came in the darkness and who wouldn't stand up for Jesus now is willing to stand up. We think probably what happens, he said to his servants, go home, you know I have that stuff prepared and ready. Did Nicodemus know Jesus was gonna die? Of course he knew Jesus was gonna die. He's part of the Sanhedrin, beloved. He knew they were gonna do this to Jesus. That's why we say, be careful with this. I mean, think about what's going on. Now you're gonna stand up when Jesus is dead? Now you're gonna stand up When it's safe, this is really little to do about Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. This is about God. What does God want you to see? Well, if we look on the basis of 2 Chronicles chapter 16, then we read that this kind of anointing of the body with this kind of opulence is the anointing of a king. Did Nicodemus know that? Probably he did. Servants, go get the stuff. let's prepare this body we are going to prepare this body as if it's royalty and according to the customs of jewish law they didn't take the organs out of the body they didn't embalm the body they don't understand that that same paganist ritual of the egyptians they weren't going to build a a pyramid or some sort of sanctuary or sepulcher where the body would stay until it came to life again. But what's sad really is that Nicodemus figures that Jesus is going to die, is dead. And we're just gonna slow down the decay so that at least we can give Jesus a proper burial, a proper send off on Sunday. Because tomorrow is the Sabbath, and it's a Passover Sabbath, and we need to get things done to get Jesus ready, and then we'll get through that Sabbath, and then we can finally have the memorial service that Jesus deserves. And so they wash Christ and cover Him. What do you think they talked about? Some of the commentators write about that. We got to get going because it's very close to sundown now and this is work and we have to get her done. But what do you think they talked about? Joseph and Nicodemus. Did we do the right thing? What happened? How could this be? I thought he was the Messiah. How can he be the one who healed everybody? At the beginning of the week they were saying Hosanna, loud Hosanna. And they wanted to make him king. Who is more misunderstood than Jesus Christ? And they put him on the cross and the suffering and it was disgusting what they did to Jesus Christ. they must have talked about that all the injustice and the inhumanity of man to his fellow man and the horrors of the Roman government but even what their fellow leadership have done what had they talked about but they could never have sung what you sang what wondrous love is this oh my soul Oh my soul, they don't have faith. They do misunderstand. And yet God the Father will say, behold your king. I have anointed him like the royal one. He is the son of David. He is the second Adam. I have given him dominion over all things. And now I'm going to give him dominion over the grave. So that for you who believe, death is not the final enemy. In fact, it's a door. It simply moves you from this life through the valley of the shadow of death into the next life, into the things of beauty and honor and glory. And as His body now will be planted as a seed in that tomb, so your bodies will become part of the earth and planted there by Almighty God and spring up beautiful and glorious. No flower has ever been created, no plant, anything that will rival the beauty that your bodies will be because of the glorious king whom God the Father is honoring there as they put the swaddling clothes on him. Remember how he came into the world? You children know that. We talk about that when Jesus was born. And you will find him, the babe, lying in a manger in swaddling cloth. Then Mary put them on. And then the magi, the wise men, came Where is the one who was born to be the son of David? He'll be born in Bethlehem. And the angels sang, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace towards men with whom God is well pleased. With whom that baby, God is well pleased. And now 33 years later, the wood of the manger has become the wood of the cross. The swaddling cloth's taken off. And the once naked is now clothed one more time in the burial clothes of a king. In the burial clothes of one who suffered hell's deep agony, the forsakenness of Almighty God, who took your sins. It's like you now are going into that grave. He's substituting for you now to make that grave holy. In the sense that the Christian grave is separate from the rest of the graves of the world. Something amazing, something beautiful is happening. The sacrifice of Jesus is pleasing to God. That lamb is completely whole, no broken bones. It is perfect. It's what the book of Hebrews is about. When Jesus Christ dies, his human soul goes in the presence of Almighty God in the throne room of God, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit look at that human soul of Christ and say, well done. Well done, oh good and faithful servant. And the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit are together with the body of Jesus Christ there now that's going to be placed in the grave. And that body is still honored by Almighty God. Do you believe? Do you really believe all of this? Do you understand? I don't know. I understand that we can say it. I understand that we can make a doctrinal confession about it. But do you really deep down in the bottom of your heart believe that Jesus has done it for you? That you don't have to do it? That there's nothing you can do? That God honored Jesus through Joseph and Nicodemus. And that in that honoring, you will share in that honoring when Jesus Christ comes again, most of us will likely die and the earth will have dominion over us. And then in time we'll be raised with the one who will come again and we will have dominion over the heavens and the earth forever because of the wondrous love of Almighty God. And so we've seen a baptism. We've seen two baptisms. Shall we go on sinning now? That sin should increase, or rather that grace should increase? By no means. You have been baptized into the death of Jesus. You have been raised anew into his life. We have to live a new way, a better way. We have to live in that way that we are born again, that though we die, yet shall we live again. We have been dead. We have been made alive because of the death of Jesus Christ, the one who was pierced, the one who was broken for all of our transgressions and misery and put into the grave so that in a few short days we'll sing, love crucified arose. What are you going to say now, Satan? Be still and know that He is God. On behalf of God, we go to the world. What will you say? Be still and know that I am God. And behold the corpse, the beloved Son of God, with whom God is well pleased. And as we say the Nicene Creed together, don't forget that in those steps of humiliation, There is a glorification of God and his son and by the spirit. And we leave here today saying, what wondrous love is this? Oh, my soul. Amen.