The Burial of Jesus

The event

With the Sabbath fast approaching at sundown, Joseph of Arimathea — a wealthy member of the Sanhedrin who, John tells us, had been a secret disciple of Jesus out of fear of the Jewish leaders — summons the courage to ask Pilate directly for Jesus's body, a request Pilate grants once a centurion confirms Jesus is truly dead. Nicodemus, the Pharisee who had once come to Jesus by night, joins him, bringing a substantial mixture of myrrh and aloes for burial.

The two men wrap Jesus's body in clean linen cloths with the spices, according to Jewish burial custom, and lay it in Joseph's own new tomb, cut into rock in a garden near the crucifixion site, one in which no one had yet been buried. A great stone is rolled across the entrance, and at the chief priests' request, Pilate authorizes a guard to seal and watch the tomb, fearing the disciples might steal the body and fake a resurrection — an ironic precaution that would later serve as unintended evidence against exactly that theory.

Scripture references

• Matthew 27:57-66
• Mark 15:42-47
• Luke 23:50-56
• John 19:38-42