CLOSET DISCIPLES
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Opening Prayer
Lord God, this Easter Saturday, as I pause between the death and rising of your Son, help me as I reflect on all that yesterday meant and all that tomorrow will proclaim.
Read JOHN 19:28—42
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
John
John 19
The Death of Jesus
28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
The Burial of Jesus
38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Reflect
What about Jesus’ journey to the grave do you focus on most in the days just before Easter?
John’s Jesus is fully self-aware to the end, dying with self-control and dignity. It is he who initiates the drink and, once his mouth is moist, announces that he is ready to die. ‘It is finished’ (v. 30) more precisely means ‘It is complete.’ Jesus faces his moment of death knowing that he has completed the work that God gave him. The translation, ‘he … gave up his spirit,’ can seem weak and misleading, as if Jesus gave in or yielded. The Greek paredoken is better translated ‘handed over,’ exactly as it was rendered earlier when Pilate ‘handed Jesus over’ (v. 16). Jesus is fully conscious of what he is doing. He hands himself over. He is the Good Shepherd who chooses to lay down his life for the sheep. ‘No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.’1
The decision to spear Jesus rather than break his legs assumes a greater significance for John, because it underscores again the fulfillment of prophecy. Also important to John is his source and the accuracy of his information. ‘The man who saw’ (v. 35), quite probably the beloved disciple who stood near the cross, is obviously a known witness, trusted by John and the Jerusalem believers. The twelve are notably absent, but two closet disciples are emboldened to identify with Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus are men of sufficient status to obtain permission to take down Jesus’ body. They embalm his body, wrap him in strips of linen, affix the head covering, and place him in Joseph’s own tomb, hewn from the soft limestone not far from Golgotha. They are just outside the old city wall but within the present wall, constructed by the crusaders. Like these two men, any of us may be called one day to declare our allegiance to Jesus in dangerous or challenging circumstances.
Apply
Where might there be situations where you find it difficult to stand for Christ?
Closing prayer
Jesus, Lord of the cross, thank you for willingly giving your life for me. Give me your strength and courage to never disown you or hide my allegiance. 1 John 10:18.
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