Mark 15:39-47 The funeral of Jesus Christ
Notes
Transcript
Joel and Mary Nadel, Covenant United Reformed Church
Joel and Mary Nadel, Covenant United Reformed Church
From: The Holy Bible and J.C. Ryle’s “Expository Comments on the Gospels - Mark”
From: The Holy Bible and J.C. Ryle’s “Expository Comments on the Gospels - Mark”
House Rules: Phones, Respect, Stay on the Text
House Rules: Phones, Respect, Stay on the Text
Pray
Review
Review
Begin with the start of Jesus’ earthly ministry
Message: “Repent and believe the Gospel” - the Gospel was Jesus life and death
Preached, taught, performed miracles for three years”
Now in Jerusalem to fulfill the Gospel promise - to die for our sins
As we begin this text, the Lord has been tried, convicted, tortured, and executed on the cross.
When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” There were also some women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses, and Salome. When He was in Galilee, they used to follow Him and minister to Him; and there were many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem. When evening had already come, because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate wondered if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether He was already dead. And ascertaining this from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were looking on to see where He was laid.
Introduction
Introduction
The death of the Lord Jesus Christ is the most important fact in the Christian faith
All our hopes for eternity, as sinners, depend on it
It should not be surprising that the reality of His death was carefully verified, and put beyond argument. Multiple testimonies confirm He really died at the cross
In these verses, there are three witnesses
the Roman centurion who stood near the cross
the women who followed Him from Galilee
His disciples
Their witness provides indisputable evidence - they could not be deceived
He did not faint, or enter a trance, of have a seizure of some sort
they all saw the same Jesus, who was crucified, lay down His life, and be obedient to the Father even to death
We need to be certain in our minds - our Saviour really and truly died
Firstly, let’’s take note the honor here given to women
Firstly, let’’s take note the honor here given to women
We are specifically told that when He breathed His last “there were women looking on from a distance”
some of their names are recorded
We are also told that some of them had followed the Lord throughout His ministry in Galilee, helping Him and His followers
We are also told that many other women came up with Him to Jerusalem
It is surprising that we should read this in the Bible
We might have expected that when all the disciples ran away, and abandoned the Lord, the supposedly “weaker sex” would have been afraid and hidden as well
This is testimony of what grace can do - God sometimes chooses the weak things of the world to confuse the mighty
The last are sometimes first, and the first last
The faith of women stands strong, when the faith of men fails
Its interesting what we read about women in the New Testament compared to the Old
In the NT, we find the grace of God glorified in women - God has given them much benefit through the Church and blessed the world through their ministry
In the OT, we see sin and death brought into the world by Eve’s sin
In the NT, we see Jesus born from a woman, and eternal life brought to us through that miraculous birth
In the OT, we often see women hindering man’s walk
the women before the flood
Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Delilah, Bath-sheba, Jezebel - all painful examples
In the NT, we see women as helping the cause of the Christian faith - Elizabeth, Mary, Martha, Dorcas, Lydia, the women named by Paul in the book of Romans, are all cases in point
The contrast is striking and intentional
Proof that grace is more abundant under the Gospel than under the law
It is a lesson that women have an important place in the Church
There is great work that women can do for God’s glory, without holding office
Churches are better off when the women know this, and act accordingly
Secondly, Jesus has good friends of whom little is known
Secondly, Jesus has good friends of whom little is known
The proof if this is someone mentioned here for the first time - Joseph of Arimathea
We have no background or history on this man
We don’t know how he heard about or learned to love Christ, and why He wanted to honor Him
We don’t know what happened to Him after Jesus was crucified and buried
All we know is what we read here in the Bible:
He waited for the kingdom of God
when all the Lord’s disciples had abandoned Him, this man “gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus.” and buried it with honor in his own grave -New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Mk 15:43.
Others honored and confessed the Lord when He was teaching, preaching, and working miracles
Joseph honored and confessed Him as Lord when he saw his cold, blood spattered body.
Others showed love to Jesus when he was speaking and alive, Joseph showed it when He was silent and dead.
Its comforting to know that there are true Christians here on earth that we know nothing about, in places where we might not expect to find them
The faithful are always few, but we shouldn’t judge an area to be godless just because we don’t see the Christians there
We only know in part, and see in part (1 Cor 13) outside of the people we are close to
The Lord has many “hidden ones” in the church that we may never know about, unless they are shown by special circumstances - until the last day.
1 Kings 19:18 ““Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.””
Finally, we should note the honor the Lord places on the grave, by letting Himself be laid in it
Finally, we should note the honor the Lord places on the grave, by letting Himself be laid in it
Joseph laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. -New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Mk 15:46.
This is a fact, that in a dying world, we need to remember
It is appointed to men once to die and we will all go to one place and we try to avoid it
The coffin, the funeral, the decomposition, are all hard subjects to hear or talk about
They chill us, they sadden us, they depress us
This is natural for us
One thing that should comfort us, however, is that Jesus went there before us
As surely as He rose from the grave in victory, so will we on that great resurrection morning
We may remember that when Jesus rose from the dead, He robbed death of its sting
1 Cor 15:56-57 “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The thing we need to make sure of is that we make sure we are spiritually buried with Christ, while we still live
We need to be joined to Him by faith and conformed to His image
Romans 6:4 “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
With Christ, we will rise again and be made alive by His Spirit
Unless we know this, Christ’s death and burial will do us no good at all.
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Prayer Requests
Prayer Requests