+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. (Amen.)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Amen.)
As you may know, in our five Midweek Lenten Vespers Services this year, we are hearing St. Matthew’s account of Jesus’s Passion, and we are reflecting on an arguable example of prophecy’s being fulfilled in each of the five “location” portions of that Passion account that we hear over the five Services. Each example of prophecy and its fulfillment reiterates for us God’s will and work to save us sinners who both are sorry for our sins and trust God to forgive us by grace for Jesus’s sake. Four weeks ago, we considered how, in the Upper Room, Jesus seemed to speak about His, in some sense, actively fulfilling Psalm 41 verse 9, about the one who ate His bread’s lifting his heel against Him; three weeks ago, we considered how, on the way to Gethsemane, Jesus spoke about His and His disciples in some sense passively fulfilling Zechariah 13 verse 7, about the Lord of Hosts’s striking the shepherd and thereby scattering the sheep of the flock; two weeks ago, we considered how, at the Palace of the High Priest, Peter actively fulfilled Matthew 26 verse 34, about his denying Jesus three times before the rooster crowed; one week ago, we considered how, in connection with the Praetorium, the Jewish leaders actively fulfilled verses from Jeremiah and Zechariah, about their taking the thirty pieces of silver that they originally had given to Judas to betray Jesus and then giving them for a potter’s field; and this week, we consider how, in connection with Calvary, at least Joseph of Arimathea actively fulfills Isaiah 53 verse 9, about making Jesus’s grave with the wicked and with a rich man in His death, though Jesus had done no violence and there was no deceit in His mouth (confer and compare Acts 13:29).
As two weeks ago, you may object, in this case saying to me, “Wait a minute, Pastor, tonight’s Reading of St. Matthew’s account of Jesus’s Passion does not say that Joseph of Arimathea fulfilled prophecy about Jesus’s burial”, and, of course, you are right. Rather, the Divinely‑inspired St. Matthew seems to imply that Isaiah 53‑9’s prophecy about Jesus’s being buried with the rich is fulfilled (see Surburg, p.3; CSSB [CPH], ad loc Isaiah 53:9, p.1097; and TLSB, p.1245). While all four Gospel accounts report Jesus’s burial, none of the other three Gospel accounts but only St. Matthew’s account explicitly mentions Joseph of Arimathea’s being rich (compare Mark 15:42‑47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42). And, earlier in his account, St. Matthew says that Jesus’s casting out demons and healing the sick fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 53‑4, a few verses earlier in the same section of Isaiah’s prophecy about the Suffering Servant (Matthew 8:16-17). In describing St. Matthew’s statements about prophecy’s being fulfilled, one New‑Testament commentator says both that, at first, St. Matthew gave many examples of prophecy and its fulfillment in order to establish the account’s emphasis on prophecy fulfilled, and then, later, St. Matthew gave fewer examples in order to remind his hearers or readers of the account’s emphasis on prophecy fulfilled, and the same New‑Testament commentator says that, in some cases, St. Matthew may only allude to familiar prophecy (Davies and Allison, p.575 n.8 [citing Luz 1, pp.139-140], and pp.576-577), as in tonight’s Reading St. Matthew arguably only alludes to prophecy, familiar or not. One Old Testament commentator goes so far as to say both that understanding the prophecy of Isaiah 53‑9 without the Gospel account of its fulfilment is impossible, and that the prophetic words and the Gospel history have an agreement that “could only be the work of the God of both the prophecy and its fulfillment” (Keil-Delitzsch, ad loc Isiaah 53:9, pp.327, 328)!
Works of art, such as Michaelangelo’s “Madonna della Pietà”, or “Our Lady of Pity”, sculpted for St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, often depict the Virgin Mary’s cradling Jesus’s body after He was taken down from the cross. But, such works of art have no direct basis in Holy Scripture (Gibbs, ad loc Matthew 27:57-61, p.1593). Rather, the Apostle John is thought to have taken the Virgin Mary to his own home already before Jesus died (John 19:26-27). And, tonight’s Reading tells us that Joseph of Arimathea asked for and received the body of Jesus, took it and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb. The other Gospel accounts describe Joseph of Arimathea as a respected member of the Jewish ruling council, the Sanhedrin (Mark 15:43), and say that he was a good and righteous man who had not consented to the Sanhedrin’s decision and action against Jesus (Luke 23:51), but was looking for the Kingdom of God and was a disciple of Jesus’s, though secretly for fear of the Jewish leaders (John 19:38; confer John 12:42-43). Similarly, St. John’s Gospel account tells us that Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews, who came to Jesus by night (John 3:1-2) and who “later spoke on Jesus’s behalf” (TLSB, ad loc John 3:1, p.1782; an apparent reference to John 7:50), brought 75 pounds of spices and worked with Joseph of Arimathea (John 19:38‑42) in order to put Jesus’s body in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb.
In this past Sunday’s Hymn of the Day, “My Song Is Love Unknown”, we sang both that Jesus’s tomb was what a stranger gave and that ours was the tomb wherein Jesus lay (Lutheran Service Book 430:6), poetic license that is said to dramatically collapse “the historical with the personal”, from Joseph of Arimathea, through the hymn’s author Samuel Crossman, down to us (Veith, #430, LSB:CttH, p.260). To be sure, on account of both our original sin and our actual sin, we deserve death and the tomb, not to mention eternal torment in hell! If you know Isaiah’s Suffering Servant Song (Isaiah 52:13-53:12), you know that this prophecy connecting Jesus’s grave with a rich man is in a context that describes all of us going astray like sheep, turning every one to his or her own way, and the Suffering Servant’s being stricken for our transgression but also seeing His offspring and prolonging His days after making an offering for guilt. So that we can benefit from that offering, the Holy Spirit calls and thereby enables us to turn in sorrow from our sin and to trust God to forgive our sin for Jesus’s sake. As we prayed in tonight’s Psalm (Psalm 143:1-12; antiphon: v.1), the Lord hears our prayer, gives ear to our pleas for mercy, and He answers us in His faithfulness and righteousness.
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus actively may have laid Jesus in the tomb, but Jesus passively suffered that burial only because He, the Son of God in human flesh, actively permitted Himself to be crucified, all out of God’s great love for us. God’s prophecy through Isaiah about His Suffering Servant Son (confer the Greek text of Acts 3:13) is sometimes taken narrowly as indicating only the wicked company “in which [Jesus] suffered and died” (Leupold, ad loc Isaiah 53:9, p.231), but the prophecy also seems to indicate that Jesus probably otherwise would have been left unburied or would have been buried with the wicked in some dishonorable place (Lenski, ad loc Matthew 27:57, p.1135; CSSB, ad loc Isaiah 53:9, p.1097, and ad loc Luke 23:52, p.1596), if Joseph of Arimathea had not intervened (Keil‑Delitzsch, ad loc Isaiah 53:9, pp.328-329; A. Pieper, ad loc Isaiah 53:9, p.448; compare Oswalt, ad loc Isaiah 53:9, pp.397‑398), though in the end the two criminals hardly seem to have been buried with Jesus (see Davies and Allison, ad loc Matthew 27:57, p.648 n.25). Although relatives and friends could ask for the bodies of those who had been crucified, Joseph of Arimathea’s request of Pontius Pilate is said to have been risky because Jesus was executed for treason, but Pilate’s granting Joseph’s request is said to show Pilate’s belief in Jesus’s innocence (CSSB, ad loc Luke 23:52, p.1596; TLSB, ad loc Mark 15:43, p.1697). If not the cause of His burial in connection with a rich man, Jesus’s innocence at least was prophesied through Isiaah’s words that the Servant had done no violence, and that there was no deceit in His mouth. Jesus’s innocence was necessary in order for Him to be our substitute in His sacrifice for our sin. Jesus’s burial set the stage for His resurrection that soon followed (Davies and Allison, ad loc Matthew 27:57-66, p.646). Jesus’s tomb was “full” for parts of three days and then “empty”, His resurrection’s showing that God accepted Jesus’s sacrifice on our behalf. So, when we repent and believe, then God forgives us for Jesus’s sake, giving us peace and joy. God forgives us through His Means of Grace, His Word and Sacraments.
Some people want to go and do go to modern-day Israel in order to visit what they think are the sites of Jesus’s crucifixion and nearby burial (confer John 19:41). There is debate over both the “traditional” site, where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre more or less has been since the fourth century, and the so‑called “Garden Tomb”, which was unearthed in the nineteenth century, though the real Calvary and tomb could have been someplace else altogether. Regardless of where the real tomb is, it is empty, of course, so you would not find Jesus there, nor would you find Him at Calvary on the cross, if you could locate it. By the way, since Jesus was taken down from the cross dead, an empty cross by itself is not necessarily a reminder of His resurrection, while a crucifix with Christ’s “corpus”, or “body”, on it by itself is a reminder of His incarnation and death for our sins. We seek and receive the benefits of Jesus’s incarnation and death for our sins not by our going to the cross or tomb but from His read and preached Word and from His Gospel applied individually: with water in Holy Baptism, with touch in Holy Absolution, and with bread and wine that are the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Supper. (Confer Luther, AE 40:202, 213-214.) Jesus, Who once was crucified, died, and was buried, descended into hell, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, and is still present with His Church in all of these ways, in order to forgive our sin and preserve us until either our deaths and burials or His coming in glory, whichever comes first.
As Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus buried Jesus’s body, even seemingly lacking faith in Him, we do well to bury the bodies of our loved ones, all the more since we have faith in Him. We believe that by His “three-day rest in the tomb” Jesus “hallowed”, or “sanctified” or “made holy”, “the graves of all who believe” in Him (LSB:Agenda, p.128). We might rest in peace in our graves for longer than parts of three days, but we will not be there forever. The resurrection of the body will come and bring with it the blessed reunion of believers in heaven.
Tonight, we have considered St. Matthew’s account of Jesus’s Passion’s fulfilling specifically the prophecy of Isaiah 53 verse 9. All five examples of prophecy fulfilled that we have considered these five weeks have been variously expressed by the Divinely‑inspired St. Matthew and all five examples ultimately have related to us. As Jesus generalized elsewhere, what is written in the Scriptures that must be fulfilled is both that He should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His Name to all nations (Luke 24:44-47). So repentance and forgiveness has been proclaimed to us; may God use us likewise to proclaim to others.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Amen.)
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +
