- Peter Paul Rubens, The Entombment, ca. 1612.
After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
Grace mercy and peace be to you from our lord and savior Jesus. Our text this evening is the Gospel Text from John 19:31-42
Behold dear Christians. Here is your God. Dead and lifeless, down from his cross, bleeding, not breathing. A corpse in a tomb. What fools we must be to worship a god who can die.
Peter Paul Reubens here depicts the entombment of our God, the burial of our Lord, the dead corpse of the man who hears our prayers. And look at him. Blood from his hands and his side. His flesh is the color of death. Those who love him the most weep; his mother holds his head in her arms. His beloved disciple supports his weight and he is laid on the cold stone slab. Is this a god who hears prayer? Is this a god who is worthy of worship and praise? Is this a god who is strong and mighty to save? It doesn’t look it.
But this is Jesus. The crucified one. A stumbling block;, a scandal to Jews and foolishness to gentiles, but to us who are perishing this is Christ the wisdom of God and the power of God given for us, dead for us, so that we might live.
Look at your God. He is here what you should be. He is dead. Life has departed from his body. He has been through hell, literally through hell, on the cross. His body was broken and destroyed by the hatred of sinful men. His soul was scorned by the hatred of a just and righteous God. Everyone turned their backs on him and this is how Friday ended for him.
In the portrait, the artist paints what we feel. Mary, his mother, looking up to heaven. Looking to heaven as if to say, “Why? You could have put a stop to this. It did not have to end this way.” Mary, after all, had seen the angels. Gabriel had stood before her 33 years before and told Mary that this her son, would be the Messiah. Mary knew who Jesus was and she must have wondered at God’s plan.
There are times when we wonder at God’s plan. Why have things turned out this way? Why did God allow this to occur? Why didn’t God put a stop to this thing that was clearly evil? How can God allow these things, this world to keep going the way it does? How many times have we cast our eyes up to heaven or down to the earth wondering those exact things. Mourning with those exact same thoughts.
And as we do, the devil is close beside. He reads us like a book and he inserts answers to our questions between the lines as we are unaware. “God doesn’t care” he says. “God is angry with you” he says. “God wasn’t strong enough to help you” he says.
Satan is a liar. He twists and turns the events of your life and distorts the image so that the world seems to be an evil place with an inept god or perhaps with an angry God or worse with no god at all. He puts you in the middle of it, defenseless and frightened and helpless. No one to watch. No one to help. And especially no ear to bend in the heavens. The devil is a liar.
While you and I might experience suffering and loss the way John did, the way Mary did, the suffering of Jesus was not without purpose. It was not without plan. It was exactly what the Father had determined would occur, determined before the foundation of the world, the Jesus would suffer. That Jesus would die, that he would be killed on a cross to carry your sin and suffer your punishment so that you could have life.
See here the result of your sin. The author of life lies dead on a slab, just another corpse in a tomb. Just another funeral for just another man. But this man is far from just another man. This man is the Son of Man. The Messiah the Son of God.
Mary and John and Mary Magdalene and Mary the Mother of James and Joseph did not understand why Jesus lay dead before them. They did not understand the plan of salvation that had been laid out by God since the beginning of the World. That Jesus had to die. That he had to suffer mercilessly at the hands of evil men and at the hands of God. His blood is on us and our children and that blood is a redeeming blood.
Mary looks up to heaven to pray her prayer. Mary Magdalene looks at her savior to cry her tears. John looks with dignity and respect at the one he spent his life to follow. And here their God lays dead. We pray those same prayers and we cry those same tears.
But for your sake and for mine, those prayers are heard and those tears do not fall un-noticed. For the sake of this one here who lies dead, your prayers are heard. Your cries are answered. Your Lord listens to your cries for help, for mercy, for understanding, and for faith.
Jesus died for you. He died in your place on the cross to suffer the eternity of punishment that you have earned with your self-interested life. He has paid the cost for sin. And his life was given as ransom for yours.
As you have gathered here tonight in worship to your God, your suffering and dying Lord, the artist ties this death to tonight’s gathering. The burial slab on which our lord is laid resembles an altar. A table. The body of our Lord is laid on wheat, reminiscent of the bread that we break in remembrance of him. His blood pours from his side, reminiscent of the cup that we drink in remembrance of him. Whenever we eat that bread and drink that cup, we proclaim that man’s death until he returns. And return he will.
Jesus was saved from his death by the power of the Holy Spirit who honored his sacrifice, marking it as sufficient and giving back to him his life three days later. Jesus was raised from the dead. You too will be raised.
Amen.
Now may the peace that passes all understanding keep your heart and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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