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John 19:31-42  THE BURIAL OF JESUS

Introduction:

	In our previous text Jesus was crucified.  In this one
He is buried.

I.  The problem involving The Day of Preparation

V. 31, "The Jews therefore, because it was the
preparation..."  The day on which Jesus was crucified was
the Passover.  The Passover Day had started on the evening
before at dusk dark.  Perhaps you will recall that Jesus had
eaten the Passover Supper with His disciples and then later
in that same night was arrested and brought to trial before
the Sanhedrin before daylight.
	Jesus was not brought before the Roman court until
after daylight, but that was still the Passover.  He was
crucified on that same day.  It was still the Passover Day.
	But the Passover was also the Day of Preparation for a
special Sabbath day which always followed the Day of the
Passover.
	(V. 31), "...that the bodies should not remain upon the
cross on the Sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high
day,)..."  The day following the Passover was a special day.
It, too, was a sabbath day.  It was not the regular the
regular seventh day sabbath, but it was a sabbath.  John
said that it was a "high day."  That is, it was a special
sabbath day.
	It was against the Jewish law for a dead body to hang
on a tree on a sabbath day.  Therefore, since the day
following the crucifixion was a special sabbath day, the
Jews had to act quick in order to keep the bodies of the
three men who were crucified on the day of the Passover from
being on their crosses after sunset.  The special sabbath
day would start right after sundown.

II.  The solution to the problem

	(V. 31), "...besought Pilate that their legs might be
broken, and that they might be taken away."  That is, the
Jews asked Pilate that the legs of the three crucified men
be broken so that they would die in sufficient time to take
them down from the crosses by sundown.  Death by crucifixion
usually took from four to eight days to bring death, but
when the legs were broken the victim would die within a very
short period of time.
	The soldiers first broke the legs of the two thieves.
They usually did this by smashing the legs just below the
knees with a large mallet or club.  All of the body weight
would then hang on the arms.  The lungs would quickly fill
up with fluid and the victim would die.  V. 32, " Then came
the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the
other which was crucified with him."
	V. 33, "But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he
was dead already, they brake not his legs."  The reason the
soldiers did not break the legs of Jesus, so far at they
were concerned, was that there was no need to.  The purpose
of breaking the legs was to hasten death and Jesus was
already dead.  But there was a reason which they were not
aware of.  The instructions in the Old Testament for killing
the passover lamb was that its legs were not to be broken.
Since the passover lamb was a type of Jesus, God arranged it
so that His legs would not be broken in fulfillment of the
prophetic type set forth in the Old Testament.  Thus, it was
a fulfillment of prophecy.

III.  The soldiers making sure that Jesus was dead

	V. 34, "But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced
his side..."  No doubt his motivation for doing this was to
make certain that Jesus was dead.  Since Pilate had given
orders that the legs must be broken to hasten death, it
would not do for Jesus to be found later to be still alive.
So, just as a precautionary measure, he thrust his spear
upward into the side of Jesus.
	The head of the Roman spear was a large flat piece of
iron sharpened on both edges.  It tapered to a sharp point.
The spear would leave a hole large enough that doubting
Thomas could later thrust his whole hand up into the side of
Jesus as Jesus would invite him to do.
	The upward thrust of the spear would carry it up into
the area of the heart of Jesus.  (V. 34), "...and forthwith
came there out blood and water."  It would pierce the sack
of fluid around the heart which normally cushions the
beating of the heart.  The spear just possibly may have
pierced even the heart itself.  Either that or the heart of
Jesus had burst at the point of death.  At any rate, the
fluid within the sack mixed with blood of Jesus and what
appeared to be a mixture of blood and water came pouring
forth from the side of Jesus.

IV.  John's record and John's desire

	V. 35, "And he that saw it bare record, and his record
is true: and he knoweth that he saith true..."  The Apostle
John was the writer of the book and, therefore, was the one
who bare this record.  Yet he wrote not a second-hand report
of what had taken place.  John was an eye-witness to the
whole event.  John was absolutely certain that what he wrote
is the truth.
	(V. 35), "...that ye might believe."  John said that it
was his desire --- his purpose --- that the people who would
read this record would believe what he has written.  John
did not want anyone to think that what he wrote was merely
wishful thinking on his part.  He wanted them to know that
he wrote the truth.
	Yet what John really wanted was more than that his
readers would accept what he wrote as the truth.  What John
really wanted was that those who would read his record or
even hear this record read, would believe in the Christ and
be saved.  It takes more than believing that the scripture
are true in order to be saved.  John wanted people not only
believe in the record about the Christ, but he wanted them
to believe in the Christ as their Savior.  John wanted every
reader of this book to be saved.  He wanted every person who
sits in a class and hears his testimony about Jesus to be
saved.  He wanted every person who would ever sit in a
church congregation and hear this record read and preached
to belive in Jesus Christ and be saved.

V.  The fulfillment of scripture

	V. 36, "For these things were done, that the scripture
should be fulfilled, A bond of him shall not be broken."  I
have already called to your attention that the motivation of
the soldiers in not breaking the legs of Jesus was that when
they came to break His legs, they found Him to be already
dead.  But John points out that the real reason that it
happened this way was so that the prophetic type written
about in the Old Testament scripture must be fulfilled.
	V. 37, "And again another scripture saith, They shall
look on him whom they pierced."  John points to another
scripture which must also be fulfilled.  In Zechariah 12:10
it was prophesied that at His death men would look upon the
One whom they had pierced.  He had to be pierced in order
for this scripture to be fulfilled.
	These fulfilled prophecies give good reason for people
to believe in the truthfulness of John's writings.  The
fulfillment of these prophecies also give good reason for
men, women, boys and girls to place their personal faith in
Jesus Christ to save their soul and take them to heaven.
	
VI.  The burial of Jesus by Joseph and Nicodemus
	V. 38, "And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a
disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews,
besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus:
and Pilate gave him leave.  He came therefore, and took the
body of Jesus."  Joseph was a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin
Council.  This was the very council which was responsible
for the crucifixion of Jesus.
	Yet Joseph was not an enemy of Jesus.  He was a
disciple of Jesus.  He believed in Jesus.  He was a secret
disciple and a secret believer.  He had not made a public
declaration of his faith in Jesus as the Christ.  He had
kept quite about his faith in Jesus because he knew full
well that the members of the Sanhedrin Council were capable
of making life miserable for him and his family if they knew
about his faith in Jesus.
	But Joseph could remain silent about his belief in
Jesus no more.  If somebody did not do something and do it
quickly the body of Jesus would be taken down from the cross
and burned on the piles of rubbish outside the city of
Jerusalem.  Joseph could not bare the thought of that.  He
must act and he must do it quickly.  So Joseph went to
Pilate and asked his permission to take the body of Jesus
and give it a decent burial.  Pilate gave his permission.
	V. 39, "And there came also Nicodemus, which at the
first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh
and aloes, about an hundred pound weight."  Furthermore,
there was another member of the Sanhedrin Council who, like
Joseph, had been a secret disciple up until now.  That man
was Nicodemus.  This is the same Nicodemus who had come to
Jesus by night.  Nicodemus and Joseph were friends.  They
were both members of the Sanhedrin Council.  They were both
believers.  They were both secret disciples.  I am pretty
much convinced that they had secretly discussed their faith
in Jesus with one another.
	At any rate, Nicodemus knew that Joseph was seeking
permission from Pilate to give Jesus a decent burial, so
while Joseph went to Pilate to get permission to bury Him,
Nicodemus went and bought about one-hundred pounds of spices
to use in the burial.  I can almost hear Nicodemus say to
Joseph, "You go get permission.  I will go get the spices."
	So these two men alone provide a very quiet and rather
private funeral service for Jesus.  But it was one which was
carried out with the greatest amount of respect.  They were
both aware that the very Son of God was being buried.  They
still believed in Him as their Christ even though He was
dead.
	They had to hurry.  The hour was late and the sun was
setting.  They had to get Jesus in the grave before the sun
was completely down and darkness set in because that was
when the special high sabbath would begin.  V. 40-42, "Then
took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes
with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.  Now
in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and
in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet
laid.  There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews'
preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand."

VII.  An appeal to this congregation

	John's desire was that the people who would read this
record or hear it read would believe in Jesus and be saved.
How it must have thrilled his heart when he learned that
someone who read or heard called on Jesus and was saved as a
result of his writing.
	I know from experience that it also thrills the heart
of the new believer, for I was thrilled when I got saved.

Conclusion:

	Would you come and trust Jesus Christ to save your
soul?  John would be thrilled.  He would also be thrilled if
some Christian who had not been active in the Lord's cause
would come forward and get in service for Jesus.