Good Friday, April 18th,
anno + Domini 2025,
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer
Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, SD
A Rich Burial - Isaiah 53:9
He assigned his grave with wicked men, but with a
rich man in his death…
The final honor bestowed on an important person is a rich burial. The pharaohs of
ancient Egypt built the pyramids for their tombs, lined them with gold, and
filled them with provisions for the afterlife. Napolean’s tomb in Paris is
grandiose, as is the Medici chapel, where the magnates of that family are
buried, in Florence, Italy. And, even if
he isn’t really dead, Elvis’s gravesite in Graceland is a very popular tourist
attraction. A towering tombstone or a
granite mausoleum give tribute to the one whose remains rest there.
On
Good Friday, Christ’s shameful death was in the company of “wicked men,”
but according to God’s plan He received the honor of a burial as “a rich man”. Joseph of Arimathea gave Christ a tomb that
was suitable for an upright man, even a relatively wealthy one – he gave Christ
a rich burial. But the greater truth
hidden in that Good Friday tomb is the promise that all baptized believers are
buried with the limitless riches of God’s grace in Christ. Jesus’ burial promises resurrection and the
priceless inheritance of eternal life.
Our
Good Friday text from Isaiah is a careful, detailed prophecy about the end of
Jesus’ earthly life. Tonight we hear it in a bit more literal translation, which
conveys even more clearly the specific details uttered by Isaiah some 700 years
before the death of Jesus.
Verse
9 begins “He assigned His grave with wicked men”. God the Father is the
He, the unnamed subject, the one who “assigned” to Christ His grave. The
circumstances of Good Friday are not unplanned accidents of history. No,
everything took place according to God’s detailed, pre-ordained plan. Part of that
plan was for Christ’s grave to be among “wicked men”. That sounds like
Jesus would get a dishonorable burial, a pauper’s grave, shameful treatment
suitable for a common criminal. Yet, our verse continues, “but with a rich
man in His death.” This second line
predicts an honorable, rich burial.
So
which is it? How was Christ treated - shamefully,
or honorably? As poor, or rich? As Jesus
Christ died and was buried on this day nearly two thousand years ago, He
fulfilled both lines of our verse. Jesus
was assigned a grave with wicked men and with a rich man in His
death. Most importantly, His burial
holds great promise for each of us.
The
first part of God’s plan made use of the scheme of Jesus’ enemies. They plotted to kill the King of the Jews,
even though His kingdom was not of this world. They paid Judas to betray Him. Jesus was arrested and led though a series of
sham trials before Jewish leaders and the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who
unjustly condemned Jesus to what was known in the ancient world as mors
turpissima crucis, “the most vile death of the cross.”
A violent criminal
appears in the narrative of Jesus’ death, someone who might remind us of
today’s Muslim terrorists. Barabbas had
taken part in an insurrection, an attempt to violently overthrow the Roman
government. Instead of freeing Jesus, Pilate
complies with the crowd’s demand, and frees Barabbas, a murderer. (Luke 23:19, 25). On Christ’s right and left the Romans also crucified
two evildoers. And so we see that Jesus
“was numbered with the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12). The sinless Son
of God suffered beside wicked men, “although He had done no violence, nor
was any deceit in His mouth.” Such
was the death planned for Jesus by His enemies. In this way, the first line of our verse was
fulfilled: God “assigned His grave with wicked men.”
Jesus’
death in the company of notorious sinners was a fitting conclusion to His
earthly ministry. Christ was derisively known
as the “friend of sinners” (Luke 7:34), because He associated with tax
collectors and prostitutes, the poor and the lowly, the unclean and the sick. Jesus happily received and spent time with
people who were despised, those avoided and scorned by all “upstanding, good
people.” So also in His death, Christ
identifies with sinners, executed as a criminal in the company of wicked men.
Our Lord was poor, too. His only fine possession - a tunic woven in
one piece, with no seams at all, became the soldiers’ gambling prize. Forsaken,
stripped naked and robbed of all outward dignity, Jesus’ had no earthly possessions. He dies in utter poverty, in keeping with God’s
plan to give us heavenly wealth. Jesus’
death in the place of poor sinners procured the richness of the forgiveness of
sins for all humanity.
As
Isaiah prophesied: He was pierced for
our transgression, crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace
was on Him, and
by His wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)
His
death brings us peace. His wounds heal
us. By grace alone, through Baptism into
Christ’s atoning death (Romans 6:1–4; Colossians 2:11–14), God takes away our
sin and clothes us in the robe of Christ’s perfect righteousness. He died in abject poverty to give us a share
in the victor’s spoils, the riches of eternal life, a free gift for all who
believe in the Crucified. And Isaiah
foresaw this, too:
My Servant will justify the many so that
each is righteous, and He will carry their iniquities. Therefore I will give to Him His portion
while He is among the many, and He will divide the spoil with the
numerous. (Isaiah 53:11–12)
Jesus' accusers, the scribes, Pharisees
and priests, leaders of the Jewish people, plotted to destroy Him. They had no desire to see Him honored in
death. For their part, the pagan Romans
often left crucified victims on the cross for days, unprotected from the
elements and scavenger birds. They did
this to inflict humiliation even after death, as a warning to others who might
think to challenge Roman authority. Later
they would throw the desecrated remains into a common grave. Such was the burial that the world had planned
for the Son of God.
But
God the Father would not permit such disgrace to mock His Son in death. When
Jesus prayed, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke
23:46), and breathed His last, He completed the redemption of all
humanity for all time. The Father’s will
was fulfilled. It is finished; Jesus'
goal is achieved. His time of
humiliation is over. Rich glory awaits.
God’s
plan was that after Christ died in the company of “wicked men,” He was
to be “with a rich man in His death.” Joseph of Arimathea was “a good and righteous”
Jew (Luke 23:50) who
had become a disciple of Jesus Christ, although secretly for fear of the Jews. On Good Friday he took a bold step of faith. The Holy Spirit moved him to ask Pontius
Pilate for the body of Jesus. Joseph thought
to give Christ His final honors.
As a
Jew, and a member of the Council, the Sanhedrin, burying the body of Jesus
meant Joseph was throwing away his honored place in society. Under Roman domination, it took a brave man
to request the body of a criminal. Pilate
could think that Joseph was declaring his allegiance to the one who had been
executed. This could easily draw
suspicion from the Roman governor.
Joseph could be next.
Joseph
of Arimathea was “a rich man” (Matthew 27:57). One
sign of his wealth was his ownership of a tomb in a garden near Golgotha. Joseph had gone to the expense of having a
tomb hewn out of solid rock. This was
the best and the most secure type of grave in the ancient world, although it would
not be able to hold the risen Lord.
It was
a new tomb, no one else had ever been laid in it. Joseph had prepared it to be his own resting
place (Matthew 27:60). Out
of love for the Lord who had taken his place on the cross, Joseph gave Jesus
his costly tomb.
Into
the virgin tomb was placed the Virgin’s Son.
The
sin of the first Adam caused humanity’s expulsion from the garden paradise (Genesis
2–3). In another garden, the
second Adam, Jesus Christ, leads humanity back into paradise through His burial
and resurrection. By Christ’s rich
burial, God honored His Son, the Lamb of God without spot or blemish, the
acceptable sacrifice, of unlimited value.
The
pharaohs of Egypt filled their pyramid tombs with gold and every precious
commodity. They did this in the false
hope that their wealth could secure a blessed afterlife. But most of their gold was long ago plundered
by grave robbers.
No one
can rob us of God’s priceless riches in Christ, which do secure a blessed
afterlife for all who trust in Jesus. The
forgiveness of sins is ours through Christ’s crucifixion “with wicked men.”
God considers baptized believers in
Christ to be Christ-like: to have done no wrong, nor to have any deceit in our
mouth, because Christ has taken away all of our sins, burying them in His own
body. And the promise of resurrection is
ours, because His stay with “with a rich man in His death” was only
temporary.
It is
necessary for you and me to contemplate Good Friday, and wrestle with the
knowledge that our sin is part of the cause Jesus' suffering and death. He suffered because we are sinners. He went to the tomb in our place.
And
yet, we do not despair. Rather, we rest
in the peace of God, the peace that knows that Jesus’ death is our forgiveness,
and His rest in the tomb is our gateway to new life.
Rest in
Jesus. Amen
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