CHRIST THE GLORIFICATION OF DEATH, THE VERY LIFE IN DEATH. THE CORPSE OF JESUS, TO HIS FOES AN OBSCURE SIGN OF CALAMITY, TO HIS FRIENDS A MYSTERIOUS PASSOVER–SIGN (A SIGN THAT HE IS THE TRUE PASSOVER–LAMB AND THAT SOMETHING MIRACULOUS IS TRANSPIRING WITHIN HIM), TO HIS UNDECIDED DISCIPLES A DECISIVE, ANIMATING SIGN. THE HONORABLE BURIAL IN THE GARDEN AND IN THE NEW SEPULCHRE. THE FORETOKENS OF THE VICTORY OF CHRIST
Joh_19:31-42
.
(Mat_27:57-66; Mar_15:42-47; Luk_23:50-56.)
31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation [it was preparation day,
ðáñáóêåõÞ
comp Joh_19:42], that the bodies should [might] not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day [sabbath], (for that sabbath day was a high day [for great was the day of that sabbath,
ἦí ãὰñ ìåãÜëç Þ ÞìÝñá ἐêåßïõ ôïῦ óáââÜôïõ
],) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 32Then came the soldiers [The soldiers therefore came], and brake [broke] the legs of the first, and of the other which [who] was crucified with him. 33But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake [broke] not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there [omit there, or34read: there came] out blood and water.
35 And he that saw it bare record [he that hath seen it, hath born witness,
ὁ ἑùñáêὼò ìåìáñôýñçêåí
], and his record [witness] is true [
ἀëçèéíÞ
]; and he knoweth that he saith [what is] true [
ὰëçèῆ
], that ye [also,
êáὶ ὑìåῖò
] might believe [may believe,
ðéóôåýóçôå
]. 36For these things were done [came to pass], that the Scripture should [might] be fulfilled, ‘A bone of him shall not be broken.’ [Exo_12:46; Num_9:12; Psa_34:20.] 37And again another Scripture saith, ‘They shall look on him whom they pierced.’ [Zec_12:10.]
38 And after this [these things,
ôáῦôá
] Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly [though in secret, or, concealing it,
êåêðõììÝíïò äÝ
] 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 [took away his body].39And there came also Nicodemus, (which [who] at the first came to Jesus [to him,
ðñὸò áὺôüí
] by night) and brought [bringing,
öÝñùí
] a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight [a hundred pounds,
ëßôñáò
weight]. 40Then took they [They took therefore] the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is [as is the custom of the Jews] to bury. 41Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre [tomb], wherein was never man yet laid [in which no one had ever been laid].42There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day [day]; for the sepulchre [tomb] was nigh at hand.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Joh_19:31. The Jews therefore.—The
ïὖí
again characteristically indicates the next concern which troubled the Jews as Jews. The observance of the ceremonial law was their first thought after the work of the crucifixion was accomplished. Rupert: Magnifici honoratores Dei, cum in conscientia mala reposuissent sanguinem Justi.
That the bodies might not remain on the cross [
ἵõá ìὴ ìåßíç ἐðὶ ôïῦ óôáõñïῦ ôÜ óþìáôá
].—On the Roman custom see the Commentary on Matthew. The Jewish ordinance in regard to the bodies of persons hanged on a tree Deu_21:22 f.; Josephus, De Bello Jud., IV. 5, 2—Because it was the Preparation day [
ἐðåὶ ðáñáóêåíὴ ἧí
]—I. e. because preparations must be made for keeping holy the Sabbath, on which day no bodies were allowed to remain hanging on the tree.—For great was the (feast-) day of that (Paschal) Sabbath [
ἧí ãὰñ ìåãÜëç ἡ ἡìÝñá ἐêåßíïõ ôïῦ óáââÜôïõ
]—(Comp. Joh_7:37). Elucidating parenthesis. I. e. it was not a simple Sabbath of the current year, but its sanctity was increased by its falling in the Paschal season. This was true of the day in any case, whether, in accordance with the view of the disharmonists, the first paschal day was still to arrive and coincided with the Sabbath (Meyer and others), or whether, according to the view represented by us, the Sabbath in question fell upon the second Jewish passover-day. Meyer thinks that as the second passover-day it could have been called
ìåãÜëç
only because, in accordance with Lev_23:10, the feast of sheaves (Wieseler, Synopse, p. 344, p. 385) was celebrated on this day (16 Nisan). This reference, however, he asserts, John must have indicated. On the other hand, the first feast-day possessed, according to Lev_23:7-15, the character of a Sabbath also. But the case is simpler in its bearings. The Sabbath, being the principal holiday of the Jews, derived additional importance from every other festivity coincident with it, hence also from the second solemn passover-day. If, on the other hand, the passover-day had been the decisive motive, John would not have mentioned the Sabbath as a motive.
That their legs might be broken,etc. [
ἵíá êáôåáãῶóéí
áὐôῶí ôὰ óêÝëç êáὶ áñèῶóéí
]—Said in a perfectly general way, whence it follows that they were hastening the removal and as yet possessed no certain knowledge as to the death of Jesus. The shattering of the legs with clubs, crucifragium [
óêåëïêïðßá
], was a customary form of accelerating death—a procedure as harsh and brutal as crucifixion itself (Lactantius, Instit. IV. 26; Lipsius, Ad Plaut. II. 4, 63). It also appears as an independent punishment, Sueton., Aug. 67 [Seneca, De Ira, iii. 32, etc.]. “The supervention of a coup de grace, by which (not by the crucifragium in itself) death was occasioned, cannot be proved, least of all from Joh_19:34 (contrary to Michaelis, Hug and others).” Thus Meyer [p. 633], while Tholuck, following Quintil., Declam. vi. 9, and other instances in Hug, declares in favor of the customariness of the death-stab in cases where death seemed to have already taken place, but where the soldier wished thoroughly to assure himself of the fact. In accordance with the presentation of our Gospel, the breaking of the legs must be conceived of as a deadly process. It is omitted, as the more difficult task, in cases where the stab of a lance is sufficient to complete the signs of death by means of an easy death-stroke.
Joh_19:32. The soldiers therefore came [
ἧëèïí ïὖí ïἱ óôñáôéῶôáé
,
ê
.
ô
.
ë
.].—Two soldiers simultaneously break the legs of the thief on the right and the thief on the left. With Jesus they consider this superfluous—therefore, to make assurance doubly sure, they pierce Him with the lance. His death is thus doubly and trebly warranted: once by the cognition of the soldiers, then by the mortal spear-stroke, finally by His burial on the part of His friends. From Joh_20:27 Tholuck infers besides (less securely) that the wound was the breadth of a man’s hand.—The soldier stood with his right hand opposite the left side of the Crucified One.
Joh_19:34. Blood and water [
êáὶ ἐîῆëèåí åὐèὺò áἷìá êáὶ ὔäùñ
]—We must preface the explanations of this fact by the statement that the Evangelist looks upon it as one of great moment. See Joh_19:37. [“The strong asseverations of the Evangelist, show that he regarded the circumstance as very extraordinary, perhaps as supernatural. He writes of it like a person who hardly expected to be believed. Yet the effect he describes is exactly (?) that which we now know was most likely to result from preceding causes. Thus his accuracy of observation and the honesty and veracity of his testimony are most remarkably corroborated.” Webster and Wilkinson.—P. S.]
Different explanations:
1. The modern explanation of the fact as a NATURAL phenomenon. This interpretation is made the more difficult by the circumstance that the blood does not flow out of dead bodies, neither does it separate into blood and water [or placenta and serum] (as it does in a vessel after venesection).
First assumption: Death was produced by the spear-thrust, and the forth-flowing of the blood (or of a reddish lymph) must demonstrate Christ’s corporeality, in contradiction of the Docetæ (Hammond, Kuinoel, Olshausen). This view is combated by the presupposition of the disciple and the ancient Church that Jesus was dead, and by the separation of blood and water. [See also against this view, Stroud, on the Physical Cause of Christ s Death, p. 141 f. It is certain, however, that, had Christ not been already dead, the infliction of such a wound in the heart by the spear of a Roman soldier must have produced death; and this fact in any case sets aside the Gnostic docetic view according to which Christ suffered and died only in appearance, as well as the older rationalistic view that Christ recovered from the effects of the crucifixion, and that His resurrection was merely an awakening from a trance.—P. S.]
Second assumption: The flow of blood and water from the body of a dead person is physiologically explained:
a. By the presence of extravasations, or bloodblisters, in which the globules and serum have become separated one from the other (Ebrard).
b. By the serum in the pericardium (Gruner, De Jes. Christi morte vera non simulata, etc., Halle, 1805), to which yet other serous reservoirs on the side of the heart may be added (see Tholuck, p. 439). [The Gruners, two physicians, father and son, held that the blood issued from the heart, the water from the pericardium, i. e. the membrane which envelops the heart. So also Kipping (De cruce et cruciariis, pp. 187–195), Bishop Watson (Apology for the Bible), Barnes, Webster and Wilkinson, and Owen. To this theory it is objected that the quantity of liquid or reddish lymphatic humor in the pericardium is usually so minute as to be scarcely perceptible. “Haller states that a small quantity of water, not exceeding a few drachms, has frequently been found in the pericardium of executed persons; but, except under very peculiar and morbid, circumstances, the eminent anatomists John and Charles Bell deny the occurrence altogether.… Naturally the pericardium exhibits scarcely anything which deserves the name of liquid; but after some forms of violent death, more especially when attended with obstructed circulation, it may contain a little serum, either pure or mixed with blood.…For the statement of the Gruners, that after death accompanied with anxiety the pericardium is full of water, there is no evidence.” Stroud, 1 c. p. 138, 139.—P. S.]
2. The apprehension of the fact as a miracle (Origen and the ancient Church generally, Meyer, Luthardt). [Bengel: quod sanguis exiit, mirum; quod etiam aqua, magis mirum; quod utrumque statim, uno tempore, et tamen distincte, maxime mirum. So also Alford who, with Meyer, stops with the recognition of a miracle, without indulging in allegorizing.—P. S.]
3. Between the assumption of a miracle unassisted by any physiological instrumentality, and that of a natural phenomenon, there lies the assumption that we have to do with a primitive phenomenon, i. e. a unique appearance based upon the unique situation. Meyer [p. 635] says: “A natural explanation in a higher sense is assigned for this phenomenon by Lange (Leben Jesu, II. p. 1614 f.); he assumes it to be explicable by the process of transformation which, as he affirms, the body of Christ was undergoing. A spinose conception in which there is not only an absence of clearness” (a fact equally true of the transformation itself, but which, nevertheless, does not render that transformation spinose), “but also imperiling the essential and necessary point of the actual death of Jesus” (i. e., hazarding its being swallowed up in the resurrection), “and moreover representing the details of the assumed transformation as occurring in very sensuous and materialistic wise” (say, rather, in bodily and corporeal fashion). Meyer thinks he has warrant for citing against this view, 1Co_15:51-53. The following propositions may assist to an apprehension of the case: (1) After the death of Jesus, either corruption or transformation must have been preparing. (2) Corruption He did not see, hence it is transformation that was in course of preparation. (3) If this was preparing, the fact must of necessity make itself known by a sign transpiring in His wounded body,—a sign such as we are unacquainted with in other corpses. (4) That this sign is a unicum, concerning which we can find nothing in the history of extravasations, pericardia, etc. is a circumstance perfectly in order.
4. The mythical interpretation of Baur and others may be passed over (comp. Meyer [p. 637]).
5. [Symbolical and allegorical] interpretations of the phenomenon [which may be connected with either of the preceding ones, especially with No. 2.—P. S.]. With reference to 1Jn_5:6 : Symbol of the two sacraments of grace: Apollinaris, Ambrose (De Sacram. cp. I. aqua ut emundaret, sanguis ut redimeret, Augustine, the R. Catholic exegetes, Luther). Otherwise Baur: The death of Jesus symbolized as the source of spiritual life. Similarly Luthardt. The Evangelist has indeed said nothing of this meaning himself. He has laid stress upon the unexpectedness of the phenomenon, however.
[Other symbolical explanations: (1) Calvin: reference of the blood to expiation; of the water to regeneration. He, however, denies the miraculous character of the fact. Isaac Watts:
“My Saviour s pierced side
Poured out a double flood:
By water we are purified
And pardoned by the blood.”
Toplady:
“Let the water and the blood
From Thy riven side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Cleanse me from its guilt and power.”
(2) According to E. Swedenborg, blood signifies the proceeding Divine truth for the spiritual man, and water the Divine truth for the natural man. (Apocalypse Explained, No. 329).—P. S.]
[Additional Remarks on the effusion of blood and water. This is properly a question for physicians to settle, but they differ as much as theologians. Comp. besides the dissertation of the Gruners already quoted, Thomas Bartholinus, De Latere Christi aperto, etc.; Hieronymus Bardus, Epist. ad Thom. Bartholinum, and the Reply of Bartholinus; William Stroud, M. D., The Physical Cause of the Death of Christ, 2d ed. with an Appendix by Sir James Y. Simpson, M. D. (London, 1871). The last work is probably the best and contains more curious information than any other. Dr. Stroud, as already mentioned on p. 587, traces the physical cause of the death of Christ to a sudden rupture of the heart, produced by intense agony of mind endured in behalf of sinners. He uses this verse as an argument for his theory. Rupture of the heart is followed by an effusion of blood (sometimes as much as a quart or much more) into the pericardium, where it quickly separates into its solid and liquid constituents, technically called crassamentum and serum, but in ordinary language blood and water. The soldier, in approaching the body of Christ and inflicting the wound for the purpose either to ascertain or to insure His death, would purposely aim at the heart, and, transfixing the lower part of the left side, would open the pericardium obliquely from below; that capsule being distended with crassamentum and serum, and consequently pressed against the side, its contents would, by force of gravity, be instantly and completely discharged through the wound, in a full stream, of clear watery liquid intermixed with clotted blood, exactly corresponding to the sacred narrative: “and immediately there came forth blood and water.” The difficulties of commentators have arisen mostly from the gratuitous assumption that the blood which flowed from the wound of Christ was liquid, and the water pure, and, to account for so marvellous an occurrence, recourse was had either to miraculous agency, or to other equally untenable suppositions. “Blood and water” simply denote the crassamentum and serum of blood which has separated into its constituents. See pp. 399 ff., and the instances adduced in illustration. Ewald (Geschichte Christus’, 3d ed. 1867, p. 584f.), without entering into the matter, likewise assumes that a sudden rupture of the heart (ein plötzlicher Herzbruch) was the immediate physical cause of the death of Christ, and explains from it the loud terrible cry of anguish on the cross.—P. S.]
Joh_19:35. And he that hath seen it hath borne witness [
êáὶ ὁ ἑùñáêὼò ìåìáñôýñçêåí
].—According to Weisse, Schweizer, and others, a later reporter, distinguishing himself from John, here betrays himself. But it is the Evangelist who himself makes a distinction between an oral, evangelistic testimony, continued during many years, and his written iteration of the same at a later period—conscious that said testimony contains an extraordinary statement. He then distinguishes the substance of his testimony as essential truth (
ἁëçèéíÞ
), because the thing must so occur, as a fulfilment of the divine word, and the form of his testimony,
ἀëçèῆ
. His testimony is, however, continually, and so in this instance also, designed to produce faith in Christ (see Joh_20:31), namely, the confirmation and consummation of his readers belief in the higher divine nature of Christ. Not, as some have supposed, that ye may believe in the death of Jesus as an event which really transpired (Beza and others); or in the true corporeality of Christ, in opposition to the Docetæ (Hammond, Paulus, and others). Meyer thinks that Gnosticism might have fastened even sooner upon the mysterious, enigmatical outflow (?).
Joh_19:36. A bone of Him shall not be broken [
Ὀóôïῦí ïὐ óõíôñéâÞóåôáé áὐôïῦ
].—The first fulfilment of Scripture was of a negative sort: it was the fulfilment of the typical provision that not a bone of the paschal lamb should be broken, Exo_12:46; Num_9:12. As the suffering Christ was the antitype of the paschal lamb (1Co_5:7), it was necessary that this typical trait also should be fulfilled in Him.
Joh_19:37. Whom they pierced [
Ὄøïíôáé äἰò ï
͂
í ἐîåêÝíôçóáí
].—(Zec_12:10.) The
åἰò ὅí
by attraction in the place of
åἰò ἐêåῖíïí äí
. Second, positive fulfilment of a Scriptural passage by the spear-thrust. The passage freely cited after the original text which the Septuagint has weakened (“Whom they have insulted”). Properly: They shall look up to Me
àֵìַé
Whom they have pierced. The reading
àֵìַéå
found in many manuscripts is probably an exegetical correction, as it seemed obvious that Jehovah cannot be pierced; hence likewise the figurative conception of the Septuagint. The passage in question is one of the exceedingly pregnant Messianic passages of the second half of Zechariah. The Messiah here appears in the light of the self-manifesting Jehovah Himself. The piercers are the Jews, standing, however, as representatives of the whole human race. “They have pierced Me,” i. e. they have consummated their enmity against My highest manifestation and approach. “They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced,” i. e. their eyes shall be opened in regard to their conduct and they shall perceive whom they have outraged,—they shall regret it, or it shall become a matter of regret to them. This prophecy has had a general fulfilment in the turning of the believing world to the Crucified One. It shall, however, be fulfilled in the most universal sense, in regard to the whole world, at the Last Judgment (Rev_1:7). The beginning of this consternation of the world upon discovering that it has thrust at God, whilst it supposed itself to be piercing a criminal, in dealing the Messiah the heart-thrust, is significantly seen by the Evangelist in the fact that we have been considering. The spear-thrust was the final heart-blow and death-blow which, after many blows and stabs, the whole race of man inflicted upon the Messiah; it was therefore the concentrated symbol of His crucifixion in general. Hence, there immediately appeared a sign, such as is not met with in other corpses;—a sign in which the higher nature of Christ, the incipient manifestation of His glory, announced itself. That which is related concerning murdered persons, namely, that their wounds bleed afresh when the murderers approach their bodies, did actually happen here in the highest sense. That the phenomenon made one of the many signs that perplexed and dismayed the people at Golgotha, may be securely assumed from the prominent mention which this occurrence and its effect receive at the hands of John. This involves the complete overthrow of the natural [rationalistic] explanation. An ordinary appearance could not thus have operated. See Joh_8:28; Joh_12:32; Acts 2.
Joh_19:38. Joseph of Arimathea.—Comp. Mat_27:57. After the Jews had induced Pilate to have the bodies taken down, Joseph presented his request and arrived at precisely the right moment to take the corpse which had been accorded him, down from the cross. So Meyer rightly, in opposition to De Wette who finds a difficulty here, as likewise in opposition to Lücke, who apprehends the
ἄñῃ
and
ἧñåí
as relating to the carrying away of the body which the soldiers, had taken down. With this interpretation Meyer asserts that he has settled a difference which would otherwise exist, making this statement “unauthorized” by the side of Luk_23:53; Mar_15:46.
About a hundred pounds weight [
ὡò ëßôñáò Ýêáôüí
].—See Comm. on Matthew, at the parallel passage. [A proof of the greatness of their love produced by the death of Christ.—P. S.]
Joh_19:40. As is the manner of the Jews [
êáèὼò ἔèïò ἐóôὶ ôïῖò Ἰïõäáßïéò ἐíôáöéÜæåéí
].—Contrast: The custom of the Egyptians, who took out the brain and bowels, or at least steeped the body for seventy days in natron. See Winer, “Embalming,” Meyer. The Egyptian anointing was designed for the preservation of the bodies as mummies: the Jewish anointing formed a consecrated and beautiful transition of the corpse from death to corruption. On the fact that there is nothing surprising in the superabundance of one hundred pounds of aloes and myrrh for the anointing, see Tholuck.
Joh_19:41. In the place [
ἐí ôῷ ôüðῳ
], i.e. in the district. According to Mat_27:60, it was Joseph’s garden. Comp. Luk_23:53; Joh_19:30; Mar_11:2.
Joh_19:42. On account of the preparation-day [
äéὰ ôὴí ðáñáóêåõὴí ôῶí Ἰïõä
.].—An intimation that if haste had not been urgent, they would have given Jesus more honorable burial in another place. Thus the very haste of the preparation-day was providential. Jesus should be interred in a new grave, in a manner the most extraordinary. The circumstance must serve at the same time to manifest Joseph s great alacrity in sacrifice.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The Johannean relation. John omits the trait of their rolling a great stone in front of the door of the sepulchre; he does not mention that Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James seated themselves over against the sepulchre;that the Jews, with the co-operation of Pilate, sealed the sepulchre on the Sabbath and set a military watch upon it (Matt.); that Pilate, before presenting Joseph with the body of Jesus, inquired of the centurion whether Jesus were dead (Mark); the approach of a greater number of acquaintances to view the death of Jesus; the inspection of the sepulchre by the women, and their Friday evening preparation of ointments for the formal interment of Jesus which they appointed to take place after the Sabbath (Luke).
On the other hand, he brings out the fact that Jesus was glorified in His death as the true Paschal Lamb, glorified no less by another mysterious fulfilment of Scripture, and specially glorified by the open emergence of His hitherto secret disciples, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, and the princely sepulture which they, in pious rivalry of love, have prepared for the Lord.
2. Great was the day of that Sabbath. A stroke of that Jewish hypocrisy which strains out gnats and swallows camels, similar to Joh_18:28. In removing the bodies, however, in accordance with the instinct of an evil conscience, they are peculiarly interested in having the body of Jesus conveyed “out of sight and mind” of the people; in causing, along with the odious Man, the very name of Him, as also their work upon Him, to be hurried, with all possible expedition, beneath the sod. But here, as in the composition of the superscription, contingencies occur, which cross, modify and enfeeble their plots. They can not hinder Jesus, upon His descent from the cross, from being significantly distinguished from the thieves and honorably sepulchred.
3. Paschal Lamb. Ye shall break not a bone of Him. On the uncertainty of typology in regard to the meaning of this provision, see Tholuck, p. 430. We assume that the provision originally belonged to the expression of the most hurried preparation of the Paschal Lamb, as at the instant of flight or departure. Then at the same time it was expressive of the utterly undivided participation of the house-congregation or domestic church in fellowship and sacrament (Tholuck, p. 430). This type was fulfilled in Christ. The hurried removal from the cross—an expression of the Sufferer s speedy transportation to glory—prevented the breaking of the legs, and henceforth the whole undivided Christ should be the spiritual and vital food of the Church of His salvation.
4. Joh_19:34; Joh_19:37. Blood and water. See the Exeg. Notes, and Leben Jesu, p. 1611.
5. The association of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus: a sign showing how the complete development of malice and unrighteousness impels all nobler natures into the camp of Christ; and how the darkest hours of the kingdom of God are invariably the natal hour of a new discipleship. That glory of the Jewish world, to which they cleaved, being turned to shame in their eyes, they are become free from their earthly goods and know not how better to spend them than in the service of the love of Christ. One offers the abundance of his precious spices, which constituted an important household treasure among the Orientals; the other offers his garden and his family-vault to be the resting-place of an excommunicate, outlawed, crucified Man: both sacrifice their safety, position, authority, their old associations and, greatest sacrifice of all, their old Jewish hierarchal pride, and their old Messianic hope and entire view of the world. To them all things are involved in midnight gloom; but the innocence and righteousness of Christ they see, shining as the broad day in the midst of this darkness.—Moral loathing and abhorrence of the mask of hypocritical godlessness are able to burst the strongest bonds of deference to human opinions, and to generate the highest sacrificial courage.
6. The pious observance op the Sabbath on the part of Jesus’ friends, on the occasion of their burial of Him, a testimony against those who, with the charge of Sabbath-breaking, introduced His persecution unto death.
7. The repose of Jesus at once a slumber of death and a mystery of transformation unto resurrection.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
See the Doct. Notes and the Synoptists.
From the moment of Jesus’ death, all things take a turn.—The glorification of Jesus begins with the glorification of His holy corpse: 1. Through special divine protection (break no bone); 2. through special heavenly signs (blood and water); 3. through special human reverence and care (the interment).—God watcheth over His own in death as in life.—How, in the funeral of the Just One, the victory of His life-battle is reflected.—The desire of the Jews to remove the, bodies from Golgotha: The expression of (1) a legal, slavish zeal; (2) an hypocritical sanctimoniousness; (3) a bad conscience.—The last heart-thrust which Christ received from the world: 1. A collective expression of all that the world has done to Him; 2. a pursuing of His life into the jaws of death (a violation of His corpse); 3. and yet a “mercy-stroke,” inasmuch as it is to secure His corpse from mutilation; 4. above all, a testimony of God to His death and unique nature (His transition to a new life).—The two great fulfilments connected with the one spear-thrust of an unsuspecting soldier: 1. The fulfilment of all the types of the Law in one feature (Joh_19:36). 2. The fulfilment of all the words of the Prophets in one single prophetic word.—Jesus, the unbroken Paschal Lamb for believing Israel, is at the same time the pierced Divine Image for unbelieving Israel.—The revealing of the Crucified One, the repentance of the world.—Nothing but the sight of Christ’s breaking heart could melt the heart of sin.—The death of Jesus the life of the world: 1. His falling asleep, her awaking (as His eyes close, hers open); 2. the end of His heart-grief, the commencement of hers; 3. His corpse, her quickening.—The stately sepulture of the Lord, or the princely disciples of the Crucified One.—The thank-offerings which immediately glorify the redemptive and expiatory offering of Christ.—The operation of the cross of Christ: 1. Comprehension of the cross; 2. courage for the cross; 8. sacrifices to the cross; 4. witnesses to the cross.—The great calm after the great storm: 1. The quiet Sufferer. 2. The quiet grave. 3. The quiet Sabbath. 4. The quiet mystery of life (or becoming). 5. The quiet presentiment. 6. The quiet turning of all things.
Starke: Osiander: See how hypocrites act! fierce sticklers are they for external matters and ordinances, but in the weightiest matters, those that concern the soul and salvation, they care not for the fear of God. Mat_23:23.—Quesnel: In vain doth the sinner seek to bury the remembrance of his sins—sin shall ever rise up against him, Jer_17:1; Gen_42:21.—O how many think only how to conceal their sins, but not to be penitent for them! Job_31:33-34. A foot-soldier, and not a horseman, as painters are wont to depict the man who pierced Jesus.—Canstein: Let us look in faith, love and gratitude unto Him whom we ourselves have pierced, in order that we may rejoice when He is seen of us with our bodily eyes, Heb_12:2.—Quesnel: Jesus will come to judgment in the same flesh in which He was crucified, that He may confound His foes, Joh_5:27; Act_17:31.—Zeisius: Thus God is able to raise up quickly unto His people, though they be, with Christ, forsaken of all men, persons who interest themselves for them with the greatest care and diligence, such as they would never have thought on. In sorest need, therefore, take heart, Jer_38:7 ff.—The love of an upright, friend remains constant even in death.——Hedinger: Excellent compensation of weakness through strength! Abraham’s faith was great, the thief’s was great, the centurion’s was great. The first saw Christ in the life, the second in dying, the last in death, amid many miracles. But there is nothing to surpass Joseph and Nicodemus—they believe on Him in the grave. O power of God in the faithful! O strength in the weak, we praise thee! 2Co_12:9.—Godly, wise and brave undertakings of a true Christian, though apparently never so bold and perilous, are furthered to a good end through the help of the Almighty.—Like to like,—one lover of Jesus joineth company with another. Mark this, O man, and do thou likewise, Sir_13:20-21.—Bibl. Tub.: O that yet other fearful Nicodemuses might at the cross and in the sepulchre of Jesus crucify and bury their fear of man; then would amendment be of rapid growth in all ranks, Psa_27:1; 1Pe_3:13.—Though not many rich and noble are called, there still are some who willingly lay out their possessions in the service of Jesus, Luk_7:5.—Zeisius: O how well do the rich do when they spend their riches on Christ, His glory and His needy members! that they do good and grow rich in good works,1Ti_6:18-19.—Osiander: We must not carelessly cast away the bodies of Christians; such a course is contrary to love and the hope of resurrection; but we must honorably commit them to the earth.—Gardens are pictures of death and resurrection—graves do suit them well: it is therefore not unfit that church-yards should have trees planted along their sides, and that they should be made to resemble gardens—Osiander: Christ hath hallowed our graves and made sleeping-rooms of them, in which the bodies rest until they are awakened again unto everlasting life, Rom_6:4.
Lisco: Joh_19:38. Publicly and boldly doth the hitherto timorous love to Jesus now come forward; it leapeth over all considerations and scruples and toucheth the dead body of Jesus without any dread of becoming defiled after the law, through contact with a corpse, and that the corpse of a reputed malefactor.
Braune: The fear of man is overcome; so openly they act. Delay is at an end; they make haste. They are not ashamed before all witnesses to make common cause with the Galilean women.—Joseph had had it hewn out for himself and Jesus entereth it before him; thus Jesus consecrateth the graves of His people, to the end that they may dread them the less.
Gossner: The stab was given by one soldier only, and here it says: They have pierced Him. How is this? the soldier was but the instrument; they, sinners, all of them, from the first to the last, did guide the soldier’s hand and the crime is imputed to them.—Love now breaketh through all fear of man, and where there was most to fear, fear vanisheth, so that he dreadlessly espouseth the cause of Him who was killed on the cross and rejected by the whole world,—espouseth it, say, at a time when, to all appearance, there was nothing to hope for from Him whom, living, he was either ashamed or afraid openly to confess.—This of itself was a beautiful fruit of the death of Jesus, that His secret disciples were made open ones, the weak, strong.—The love of the Slain Lamb driveth out all fear.—Christ liked and deserved a new grave, because He was a Dead Man without an equal; for all the children of Adam die from guilt, He guiltlessly.
[Craven: From Augustine: Joh_19:34. That blood was shed for the remission of sins, that water tempers the cup of salvation.—O death, by which the dead are quickened; what can be purer than that blood, what more salutary than that wound!
Joh_19:38. In performing this last office to our Lord, he showed a bold indifference to the Jews, though he had avoided our Lord’s company when alive, for fear of incurring their hatred.—Chrysostom: Joh_19:31. The Jews who strained at [out] a gnat and swallowed a camel, after their audacious wickedness, reason scrupulously about the day.
Joh_19:34. When thou approachest the awful cup, approach as if thou wert about to drink out of Christ’s side.—From Theophylact: Joh_19:34. To please the Jews, they pierce Christ, thus insulting even His lifeless body. But the insult issues in a miracle; for a miracle it is that blood should flow from a dead body.
Joh_19:40. Even now, in a certain sense, Christ is put to death by the avaricious, in the person of the poor man suffering famine. Be therefore a Joseph, and cover Christ’s nakedness.—From Herbert: Joh_19:34. Pierced His side;
If ye have anything to send or write,
(I have no bag, but here is room)
Unto My Father’s hand and sight
(Believe Me) it shall safely come.
That shall mind, what you impart;
Look, you may put it very near My heart.
Or if hereafter any of My friends
Will use me in this kind, the door
Shall still be open; what he sends
I will present, and somewhat more,
Not to his hurt. Sighs will convey
Anything to Me. Hark, despair, away.
[From Burkitt: Joh_19:31. Hence note the cursed hypocrisy of these Jews; they look upon themselves as strictly bound to observe an outward ceremony, but their consciences never scruple to violate the most weighty precepts of the moral law.
Joh_19:34. No cruelty was omitted towards Christ, either dead or alive, which might testify the great desert of our sin, nor was there any needful evidence wanting, which might make clear the truth of His death.
Joh_19:38-42. Grace doth not always make a public and open show where it is; but as there is much secret treasure unseen in the bowels of the earth, so is there much grace in the hearts of some saints, which the world takes little notice of.—We read of none of the apostles at Christ’s funeral; fear had put them to flight; but Joseph and Nicodemus appeared boldly: If God strengthen the weak, and leave the strong to the prevalency of their own fears, the weak shall be as David, and the strong as tow.
Joh_19:41. A sepulchre in a garden, to expiate Adam’s sin committed in a garden.
Joh_19:42. Of what use our Lord’s burial is to us His followers: It shows us the amazing depth of His humiliation, from what and to what His love brought Him, even from the bosom of His Father to the bosom of the grave, It may also comfort us against the fears of death; the grave could not long keep Christ, it shall not always keep us; it was a loathsome prison before, it is a perfumed bed now; he whose head is in heaven, need not fear to put his feet into the grave. Awake and sing, thou that dwellest in the dust, for the enmity of the grave is slain by Christ.
[From M. Henry: Joh_19:31. Passover Sabbaths are high days; sacrament-days, supper-days, communion-days, are high days, and there ought to be more than ordinary preparation for them, that these may be high days indeed to us, as the days of heaven.—The pretended sanctity of hypocrites is abominable; they made no conscience of bringing an innocent and excellent person to the cross, and yet scrupled letting a dead body hang upon the cross.
Joh_19:32. One of these thieves was a penitent, and had received from Christ an assurance that he should shortly be with Him in paradise, and yet died in the same pain and misery that the other thief did: the extremity of dying agonies is no obstruction to the living comforts that wait for holy souls on the other side of death.
Joh_19:33. Whatever devices are in men’s hearts, the counsel of the Lord shall stand:—It was fully designed to break His legs, but, God’s counsel being otherwise, see how it was prevented.
Joh_19:34. Through this window, opened in Christ’s side, you may look into His heart, and see love flaming there, love strong as death; see our own names written there.—When Christ, the second Adam, was fallen into a deep sleep upon the cross, then was His side opened, and out of it was His Church taken, which He espoused to Himself.—The blood and water that flowed out of it were significant: 1. Of the two great benefits which all believers partake of through Christ—justification and sanctification; blood for remission, water, for regeneration; blood for atonement, water for purification; 2. Of the two great ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.—Now was the rock smitten (1Co_10:4), now was the fountain opened (Zec_13:1), now were the wells of salvation digged,Isa_12:3. Here is the river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God.
Joh_19:36. Christ our passover is sacrificed for us,1Co_5:7. He is the Lamb of God (Joh_1:29), and, as the true Passover, His bones were kept unbroken.
Joh_19:38-42. Come and see a burial that conquered the grave, and buried it; a burial that beautified the grave, and softened it for all believers!
Joh_19:38. It was Joseph’s honor that he was a disciple of Christ, his weakness that he was so secretly.—Some who in lesser trials have been timorous, yet in greater have been very courageous.—The impotent malice of those that can but censure, and revile, and clamor, is sometimes more formidable even to wise and good men than one would think.—When God has work to do, He can find out such as are proper to do it, and spirit them for it.
Joh_19:39-40. Since God designed honor for His body, they would put honor upon it.
Joh_19:40; Joh_19:42. In conformity to this example, we ought to have regard to the dead bodies of Christians. The resurrection of the saints will be in virtue of Christ’s resurrection, and therefore in burying them we should have an eye to Christ’s burial.
Joh_19:41. In a garden Christ began His passion, and from a garden He would rise, and begin His exaltation.—He was buried in a new sepulchre: this was so ordered, 1. For honor; He that was born from a virgin-womb, must rise from a virgin-tomb; 2. For the confirming of the truth of His resurrection.
Joh_19:42. What is to be done on the evening before the Sabbath, should be so contrived that it may neither intrench upon Sabbath-time, nor indispose us for Sabbath-work.
[From Scott: Joh_19:31-42. Comparing the sacred oracles with the events which occur in the Church and in the world, our faith will be increased even by the most discouraging transaction.—From A Plain Commentary (Oxford): “If the Jews that stood by said truly of Him at Lazarus’ grave, Behold how He loved him! when He shed a few tears out of His eyes; much more truly may we say, Behold how He loved us! seeing Him shed both blood and water in great plenty out of His heart.” (Bishop Andrewes.)
Joh_19:38-42. Surely, this entire history has consecrated expensive funerals, and given a solemn sanction to care bestowed on burial-places, forever!
[From Krummacher: Joh_19:34. In the water and the blood are represented the most essential blessings of salvation: the water has a remote reference to baptism, but it chiefly symbolizes the moral purifying power of the word of Christ; the blood points out the ransom paid for our guilt, as well as the atoning sacrifice.—The blood flowed separately from the water; justification must not be mingled with, much less exchanged for, personal amendment.
Joh_19:38-39. Marvellous things occur in the vicinity of the cross. Two individuals, belonging to the first ranks in society, who, when Jesus still walked abroad in the majesty of His supernatural acts did not venture to make known their favorable impression respecting Him,—now, that the termination of His course seems to have stamped Him as a pitiable enthusiast, honor Him as their King before all the people. The germ of faith which, all at once, manifests itself so gloriously and so fully developed, had long lain in their hearts; from out of the thunder-cloud that brooded over Calvary, abundant grace has proceeded.—Christ crucified must be the object of our affections; therefore detach Him from the accursed tree, and deposit Him in your hearts, as your only consolation in life and death.
Joh_19:42. There they laid Jesus; The curse is removed from a sinful world, Deu_21:22-23.—Christ by His burial has consecrated and shed light upon the darkness of our graves.—From Jacobus: Joh_19:34-35. Our faith weeps, yet triumphs, as it sees the death-blow fall upon our Substitute, for in this we see our release.]
[Wordsworth, on Joh_19:41 : “Christ changes the valley of the shadow of death into a garden. Christ’s human body was laid in a natural garden. His human soul was in a spiritual garden (Luk_23:43), and by His death and burial He has prepared a garden for the souls and bodies of all who depart hence in the Lord; and He will make them to be like the dew of herbs (Isa_26:19), and to rise up and blossom in a glorious spring time. He provides Paradise, or a garden, for the departed soul (Luk_23:43), and He makes the grave itself to be a garden of Paradise; from which at the great Day the bodies of the faithful, which have been sown in hope, will rise in vernal beauty, and be united for ever in unfading glory to their souls.”—P. S.]
Footnotes:
Joh_19:35—[Cod. Sin. reads
ἀëçèÞò
, but against most authorities.—P. S.]
Joh_19:38.—
Ὁ Ἰùóὴö ἀðὸ Ἀñéìáèáßáò
. In support of the article A.J.
Ä
.; for th
e omission of the second
ὁ
before
ἀðü
A. B. D., etc. [Tischend., Alf., Westcott and Hort omit both articles, and read simply, with
à
and B:
Ἰùóὴö ἀðὸ Ἀñéìáèáßáò
—P. S.]
Joh_19:38.—[I read with
à
.3a B. L. X., etc., Lachm., Treg., Alf., Westc. and Hort,
ἦëèåí ïὗí êáὶ ἧñåí ôὸ óῶìá áὐôïῦ
. The text. rec. (with Vulg.) has
ôïῦ Ἰçóïῦ
instead of
áὐôïῦ
. Tischendorf ed. 8, follows the reading of
à
.*:
ἧëèïí ïὖí êáὶ Þ
̔
ñïí áἠôüí
: “they came therefore and took him away.”—P. S.]
Joh_19:41.—[A. D. Orig., Tischend., Tregelles and Alf., read
ἐôÝèç
), was laid; but
à
. B. Cyr., Westcott read:
ἦí ôåèåéìÝíïò
, had been laid; comp. Luk_23:53—P. S.]
[The aor. with augm. syllab. from
êáôÜãíõìé
, see Buttmann, II. 97, Winer, p. 68 (§ 12).—P. S.]
[So also Wordsworth (after the fathers). As Eve was taken from the side of sleeping Adam, so the church and the sacraments of the eucharist (blood) and baptism (water) emanated from the pierced side of the crucified Christ.—P. S.]
[There is a Swedenborgian Commentary on the Gospel of John by Rev. J. Clowes, 3d ed. London, 1853. It has only recently come into my hands, but presents very little that might have been worth quoting in this work. It consists almost entirely of extracts from Swedenborg’s writings, bearing or the “spiritual” sense of the spiritual Gospel.—P. S.]
