When the Pharisaic party of the Sanhedrin, after hearing an unpleasant report about Jesus from those sent to seize Him, poured out blasphemies and threats, Nicodemus said in everyone's hearing:
"Does our Law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he has done?" (Jn 7:51).
From the spirit of the Gospel accounts it is clear that Joseph and Nicodemus acted in the matter of the Savior's burial by mutual agreement. If only Joseph came to Pilate with the request, this was surely because the cave where they wished to bury Jesus belonged to Joseph.
He therefore acted before Pilate as a kindly host, asking Pilate's permission to receive a dear guest. Thus Joseph and Nicodemus took down from the Cross the body of the Lord Jesus.
Two members of the Sanhedrin, two men respected among the whole people for wealth, knowledge, and personal worth, take down with their own hands the body of Jesus from the Cross.
They take down the very body which the Sanhedrin had made an object of general contempt. Is this not a loud proclamation, not only of the innocence, but also of the high dignity, of Jesus persecuted by the Sanhedrin?
The Sanhedrin repaid Nicodemus as it had repaid Joseph. It drove Nicodemus too from its assembly and from Jerusalem.
My listeners, two features especially strike us in Joseph and Nicodemus: their compassionate love for Jesus Christ, and their resolve, despite dangers, to fulfill the duty of compassion.
Shall we refuse to follow their beautiful example? They are blessed, highly blessed, because they were able to render the service of compassion to the Lord Jesus Himself. But can the same honor and the same blessedness not belong to us?
By love for our neighbors we can express our love for the Lord. What you do for the poor, you do for Me; and what you do not do for the unfortunate, you do not do for Me (Mt 25:37-40).
So our Lord told us. See how much compassionate love means. How can we refuse works of mercy and labors of compassion?
How can we fail to take upon ourselves the hardest labors and the most unpleasant tasks for self-love, for the sake of the poor and suffering? For we know that when we labor for them, we labor for the Lord.
In whatever form suffering humanity appears before us, and in whatever form we must offer help or consolation to poor humanity, let us not miss a single occasion to do good.
Let us hold the firm thought that the Lord refers our service to men to Himself, and will undoubtedly repay us for a work of love with love in eternity.
We do not have the means to do much for the suffering. Let us do what we can. There will be a reward even for our little, provided it comes from a sincere heart.
Believe that even a tear shed over one who suffers will not be forgotten. A kind word spoken to a poor man will be remembered there.
A piece of bread, perhaps unnecessary for us but sweet to the hungry man to whom we give it, will not be lost for us. An old garment with which we cover the nakedness of the helpless will benefit us ourselves.
Joseph and Nicodemus performed a work of compassion, having in view neither glory nor gain. On the contrary, for their deed the hatred of men awaited them.
Let us not be sad if we too must endure unpleasantness for our good. Then our reward is doubled, both for the work of love and for patiently bearing sorrow.
There is little benefit for us when on earth they give us what is ours. There is little benefit when we sound a trumpet about our charity (Mt 6:11-41).
But if we gather to a feast the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind, then we are blessed because they have nothing with which to repay us. We shall be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous (Lk 13:13-14).
Glory to our God. Amen.
For the last time, my listeners, it remains for us to speak of the Savior's sufferings. Behold, His tomb is before us. His tomb is not a tomb of earthly greatness. It is a tomb clothed with divine majesty.
Thanksgiving to You, humbled heavenly Goodness, for deeming us unworthy ones worthy to behold the works of Your self-emptying to the end.
"Nicodemus also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred litras. Then they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the custom of burial is" (Jn 19:39-40).
Among the Jews, the preparation of a body for burial, when they wished to give the rite splendor and solemnity as a sign of honor to the dead, consisted in costly spices.
Nicodemus brought a full hundred litras, or a hundred pounds, of spices. This was a mixture of myrrh and aloes. Myrrh is a costly resin from a fragrant Arabian tree.
Even more costly is aloe, a product of India, a fragrant plant that grows in the form of a reed. Myrrh and aloe were used in burial both as aromatic substances and as means of preserving the body from rapid decay.
These spices were used both dry and in the form of fragrant ointment. For the Savior's body they were used in the latter form, as the word "mixture" shows.
"The perfumer," says the son of Sirach, "makes a mixture from these" (Sir 38:8). Long before His death, the Savior foretold this preparation of His holy body for burial.
He did so when He spoke of Mary, who had anointed His feet with pure nard: "Leave her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial" (Jn 12:3, 7).
While Nicodemus's zeal supplied so many costly spices, Joseph bought a new, clean shroud (Mk 15:46). It was a linen cloth, the finest and very costly, called a sadin or sindon.
The Savior's body was washed, anointed with spices, wrapped in the sindon, tied with cords, and the head and face were covered with a sudarium, a narrow cloth.
"From everything," says Saint Chrysostom, "it is clear that they did not think very highly of Jesus, yet they showed complete love for Him."
Notice also, listeners, how the signs of deep respect for the great Dead One later became faithful heralds of Christ's Resurrection.
In the ordinary course of things, it could not happen that the cloths wrapped around the body with ointment, and firmly stuck to the body by the ointment, would separate from the breathless body.
Yet on the morning of the Resurrection John precisely saw the linen cloths lying alone in the tomb. Therefore, having come before Peter, he saw and believed (Jn 20:4-5, 8).
THEOSIS