John 19:40Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The new tomb points to the new and extraordinary ascent from death to life, and to the rebirth from corruption granted to us through Christ. For our death is new. In the death of Christ, according to its meaning and power, it is changed into a kind of sleep. For we are alive to God, as we ought to live, according to the Scriptures (Rom 6:11).

For this reason blessed Paul everywhere calls the dead those who have fallen asleep in Christ. Once the power of death ruled over our nature and reigned "from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression" (Rom 5:14). We bore the image of the man of dust, being subjected, like him, to death according to the divine curse.

But when the second Adam shone forth for us, divine and from heaven, He contended for the life of all. By the death of His flesh He redeemed the life of all, destroyed the dominion of death, and came to life again. Then we too were transformed into the image corresponding to Him. We undergo, as it were, a certain new death. It does not dissolve us into endless corruption, but casts us into a sleep full of fair hope. This is plainly according to the likeness of Christ, who renewed this path also for us.

But if someone wishes to give another interpretation of the tomb being called new, and of no one having been laid in it before, he may say this. The tomb is called new, in which no one had ever lain, so that it might be believed that no one other than Jesus rose.

And it seems to me that the Evangelist did not decide in vain to say: "as the custom of the Jews is to bury." By this, surely, if I am not mistaken, he admonished us that in duties of this kind, which concern the dead, the custom of a people should be observed, whatever it may be.

Righteous Joseph covered Christ with a good linen cloth. Perhaps Peter saw this cloth, when it descended to him from heaven, containing all kinds of four-footed creatures, beasts, and birds, as a figure of the Gentile peoples (cf. Acts 10:11). The Church is buried, anointed with a mysterious and precious fragrance, having united diverse peoples by converting them to her faith.

They wrapped the body of Jesus, according to the custom of spiritual Jews, not with the bonds of unbelief, but with the linen bands of faith. They laid Him in a garden, with which the Church is often compared (cf. Jn 19:41; Song 4:12; Eccl 2:5). In her are the fruits of various merits and the flowers of virtues.

Therefore burial was carried out on the same day as death, before sunset. In general, it was marked by haste (Acts 5:6-10).

"First of all they closed the dead man’s eyes and mouth," says Maimonides. "Then they washed him, anointed him with aromatic substances, and wrapped him in pieces of white linen" (Tract. Ebel. c. 4, § 1; see Friedlieb, p. 171).

These brief indications by the ancient Hebrew scholar find partial confirmation and explanation in the Bible. The custom of closing the dead man’s eyes was practiced already in remote antiquity (Gen 46:4). Perhaps the dead man was also kissed at this time (Gen 50:1).

The washing of the corpse was also customary (Acts 9:37). After this they wrapped it in a clean σινδών (Mk 15:46), a white cotton fabric. They wrapped the head in a separate piece of the same fabric, called σουδάριον (Jn 20:7; 11:44).

Burial naked was considered a disgrace for the whole people. For this reason burial cloths for the poor were purchased at public expense.

Aromatic substances were placed on the corpse and between the bands. Their abundance and value naturally depended upon the rank and condition of those conducting the burial. Thus, at Herod’s burial there were five hundred bearers for these spices (Antiqu. XVII, 8, 3; Bell. jud. I, 33, 9).

Sometimes they also anointed the body of the dead with spices (2 Chr 16:14; Jn 19:40; cf. 12:7; Mk 16:1; Lk 24:1). But this was not Egyptian embalming.

According to Herodotus (II, 86), that lengthy process lasted seventy days. It was performed upon the bodies of Jacob and Joseph in Egypt. In Palestine the custom of embalming bodies ceased with the patriarchs.

When the corpse had been prepared in this way, they placed it not in a coffin like ours, but on an open bier or stretcher, מטה (2 Sam 3:31; 2 Chr 16:14; Lk 7:14).

Such a royal funeral bier was often very richly adorned (Antiqu. XVII, 8, 3). A numerous crowd followed it, accompanying the deceased with loud weeping (Gen 50:10; 2 Sam 3:31-34; Jer 22:18; cf. 34:5).

In later times, this duty came to be fulfilled by women who were professional mourners (Jer 9:17). They began their lament even in the dead man’s house.

They did so in such a way that the laments and cries of one were taken up and repeated by the chorus of all the others. This corresponded to the division of each verse of such a lamentation song into two halves.

In the Bible we find songs by David on the deaths of Saul, Jonathan, and Abner (2 Sam 1:19-27; 3:33-34; see also 2 Chr 35:25).

This mournful vocal music, sometimes joined with instrumental music, especially funeral flutes (Mt 9:23; 11:17), followed the dead man’s bier all the way to the place of burial.

With a long piece of fine linen, Σινδών καθαρά (Mt 27:59), in his hands, Joseph hurries from Pilate to Golgotha.

Meanwhile, during this time Golgotha had completely changed its appearance. The guard was no longer visible. Having carried out Pilate’s order, they considered their business finished.

The numerous crowd that had only recently pressed together there had also dispersed. The wondrous events that accompanied the death of the God-man forced these frivolous people instinctively to feel something great and extraordinary.

Beating their breasts, they went back to their homes (Lk 23:48). The voices of the leaders of the crowd were also silent. Now only the triumph of their deed remained to them.

Golgotha is quiet. Only a few gazes rest in prayer upon the Dead One. A few hearts beat faster than usual, impatiently awaiting Joseph’s return.

Mary Magdalene is standing there, with Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses. Perhaps some other Galilean women devoted to the Savior are also there (Mt 27:55-56, 61; Mk 15:40-41, 47).

There too, probably, stand waiting the disciple whom the Dead One loved so greatly, and the holy Mother whom the Son had entrusted to that disciple’s care.

There too, finally, is another secret disciple of the Lord, Nicodemus, who had come to Him for a conversation by night.

Having heard with joy the good news from the returning Joseph, they hasten to render the last earthly duty to the Dead One. The body is taken down from the Cross not by the coarse hands of soldier-executioners, but by Joseph’s loving hand.

The new tomb hewn in the rock was surrounded by a shady garden. This garden was so near Golgotha that the Evangelist John places it directly where Jesus Christ was crucified (Jn 19:41).

Such nearness to a place far more convenient for the necessary preparations for burial than the open summit of Golgotha probably moved them to carry the Lord’s body into Joseph’s garden immediately after taking it down from the Cross.

There, having washed the wounds clotted with blood, they wrap Him in a clean σινδών, the shroud. They wrap His royal head in a separate cloth, the σουδάριον.

They abundantly sprinkle the burial linen cloths, the ὀθόνια, with the hundred litrai of myrrh and aloes brought by Nicodemus (Jn 19:39-40).

After this, silent and immersed in deep grief, Joseph and Nicodemus quietly lift the holy body. Entering the tomb, they carefully lay it on the single bed hewn there.

The Lord’s tomb had precisely such a bed, in the form of a bench, and not loculi. This is clear from what happened on the third day.

When Mary came to the tomb and bent down toward the low entrance of the cave, she saw "two angels in white, sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain" (Jn 20:11-12).

This could not have been said of a loculus.

Having thus rendered the last earthly tribute to the Dead One, by their combined efforts they roll up the golal, a large stone, and close the entrance to the burial chamber with it.

This was always done to protect the place from the ravaging of wild beasts. Since every contact with a tomb, even involuntary contact, made a Jew unclean, such stones were covered on top with white or red plaster.

This was especially so when tombs stood somewhere in an open field, so that they could be seen from far away. In the month of Adar, after the rainy season, the plaster was renewed.

From this came the comparison of the Pharisees to whitewashed tombs (Mt 23:27).

The rapidly advancing twilight, with which the feast day already began, forces them to hurry greatly with the burial. Nevertheless, considering the rite unfinished, the women present there return home and prepare still more "spices and ointments" (Lk 23:56).

They intended to anoint the body with them as soon as the Sabbath had passed. But their concern was in vain. Their spices were never to touch the most pure body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This event forms the last and final link in the history of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. A few more hours after it, and those whom Providence had destined to be the first followers of the divine Teacher were already telling one another with joy and fear of His Resurrection.

Yet having reached this final point in the history of the Savior’s sufferings, we have by no means fulfilled the task of our investigation.

Where, in the Jerusalem of our own day, is that path by which the Lord Jesus Christ passed, amid the numerous crowd, from Pilate’s judgment hall to the place of execution?

Where is Golgotha, that place of horror and shame for the ancient Jews, which became sacred for all Christians? Where, finally, is the tomb of the Savior of the world?

Where is that greatest of holy places, which draws thousands of pilgrims to Jerusalem from every land of the world? These questions are so important and extensive that their solution requires a separate chapter.

Then Nicodemus said before all: "Does our law judge a man without first hearing him and learning what he has done?" (Jn 7:51).

From the spirit of the Gospel accounts it is clear that Joseph and Nicodemus acted by mutual agreement in the matter of the Savior’s burial. If Joseph alone went to Pilate with the request, it was certainly because the cave belonged to Joseph.

It was there that they wished to bury Jesus. Therefore he acted before Pilate as a kindly host, asking Pilate’s permission to receive a precious guest into his own place.

Thus Joseph and Nicodemus took down from the Cross the body of the Lord Jesus. Two members of the Sanhedrin, two men honored by the whole people for wealth, knowledge, and personal worth, take down Jesus’ body with their own hands.

They take down the very body which the Sanhedrin had exposed to public contempt. Is this not a loud proclamation, not only of the innocence, but also of the high dignity of Jesus, whom the Sanhedrin persecuted?

The Sanhedrin repaid Nicodemus as it repaid Joseph. It expelled Nicodemus also from its assembly and from Jerusalem.

My hearers, two features especially strike us in Joseph and Nicodemus. These are 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 happy, supremely happy, because they could render a service of compassion to the Lord Jesus Himself. But can the same honor, the same happiness, not also belong to us?

Through love for our neighbors we can express our love for the Lord. What you do for the poor, you do for Me. What you do not do for the unfortunate, you do not do for Me (Mt 25:37-40).

So our Lord has said to us. See how much compassionate love means. How can we refuse works of mercy and labors of compassion?

How can we fail to accept the heaviest labors and the most self-denying tasks for the poor and suffering, when we know that by laboring for them, we labor for the Lord?

In whatever form suffering humanity appears before us, and in whatever form we must give help or consolation to poor humanity, let us miss no occasion to do good.

Let us keep the firm thought that the Lord refers our service to men to Himself. Without doubt He will repay our deed of love with love in eternity.

We have no means to do much for the suffering. Let us do what we can. There will be a reward even for our little, if only it comes from a sincere heart.

Believe this: a tear shed for the suffering will not be forgotten. A kind word spoken to a poor man will be remembered there. A piece of bread, perhaps needless to us, will not be lost to us.

It is sweet to the hungry man to whom we give it. A worn garment with which we cover the nakedness of the helpless will benefit us ourselves.

Joseph and Nicodemus performed a work of compassion, seeking neither glory nor gain. On the contrary, the hatred of men awaited them for their deed.

Let us not be sad if we too must suffer unpleasantness for our good deed. Then our reward is twofold, both for the work of love and for the endurance of affliction.

There is little benefit to us when we receive our reward on earth. There is little benefit when we sound a trumpet about our almsgiving (Mt 6:11-41).

But if we gather the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind to a feast, then we are blessed. We are blessed because they have nothing with which to repay us.

Yet we shall be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous (Lk 13:13-14).

Glory to our God. Amen.

For the last time, my hearers, it remains for us to speak of the sufferings of the Savior. Behold, His tomb is before us. His tomb is not a tomb of earthly majesty.

It is a tomb clothed with divine majesty. Thanks be to Thee, humbled Goodness of heaven, for Thou dost count us, the unworthy, worthy to behold the works of Thy self-emptying to the end.

Nicodemus also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the custom is for burial (Jn 19:39-40).

Among the Jews, if they wished to give the rite splendor and magnificence as a sign of honor to the dead, the preparation of the body for burial consisted in precious aromatics.

Nicodemus brought a full hundred litrai, or a hundred pounds, of aromatics. This was a mixture of myrrh and aloes. Myrrh is the costly resin of a fragrant Arabian tree.

Aloes are still more costly. They are a product of India, growing in reedlike form, and are also fragrant. Myrrh and aloes were used in burial both as fragrant substances and as means to keep the body from rapid decay.

These aromatics were used both dry and in the form of a 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 with 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 anointed His feet with pure nard: "Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial" (Jn 12:3, 7).

While Nicodemus’ zeal supplied so many precious aromatics, Joseph bought a new, clean shroud (Mk 15:46). This was linen, the finest and very costly cloth, called sadin or sindon.

The Savior’s washed body was anointed with aromatics, wrapped in the sindon, bound with cords, and His head and face were covered with a sudarium, a narrow towel.

"From everything," says St. Chrysostom, "it is clear that they did not think very highly of Jesus, yet they showed Him complete love."

Notice also, hearers, how the signs of deep reverence for the great Dead One later became faithful messengers of Christ’s Resurrection.

In the ordinary course of things, the cloths wrapped around the body with ointment, and firmly attached to the body by the ointment, could not have separated from the lifeless body.

Yet on the morning of the Resurrection John clearly saw the linen cloths lying alone in the tomb. Therefore he who came before Peter saw and believed (Jn 20:4, 5, 8).