John 19:41Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Since little time remained to them, they laid Him in the nearest tomb. The death of Christ had taken place at the ninth hour. Naturally, while they went to Pilate and removed the body from the cross, evening had already come, when work could no longer be done.

It was arranged that Christ should be laid in a new tomb, in which no one had been laid before. Thus the Resurrection could not be attributed to someone else lying with Him. Because the place was near, the disciples could easily come and be eyewitnesses of what had happened. Not only they, but also the enemies, became witnesses of the burial.

For "in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb." It is arranged that the tomb is nearby. Therefore the disciples can come and be eyewitnesses and witnesses of what happened. Soldiers can be stationed to guard it, and talk of theft will be out of place. None of this could have happened if Jesus had been buried far away.

The "tomb" was "new, in which no one had yet been laid." This was arranged so that the Resurrection could not be misinterpreted, as though someone else had risen and not Jesus. And in another sense, the new tomb figuratively showed that through the Lord's tomb there would be renewal from death and corruption, and in it we shall all be renewed.

Thus He who appeared in the flesh among the dead was numbered among the dead for our sake, although in Himself and according to His Father He is understood, and truly is, Life. To fulfill all righteousness, plainly that which befits the human manner of being, He willingly subjected His temple not only to death, but also to the burial and entombment that followed.

It was "in a garden," and indeed in a "new" tomb, says the writer of the Gospel. This circumstance, as though in figure and example, indicates to us that the death of Christ became for us the beginning and cause of entrance into paradise. For He "entered as a forerunner on our behalf." Indeed, what else can the carrying and placing of the dead Jesus "in a garden" signify?

Just as no one was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary before Him or after Him, so also no one was buried in this tomb before Him or after Him. Just as no one was conceived in Mary's womb before Him and no one after Him, so also in this tomb no one was buried before Him and no one after Him.

Long before Joseph opened a way into this tomb, the glory of this place was prophesied by Isaiah: "And His rest shall be glory" (Is 11:10). That is, the place of the Lord's burial will be honored by all. Christ Himself is a Virgin. His Virgin Mother is both Mother and Virgin. For Jesus entered through closed doors, and in His tomb, new and hewn in the hardest rock, no one was laid either before or after Him. Cf. Jn 20:19.

The stone is providentially rolled against the tomb, lest it be robbed. Let the one who lovingly buries Christ within himself watch carefully over himself, lest unbelief enter and he suffer loss. Note that Peter and John were the first deemed worthy to enter the tomb, but John did not enter it before he believed.

It is also fitting that the tomb was hewn in rock, that is, in the firmness of faith. From this rock true Israelites were nourished with the sweetness of honey and spiritual oil (cf. Deut 32:13; Rev 10:9; Prov 16:24). Christ was buried by a righteous man and by one who had seen God. Only those who believe that He is God can bury Christ.

This too has been discussed in the interpretation of the twenty-seventh chapter of Matthew (Mt 27). Joseph and Nicodemus wished to place the body of Jesus Christ in another, better tomb farther from the city. But because of the Jewish Friday, that is, the feast observed by the Jews from evening, they could neither go far nor do anything else. Especially because Pascha was already beginning, they placed His body in the nearest tomb. Divine Providence had so arranged it, so that the women could see where the body was laid, and the disciples, because of the nearness, could come and see the miracles accomplished there.

I foretold in the songs concerning the vineyard to My Bride herself, and I spoke these words to her: "I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride" (Song 5:1).

Near Golgotha there was a garden belonging to Joseph. In that garden there was a tomb, hewn in the rock, which he had prepared for himself. It was a cave in which, until that time, no one had yet been buried.

In that place means near that place, not far away. There was a garden, and in the garden a tomb. According to the account of the Evangelist Matthew, the tomb belonged to Joseph himself (Mt 27:60), and probably the garden also. New, and so forth: see the note on Lk 23:52.

The nearness of Joseph's burial cave to Golgotha was pleasing to the friends of Jesus also because the approaching Sabbath rest required pious children of Israel to bury quickly. The cave was 108 steps from the place of the Savior's crucifixion.

Joseph had prepared the cave in his garden for himself, filled with the thought that death might overtake him either in Arimathea or in Jerusalem, where he often lived because of his office. As a wealthy Israelite, he made it in the finest manner. The cave was hewn in the rock. It was not dug in soft earth or built of stones. It resembled a living room. It was rather spacious and so high that a man standing could scarcely reach its vault with his hand.

Garden, that is, a garden. This garden, belonging to Joseph, was near Golgotha.