And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the Council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. And Pilate wondered if He were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether He was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that He was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. And he bought a linen shroud, and taking Him down, wrapped Him in the linen shroud, and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.
Mark 15:42-46
Christ is Risen!
Jesus Christ is fully God, and at the Incarnation became fully man. That is, He had the full experience of what it is to be a human being. He got tired. In John 4:6, we read Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, wearied as He was with His journey, sat down beside the well. He got thirsty. In John 4:7, we read There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” Jesus parlayed this request into a deeper dialogue with the woman, but it began with a simple request for her to alleviate His thirst.
Jesus had emotions. He enjoyed the company of friends, like His disciples, and others like Mary, Martha and Lazarus, in whose home he would stay when going to Jerusalem. He loved His mother. When Lazarus died, and Jesus came to the tomb, we are told in John 11:35 that Jesus wept. He had a normal human response to the death of a friend, it made Him cry.
When Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before His arrest and Passion, He was scared. In Luke 22:41-44, we read And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, “Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done.” And there appeared to Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly; and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling upon the ground.
The suffering of Jesus was voluntary. He says in John 10:17-18, “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from My Father.” However, even though Jesus came to His Passion voluntarily, that does not mean it was without suffering.
The Bible clearly details that Pilate had Jesus scourged. This involved being whipped with leader thongs onto which either small iron balls or sheep’s’ bones were affixed. The balls would cause bruising while the bones would rip shreds of skin away. The torture would continue until the victim was short of collapse. To this, the Romans added a crown of thorns and pressed it into Jesus’ head. Now in a state of dehydration and shock because of the massive amount of blood loss, Jesus then had to carry His heavy cross to Golgotha. At this point, Jesus had suffered so much that He collapsed under the weight of the cross and Symon of Cyrene had to help Him to carry it the rest of the way. After this Jesus was nailed to the cross, where the weight of His body pulled at the nails, which were iron spikes 3/8 of an inch thick according to historians. The legs were bent in an unnatural position, and Jesus would have had to push Himself up in order to keep breathing while in this state of constant agony. On top of the physical pain, there would have been the humiliation of being tortured and executed publicly. There was the taunting by the guards. The deriding by the people. And the sense of abandonment, by all the people who had cheered “Hosanna” only five days earlier, now screaming “Crucify Him!” And even more disconcerting, the abandonment by His disciples, His closest friends.
Then Jesus died. John 19:30 reads And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. This shows that Jesus was Lord even in death. In most movie scenes where someone dies, they stop breathing and then their head drops. In this instance, Jesus bowed His head and then gave up His spirit. As we physically define life and death, however, Jesus died. He stopped breathing, His organs stopped working.
In Mark 15:42-46, we read the account of Joseph of Arimathea asking for the body of Jesus. The Evangelist uses the word “dead” three times intentionally, to emphasize that Jesus passed away from this life, as we all will. He endured the ultimate indignity caused by the Fall, which was earthly death and consignment to Hades. We read in Mark 15:44-45: And Pilate wondered if He were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether He was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that He was dead, he granted the body to Joseph.
Jesus also was buried in a tomb. He was not cremated, which is one of the reasons why the church does not allow cremation. We are buried in imitation of the burial of Jesus. The Orthodox icon of the Resurrection depicts Jesus going down into Hades, which was the place that all were sent after death, and rescuing all those who were in Hades, beginning with Adam and Eve.
Today, He who suspended the earth in the waters is suspended on a cross. The King of the Angels wears a crown of thorns. He who wraps the sky in clouds is wrapped in a fake purple robe. He who freed Adam in the Jordan accepts to be slapped. The Bridegroom of the Church is fixed with nails to the cross. The Son of the Virgin is pierced with a spear. We worship Your Passion, O Christ. Show us also Your glorious Resurrection. (15th Antiphon, Orthros of Good Friday, Trans. by Fr. Seraphim Dedes)
There are some skeptics who will say that Jesus was in a coma and never really died. And some who will say as God He didn’t suffer as we did. Our faith hold that Jesus did suffer an excruciating amount of pain during the Passion and that He died and was buried.
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