As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
- Matthew 27:57-61 -
Make no mistake. The events that took place immediately after Jesus' death are historical. They are the legal evidence of the day. These are the witnesses of the day. There were no other types of recordings other than eyewitness accounts. No videos, no photographs, no voice recordings. All that was available was the testimony of those who were there to see the event. And if anyone wanted to talk to them to confirm what had occurred, they were quite possibly still alive when the written account of Matthew was "published", per se.
Who were these eyewitnesses? In these verses we have Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joses. In the rest of the chapter, the witnesses include many women (v. 55), Roman guards (v. 54) and chief priests and elders (v. 41). (The thieves that were crucified with Jesus were, of course, not available for a chat.)
The Gospel of Matthew is very dry and matter-of-fact about these accounts, but he was, after all a former tax collector whose chief skill is documenting accounts. Therefore, it seems obvious to follow that he was making an account of this event to ensure that Jesus' death was clearly and legally documented. Many to this day continue to refute the fact regardless of the legal evidence of the day.
But the prophetic significance of the witnesses in these verses must not be lost. To understand the significance of Joseph of Arimathea putting Jesus' body in his own new tomb, we go to Isaiah 53:9. "He was assigned a graves with the wicked and with the rich in His death." This highlights the fact that Jesus' atoning sacrifice was for all - not only for the wicked, but also for the rich; not only for the rich, but also for the wicked.
As to the witness of the women, there is no old testament prophetic reference. But there is an inference that the women who were involved in Jesus' life were also significant in His death. Their status in the Kingdom was, in a word, promoted. Indeed, the barrier between life and death was not the only thing that had been shattered, but many other curses as well. In this case, the curse of women being subservient to men, as had been judged by Jahweh in Genesis 3:16. Indeed Paul also recognized this in Galatians 3:28.
It is impossible to diminish the significance of the event of the cross. By the event of the cross, I am meaning that we must include Jesus' resurrection. It is a real event. But more than this, what was witnessed had a reverberating impact in unseen realms, removing the delineations of time, space, matter and energy. And, of course, removing all social delineations. The spiritual aerodynamics, so to speak, have changed with those three days in which the proverbial sound barrier was forever broken.
Learn to fly in this new way!
