Mark 15:40-47 - Evidence & Faithfulness

We’re diving into Mark 15:40-47, where we witness the somber yet pivotal moments following Christ’s death—His burial and the faithful actions of those who loved Him. These verses unpack the courage of Joseph of Arimathea and the devotion of the women who followed Jesus to the cross and tomb, offering a glimpse into the cost of true faithfulness. We’ll explore how their actions point us to the reality of Christ’s death and the hope of His resurrection, even when all seemed lost. Join me as we dig into God’s Word and look to Jesus, our true hope!

Transcript

109 - Mark 15:40-47 - Evidence & Faithfulness

Intro

• If you have your Bibles please open with me to Mark 15 and find verse 40…
  • Today we close out another chapter in the Gospel of Mark…
• The chapter we will be closing out deals with the events that follow the death of Christ.
  • Namely, His burial and how it came about.
• Before we read these verses I want to remind you of some of what Jesus endured so that we can remember the horrors of His final hours.
  • Let us begin in this consideration in the garden, prior to His arrest, Jesus was found to be in deep agony.
  • Mark records Jesus’ words to His most trusted three apostles…
    • Mark 14:34c - “...he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death…”
    • Luke records this garden prayer and adds the detail of Him sweating drops of blood.
      • That He was in such anguish and pain that blood dripped from His brow.  
      • Again, this before the arrest, He just knew what was to come.
  • In the midst of this time of prayer He is intreputed and arrested…
    • He is then carried before a mock trial in the middle of the night where He is hit, spat on, and mocked.
    • This is just the beginning, they desire His death and will settle for nothing less.
  • So, He is carried before the Roman authority, Pontious Pilate, where He is officially condemned to die.
    • A part of that process was the Roman scourge where he was beaten beyond recognition.  
      • This is a process we talked about a few weeks ago, it was intended to inflict pain and suffering and bring the one who is being whipped nearly to the point of death.
      • However, the scourge was not intended to bring about death, it was meant to prepare the person for execution by crucifixion.  
    • As was the case for Christ, who was not only whipped till His back looked like hamburger meat, but was then mocked again with false worship and a crown of thorns. 
  • After this He was forced to walk to the cross, bearing the beam that He would soon be fastened to.  
    • Although He was too weak to carry it the full way, His broken body crumpled under the weight of the beam and another assisted Him to the place of His suffering.
    • They came to Golgotha, the Place of a Skull, and it was there they pierced His hands and His feet and suspended Him between earth and heaven.
  • For six hours He hung upon the cross naked and completely exposed…
    • In pain, suffering, humiliation, and…
      • Most importaly…
    • Enduring the judgment of God…
  • The final three hours He was alive was met with an unnatural darkness in the middle of the day.
    • Then, at His death the curtain of the Temple was torn in two, the darkness was lifted, and His work of Redemption was complete.
  • Anyone who looked upon the death of Jesus realized it was no ordinary death, even the Roman centurion testified, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
• I walk you through the final 12 hours of Jesus' life, just briefly, so that we keep in mind that those we are about to read about here in just a moment bore witness to this…
  • It is important that we read these verses with the mindset of Christ having just breathed His last.
    • Our chapter will end and Christ will be securely in the grave…
    • And though He had told the Apostles that He would rise after three days…
      • There does not seem to be any indication that there was any hope at all in a resurrection.
  • Instead what we find in this chapter and the start of the next is the response of those who loved Jesus and wanted to honor Him in His death.
• So as we read these verses let us do so with the intent to place ourselves in the shoes of those who watched these things unfold and still sought to do good to our Lord.
  • With that let us read our passage and open in prayer…

Mark 15:40-47

• These final verses of this chapter are given to us to offer us a clear understanding of what occurred following the death of Christ.
  • This is such an important part of the story that it is found in all four Gospels…
    • In each Gospel we see the women mentioned, watching from a distance and desiring to care for the body of Christ.
    • In each Gospel we find this Joseph of Arimathea, though unmentioned before or after, it is clear, he must have thought very highly of Jesus.
  • I point out that this is in all four Gospels because that testifies to these being crucial details even of the Gospel.
    • It is without dispute that one of the first confessions of the early church was penned down in the New Testament and found in 1 Corinthians 15.
      • Paul writes…
      • 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 - “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received:...
        • [Paul here reminding theses believers of the Gospel and what he preached and what they claimed to believe]
        • [He continues…]
      • …that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 
        • [This is a primary thing, it is without dispute, if you do not believe that Christ died for our sins then you are not a Christian, it is contrary to the Gospel message itself.]
        • [However, Paul does not stop there but continues, in verse 4 he writes…]
      • …4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,”
    • I share this confession with you so that you see that it is vital to believe that Jesus was indeed buried.
  • This may seem as a minor thing to consider today, but we must again place ourselves in the time of the first century under Roman rule.
• I would ask you to consider with me for a moment what would be the fate of most who were crucified?
  • If you were to do some research you would find that most often those who were crucified were left upon the cross for days or even months.
    • As much as the cross was meant for punishment for those who did wrong it was also meant for a deterrent to keep people in line.
    • So often crucifixions would occur in very public places and even along roadways.
    • So that it would be unavoidable to miss what Rome would do if you rebelled against them.  
    • Many of these victims were never buried but were consumed by the wildlife.  
  • Now as cruel as Rome was they did seem to allow, at times, the permission to remove a body before special Jewish days.
    • Even though that was the case, what often happened to the body of the one crucified was that they were placed in a common and shallow grave.
    • Surely this would have been the case for Christ had it not been for Joseph’s kindness.
    • And so, because of his boldness, he was granted the body of Jesus.
  • This would have been an unusual request and certainly not one that would have been granted for just anyone, which clearly makes this stand out.
• This passage is important for us to consider from two standpoints…
  • First, it is important for us to consider from an apologetics standpoint…
  • Second, it is important for us to consider this from a faithfulness standpoint…
• One is intended to cause our faith to be strengthened, the other is intended for us to ask, am I being faithful?
  • Both are of great use for us today, so let us step into our first look as we consider…

The Apologetics of This Passage

• When I use the word apologetics I want to be clear what I am referring to…
  • That is because some when hearing that word link it to the word apology, so it can cause people to think that we are apologizing for holding certain ideas to be true.
  • That is entirely incorrect and could not be farther from the truth of what apologetics really is…
    • The idea of apologetics comes from 1 Peter 3:15 which reads…
      • 1 Peter 3:15a - “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense [or in the Greek - ap-ol-og-ee’-ah] to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;...”
        • Peter commands us to be ready, to defend the hope we have in Christ.
      • That, church, is what apologetics is, a defense of the faith.  
    • A big part of that defense is us understanding the eyewitness testimony and the physical evidence of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection.
  • This is exactly what we are going to consider now as we look at these verses, starting with…
• The Witnesses…
  • We see three groups of witnesses across these verses, let us start with the first group that is named and mentioned more than the others.
    • The Women…
      • Vs. 40-41
        • Several here are named and mentioned, and it is not just here but in various places throughout the Gospels.
          • They have followed Jesus, they have ministered and cared for Him.
        • They watched them crucify Him, they stayed even after He breathed His last.
        • They continued to follow His body even as it was laid in a grave…
          • Jump to verse 47, the final verse of our passage.
      • Vs. 47
        • They watched with intent in mind, they were not only going to know where He was laid, but they would be following up in days to come.
          • Since we are told it was a day of Preparation we know that the Sabbath was to follow.
          • Which means they would have been prevented from coming back the next day and had to be finished by sun down. 
        • Scripture tells us though that they did come back and because of that they were the first to hear of the Resurrection.
        • I know it is outside our text but please turn your attention to Mark 16 verse 1.
      • Mark 16:1-2
        • As you can see, these women are mentioned by name and referenced several times solidifying their testimony of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord.
    • However, they were not alone, we also see…
  • The Romans…
    • As we have discussed they were professional killers and certainly knew when someone had died.
      • This centurion who testified of Christ being the Son of God was also the one responsible for being sure that He was indeed dead.
      • Which is why we find Pilate checking with this man, look with me at verse 45.
    • Vs. 45
      • Two things to point out…
        • First, let me draw your attention to the simple way that Mark references the body of Christ.
          • Pointing out that what they are discussing is in fact a corpse…
          • It is a dead body that they are determining what to do with.
        • Second, though, Pilate addresses the centurion because he was responsible for the death.
          • If Christ had not really been killed then this man was taking his own life in his hand to lie to the Roman official.
            • It would have been a failed crucifixion, a failed duty that was assigned to him.
          • His task, however, was accomplished, Jesus was dead and no one knew it better than the Roman centurion.
        • His confession may perhaps be one of the most important…
          • Because this man had nothing to gain by preserving the life of Jesus…
          • And everything to lose by not seeing the execution through.
        • So we see the women, we see the Romans, and…
      • There is another mentioned in these verses that would have handled the body of Christ and could testify to His death.
    • And that was…
  • The Arimathean… 
    • Joseph, this “respected member of the council”, would have handled the body of Christ.
      • He would have aided in removing Him from the cross, pulling down His broken and blood stained body.
      • He would have helped wrap Him, though quick as it was, and he would have brought Jesus to his own tomb.
    • We will talk about this more in just a few moments but consider how risky this was for this man…
      • He opposed the council that just crucified Jesus, he publicly stood against what they had done to Jesus.
      • He laid Jesus in his own tomb, provided the burial cloth, and made himself ceremonially unclean for the upcoming Sabbath.
    • Yet beyond that much of who he was and what role he played after the fact is a mystery.
      • Outside of the four Gospels where his actions in this moment are retold he is not mentioned anywhere else in the scripture.
      • We assume that he continued to follow Jesus, and was a part of the early church but we have nothing to document that.
    • However, I would say that if he was willing to follow Jesus and risk so much to bury a dead carpenter, how much more do you think he was willing to follow Jesus after He rose again?
  • These eye witnesses are crucial to the story of Christ and remind us that His death and His burial did not exist in a vacuum but happened for all the world to see.
    • Along with these witnesses we also see… 
• The Physical Evidence…
  • These are parts of the story that are critical and that would have been changed after the resurrection.
    • First, let us consider the burial cloth, what is called in the scripture, the “linen shroud” or “fine linen”, it was what they wrapped Jesus up in.
      • This we are told plainly was left behind, Luke records this detail for us…
        • Luke 24:12 - “But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.”
      • This is a subtle detail but an example of something physical that Jesus left behind after He rose from the dead.
        • Just recently I have had the opportunity to learn a bit about some claims upon a linen shroud called the…
          • Shroud of Turin…
        • The claim is that it was the burial cloth that held the body of Jesus.
      • Where many would say that it is a hoax or it is a fake, and others would say it is unnecessary to even consider…
        • However, I believe that may change if we rightly consider this cloth.
          • I would simply put it in the category of possible archeological discovery.
        • Not something that has special mystical powers, but that can testify to the validity of the burial and resurrection of Jesus.  
      • Whereas, it adds nothing to our doctrine that we teach or the scripture we believe, it can potentially remove barriers for those who reason that Jesus did not rise from the grave.  
      • To that I would encourage you to look it up and give it a listen…
        • All you have to do is look up Dr. Jeremiah Johnson and the Shroud of Turin and you will find his claims and his presentation.  
      • Whether or not this still exists today, we do know for sure, but what is clear is that Christ left it behind when He rose again…
    • Second, let us consider the burial tomb…
      • Though Joseph probably assumed that he was giving this to Jesus, it turns out that Jesus only needed it on loan for two nights…
        • Much like the linen cloth, the tomb, testifies that a body that had once laid there exists there no more.
        • It points to the resurrection and makes clear the claims that Jesus did not stay in the grave.
      • More than that though, consider how well documented this moment was…
        • We have already talked about the eye witnesses that watched where Jesus was laid.
        • What we have not discussed is what Mark fails to record, not only did many watch where Jesus was laid but…
          • Pilate even presented a squad of soldiers to guard the tomb.
          • Can you imagine the task given to these men…
            • Guarding the dead body of a man who was crucified…
            • Whose body is in a cave behind a large stone that is sealed…
          • Easy, no problem, I bet they did not guard anyone the same way after this experience…
      • The point is, everyone knew where Jesus was laid, and no one could deny the empty tomb.
    • Lastly, let us consider the stone that covered the entrance…
      • Large enough to block the entrance, large enough for the women to be concerned with who would move it…
        • Mark 16:3
      • It became another piece of physical evidence that pointed to the burial of Christ but also testified to the risen savior.
  • We will not dwell on this point but it is also worth considering, along with all the other evidence, that Jesus truly was buried.
• So I remind you believers that we have good reason to trust and believe what the Bible teaches regarding the death, burial, and the resurrection of Jesus.
  • People are named, guards are present, physical evidence exists that validates the claims made in scripture.
    • Now I want to be clear, scripture is certainly enough…
      • However, for those who struggle with believing what the Bible has to say…
      • We have those who have given themselves to the work of apologetics and have aided in removing bearers for those who are more skeptical in nature.
    • I would encourage you to continue to look into these things so you can be ready to defend your faith if that time arises…
  • Now, let us turn our attention to…

The Faithfulness Found in this Passage

• As we consider the faithful and their efforts in these verses it is worth nothing at the start who all is missing…
  • The apostles have not been mentioned since Peter denied Christ all the way back at the end of Mark 14.  
    • Even here we do not find them carrying for their master, others arise and care for the body of Jesus.
  • Women who have followed are more bold and faithful than those our Lord chose to be apostles.  
    • This is a hard thing but it is worth remembering.
  • However, it is not worth dwelling upon…
    • Because even though we do not see the faith of the apostles on display in this passage…
    • We find others that rise to the occasion and we find their faithfulness clearly on display. 
• Starting with these faithful women…
  • Several who are named, some that are named outside of this passage, however think with me about how our Lord rewarded their faithfulness.
    • Who were the first witnesses of our Lord's Resurrection?
      • Was it not some of these?
    • Who was the first to testify that Christ has Risen?
      • Was it not those who had watched Him die just days before?
  • These faithful women who had followed Christ and ministered to Him…
    • Who had looked on mournfully as He breathed His last, and who had sought to care for His corpse.
    • What faithful women these were, and what a great lesson we can learn from them.
      • They were powerless to stop the crucifixion, they did not have the influence or the clout to remove His body…
      • But they were not going to ignore it, though, when the opportunity arose to care for the body of Jesus…
      • They were there and they were willing and faithful to do all that they could do at this time.
    • Truly a remarkable thing and a sign of their commitment to Jesus…
      • It is admirable as we consider what they did, but more than that it brings us to the question…
      • Would we have done the same?
        • Would we have done all that we could have done or would we have avoided the scene altogether?
        • Sometimes we have the temptation when we feel powerless to act as the apostles did and flee from the situation.
      • I would challenge us to instead be as these women were, powerless but willing to do whatever they could when the opportunity presented itself.
    • So before we move forward let us ask, are we as faithful as these?
  • They are not alone in this passage, we also see this…
• Joseph of Arimathea…
  • One who had much to lose and nothing to gain by his actions…
    • As we have already discussed he was a part of the council that put Jesus to death.
    • He is, at this point, actively working against the council he is a part of, do you think that will go well for him?
      • I do not think it will, instead I think he is certainly going to face criticism and possibly even persecution for his efforts.
  • What is remarkable is that he would not have had any indication that Jesus would be anything more than what He was at this time.
    • Again, he had nothing to gain by caring for the body of this supposed messiah.
    • Yet he took courage and approached Pilate to request the body to hastily prepare it and bury it in his own tomb.
  • In this he showed his faithfulness to our Lord…
    • In the face of opposition…
    • In the face of nothing to gain…
  • He laid aside his own comfort, his own security, his own possessions, and served the king of Kings…
    • Yet in this he actually showed that he had much to gain and that Christ is worth losing everything for.
    • Because Christ did not stay in the grave but He rose in victory defeating sin, death, and the grave.
  • To the glory of the Father and to the hope of any who would place their faith in Him.
• Before we leave Joseph behind let us again consider this for ourselves…
  • Would we follow Jesus if it meant costing us possessions and positions?
  • Would we follow Jesus if we knew it could mean suffering as He did?
  • Would we follow Jesus when the crowd we are a part of is the crowd shouting “crucify Him!”?
• I fear that many today are fair weather followers who are willing to play the game just as long as it does not get too costly…
  • JC Ryle, who I have quoted often throughout our study in Mark, once made a statement that is worthy of our consideration on this point…
    • “There is a common, worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have enough—a cheap Christianity which offends nobody, and requires no sacrifice—which costs nothing, and is worth nothing.”
  • On the landscape of the time in which we live today there is indeed a “cheap Christianity” that is worth nothing.
• So I ask, what has following Christ cost you today?
  • Relationships?  
    • Surely Joseph would have lost friends and colleagues over this act…
  • Resources?
    • It was his own tomb and a linen shroud he would have purchased…
  • Time?
    • He could have been preparing for the Sabbath yet by his actions he even became unclean…
  • Comfort?
    • What he did was a messy thing and certainly would have caused him to be uncomfortable. 
• The point is that following Jesus is costly, and if it costs nothing perhaps you are not really following Him.
  • Now that is a strong statement but is this not the case?
  • Consider the words of Christ…
    • Luke 14:26-27 - “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”
      • He then concludes in verse 33 of that same chapter…
    • Luke 14:33 - “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”
• I ask again, what has following Christ cost you?

Closing

• As we prepare to close today…
  • My prayer is that your confidence in the physical death and burial of Christ has been strengthened.
    • That you have been encouraged by the evidence that was left behind, by the eye witness testimony…
  • Also, my prayer is that we would all show ourselves to be faithful to Christ even if it could cost us greatly.
• Let us pray.