Gospels (86) - Matthew 27:51-61, Mark 15:38-47, Luke 23:47-56 & John 19:31-42

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Gospels

Rusty's Notes

The Legend of Azazel (Legend of the Scape Goat)
 
The scarlet thread was a symbolic reference to Isaiah 1:18; and the Talmud tells us (ib.39a) that during the forty years that Simon the Just was high priest, the thread actually turned white as soon as the goat was thrown over the precipice; a sign that the sins of the people were forgiven. In later time the change to white was not invariable: a proof of the people’s moral and spiritual deterioration, that was gradually on the increase, until forty years before the destruction of the Second Temple, when the change of the color was no longer observed (i.e. 39b).
 
MATTHEW 27:51-61
51 Suddenly, the curtain (veil) of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth quaked, and the rocks were split.
52 The tombs were also opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.
53 And they came out of the tombs after his resurrection, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.

• Assuming this is local believers of Jesus that had recently died.
• KJV & NASB – Both agree w/ CSB that they were raised at Jesus’ death but did not come out of the tombs until Jesus was resurrected.
• NIV believes they were raised and came out of their tombs at Jesus’ death and just didn’t enter Jerusalem until the resurrection.
• Jews would not be in the cemetery during Passover because it would have defiled them.
• These resurrections were just more proof of God’s resurrection power for the public.

54 When the centurion (possibly the same one who gave Jesus a drink in verse 48) and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

• Refer to Luke 23:47

55 Many women who had followed Jesus from Galilee and looked after him were there, watching from a distance. 56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.[1]

• What name is missing?
• Mary, mother of Jesus.
• Possibly at John’s house where Jesus told John to take her.

 
Deuteronomy 21:22-23 - “If anyone is found guilty of an offense deserving the death penalty and is executed, and you hang his body on a tree, 23 you are not to leave his corpse on the tree overnight but are to bury him that day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.[2]

• If a man is hanged on a tree, he must be buried by sundown.
• Jesus had to hang on a tree (as God’s curse) rather than be stoned.
• Refer to John 19:31

 
THE BURIAL OF JESUS
57 When it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph came, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. 58 He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus’s body. Then Pilate ordered that it be released.

• Refer to John 19:38

59 So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in clean, fine linen, 60 and placed it in his new tomb, which he had cut into the rock. He left after rolling a great stone against the entrance of the tomb.

• Refer to Luke 23:54

61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were seated there, facing the tomb. [3]
 
MARK 15:38-47
38 Then the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 When the centurion, who was standing opposite him, saw the way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
40 There were also women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger (less) and of Joses, and Salome. 41 In Galilee these women followed him and took care of him. Many other women had come up with him to Jerusalem.[4]

• Luke 8:3 – They ministered to Jesus financially. It was much more blessed to give than to receive.
• Refer to Luke 23:49

THE BURIAL OF JESUS
42 When it was already evening, because it was the day of preparation (that is, the day before the Sabbath), 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Sanhedrin who was himself looking forward to the kingdom of God, came and boldly went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’s body.

• Refer Matthew 27:57

44 Pilate was surprised that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had already died. 45 When he found out from the centurion, he gave the corpse to Joseph.

• Joseph received Jesus’ body.
• What day of the week was it?
• From the Talmud: (unredeemed Jews)

On the eve of the Passover Yeshu was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald went forth and cried, “He is going forth to be stoned because he practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy. Any one of you who can say anything in his favor, let him come forward and plead on his behalf.’ But since nothing was brought forward in his favor he was hanged on the eve of the Passover! [A Florentine Ms. Adds: and the eve of Sabbath.] (Sanhedrin 43a)

• Deuteronomy 21:22-23 - “If anyone is found guilty of an offense deserving the death penalty and is executed, and you hang his body on a tree, 23 you are not to leave his corpse on the tree overnight but are to bury him that day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.[5]
• They had to get his body down before sundown on Friday.
• Refer to John 19:38

46 After he bought some linen cloth, Joseph took him down and wrapped him in the linen.

• Refer to John 19:39- 40

Then he laid him in a tomb cut out of the rock and rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were watching where he was laid.[6]

• Refer to Luke 23:55

 
LUKE 23:47-49
47 When the centurion saw what happened, he began to glorify God, saying, “This man really was righteous (innocent)!”

• Followed by…
• Matthew 27:54 - they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

48 All the crowds that had gathered for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, went home, striking their chests.

• When those who had called for the release of Barabbas realized their mistake they began the process of grieving.
• Refer to Mark 15:40

49 But all who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. [7]

• Refer to Matthew 27:55

 
THE BURIAL OF JESUS
50 There was a good and righteous man named Joseph, a member of the Sanhedrin, 51 who had not agreed with their plan and action.

• Joseph was not involved… not present at Jesus’ religious trial.

He was from Arimathea, a Judean town, and was looking forward to the kingdom of God.

• Refer to Mark 15:44

52 He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus’s body. 53 Taking it down, he wrapped it in fine linen and placed it in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever been placed. 54 It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

• In the ground part of the day on Friday.
• Refer to Mark 15:47

55 The women who had come with him from Galilee followed along and observed the tomb and how his body was placed. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.[8]

• When did they purchase the spices? Before the Sabbath.
• End here…

 
John 19:31-42
JESUS’S SIDE PIERCED
31 Since it was the preparation day, the Jews did not want the bodies to remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special day). They requested that Pilate have the men’s legs broken and that their bodies be taken away.

• Edersheim says: “The Sabbath about to open was a ‘high day’ – it was both a Sabbath and the second Pascal Day, which was regarded as in every respect equally sacred with the first.”  (Book V: p. 613)
• They wanted their legs broken so they would suffocate.
• They could no longer press up on their legs to get a breath.

32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other one who had been crucified with him. 33 When they came to Jesus, they did not break his legs since they saw that he was already dead. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out.

• Blood came out first… some believe that Jesus died from a broken heart.

35 He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows he is telling the truth. 36 For these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: Not one of his bones will be broken.

• Fulfillment of Exodus 12:46, Numbers 9:12 and Psalm 34:20.

37 Also, another Scripture says: They will look at the one they pierced.

• Zechariah 12:10 - “Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for him as one weeps for a firstborn.[9]
• What generation of Jews is this in reference to?
• In reference to the 2nd Coming of Jesus
• Refer Mark 15:42

 
JESUS’S BURIAL
38 After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus—but secretly because of his fear of the Jews—asked Pilate that he might remove Jesus’s body. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and took his body away.

• Refer to Luke 23:50 (1st time)

39 Nicodemus (who had previously come to him at night) also came, bringing a mixture of about seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloes.

• Refer to Mark 15:46 (1st time)

40 They took Jesus’s body and wrapped it in linen cloths with the fragrant spices, according to the burial custom of the Jews. 41 There was a garden in the place where he was crucified. A new tomb was in the garden; no one had yet been placed in it.

• Refer to Matthew 27:60

42 They placed Jesus there because of the Jewish day of preparation and since the tomb was nearby. [10]

[1] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Mt 27:50–56). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Dt 21:22–23). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Mt 27:57–61). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Mk 15:38–41). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[5] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Dt 21:22–23). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Mk 15:42–47). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[7] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Lk 23:45–49). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[8] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Lk 23:50–56). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[9] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Zec 12:10). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[10] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Jn 19:31–42). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.