Commentary - Mark 15:42-47

Bird's-eye view

In this crucial, yet often overlooked, passage, Mark records the burial of our Lord. This is not a mere epilogue to the crucifixion, but a vital link in the chain of redemptive history. The death of Jesus had to be a real, verifiable, public fact for the resurrection to have any meaning. Here we see God sovereignly moving pieces on the board to ensure this very thing. He uses a man who was, until this moment, a secret disciple, and empowers him with sudden courage. Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the very council that condemned Jesus, steps out of the shadows to do what the publicly acclaimed disciples were too fearful to do. He provides an honorable burial for the King of the Jews, fulfilling prophecy and setting the stage for the world-altering events of the third day. This passage is a study in contrasts: the courage of a secret believer versus the cowardice of the inner circle, the honor shown to Jesus in death after the dishonor of the cross, and the finality of the tomb versus the impending power of the resurrection.

Mark's account is characteristically brisk and factual. He wastes no words, yet every detail is significant. The timing before the Sabbath, the official confirmation of death from Pilate and the centurion, the new tomb hewn from rock, and the great stone rolled against the entrance, all serve to underscore the stark reality and finality of Jesus' death. God is making it plain to all witnesses, angelic and human, that the Son of Man was truly dead and buried. This was no swoon, no conspiracy. The women who watch from a distance serve as the crucial eyewitnesses who will link the tomb of the burial to the empty tomb of the resurrection. God leaves no loose ends.

Outline

Context In Mark

This passage immediately follows Mark's stark and brutal account of the crucifixion. The sky has gone dark, Jesus has cried out with a loud voice and breathed His last, and the curtain of the temple has been torn in two from top to bottom. The centurion has made his great confession: "Truly this man was the Son of God!" The climax of Jesus' earthly ministry, His substitutionary death, is complete. The burial narrative, therefore, serves as the necessary bridge between the death of Christ and the resurrection. It closes the chapter on His humiliation and sets the stage for His exaltation. Without a real burial, there can be no empty tomb. Mark, in his rapid-fire gospel, pauses here to carefully document the events that make the resurrection claim undeniable. This section is the lock on the door of death, a lock that only the power of God can break.

Key Issues

When Courage Appears

It is a remarkable feature of God's providence how He raises up the right man at the right time. The eleven disciples, the men who had boasted of their loyalty just hours before, are scattered and hiding. They are nowhere to be found. And into this vacuum of courage steps a man we have not yet met in Mark's gospel, Joseph of Arimathea. He was a secret disciple, a man who followed Jesus from a distance, likely for fear of what his colleagues on the Sanhedrin would do. But at the moment of greatest danger, when associating with Jesus meant associating with an executed enemy of the state, this secret disciple is filled with a holy boldness. While the open disciples fled into secrecy, the secret disciple stepped into the open.

This is a profound lesson for us. Courage is not a static virtue that we possess in a steady amount. It is a gift from God, given when it is needed. As C.S. Lewis noted, courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. Joseph's faith was now at its testing point, and God supplied the courage necessary for the task. This should be an encouragement to us. We may feel timid and fearful, but when God calls us to a difficult task, He provides the grace and the grit to see it through. The moment of crisis does not reveal the courage we have stored up; it reveals the sufficiency of the God we serve.

Verse by Verse Commentary

42 And when evening had already come, because it was Preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath,

Mark is very precise about the timing. Evening was approaching, which meant the Sabbath was about to begin at sunset. Jewish law required that the bodies of the executed be taken down before nightfall (Deut 21:22-23), and this was especially urgent with the Sabbath approaching. No work, including burial, could be done on the Sabbath. This created a tight deadline. The "Preparation day" was the common term for Friday, the day to prepare for the Sabbath. This detail is not just chronological; it is theological. The Lord of the Sabbath is about to enter His rest in the tomb, a rest He has earned by His finished work on the cross.

43 Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent Council member, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus.

Here is our man. Joseph is identified in three ways. First, he is from Arimathea, a town in Judea. Second, he is a prominent Council member, a member of the Sanhedrin, the very body that had condemned Jesus. This makes his actions all the more astonishing. He was risking his reputation, his position, and quite possibly his life. Third, he was waiting for the kingdom of God. This was a descriptor for a pious Jew who was looking for the Messiah. He had recognized Jesus as the fulfillment of that hope. Mark then adds the crucial detail: he gathered up courage. This was not a casual act. It was a deliberate, costly decision. He had to overcome his fear and go before the Roman governor, a man with the power of life and death, and identify himself with a crucified criminal. To ask for the body was to declare his allegiance.

44 And Pilate wondered if He had died by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether He already died.

Pilate's surprise is a key detail. Death by crucifixion was a long, agonizing process, often lasting for days. That Jesus was dead after only about six hours was unusual. Pilate is a bureaucrat, and he needs to follow procedure. He is not going to release the body of a state prisoner without official confirmation of death. So he summons the one man who would know for sure: the centurion who had overseen the execution. This detail, recorded by Mark, serves as a powerful apologetic against any theory that Jesus merely fainted or swooned on the cross. The Roman governor himself initiated an official inquiry to verify the death.

45 And ascertaining this from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.

The centurion confirms the death of Jesus. He had been there, he had seen it, and he had likely even performed the final check. With this official confirmation, Pilate grants the request. The word for "granted" here can also mean to give as a gift. In an act of what was likely casual indifference to him, Pilate hands over the body of the Son of God. God uses the pagan governor's authority to ensure that Jesus' body would not be thrown into a common grave for criminals, but would be given an honorable burial, in fulfillment of Scripture.

46 And when Joseph had bought a linen cloth and took Him down, he wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of thetomb.

Joseph's actions are swift and purposeful. He buys a clean linen shroud, a sign of respect and honor. Along with Nicodemus (as John's gospel tells us), he takes the battered body of our Lord down from the cross. He wraps it in the linen and lays it in his own new tomb, a tomb carved out of solid rock. This fulfills Isaiah's prophecy that the Messiah would be "with a rich man in his death" (Isa 53:9). This was not a common dirt grave. It was a solid, secure, and unused tomb. Finally, he rolled a massive stone against the entrance. This was the final act of sealing the tomb. From a human perspective, this is the end. The story is over. The body is secured in a rock tomb, sealed with a great stone. All hope is buried with Him.

47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were looking on to see where He had been laid.

But God ensures there are witnesses. While the male disciples are in hiding, the women are steadfast. They had watched the crucifixion from a distance, and now they follow Joseph to the tomb. They watch carefully. They mark the spot. Their faithful vigil is crucial for the narrative. They are the ones who will know exactly where to go on Sunday morning. They are the link between the burial and the resurrection. They see Him laid in the tomb, and they will be the first to see that the tomb is empty. Their testimony will be the foundation of the church's proclamation.

Application

This passage calls us to examine the nature of our own discipleship. It is easy to follow Christ when the crowds are shouting "Hosanna." It is another thing entirely to identify with Him when the world is screaming "Crucify Him!" Joseph of Arimathea was a secret disciple, and we are often quick to criticize such timidity. But when the moment of truth arrived, his faith became courageously public. At the same time, the public disciples became secretly fearful. This should chasten us. We do not know what pressures we will face, and we should not boast in our own strength. Our confidence must be in the God who gives courage to the fearful and grace to the weak.

Furthermore, the burial of Jesus reminds us that our faith is rooted in historical, verifiable facts. The death of Jesus was not a myth or a metaphor. It was a brutal, physical reality, confirmed by Roman officials and witnessed by faithful followers. The tomb was real, the stone was real, and the body was real. This is why the resurrection is the unshakable bedrock of our faith. Because He was truly dead and buried, His rising again is the ultimate victory. We are baptized into a real death and a real burial with Christ, so that we might be raised to a real, new life in Him. The finality of that sealed tomb is the backdrop against which the glory of the empty tomb shines with world-changing brilliance.