Commentary - Luke 23:50-56

Bird's-eye view

In this quiet, solemn passage, we witness the hinge between the public horror of the cross and the world-altering glory of the resurrection. The death of Jesus was not the end of the story, but it was a real death, and therefore required a real burial. This section details the providential care God exercised over the body of His Son, fulfilling prophecy and setting the stage for the great reversal. God summons an unlikely agent, Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple from within the very council that condemned Jesus, to perform this crucial task. This is a story of quiet courage, reverent duty, and the faithfulness of God even in the darkest hour. The actions of Joseph and the watching women are not mere historical footnotes; they are integral parts of the gospel narrative, establishing the certainty of Christ's death and the precise location of His entombment, which is essential for verifying the truth of His subsequent resurrection. The passage concludes with the Sabbath rest, a pause commanded by God, a temporary cessation that anticipates the true and final rest that Christ would secure by rising from the dead on the first day of the new week.

The entire scene is saturated with covenantal significance. A righteous man, waiting for the kingdom, acts in accordance with God's law concerning the dead. A new tomb, untouched by death, receives the author of life. Devout women prepare spices, an act of loving piety. And all of this happens under the ticking clock of the coming Sabbath, the sign of the old creation order which is about to be gloriously superseded by the Lord's Day, the first day of the new creation. God is meticulously at work in every detail, ensuring that His Son's burial is honorable, public, and legally attested, thereby making the miracle of the empty tomb an irrefutable historical fact.

Outline

Context In Luke

This passage immediately follows the cataclysmic events of the crucifixion. Jesus has cried out "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit," and breathed His last (Luke 23:46). The sun has been darkened, and the curtain of the temple torn in two (Luke 23:44-45). A Roman centurion has glorified God, declaring Jesus to be a righteous man (Luke 23:47). The crowds have dispersed, beating their breasts in anguish (Luke 23:48). The scene is one of cosmic upheaval and profound sorrow. The burial narrative, therefore, serves as a bridge. It moves the action from the public spectacle of Golgotha to the private, sealed tomb. It is the necessary interlude that makes the events of Luke 24, the discovery of the empty tomb and the resurrection appearances, so explosive. Without a certain burial, there can be no certain resurrection. Luke carefully records these details to provide his reader, Theophilus, with certainty concerning the things he has been taught (Luke 1:4).

Key Issues

The Stillness of God's Providence

After the earthquake, the supernatural darkness, and the tearing of the temple veil, this passage is remarkably still. It is a moment of quiet reverence and sorrowful duty. But we must not mistake this stillness for divine inaction. God's providence is working just as powerfully in the courageous request of Joseph as it was in the darkening of the sun. The death of the Messiah was a public, cosmic event, but His burial was an intimate and personal affair, handled by those who loved Him. This is how God often works. He uses human agents, acting in faith and courage, to accomplish His sovereign purposes.

Joseph of Arimathea, a man who was silent during the sham trial, now finds his voice and his courage when it matters most. God had placed him on the Sanhedrin for this very moment. He was a rich man, fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy that the Messiah would be "with a rich man in his death" (Isa. 53:9). He had a new tomb, a fitting place for the One who would make all things new. Every detail is orchestrated. The story of our salvation is not a myth; it is history, grounded in real people, real places, and real time. The burial of Jesus is a crucial link in that historical chain, a quiet testimony to the loud fact that our Redeemer died, was buried, and rose again, according to the Scriptures.

Verse by Verse Commentary

50 And behold, a man named Joseph, who was a Council member, a good and righteous man

Luke introduces us to the man God has prepared for this task. The word "behold" invites us to pay close attention. Out of the darkness, a figure of light emerges. Joseph is identified first by his position: a member of the Sanhedrin, the very body that had engineered Jesus' condemnation. This is a stunning reversal. God raises up a man from within the enemy's camp to honor His Son. Luke describes him as "good and righteous," terms that denote not sinless perfection, but a character of integrity and piety, a man who walked in the ordinances of the Lord blamelessly, like Zacharias and Elizabeth (Luke 1:6).

51 (he had not consented to their counsel and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God;

Luke makes it clear that Joseph was not complicit in the council's wicked verdict. He had not consented. Whether he abstained, was absent, or voted no and was overruled, we are not told. What we are told is that his conscience was clear. He was an internal dissenter. His defining characteristic, however, is that he was "waiting for the kingdom of God." Like Simeon and Anna at the beginning of this gospel (Luke 2:25, 38), Joseph was part of the faithful remnant of Israel, those who were looking for the consolation of Israel, for the Messiah's reign. His hope was not in the political machinations of the Sanhedrin, but in the coming reign of God. And now, the King he was waiting for was dead, and it was time for him to act.

52 this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Here is the moment of courage. Joseph, who had been a secret disciple (John 19:38), now "goes public." This was no small thing. To associate with a condemned and executed criminal, especially one executed for treason against Rome, was to invite suspicion, scorn, and potentially severe repercussions upon himself. He would be defiled by contact with a dead body, and he would be forever tainted by his association with the Galilean prophet. But his fear of God had finally overcome his fear of man. He leverages his position and influence, approaches the Roman governor, and makes this bold request. This was an act of loyalty and love when all the other male disciples were in hiding.

53 And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain.

Pilate grants the request, and Joseph himself, likely with the help of Nicodemus (John 19:39), performs the sorrowful task. He takes the broken, bloodied body of our Lord down from the cross. He handles the sacred flesh of the Son of God. He wraps it in a clean linen shroud, an act of honor and respect. Then he lays Him in his own new tomb. Luke emphasizes two key facts about the tomb. First, it was "cut into the rock," meaning it was a solid, secure location, not a simple grave in the dirt. This is important for what follows; there is only one way in and one way out. Second, "no one had ever lain" there. This is crucial. It eliminates any possibility of confusion, any suggestion that the women went to the wrong tomb or that Jesus' body was mixed up with another. It also speaks to the unique purity of the one being buried. The one who knew no sin was laid in a tomb that knew no death.

54 It was Preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

The urgency of the scene is underscored by the clock. It was the day of Preparation, the Friday before the Sabbath. Jewish law required that bodies be buried before sundown, when the Sabbath would begin (Deut. 21:23). Everything had to be done in haste. This rush explains why the women would need to return after the Sabbath to complete the embalming process. The old covenant calendar is still ticking. The sign of the old creation, the seventh-day rest, is pressing in. But this would be the last Sabbath of its kind. The Lord of the Sabbath was lying in a tomb, and when He rose, He would inaugurate a new creation and a new day of rest, the Lord's Day.

55 Now the women, who had come with Him from Galilee, followed and beheld the tomb and how His body was laid.

While the prominent man secures the tomb, the faithful women are watching. These are the same women who had ministered to Jesus throughout His journeys. Their loyalty did not waver, even at the cross (Luke 23:49) and now at the grave. They are the primary witnesses. They followed Joseph, they saw the exact location of the tomb, and they saw "how His body was laid." This is not an insignificant detail. They knew He was dead. They knew where He was. Their testimony will be essential on Sunday morning, when they return to that very spot and find it empty. They are the first witnesses of the burial, and they will be the first witnesses of the resurrection.

56 Then after they returned, they prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

Their love for Jesus compels them to prepare spices and perfumes to properly anoint His body, an act of devotion they intended to complete after the Sabbath. But their devotion to Christ does not lead them to disobey God's clear command. Even in their grief, "on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment." This is a beautiful picture of faithful piety. They did not reason that their urgent, loving task gave them a pass on the fourth commandment. They obeyed. They rested. The whole world held its breath. The Creator lay in His tomb, and His people honored the creation ordinance of rest. This Sabbath rest was a pause, a solemn intermission before the great act of new creation would burst forth on the first day of the week.

Application

This passage calls us to a courageous and public faith. Joseph of Arimathea was a secret disciple, but the cross forced him into the open. There comes a time when quiet belief is not enough, a time when loyalty to Christ demands public action, regardless of the cost to our reputation or status. We live in a world that is increasingly hostile to the claims of Christ. Will we consent to the wicked counsel of our age by our silence, or will we, like Joseph, find our courage and stand for the honor of our King?

We also see the importance of honoring God in the details. The women rested on the Sabbath. In their grief, they did not set aside the law of God. Our obedience to God is not contingent on our circumstances or our emotional state. Faithfulness is demonstrated in the steady, consistent application of God's word to all of life, whether in seasons of joy or profound sorrow. Their rest was an act of faith, trusting that God's timing was perfect. They did not know that their spices would be unnecessary, that the Lord of life could not be held by death. They simply obeyed, and in their obedience, they were positioned to be the first to hear the greatest news the world has ever known: "He is not here, but has risen." Let us, therefore, live as people who take God at His word, serving Christ with all our energy for six days, and resting in His finished work on the seventh, which for us is the first, the glorious Lord's Day.