Mark 15:44 Commentary and Bible Study

In Pilate’s experience, those who had been crucified did not die this quickly. But Christ, having suffered, had voluntarily yielded up his spirit to the Father. He said in the Gospel of John, ‘Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. ¹⁸ No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again’ (John 10:17-18). So he didn't linger on in life after his suffering was complete. The centurion was therefor called for, and asked, and he confirmed his death, and Joseph took the body and arranged its burial in his own tomb. He was rich, and there was a section of rock near there, where some of the rich had hewn out tombs for themselves. One of those great tombs with a large stone was earmarked for Joseph himself, and he realised that he was the man; he was the provided one; he would bury the Lord. But he must overcome his tendency to be a secret disciple. It is amazing how Isaiah gets this in his prophecy in Isaiah 53:9, and tells us that Christ was associated with criminals in his death, and also with the rich in his death, and both are true. He died between criminals on a cross as a condemned man, but he was taken by a rich man and put into an honourable tomb. The prophecy of Isaiah is precisely brought to pass.As a secret disciple Joseph was afraid of losing his position. But he listened to Christ whenever he preached in the temple, and in any part of Jerusalem. He wasn't on the road with the other disciples; he wasn't a committed follower, but he was there. He would have witnessed some of the miracles. He would have heard the teaching of Christ, and he believed in him. He looked for the kingdom, and in context that means more than he expected Messiah; it means he believed Christ was Messiah. He had heard Christ condemn his own party, the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees. He had undoubtedly heard the parable of the wicked husbandman: that judgment was coming. He was probably in the temple when Christ was saying he would give his life a ransom for many, and he would depart and return, and he had pondered these things. He had certainly been present during the trials of Christ, and he knew the plots of his peers. He had burned within him at the injustice and the wickedness of his own associates. He had dissented from their decision to send Christ for sentence to Pilate. But it was Calvary, we believe, that broke Joseph of Arimathea.