A Rich Burial--Good Friday sermon

“A Rich Burial”
Isaiah 53:9
Good Friday
April 6, 2007

Isaiah 53:9: And they made His grave with the wicked—but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.

The final honor accorded an important person is a rich burial. The pharaohs of ancient Egypt built the pyramids for their tombs and lined them with gold (most of which was plundered by grave robbers). The Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., stands as American landmarks. A towering tombstone or a granite mausoleum is a lasting tribute to honor the one whose name is inscribed there.

On Good Friday, Christ’s death was in the company of “wicked men,” but according to God’s plan He received the honor of a burial by “a rich man,” Joseph of Arimathea, who gave Christ a tomb that was suitable for a righteous, noble, and wealthy man—a rich burial. All baptized believers are buried with the lavish riches of God’s grace in Christ, which promises resurrection and the priceless inheritance of eternal life.

Our Good Friday text is a carefully nuanced prophecy about the end of Jesus’ earthly life. We will quote each part of the literal translation that conveys the specific details uttered by Isaiah some 700 years before Christ.

Our verse begins “And they made His grave with the wicked.” God the Father is the one who assigned to Christ His grave. The circumstances of Good Friday are not haphazard accidents of history. Rather, all took place according to God’s detailed, preordained plan. And that prophetic plan was for Christ’s grave to be among “wicked men.” That first phrase might imply a dishonorable internment for Jesus, a pauper’s grave, a meager memorial suitable for a common criminal. Yet our verse continues, “but with the rich at His death.” That 2nd line would indicate an honorable, opulent inhumation.
So how was Christ treated—as shameful or honorable, poor or rich?

As Jesus Christ died and was buried on this day nearly 2,000 years ago, He fulfilled both lines of our verse. Jesus was assigned a grave with wicked men and with a rich man in His death. Moreover, His rich burial holds great promise for each of us.

The first part of God’s plan made use of the scheme of Jesus’ enemies. They plotted to kill the one who claimed to be King of the Jews, even though His kingdom was not of this world. They bribed Judas to betray Him. Jesus was arrested and led through a series of sham trials before Jewish leaders and the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who unjustly condemned Jesus crucifixion and death.

In the narrative of Jesus’ death, we find violent criminals not unlike the Muslim terrorists who, on 9/11, attacked New York City for the sake of their religious cause. They imagined that they, who were serving God, but were really serving the devil.

Instead of freeing Jesus, Pilate freed Barabbas, a murderer. On Christ’s right and left, the Romans crucified 2 “evildoers.” Thus, Jesus “was numbered with the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12). The sinless Son of God was pined away beside malefactors, although “He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.” Such was the death planned for Jesus by His enemies. In this way, the 1st line of our verse was fulfilled: God assigned Jesus’ grave with wicked men.

Jesus’ death in the company of sinners capped His earthly ministry to and among sinners. Christ came to be known as the “friend of sinners” (Luke 7:34) because He associated with tax collectors and prostitutes, the poor and the lowly, those who were despised and scorned. Now also in His death, Christ identifies with sinners, executed as a criminal in the company of wicked men. His sole possession—a robe—became the soldiers’ gamble. Forsaken, stripped of all dignity, and bereft of any possession, He dies in utter poverty.
This was God’s plan to bring us salvation. Jesus’ death in the place of sinners procured the forgiveness of sins for all humanity. Isaiah expresses this most memorably in Isaiah 53:5: He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

By grace alone and through Baptism into Christ’s atoning death, God takes away our sin and clothes us in the robe of Christ’s perfect righteousness. He who died in poverty gives us a share of the victor’s spoils—the riches of eternal life. Isaiah foresaw this as well. We read in Isaiah 53:11-12: My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong.

In ancient Israel, as today, it was an honor to be buried next to your relatives. A man buried in the family plot slept with his fathers. It was a dishonor to be consigned namelessly to a public cemetery. To be denied any burial was an abomination and God’s curse. According to the old Jewish law, even the most accursed criminals who were executed were to be buried, lest the corpse defile the land. But the Gentile Romans, who were not accustomed to Jewish laws, often left crucified victims on the cross, to be attacked by birds of prey and other scavengers, to suffer the most horrific humiliation even after death. Christ’s enemies may have envisioned such a dishonor for Him.

But God the Father would not permit such disgrace to mock His Son after His death. As Jesus prayed, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit,” and breathed His last, He completed the redemption of all humanity for all time. Jesus’ state of humiliation was over. Rich glory awaited.

God’s plan was that after Christ died in the company of “wicked men,” He was to be “with a rich man in His death.” Joseph of Arimathea was “a good and righteous” Jewish man who had become a follower of Christ. He took a bold step of faith. God moved him to ask Pontius Pilate for the body of Jesus. Joseph wished to give Christ His last honors. It took a brave man to request the body of a criminal, for by doing so he declared his allegiance to the one who had been executed, and he could be next.

Joseph was a “rich man.” His wealth included owning a tomb in a garden near Golgatha. Joseph had gone to the expense of having a tomb hewn out of solid rock—the most secure type of grave (though it could not hold the risen Lord). It was not the tomb of Joseph’s ancestors, but a tomb that no one else had ever laid in. Joseph may have prepared it for his own resting place. But out of love for the Lord who had taken his place on the cross, Joseph wanted Jesus to take his place in his costly tomb. Into the virgin tomb was placed the virgin’s Son. The sin of the first Adam caused humanity’s expulsion from the garden paradise. But the Second Adam leads humanity back to paradise through His burial and resurrection in another garden.

Most of us can’t afford an imposing stone edifice for our grave. Nevertheless, at the cemetery we pray: Almighty God, by the death of Your Son Jesus Christ You destroyed death, by His rest in the tomb You sanctified the graves of Your saints, and by His glorious resurrection You brought life and immortality to light so that all who die in Him abide in peace and hope.

My dear friends, always ponder in Your heart and mind we can never be robbed of God’s priceless riches in Christ, which do avail. We have forgiveness of sins through Christ’s crucifixion “with wicked men.” As baptized believers God deems us to be Christlike: to have done nothing wrong nor to have any deceit in our mouth, because Christ has taken away our sins. That is why we call this day GOOD Friday.

The promise of resurrection is ours through His rest “with a rich man in His death.” The promise of resurrection is also ours because of something that occurs even after Jesus’ body enters its resting place. We’ll talk to you again on Sunday! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.