John 19:31-20:10

Summary
Here we read of how the body of Jesus, and those crucified on the cross where removed for burial because they should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath. The soldiers broke their legs, but Jesus’ legs wasn’t because he was already dead, but his side was pierced as blood and water came out, this was done to fulfill scripture that no bone of His shall be broken. Another scripture says they shall look on him whom they pierced.
Joseph of Arimathaea a disciple of Jesus and Nicodemus took Jesus’ body and arranged the burial as the manner of the Jews and laid him in a new Sepulcher nearby. On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene saw the stone of the sepulcher had been taken away, she ran to inform Simon Peter that Jesus has been taken away from the sepulcher. The disciples went, saw and believed as only his grave clothes were lying there, they then returned to their homes.

Life Application
The crucifixion of Jesus didn’t look good, his disciple didn’t want him killed but the salvation of mankind was hinged upon his death and resurrection. The process of his death, burial and absence from the grave illustrates different stages in life that we might pass through in order to fulfill our mandate as regards God’s sovereign plan. There is a stage when you need to die to self, bury the past and rise to newness. Never allow happenings change God’s plan, believe and cooperate with God to fulfill your purpose and mandate.

Declaration
I believe and cooperate with God to fulfill my purpose and mandate in Jesus name.

Reading – John 19:31-20:10

³¹ Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. ³² The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. ³³ But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers piercedJesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. ³⁵ The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. ³⁶ These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,”^{[a] 37} and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”^[b]

The Burial of Jesus

³⁸ Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. ³⁹ He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.^{[c] 40} Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. ⁴¹ At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. ⁴² Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

The Empty Tomb

20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. ² So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

³ So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. ⁴ Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵ He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, ⁷ as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. ⁸ Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. ⁹ (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) ¹⁰ Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Footnotes:

1. John 19:36 Exodus 12:46; Num. 9:12; Psalm 34:20
2. John 19:37 Zech. 12:10
3. John 19:39 Or about 34 kilograms