John 19:41-42, The Garden Tomb

41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

And so this unbelievable day comes to an end. The God who created the heavens and the earth is dead. There is no doubt about this eyewitness account, the human life of Jesus is over, and his corpse is laid in a newly hewn tomb unspoiled by any previous body. It was a hurried burial because sunset was approaching, and the Sabbath and Passover were about to begin. As the Sabbath commences, Jesus is at rest, but a rest none of those who had witnessed his death understood. Did God create the Sabbath as a day of rest for Jesus after he “worked the cross” for our new creation?

We suspect that the word of the death of Jesus, witnessed by the Marys, Salome, and John, quickly spread to the other disciples, who must have received the news with intense pain and anguish, having put their faith in the Galilean Messiah. John gives us no account of what happened on the Sabbath, skipping over it and rushing to the resurrection on Sunday. But put yourself in the place of Jesus’ disciples and consider what they were feeling and thinking. Were they searching the Scriptures for answers? Were they afraid for their own lives? Were they planning an escape to Galilee away from the hostilities of Jerusalem?

Thou whose eternal love for our weak and struggling race was most perfectly shown forth in the blessed life and death of Jesus Christ our Lord, enable me now so to meditate upon my Lord’s passion that, having fellowship with him in his sorrow, I may also learn the secret of his strength and peace. 

John Baillie, 1886-1960