Jesus' Burial as Political Statement?

[Just_A_Guy]

Yesterday at church, our high council speaker gave an interesting exegesis on Christ's encounter with Nicodemus, then discussed how he and Joseph of Arimathea requested the body of Jesus which would otherwise have been left on the cross indefinitely.  He closed with a discussion of how, by preserving the body, in a sense Nicodemus and Joseph "saved Easter". 

In pondering the insight, I reviewed John 19:39 which says Nicodemus provided a hundred Greek pounds (about 75 modern pounds) of spices, a mixture of myrrh and aloes.  I also came across an article written in 2000, saying that in modern terms myrrh at the time of Christ was probably worth $4,000 per pound ($5,500 in 2016 dollars).  If we assume that the mixture Nicodemus brought was about 50% myrrh, that means that Nicodemus shelled out the equivalent of at least $206,250 for Jesus' funeral. 

And, seventy-five pounds of liquid would boil down to about nine gallons--enough to (pardon the crassness) quite thoroughly drench a human cadaver.  Moreover, I should think that such a quantity of a very pricey good being transported down the streets of Jerusalem would have caused quite a stir. 

Finally, Jesus was buried in the tomb of another Sanhedrinist; and the location was sufficiently well-known that the chief priests and pharisees were able to send guards to the precise location.

We usually think of Jesus' funeral preparations as a hasty and secretive affair.  But, were they?  Did Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea deliberately plan Jesus' burial in such a public and extravagant way as to attract continued public interest?  Did they anticipate what was coming?

Edited June 27, 2016 by Just_A_Guy

[TeresaA]

On June 27, 2016 at 2:59 PM, Just_A_Guy said:

 Joseph of Arimathea requested the body of Jesus which would otherwise have been left on the cross indefinitely.  He closed with a discussion of how, by preserving the body, in a sense Nicodemus and Joseph "saved Easter". 

 

Would it have been left on the cross indefinitely? Vs 31 make is sound that they did not want the bodies to remain on the cross during the Sabbath. I always thought that, by Joseph asking for the body, that prevented the body being tossed in a common grave, that was why he sought permission of Pilate. Remember, it had only been a few days since his triumphal entry into the city, too, when he came as a king upon an ass.

AFA it being a political statement, I would say no. Remember these men were disciples of Jesus and saw him as the Messiah, even if they didn't understand what that was going to mean. There had to be some sense of haste in the funeral preparations, at least after his death, because sundown was soon upon them, ushering in the Sabbath. 

Edited July 1, 2016 by TeresaA

[Just_A_Guy]

IIRC verse 31 refers to the Sanhedrin's request to have the prisoners' legs broken to hasten their deaths (it would have offended Jewish sensibilities to have dying men shrieking in agony on the Sabbath).  I'm not sure if the Romans made any more concessions to Jewish sensitivities where crucifixion was concerned; but I think elsewhere the practice was generally to let the bodies decay on the cross in full public view as a warning to other miscreants.

Matthew and Mark both report that Joseph approached Pilate in the evening, and the Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset.  If it was Sabbath-breaking to prepare Jesus' body on Saturday morning, wouldn't it have also been Sabbath-breaking to do so on Friday night?  Unless you suppose that Jesus actually died on a Thursday, making Friday a "high sabbath" because of the Passover . . . Maybe the rules were different for a high sabbath, but then that would mean they had all day Friday to perform the burial.

At any rate, the hasty-funeral scenario seems to require Nicodemus to have had a quarter of a million dollars' worth of a highly perishable commodity just laying around . . . Which also begs the question of why, with Jesus' body having been thoroughly soaked in nine gallons of spices on Friday night, Mary Magdalane and the other women would feel it necessary to bring even *more* spices for further anointing on Sunday morning.

The more I think about it, the odder it seems . . .