JOHN 19:39 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.”
Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds — Nicodemus, the Pharisee who earlier visited Jesus by night (3:1-2), now appears openly with an extravagant burial ointment (smirnēs kai aloēs, myrrh and aloes—the same spices offered to the infant Jesus by the Magi [Matthew 2:11]). The hundred pounds (roughly seventy-five kilograms) of spices represents an extraordinary quantity, typically reserved for royalty. Both secret disciples—Joseph and Nicodemus—go public at the cross.
Church Fathers on John 19:39
Joseph thinking that the hatred of the Jews would be appeased by His crucifixion, went with confidence to ask permission to take charge of His burial: And after this Joseph of Arimathea besought Pilate.
Arimathea is the same as Ramatha, the city of Elkanah, and Samuel. It was providentially ordered that he should be rich, in order that he might have access to the governor, and just, in order that he might merit the charge of our Lord’s body: That he might take the body of Jesus, because he was His disciple.
In performing this last office to our Lord, he showed a bold indifference to the Jews, though he had avoided our Lord’s company when alive, for fear of incurring their hatred.
Read all 18 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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