JOHN 19:41 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.”
Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid — The garden setting (kepos, echoing the garden of chapter 18 and the garden of Genesis) provides a contrasting space to Golgotha's execution ground. The "new tomb" (mnēmeion neon) belonging to Joseph suggests wealth and piety. Most significantly, the tomb's novelty—"no one had ever been laid" (oudeis ouk ēn tetheis)—parallels Jesus' unique birth in a new borrowed space (Luke 2:7, manger), establishing symmetrical entrance and exit.
Church Fathers on John 19:41
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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