JOHN 19:42 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.”
And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, they laid Jesus there, because the tomb was close by — The Preparation Day timing (paraskeue, the day before Sabbath) necessitates hasty burial before Sabbath's onset at sundown. The tomb's proximity permits rapid completion of burial rites before religious law forbids work. The burial's completion fulfills Isaiah 53:9 ("he made his grave with the wicked and the rich in his death"), though John emphasizes righteousness rather than irony. Jesus rests in a garden tomb, awaiting resurrection.
Church Fathers on John 19:42
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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