Jesus' Burial: A Trajectory of Embellishment

I have blogged about Jesus' burial a couple of times, and to some degree this is repeating what was said earlier. However, in this post I want to focus on how the early Christians freely embellished the gospels as it suits their purpose.

I would guess Joseph of Arimathea was in the habit of getting corpses off crosses, something he did as a requirement of his position and religion. The corpses would be dumped in a nearby communal grave, which is all his religion required. If the gospel is right, the entire Sanhedrin had condemned Jesus as a blasphemer, so no way would Joseph take any care of the body, he just wanted it under the ground. Chances are the disciples were not around; they guessed that that was what happened.

Burial in a communal grave for criminals is as dishonourable as it gets, so as the decades passed the early Christians set about fixing that.

Here is the earliest version we have by Mark. It claims Jesus was wrapped in linen and buried in a tomb cut out of rock, but otherwise perfectly reasonable. Mark was writing about 40 years later, and people who were around at the the time of the crucifixion would still be alive, which would have stopped the story going too far of the rails.

Mark 15:42 It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. 45 When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. 46 So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.

By the time Matthew gets hold of it, the Roman's have destroyed Jerusalem, and any potential witnesses are either dead or scattered across the world. According to Matthew, Joseph is not a member of the Sanhedrin, but instead is a disciple of Jesus! Why would Pilate let a disciple of Jesus take down the body? No reason at all.

And now Joseph is using his own tomb.

Matthew 27:57 As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 58 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. 59 Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

Luke still has Joseph in the Sanhedrin, but one who disagreed with the rest (despite elsewhere saying "the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death"). Luke has Jesus going in an unused tomb, but no mention of it being Joseph's.

Luke 23:50 Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, 51 who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. 52 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. 53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. 54 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

The culmination of decades of embellishment, in John we see that Joseph is again a disciple, but now he is afraid of the Sanhedrin, fitting John's general anti-Semitic tone. No reason given why Pilate would allow he body to be taken down by some random guy, but this was a pro-Roman text, so it was probably just accepted that Pilate was nice like that.

Now we also have Nicodemus, who we learned previously: "John 3:1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council." So a member of the Sanhedrin, the group that condemned Jesus, is helping Joseph, a disciple living in fear of the Sanhedrin! Nicodemus, of course, is not mentioned in any other gospel; he is entirely a fabricate of John.

In this account Jesus is buried with a HUGE amount of spices, a full honourable burial, in accordance with Jewish custom. Like Luke, John claims an unused tomb, but naturally steps it up, and now there is a delightful little garden there too. No mention of it being Joseph's own tomb however.

John 19:38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.[e] 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

What we see across these accounts is a continuing process of embellishment with the clear purpose of making Jesus' burial more honourable. This is clear evidence that the gospels cannot be trusted as historical works.