In This Issue

• THE BURIAL OF JESUS

• EMOTIONAL ARGUMENTS

• “STAY OUT OF MY DIRT”

• MORE INFORMATION...

THE BURIAL OF JESUS

After His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was whisked away to His nighttime trials before Annas, then Caiaphas, and finally a formal early-morning trial before the Sanhedrin council, Jesus was sent to Pilate, the Roman governor. His Roman trial also consisted of three segments: examined by Pilate, then sent to Herod, and then back to Pilate where the sentence of death by crucifixion was pronounced against Him after He had been brutally scourged. For six hours, Jesus hung on the cross, till finally His spirit departed and Jesus “breathed His last.”

“Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time. And when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed where He was laid,” (Mark 15:42-46).

In this passage, Mark identifies the day on which Jesus was crucified as “Preparation Day,” and “the day before the Sabbath.” The Biblical Sabbath was the seventh day of the week, Saturday (Ex. 20:10; 31:15). Jesus was crucified on Friday, the day before the Sabbath. It is interesting that the word translated “Preparation” is PARASKEUE, the name of the sixth day of the week. In modern Greek and ecclestical Latin, it is still the name of the sixth day of the week, Friday.

Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the Sanhedrin council but Luke tells us that he was “a good and just man” and that he “had not consented to their decision and deed” of causing Jesus to be crucified, (Luke 33:50-51). Matthew describes Joseph as a rich man, and refers to him as also being a disciple of Jesus, Matt. 27:58. John’s account of the gospel informs us that Nicodemus, another “ruler of the Jews,” (John 3:1) also took part in Jesus’ burial, John 19:39-40. Nicodemus had shown an interest in Jesus much earlier, John 3:1ff, and in John 7:50-51, he had given a mild defense of Jesus before his fellow Pharisees.

Jesus’ burial followed the usual Jewish procedures. His body was anointed with myrrh and aloes, then wrapped in strips of linen cloth. A separate piece of cloth covered His head. See John 19:39-40; 20:7. See also the case of His friend, Lazarus, John 11:44. Note that Jesus’ burial clothing was drastically different from the so-called “shroud of Turin,” which is one piece of cloth approximately 14 feet long and three and a half feet wide.

Finally, note that Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses (and perhaps others as well, Luke 23:55) watched to see where Jesus’ body was buried. Luke tells us that after the burial, the women prepared spices and ointments, with which they intended to anoint Jesus’ body after the Sabbath, and “then rested on the Sabbath,” Luke 23:56.

-Clarence R. Johnson

EMOTIONAL ARGUMENTS

In the heat of controversy, it is often easy to lose sight of scriptural issues and be blinded by raw emotion. Emotional arguments tend to hinder levelheaded consideration of what the word of God actually says. They also generate prejudice. Consider these examples.

The Essentiality of Baptism for Salvation

The Bible is clear on this subject. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16: 16). Denominational preachers through the years have sought to avoid this plain truth by emotional, hypothetical situations. They describe soldiers in foxholes, or a miner trapped in a cave, or a man on his way to be baptized who is killed in an accident. Then they want to know "What are you going to do about them?" Well, of course, none of us can do anything about them. The judge of all the earth will do right. The Bible still teaches that baptism is necessary to salvation. Suppose that soldier, or miner dies before having time to repent or to fully decide that Jesus was the Son of God. Shall we quit preaching the need for faith and repentance?

The Missionary Society

In the Otey-Briney Debate, J.B. Briney referred to how many churches had been established because of the work of the missionary society. He said "In each one of these churches there is an altar smoking with the incense of the prayers and praises of God's people. Is that pleasing to God or displeasing? Later he said, "Shall a man go through that district, wide and broad, with the fagot of the incendiary, and touch the flame to these houses and enwrap them in the devouring element of fire? Imagine them on fire; the flames leaping skyward. Does that please God? The very heavens are illumined with the devouring flame, and thousands and thousands of disciples are gathered in circles around these burning edifices, mingling their tears and nursing their broken hearts, because their temples are being demolished. (Otey-Briney Debate 217). If ever an emotional appeal was made, that was it! But when all was said and done, and all the tears had dried, there was still a valid question to be resolved as to whether it was scriptural for churches to do their evangelistic work through a missionary society. Briney had appealed to the Great Commission but could not find authority there. He had appealed to "messengers" of the Jerusalem relief and tried to turn them into "delegates" to the society and found no comfort there either. All that was left was an emotional argument designed to make Otey and those who stood with him, look heartless, cold, and insensitive to the plight of the lost.

Church Supported Benevolent Homes

In the conflict over the scriptural right of churches of Christ to build [benevolent societies] and to relieve the needy [through them], various arguments were made. We were told that James 1:27 said “visit” and did not say “how” to do it. Galatians 6:10 was used to find authority for churches to fund relief institutions in the phrase “do good to all men.” Then we heard the “restored home” argument. But, when all else failed, the quickest way to silence opposition was to describe those who opposed churches building and maintaining benevolent institutions as being “against little orphan children.” Why it was even said that some would let one starve before he would lift a hand to help. Of course, none of this was true, but it blinded the minds of some from even studying the issues involved.

The Marriage-Divorce-Remarriage Issue

What the New Testament actually says on this subject is not that hard to understand. Jesus taught that a man who puts away his wife and marries another commits adultery and that anyone who marries one who is put away commits adultery. There is one exception to that in the case of fornication, Matt. 5:32; 19:9. Some have argued that this law does not apply to the alien sinner, although Jesus said “whosoever.” Then we have been told that Jesus was just explaining the law of Moses even though He quoted the law and then said “but I say unto you.” Then some have redefined adultery to mean a violation of the marriage covenant with no sexual sin involved. The transgressor repents for breaking the marriage vow and then continues with the second (or third, or fourth, ad infinitum) spouse. Then we are hearing from some who clearly spell out their view that a put away spouse (not for fornication) can remarry after the other one commits adultery. All of this is after the fact and adultery was not the cause of the putting away. They may, we are told, “in purpose of heart” “repudiate” the spouse from which they were already divorced. Some have referred to this as “mental divorce.” When called to account for this, we are again hearing emotional arguments. If people are told they must leave an adulterous union to be right with God, we are led to tears about the broken hearts involved. Do you remember Ezra who found many, even among the priests who had married strange wives? “And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the third day of the first month” (Ezra 10:16-17). Verse 44 says “All these had taken strange wives; and some of them had wives by whom they had children.” The same thing was done many years later in the time of Nehemiah, Neh. 13:23-30.

Now we hear about an innocent spouse who was unjustly put away and who is consigned to a life of loneliness and sadness according to what some of us believe. Am I insensitive to the problems one may face because he has been mistreated? Of course not! But the truth is that often, innocent people are made to suffer for the wrongs of others. “Well, it isn’t fair!” Listen, it is fair to do right. Two wrongs still do not make one right. Who are those of whom the Lord spoke who are “eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake”? Take your brush and paint me as black as you can, but when your art work is done the Lord still said, “Whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.”

Parents, elders, and preachers must do a better job of teaching people to make wise choices when they marry. We will have to teach more on dealing with the problems which beset homes and families in this mixed-up world. But we cannot afford to short-circuit what the Lord plainly said by emotional arguments. We should not do that about salvation, about missionary societies, benevolent institutions, and we should not do it when it comes to the issues surrounding divorce and remarriage.

“Let God be true…” and you know the rest of that.

-Connie W. Adams, Truth Magazine, Feb. 3, 2005

“STAY OUT OF MY DIRT”

A lingering memory from my childhood is my mother’s voice, warning me as she swept the floor, “Stay out of my dirt!”

As I think back on it, I am somewhat amused and intrigued by how possessive my mother was about a small pile of dirt. After all, I know that much of what she called “her” dirt was actually my doing.

It seems that once she put forth the effort to gather “my” dirt into one spot where it could be whisked into a dustpan for permanent disposal, that it qualified as “her” dirt.

Perhaps that illustrates how our Lord feels about our sins that He sweeps away by His blood. Indeed, He took on the sins of many as if they were “His” (Isa. 53:12; Heb. 9:28; 1 Pet. 2:24).

A mother knows that she’ll have to sweep up future messes, but THIS dirt is now “hers,” and she expects her children to stay away from it. I realize it isn’t a perfect analogy, but the Lord also knows that we’ll sin again, but He expects us to say out of “His” dirt so that He can clean up our mess.

It’s called repentance.

–Al Diestelkamp, Think on These Things, Spring, 2004

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