Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Why We Can’t Skip Jesus’s Burial | The Gospels | Luke 23:50–56

Episode Date: June 5, 2026

What do we do with Jesus’s burial? Why does Holy Saturday matter for our faith? And what hope can be found in the silence between the cross and the resurrection? In today’s episode, Jeff shares how Luke 23:50–56 reveals that Jesus’s burial is not a detail to bypass, but a powerful reminder that no grave is too deep for his presence and redemption. Read the Bible with us! This year, we’re exploring the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—and it's never too late to join! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passage: Luke 23:50–56

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jeff Parrott. It is perhaps the most backwards, absurd, an unsettling thing to consider. The Son of God, the King of Kings, the Lord of the Sabbath, the fulfillment of every promise God's people hoped for, Jesus, was lying dead in a tomb. The historical reality of Jesus' burial is like a haunting sequel to his horrific death on the cross. It's so haunting that we don't always know what to do with it. At least Good Friday has something good to celebrate as Jesus takes our place in sacrificial love.

And of course, Resurrection Sunday is the glorious victory over death that rings over our lives in all creation into eternity. But what about Holy Saturday? What about Jesus lying dead in the tomb? In Dostoevsky's novel, The Idiot, there's a painting that portrays the dead body of Jesus lying in the tomb. The image looms over the development of the narrative. Its depiction of Jesus is so disturbing that one of the characters asked this question,

if Christ's disciples had seen such a body, how could they possibly have believed that he would rise again? It's a powerful question. It's a stark acknowledgement of that background absurd and unsettling nature of Jesus lying dead in a grave. In response to seeing the painting of Jesus' dead body, another character in The Idiot exclaims this, that picture, why a man's faith might be ruined by looking at that picture. It's a harrowing line, isn't it? But it's also honest. There's something powerful, something necessarily unnerving about the burial of Jesus. His descent

and a death is so raw that one might wonder if it could ruin a person's faith. How is it possible to see and appreciate the burial of Jesus, but in a way that doesn't bury your faith? Is this burial something that we should bypass, or is it more like a reality for us to cling to as we encounter the pain of life feeling backwards and absurd and unsettled? Questions like these are stirred up in our passage today at the very end of Luke chapter 23. In these verses, we read the historical account of Jesus' burial. It's an awful moment in the true story of the Bible. And yet, it's a moment that awakens us to a much-needed truth about the God who loved us so much that he gave up his life for us. As we approach God's word together, let's pause and ask for His grace to move through this time now.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of life and breath, and thank you for the gift of your word. We bring before you our joys and our sorrows, our anxiety and our excitement, our calendars and our contingencies. Would you meet us in this space? Jesus, help us abide in you as we engage with your truth. Holy Spirit, we ask you to move in and through this time in Luke's gospel account. And as we read your living word, may it read us and restore us to new life with you. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, now our passage today picks up right after the death of Jesus on a Roman cross. The crowds have left. The scene is shifting, but the story continues as we meet a man named Joseph. Here's Luke 23, picking up verse 50. Now there's a man named Joseph, a member of the council, a good and upright man,

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. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus, his body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth, and placed it in a tomb, cut into the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. Now, as we reflect on the significance of Jesus' burial, let's consider the presence of Joseph of Arimathea in the narrative. He's described as a good and upright man, and he didn't consent to the decision and action to crucify Jesus. In Matthew 2757, Joseph is described as a disciple of Jesus. We also read in verse 51 that Joseph was waiting for the kingdom of God. Now, in a way, that reminds us of two characters from Luke chapter 2, Simian and

Anna, who encountered the newborn Jesus in the temple and were described as waiting for the consolation of Israel and the redemption of Jerusalem. These people who were waiting for God to act saw something special in who Jesus was. Even if there wasn't any astounding evidence of activity surrounding Jesus in the moment, they saw Jesus as the manifestation of hope they were waiting to encounter. Now, the text here doesn't exactly tell us how Joseph is thinking or what he's hoping in here, but we know he is waiting for the kingdom of God. And his actions reveal a deep sense of reverence for Jesus and his physical body amidst this deep sense of waiting. It's a reverence that is quite relevant for us. When Joseph takes Jesus' body and places it in a tomb, he is fulfilling the Old Testament

prophecy of Isaiah 53-9, which says this about Jesus, and they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth. We get here a sense that even in his burial, Jesus is continuing and fulfilling a promise that was set in motion long ago, a promise for those like Joseph and Anna and Simeon, those who were waiting for the kingdom of God, who were waiting for the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 who would make intercession for them. As Jesus' dead body went into a tomb, he was actively keeping a bigger story alive. Now, if we're living in reality, living in the real world, we have to face the backwards, absurd, and unsettling nature of Jesus' burial. The one who holds the earth itself together

is being put into the depths of the earth. Now, when we get this, we understand the incredulous comment from Doste F's character. A person's faith could be ruined if they saw this. It seems like God's story is over. And yet, if we're living in God's reality, the real world as God's is working in it, we get to face the truth that this backwards, absurd, and unsettling event is profoundly hopeful. It's hopeful for those of us who are waiting on the kingdom of God and our own areas of life that feel backwards and absurd and unsettling. There are times and even long seasons when it seems like our time and God's story is over. Maybe it's because of inexplicable suffering, confusing circumstances, or persistent sin. When these things pile on,

it can feel like your faith is completely buried. But when you get to that low place, you can remember the real historical event of Jesus' burial. You can remember that Jesus has descended to the depths of where you are and take that as a guarantee that he is with you, no matter how low you go. And at the same time, you can remember that in his descent into death, it sure seemed like the story of God hit a concrete wall of futility. But in the bigger reality, in the bigger story, that descent into death was cultivating a wave of fulfillment. We get a sense of that fulfillment in the connection to Isaiah 53 here that we noticed earlier. But we also see it at the very end of our passage. Let's take a quick look at verses 54 through 56 right after we read about Jesus' burial. It

was preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes, but they rested on the Sabbath and obedience to the commandment. Now, Luke is careful to mention the timing of the Sabbath twice here in our passage. The Sabbath is about to begin, and these faithful women who are preparing spices and perfumes for Jesus rest on the Sabbath. The Sabbath. It's almost like a little preview for us, that while the Lord of the Sabbath is dead, he is preparing to rise again and bring us into the rest and the flourishing of his kingdom that we've all been waiting for. Yes, on this Holy Saturday, Jesus is really dead, but in his death,

he is really keeping his story alive. And that is why we can't bypass the burial of Jesus. We have to behold it. It reminds us that even when it seems like God's story has hit a dead end, our King Jesus is with us and bringing us into a bigger fulfillment in his bigger story of life. That painting mentioned by Dostoevsky in his novel, it wasn't an image made up for fiction. It was a real painting by Hans Holbein called Dead Christ in the Tomb. The painting was central to Dostoevsky's novel because it was also a central feature of his life. His wife wrote about how he visited the art museum that held this image of Jesus in the grave, and he was absolutely transfixed by it.

He couldn't look away from Jesus' body in the tomb. He could not pass by it. He had to behold it. Far from ruining his faith, the reality of Jesus in a tomb gave him a strong foundation for his faith to rest upon. While the presence of Jesus' body in a tomb truly is a backwards, absurd, and unsettling thing to consider, it's also the most real, assuring, and anchored hope to live into. We can't bypass the burial of Jesus. We have to behold it. Behold the good news that there is no grave so deep that Jesus hasn't been there and it isn't there with us now. He descends to the depths with us. We behold the good news that there is no tomb so terrible that it terminates the substance of our faith. Because just when it seems like the story is finished, we know that it's being fulfilled in Jesus. Father, we are in all of your ancient true promises to save us through the suffering servant. Jesus, we trust you as the one who is with us in the grave, who defeats the grave, so we can have your abundant life.

Spirit, help us behold the good news of Jesus' burial and of his rest and the resurrection. We pray all of this God because of your grace, for your glory, and in your true story. In Jesus' name, amen. You know,