Day and Time

According to Mark, Joseph went to Pilate “when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath” (Mark 15:42); this description is essentially followed in Matt 27:57, 62, and Luke 23:54. It is typical for Mark to furnish two time indicators, the second making the first more precise (Bode, First Easter, 11). So while “evening” alone might suggest that the Sabbath had begun, Mark adds that it was still the day of preparation before the Sabbath. That Joseph was able to purchase the linen cloth (Mark 15:46) implies that the Passover had not yet begun—which indicates the chronological agreement between Mark and John that Passover (15 Nisan) fell on Saturday, making the Passover coincide with the weekly Sabbath (Mark 14:2; John 19:31; Taylor, Mark, 601).

John, which recounts the burial in elaborate detail (John 19:38–42), is the Gospel that most emphasizes the urgency of the hour and the short amount of time available for the burial. John records that the Jewish leaders asked Pilate to employ the crurifragum, a breaking of the legs with a mallet, to prevent the bodies of Jesus and the revolutionaries to his right and left from remaining on the crosses on the Sabbath and Passover. Because Jesus had already perished, the crurifragum was not carried out upon him, as it was for the two revolutionaries (John 19:32–33). John also reports that, due to the impending Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea placed Jesus’ body in a tomb located near the place of crucifixion (John 19:42). By contrast, the course of events in Mark is sure and steady, lacking any sense of urgency: Joseph requests Jesus’ body; Pilate questions the centurion to ensure Jesus’ death; Joseph receives the body and wraps it in a shroud; Joseph lays it in a tomb; and Joseph rolls a stone across the entrance (Craig, Assessing, 170–71).