Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE CLIMAX OF JESUS* MISSION §17.1
tail is drawn from Scripture. 97 (2) Jewish law required that the body of an executed
criminal should be taken down before nightfall (Deut. 21.22-23); Josephus
confirms that this was current practice (War 4.317). Although the Romans might
have preferred to leave the corpse on the cross as a warning to others, 98 it is unlikely
that they would have disregarded Jewish religious law and custom at such a
sensitive time (Passover). (3) There are some reports of permission being given
for a crucified victim to be taken down ahead of normal practice; 99 and the skeletal
remains of a crucified man discovered at Giv'at ha-Mivtar were buried in a
family tomb. 100 It is not irrelevant to recall that, according to Mark 6.29, the Baptist's
disciples were given permission to take his body after execution and buried it
in a tomb. (4) Joseph of Arimathea is a very plausible historical character: he is attested
in all four Gospels (Mark 15.43 pars.) and in the Gospel of Peter (2.3-5);
when the tendency of the tradition was to shift blame to the Jewish council, the
creation ex nihilo of a sympathiser from among their number would be surprising;
101 and 'Arimathea', 'a town very difficult to identify and reminiscent of no
scriptural symbolism, makes a thesis of invention even more implausible'. 102 It
would be surprising if Jesus had not won some such support within the higher echelons
of Jewish society. 103 (5) Similarly the presence of the women at the cross
97. Of the three clauses describing Jesus' death and resurrection in 1 Cor. 15.3-4, only
the reference to Jesus' burial (hoti etaphe) lacks the accompanying phrase 'according to the
Scriptures'.
98. Hengel, Crucifixion 87-88.
99. Philo, Flacc. 83: 'I have known cases when on the eve of a holiday of this kind, people
who have been crucified have been taken down and their bodies delivered to their kinsfolk,
because it was thought well to give them burial and allow them the ordinary rites'; Josephus,
Life 420: '. . . on my return I saw many prisoners who had been crucified, and recognized three
of my acquaintances among them. . . . Titus gave orders immediately that they should be taken
down and receive the most careful treatment. Two of them died in the physicians' hands; the
third survived'. Brown is not confident on this point (Death 1207-9).
100. See particularly J. Zias and E. Sekeles, 'The Crucified Man from Giv'at ha-Mivtar:
A Reappraisal', IE] 35 (1985) 22-27.
101. Pace Funk: 'probably a Markan creation' (Honest 234). Contrast M. Myllykoski,
'What Happened to the Body of Jesus?' in I. Dunderberg, et al., eds., Fair Play: Diversity and
Conflicts in Early Christianity, H. Räisänen FS (Leiden: Brill, 2002) 43-82, who concludes that
'the oral tradition emphasized that Jesus was buried by a respected member of the Sanhedrin,
and that his burial was simple but honourable' (82; critique of Crossan 76-81; further bibliography
44 n. 3). John 19.39 also names Nicodemus. Flusser finds that the rabbinic records regarding
Nicodemus complement John's picture (Jesus 148-49). But the amount of spices indicated
(about 75 lbs.) is extraordinary (cf. John 2.6).
102. Brown, Death 1240.
103. Crossan (Birth 554-55) makes too much of minor differences (typical of varied performance,
whether oral or literary) regarding Joseph's status as a member of the council which
condemned Jesus (see further above, §15.3a and n. 81). Lüdemann (Jesus 111) is similarly
782