Part IV (Tertia Pars) Part 87 (1/2)
Whether It Was Fitting for Christ to Be Buried?
Objection 1: It would seem unfitting for Christ to have been buried, because it is said of Him (Ps. 87:6): ”He is [Vulg.: 'I am'] become as a man without help, free among the dead.” But the bodies of the dead are enclosed in a tomb; which seems contrary to liberty.
Therefore it does not seem fitting for Christ to have been buried.
Obj. 2: Further, nothing should be done to Christ except it was helpful to our salvation. But Christ's burial seems in no way to be conducive to our salvation. Therefore, it was not fitting for Him to be buried.
Obj. 3: Further, it seems out of place for G.o.d who is above the high heavens to be laid in the earth. But what befalls the dead body of Christ is attributed to G.o.d by reason of the union. Therefore it appears to be unbecoming for Christ to be buried.
_On the contrary,_ our Lord said (Matt. 26:10) of the woman who anointed Him: ”She has wrought a good work upon Me,” and then He added (Matt. 26:12)--”for she, in pouring this ointment upon My body, hath done it for My burial.”
_I answer that,_ It was fitting for Christ to be buried. First of all, to establish the truth of His death; for no one is laid in the grave unless there be certainty of death. Hence we read (Mk. 15:44, 45), that Pilate by diligent inquiry a.s.sured himself of Christ's death before granting leave for His burial. Secondly, because by Christ's rising from the grave, to them who are in the grave, hope is given of rising again through Him, according to John 5:25, 28: ”All that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of G.o.d ...
and they that hear shall live.” Thirdly, as an example to them who dying spiritually to their sins are hidden away ”from the disturbance of men” (Ps. 30:21). Hence it is said (Col. 3:3): ”You are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in G.o.d.” Wherefore the baptized likewise who through Christ's death die to sins, are as it were buried with Christ by immersion, according to Rom. 6:4: ”We are buried together with Christ by baptism into death.”
Reply Obj. 1: Though buried, Christ proved Himself ”free among the dead”: since, although imprisoned in the tomb, He could not be hindered from going forth by rising again.
Reply Obj. 2: As Christ's death wrought our salvation, so likewise did His burial. Hence Jerome says (Super Marc. xiv): ”By Christ's burial we rise again”; and on Isa. 53:9: ”He shall give the unG.o.dly for His burial,” a gloss says: ”He shall give to G.o.d and the Father the Gentiles who were without G.o.dliness, because He purchased them by His death and burial.”
Reply Obj. 3: As is said in a discourse made at the Council of Ephesus [*P. iii, cap. 9], ”Nothing that saves man is derogatory to G.o.d; showing Him to be not pa.s.sible, but merciful”: and in another discourse of the same Council [*P. iii, cap. 10]: ”G.o.d does not repute anything as an injury which is an occasion of men's salvation.
Thus thou shalt not deem G.o.d's Nature to be so vile, as though It may sometimes be subjected to injuries.”
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SECOND ARTICLE [III, Q. 51, Art. 2]
Whether Christ Was Buried in a Becoming Manner?
Objection 1: It would seem that Christ was buried in an unbecoming manner. For His burial should be in keeping with His death. But Christ underwent a most shameful death, according to Wis. 2:20: ”Let us condemn Him to a most shameful death.” It seems therefore unbecoming for honorable burial to be accorded to Christ, inasmuch as He was buried by men of position--namely, by Joseph of Arimathea, who was ”a n.o.ble counselor,” to use Mark's expression (Mk. 15:43), and by Nicodemus, who was ”a ruler of the Jews,” as John states (John 3:1).
Obj. 2: Further, nothing should be done to Christ which might set an example of wastefulness. But it seems to savor of waste that in order to bury Christ Nicodemus came ”bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes about a hundred pounds weight,” as recorded by John (19:39), especially since a woman came beforehand to anoint His body for the burial, as Mark relates (Mk. 14:28). Consequently, this was not done becomingly with regard to Christ.
Obj. 3: Further, it is not becoming for anything done to be inconsistent with itself. But Christ's burial on the one hand was simple, because ”Joseph wrapped His body in a clean linen cloth,” as is related by Matthew (27:59), ”but not with gold or gems, or silk,”
as Jerome observes: yet on the other hand there appears to have been some display, inasmuch as they buried Him with fragrant spices (John 19:40). Consequently, the manner of Christ's burial does not seem to have been seemly.
Obj. 4: Further, ”What things soever were written,” especially of Christ, ”were written for our learning,” according to Rom. 15:4. But some of the things written in the Gospels touching Christ's burial in no wise seem to pertain to our instruction--as that He was buried ”in a garden ... ”in a tomb which was not His own,” which was ”new,”
and ”hewed out in a rock.” Therefore the manner of Christ's burial was not becoming.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Isa. 11:10): ”And His sepulchre shall be glorious.”
_I answer that,_ The manner of Christ's burial is shown to be seemly in three respects. First, to confirm faith in His death and resurrection. Secondly, to commend the devotion of those who gave Him burial. Hence Augustine says (De Civ. Dei i): ”The Gospel mentions as praiseworthy the deed of those who received His body from the cross, and with due care and reverence wrapped it up and buried it.”
Thirdly, as to the mystery whereby those are molded who ”are buried together with Christ into death” (Rom. 6:4).
Reply Obj. 1: With regard to Christ's death, His patience and constancy in enduring death are commended, and all the more that His death was the more despicable: but in His honorable burial we can see the power of the dying Man, who, even in death, frustrated the intent of His murderers, and was buried with honor: and thereby is foreshadowed the devotion of the faithful who in the time to come were to serve the dead Christ.
Reply Obj. 2: On that expression of the Evangelist (John 19:40) that they buried Him ”as the manner of the Jews is to bury,” Augustine says (Tract. in Joan. cxx): ”He admonishes us that in offices of this kind which are rendered to the dead, the custom of each nation should be observed.” Now it was the custom of this people to anoint bodies with various spices in order the longer to preserve them from corruption [*Cf. Catena Aurea in Joan. xix]. Accordingly it is said in De Doctr. Christ. iii that ”in all such things, it is not the use thereof, but the luxury of the user that is at fault”; and, farther on: ”what in other persons is frequently criminal, in a divine or prophetic person is a sign of something great.” For myrrh and aloes by their bitterness denote penance, by which man keeps Christ within himself without the corruption of sin; while the odor of the ointments expresses good report.
Reply Obj. 3: Myrrh and aloes were used on Christ's body in order that it might be preserved from corruption, and this seemed to imply a certain need (in the body): hence the example is set us that we may lawfully use precious things medicinally, from the need of preserving our body. But the wrapping up of the body was merely a question of becoming propriety. And we ought to content ourselves with simplicity in such things. Yet, as Jerome observes, by this act was denoted that ”he swathes Jesus in clean linen, who receives Him with a pure soul.”
Hence, as Bede says on Mark 15:46: ”The Church's custom has prevailed for the sacrifice of the altar to be offered not upon silk, nor upon dyed cloth, but on linen of the earth; as the Lord's body was buried in a clean winding-sheet.”
Reply Obj. 4: Christ was buried ”in a garden” to express that by His death and burial we are delivered from the death which we incur through Adam's sin committed in the garden of paradise. But for this ”was our Lord buried in the grave of a stranger,” as Augustine says in a sermon (ccxlviii), ”because He died for the salvation of others; and a sepulchre is the abode of death.” Also the extent of the poverty endured for us can be thereby estimated: since He who while living had no home, after death was laid to rest in another's tomb, and being naked was clothed by Joseph. But He is laid in a ”new”
sepulchre, as Jerome observes on Matt. 27:60, ”lest after the resurrection it might be pretended that someone else had risen, while the other corpses remained. The new sepulchre can also denote Mary's virginal womb.” And furthermore it may be understood that all of us are renewed by Christ's burial; death and corruption being destroyed.
Moreover, He was buried in a monument ”hewn out of a rock,” as Jerome says on Matt. 27:64, ”lest, if it had been constructed of many stones, they might say that He was stolen away by digging away the foundations of the tomb.” Hence the ”great stone” which was set shows that ”the tomb could not be opened except by the help of many hands.