Choice of Jesus’ Burial Site Is Telling, Experts Say

They are words that echo in churches everywhere this time of year, sacred sentences that go to the heart of the Christian faith: “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.”

Yet how many Christians know the cultural and historical nuances of Jesus’ death and burial, the customs and taboos of his time that add texture and context to the Gospel story? What happened to Jesus’ body between Good Friday afternoon, when it was taken down from the cross, and Sunday morning, when his followers found an empty tomb?

Consider the site of Jesus’ burial. Contrary to popular belief, the placement of Jesus in what the Gospels describe as a “new” tomb may have been a vestige of the shame and disgrace that surrounded his trial, conviction and crucifixion.

“The preference is to be buried in your family tomb,” said Byron R. McCane, a professor of religion at Converse College in Spartanburg, S.C. “That is a custom that goes way, way back.”

Because Jesus was interred apart from his clan, McCane says, his burial would have been considered “dishonorable” by the cultural standards of ancient Jerusalem.

Another reason Jesus was buried apart from his family may be found in ancient Jewish law, as written in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy.

“If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree,” states the book’s 21st chapter, “you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse.”

Other aspects of Jewish religious law illuminate further the question of why Jesus was buried hurriedly, apart from his family. According to the law, a corpse and anyone who touched it were considered ritually unclean. A quick interment, usually before sundown on the day of death, was important.

As sundown approached on the day of Jesus’ crucifixion--the Friday before an important Passover Sabbath--the religious leaders sought an expedient solution to satisfy the law’s requirements.

“In Jerusalem, especially, people wanted to live in pure conditions, ritual purity,” noted Ronny Reich, an archeologist with the Israeli Antiquities Authorities in Jerusalem. “So dead bodies were usually buried before sundown.”

The Gospel of John alludes to this point, stating: “Because it was the Jewish day of preparation, and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.”

There is no absolute consensus as to the location of Jesus’ authentic tomb, but most scholars agree it would have been a cave-like, underground chamber outside the walls of Jerusalem on the city’s east, north or south side. Jerusalem’s prevailing winds blow from the west, and Jewish law decreed that no bodies could be buried west of the Temple--a way to keep spiritual and physical “impurity” from contaminating the community.