In Joseph’s Tomb
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Him who had healed the sick and raised the dead. On every side was
heard the cry, We want Christ the Healer! Upon this occasion those
who were thought to show indications of the leprosy were examined
by the priests. Many were forced to hear their husbands, wives, or
children pronounced leprous, and doomed to go forth from the shelter
of their homes and the care of their friends, to warn off the stranger with
the mournful cry, “Unclean, unclean!” The friendly hands of Jesus of
Nazareth, that never refused to touch with healing the loathsome leper,
were folded on His breast. The lips that had answered his petition with
the comforting words, “I will; be thou clean” (
Matthew 8:3
), were now
silent. Many appealed to the chief priests and rulers for sympathy and
relief, but in vain. Apparently they were determined to have the living
Christ among them again. With persistent earnestness they asked for
Him. They would not be turned away. But they were driven from the
temple courts, and soldiers were stationed at the gates to keep back the
multitude that came with their sick and dying, demanding entrance.
The sufferers who had come to be healed by the Saviour sank
under their disappointment. The streets were filled with mourning.
The sick were dying for want of the healing touch of Jesus. Physicians
were consulted in vain; there was no skill like that of Him who lay in
Joseph’s tomb.
The mourning cries of the suffering ones brought home to thou-
sands of minds the conviction that a great light had gone out of the
world. Without Christ, the earth was blackness and darkness. Many
whose voices had swelled the cry of “Crucify Him, crucify Him,” now
realized the calamity that had fallen upon them, and would as eagerly
have cried, Give us Jesus! had He still been alive.
When the people learned that Jesus had been put to death by the
priests, inquiries were made regarding His death. The particulars of
His trial were kept as private as possible; but during the time when
He was in the grave, His name was on thousands of lips, and reports
of His mock trial, and of the inhumanity of the priests and rulers,
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were circulated everywhere. By men of intellect these priests and
rulers were called upon to explain the prophecies of the Old Testament
concerning the Messiah, and while trying to frame some falsehood
in reply, they became like men insane. The prophecies that pointed
to Christ’s sufferings and death they could not explain, and many
inquirers were convinced that the Scriptures had been fulfilled.