Pure Nonsense (part 1)

But these words seemed like pure nonsense to them, and they did not believe them. – Luke 24:11  (NET)

The words that are reported to have been nonsense to the disciples of Jesus were a part of the attempt by some women to convey what was an amazing experience.  A group of women had gone to the tomb of Jesus.  There had been loyal followers of and providers for the one that they believed had been the messiah.  They were “taking the aromatic spices they had prepared” (24:1b).  Not only was this an obvious expression of love and devotion for and towards Jesus by these women, but what they were doing was a regular part of then-current Jewish burial practices. 

The report of the Gospel narratives is that Jesus had been buried in a tomb “where no one had yet been buried” (23:53b).  Though it is said that no one had yet been buried there, over time there would have been many people placed in that tomb.  Though He would be the first, it would have been highly unusual for Jesus to have been the lone occupant.  Then as now, real estate was valuable, and the tomb that would house Jesus’ body was in a choice location, as would be expected of the tomb of the presumptive owner, Joseph of Arimathea. 

Quite simply, a tomb was not designed for one person and one person only.  This was not the common practice.  That is the reason for the women taking the aromatic spices to the tomb.  A body would be placed in the tomb, and while that body was in the tomb, other bodies would also be placed in the tomb.  The spices would function to counteract the smell of decaying and putrefying flesh, which would make the further placement of bodies in what was likely a family tomb somewhere more bearable. 

After a period of time, when the flesh of a body had completely decomposed, family members would return to the family tomb to collect the bones of the deceased.  The bones would be placed in a jar or box.  These bones, now collected together into a more compact container, would either be taken to another location or left on a shelf or in a nice in the tomb.  So it was for this reason that each body laid in the tomb would have aromatic spices applied to them.  So even though the women that had planned to apply the aromatic spice to the body of Jesus were doing so out of love and devotion (with this normally done for family members, but most likely rarely done for the shamed victim of crucifixion), they were not doing something that was uncommon or unique (much like the use of nails, crowns of thorns, whips, reeds, robes, and mocking were not at all uncommon to crucifixion).    

This plan to carry out basic burial practices serve to point out that none of Jesus’ disciples or followers expected Him to be raised from the dead.  They were simply engaging in a routine activity.  None of them were looking forward to Jesus’ Resurrection.  Clearly the women were not expecting a resurrection from the dead, because again, they were taking the spices to the tomb as part of the normal burial routine.  So when “they found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb” (24:2), and even though they were surely aware of the guard that had been set and the seal that had been set on the stone, they might not have thought that to be a completely odd occurrence.  One of the first thoughts to cross the minds of these women might very well have been that somebody was already there, perhaps one of His disciples (perhaps the one known as the one Jesus loved, who is reported in the Gospel of John to have followed Jesus all the way to the cross) doing to Jesus’ body exactly what it was that they had come with the intention of doing.