As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

Matthew 27:55-61

Jesus' burial was not like the huge, dignified funeral that had been held for Jacob, the grandson of Abraham. At that time, Joseph and his brothers and "all Pharaoh's officials accompanied him" up to the cave that Abraham himself has purchased, to bury Jacob (Genesis 50:1-14). Jesus' burial was more like the poor burials of bad kings, like the king of Ai, whom Joshua had impaled "on a tree and left him there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take his body down from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it" (Joshua 8:29).
 
The women who stayed with Jesus to his death loved and worshiped him. There was Mary Magdalene – Jesus had driven seven demons out of her (Luke 8:2). There was the mother of James and John, two of Jesus’ closest companions whom he chose as Apostles.  And there was another Mary, who Matthew refers to as "the mother of James and Joses." Mark 15:40 tells us that this James was another of the Twelve Apostles. They watched a man named Joseph carefully take down Jesus’ body from the cross.  Joseph was a wealthy man and a member of the Jewish Ruling Council who put his faith in Jesus. He was helped by a colleague who also was a believer: Nicodemus (John 19:39).  They cared for Jesus’ body, preparing it for burial as best they could in the short amount of time they had before sunset.  They buried him in a new tomb that Joseph himself had hollowed out of rock.

There was no dignified ceremony.  A few onlookers with very heavy hearts watched the two men somberly lay Jesus’ body in the tomb and roll a heavy stone in front of the entrance.   But Jesus didn’t need the grave for very long, just three days.  For God saw to it that his body would not decay, or be abandoned to the grave (Psalm 16:9-10).
 
Jesus came out of that grave.  He rose from the dead!  And that has changed the prospect of the grave for us who like Joseph and Nicodemus and the women trust in him as our Savior.  He entered the grave, but it could not hold him.  He broke the bonds of death.  He lives eternally.  Though we die and are buried, like Jesus we will be raised from the dead and live with him forever.

Hold onto his sure promise:  “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19).