But Pilate was surprised if he was already dead. And, summoning near the centurion, he questioned him whether he was long dead. And having learned from the centurion, he granted the corpse to Joseph.
Pilate wasn’t an easy touch. At first, things didn’t add up. Could Jesus already be dead? He didn’t want to find that this man remained alive given his order that he be crucified. His centurion supplied the required assurance.
And Joseph, having purchased a linen sheet and having taken him down, wrapped him in the linen sheet and placed him in a tomb which was hewn out of rock.
This man was well organised. He had already purchased a shroud. He had an empty rock-hewn tomb available. He took Jesus’ dead body down from the cross and wrapped it in the shroud.
And he rolled a stone over the entrance to the tomb.
A large stone “over the entrance”, making the burial permanent and precluding entry and exit. Generally, such stones were rolled downhill after burial, meaning that when a later cadaver needed to be place in the same tomb it was an uphill task to move the stone.
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