There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulcher was near at hand.
All Commentaries on John 19:42 Go To John 19
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
There laid they Jesus therefore, because of the Jews" preparation day, for the coming sabbath, in which it was not lawful to work, or to bury any one (so S. Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius), for the sepulchre was nigh at hand. "They wished," said Euthymius, "to lay Jesus in another and more fitting tomb, at a greater distance from the city." But God wished Him to be buried near Golgotha and Jerusalem. S. Chrysostom gives the reason: "That the disciples might the more readily betake themselves thither, and observe what was going on thereabouts, and also that not only they, but their enemies also, might be witnesses of His burial. The seal also, and the guards who were placed over the sepulchre, were witnesses to the same. Christ wished that His death should be witnessed no less than His Resurrection, for if His death had been a matter of doubt, the proof of His Resurrection would not hold good. And not only did He wish, for these reasons, to be buried nigh at hand, but also that no one might falsely allege that His Body had been stolen away."
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