John 19:41 Commentary

 A continuation of my prior posts on John's 19's allusions to the Old Testament, especially Genesis. See commentaries for: John 19:1, John 19:2, John 19:3, John 19:4, John 19:23, John 19:33-37 

John 19:41 reads as follows:

At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.--John 19:41

Ἦν δὲ ἐν τῷ τόπῳ ὅπου ἐσταυρώθη κῆπος, καὶ ἐν τῷ κήπῳ μνημεῖον καινόν, ἐν ᾧ οὐδέπω οὐδεὶς ἐτέθη. --John 19:41 (Byzantine Text)

ἦν δὲ ἐν τῷ τόπῳ ὅπου ἐσταυρώθη κῆπος, καὶ ἐν τῷ κήπῳ μνημεῖον καινόν, ἐν ᾧ οὐδέπω οὐδεὶς ἦν τεθειμένος· --John 19:41 (Alexandria/Westcott and Hort)

St. John here emphasizes that Christ was placed in a tomb in a garden. This is clearly another call back to the Garden of Eden, the paradise of God, it also ties in with Christ praying in a garden the night before, His parable, His words to the good thief.

First, Genesis 2:

And the LORD God planted a garden eastward [or beforehand], in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed.--Genesis 2:8

וַיִּטַּע יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים, גַּן-בְּעֵדֶן--מִקֶּדֶם; וַיָּשֶׂם שָׁם, אֶת-הָאָדָם אֲשֶׁר יָצָר.--Genesis 2:8 (Masoretic text)

 And the Lord God planted an orchard in Edem toward the east and there he put the man whom he had formed.--Genesis 2:8 New English Translation of the Septuagint (NETS)

καὶ ἐφύτευσεν κύριος ὁ θεὸς παράδεισον ἐν Εδεμ κατὰ ἀνατολὰς καὶ ἔθετο ἐκεῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὃν ἔπλασεν --Genesis 2:8 LXX

καὶ ἐφύτευσε κύριος ὁ θεὸς κῆπον ἐν Ἐδὲμ ἀπὸ ἀρχῆθεν--Genesis 2:8 Greek of Aquila quoted by Origen

 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden from old.--Genesis 2:8 translation of Greek of Aquila quoted by Origen

John 19 simply uses the word garden while LXX Genesis uses paradise/orchard, perhaps John knew it would be going too far to use the word paradise, he certainly used in the Revelation:

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise [παραδείσῳ] of God.--Revelation 2:7

ὁ ἔχων οὖς ἀκουσάτω τί τὸ πνεῦμα λέγει ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις. τῷ νικῶντι δώσω αὐτῷ φαγεῖν ἐκ τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς, ὅ ἐστιν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τοῦ θεοῦ.--Revelation 2:7 [most texts except Byzantine majority]

I am unsure which word St John read in Genesis 2:8 for garden, either way both παράδεισον and κῆπον  were seen as valid.

St Cyril of Alexandria comments on John 19:41 where Christ is placed in tomb in a garden never used by a man:

The writer of the Gospel says that this sepulchre in the garden was a new one; this fact signifying to us, as it were, by a type and figure, that Christ's death is the harbinger and pioneer of our entry into Paradise. For He entered as a Forerunner for us. What other signification than this can be intended by the carrying over of the Body of Jesus in the garden? And by the newness of the sepulchre is meant the untrodden and strange pathway whereby we return from death unto life, and the renewing of our souls, that Christ has invented for us, whereby we baffle corruption. For henceforth, by the death of Christ, death for us has been transformed, in a manner, into sleep, with like power and functions. For we are alive unto God, and shall live for evermore, |648 to the Scriptures. Therefore, also, the blessed Paul, in a variety of places, calls those asleep who have died in Christ. For in the times of old the dread presence of death held human nature in awe. For death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression; and we bore the image of the earthy in his likeness, and underwent the death that was inflicted by the Divine curse. But when the Second Adam appeared among us, the Divine Man from heaven, and, contending for the salvation of the world, purchased by His death the life of all men, and, destroying the power of corruption, rose again to life, we were transformed into His Image, and undergo, as it were, a different kind of death, that does not dissolve us in eternal corruption, but casts upon us a slumber which is laden with fair hope, after the Likeness of Him Who has made this new path for us, that is, Christ. 

And if any one choose to give an additional meaning to the saying that the sepulchre was a new one, and that no man had been lain therein, be it so. He says, then, we may suppose, that the sepulchre was new, and that no one had been ever laid therein, that no one might be thought to have arisen from the sleep of death save Jesus only--CYRIL, Archbishop of Alexandria, ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN: Book XII

Notice the word for placed [same root] is used in both Genesis and John 19.

The same St Cyril says:

And since we have touched on things connected with Paradise, I am truly astonished at the truth of the types. In Paradise was the Fall, and in a Garden was our Salvation. From the Tree came sin, and until the Tree sin lasted. In the evening, when the Lord walked in the Garden, they hid themselves (Genesis 3:8); and in the evening the robber is brought by the Lord into Paradise--St Cyril of Alexandria, Catechetical Lecture 13

He contrasts paradise and the garden, then the two trees and finally mentions in the evening man hid from God in paradise while at the cross in the evening God brings man into paradise.

 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.--Luke 23:43

Interestly Afraates the Persian sage writing in Syriac records it as:

And to one of those who were crucified with Him, who believed on him He swore:— You shall be with Me today in the garden Eden.--St Aphraates, Demonstration 22 (Of Death and the Latter Times)

His words "garden of Eden" is not a paraphrase he made, in fact it derives from the Old Syriac gospel Curetorian codex from the 2nd century:

Jesus said to him: “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in the Garden of Eden.”-- Old Syriac Curetorian 

ܐܡܪ ܠܗ ܝܫܘܥ܂ ܐܡܝܢ ܐܡܪ ܐܢܐ ܠܟ ܝܘܡܢܐ ܕܥܡܝ ܬܗܘܐ ܒܓܢܬ ܥܕܢ --Luke 23:43 Old Syriac Curetorian--

Going back to St Cyril, in the same Lecture St Cyril draws on Songs of Solomon 5:1 as relating to the Cross:

I came to my garden, my sister, my bride, I gathered my myrrh with my spice, I ate my honeycomb with my honey, I drank my wine with my milk. Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love!--Songs of Solomon 5:1

St Cyril writes: 

I have come who feed My sheep among the lilies Song of Songs 6:3, I have come to feed them in the gardens. I have found a sheep that was lost Luke 15:5-6, but I lay it on My shoulders; for he believes, since he himself has said, I have gone astray like a lost sheep ; Lord, remember me when You come in Your kingdom. 

Of this garden I sang of old to My spouse in the Canticles, and spoke to her thus. I have come into My garden, My sister, My spouse Song of Songs 5:1; (now in the place where He was crucified was a garden John 19:41;) and what takest Thou thence? I have gathered My myrrh; having drunk wine mingled with myrrh, and vinegar, after receiving which, He said, It is finished---St Cyril of Alexandria, Catechetical Lecture 13

St Jerome sees the unused tomb as being in line with Christ being the son of a perpetual virgin mother and miraculously passing through locked doors:

Christ Himself is a virgin; and His mother is also a virgin; yea, though she is His mother, she is a virgin still. For Jesus has entered in through the closed doors, [John 20:19] and in His sepulchre — a new one hewn out of the hardest rock — no man is laid either before Him or after Him. [John 19:41] Mary is a garden enclosed...a fountain sealed, [Song of Songs 4:12] and from that fountain flows, according to Joel, the river which waters the torrent bed either of cords or of thorns; of cords being those of the sins by which we were beforetime bound, [Proverbs 5:22] the thorns those which choked the seed the goodman of the house had sown. [Matthew 13:7] She is the east gate, spoken of by the prophet Ezekiel, always shut and always shining, and either concealing or revealing the Holy of Holies; and through her the Sun of Righteousness, [Malachi 4:2] our high priest after the order of Melchizedek, Hebrews 5:10 goes in and out. Let my critics explain to me how Jesus can have entered in through closed doors when He allowed His hands and His side to be handled, and showed that He had bones and flesh, thus proving that His was a true body and no mere phantom of one, and I will explain how the holy Mary can be at once a mother and a virgin.--St Jerome, Letter 48, To Pammachius

A far eastern Nestorian / Church of the East, theologian writing much later (9th century), Ishodad of Merv [modern day Turkmenistan] writes:

It is asked, why His body was put in a garden, and in a new tomb? We say, not simply, but according as it was proper, that Death, which got the dominion in Paradise (a garden), should be brought to an end again in Paradise (a garden); and that where Sin entered, there Righteousness should enter; but in a new tomb, and where no man had yet been laid, the fact was providentially provided, lest when the Resurrection should take place, it should be imputed to another who had been laid there. Again, in order that the birth might be like birth. In the first birth, He was conceived in a virgin womb, to which an external force had not approached ; and in His last birth. He was laid in a new tomb, which no other dead man had entered ; and in that former one. He was born and came out, the virginity not being destroyed, so in this second case, that He came out from the grave, the stones and the seals being kept at the same time.--The commentaries of Ishodad of Merv, bishop of Hadatha (c. 850 A.D.) in Syriac and English, Commentary on Matthew 27

Likely St Jerome derived this from St John Chrysostom before him:

As in the womb of the Virgin Mary no one was conceived before Him, and no one after Him, so in this sepulchre there was no one buried before Him, and no one after Him.--St John Chrysostom, Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 120  

St Ephraim the Syrian comments also connecting the Garden to the Eden:

His tomb and his garden are a symbol of Eden, in which Adam died a hidden death. For [Adam] fled and hid among the trees, and entered and was concealed as within a tomb. The living buried one, who was resurrected in a garden, raised up him who fell in a garden. From the garden’s tomb to the garden’s wedding feast, he made him enter in glory.--St Ephrem the Syrian, Hymn on the Crucifixion: 13

 Cornelius Lapide says

Now there was in the place where He was crucified a garden (for where should Jesus, the Author of all verdure and vigor, be buried except in a garden? I gave the reasons at Matthew XXVII, 60), and in the garden a new sepulchre, in which no one had yet been laid. — Hear St. Augustine: "As in the womb of the Virgin Mary no one was conceived before Him, no one after Him; so in this sepulchre no one before Him, no one after Him has been buried."--Cornelius Lapide on John 19:41

 His commentary on Matthew 27:60 is:

the sepulcher of Christ was in a garden, because Adam had sinned in the garden of paradise and had incurred the sentence of death. Hence Christ began His Passion in a garden, in a garden He consummated it and was buried, so that He might expiate and make satisfaction for that sentence; and that He might establish and plant a most delightful garden blooming with the flowers and fruits of every virtue, namely the Church. Moreover, according to Bede and Adrichomius, Christ's body in the sepulcher, just as on the cross, was so laid out that, with its head and face turned away from the East and from Judea, it looked toward the West, that is, toward Italy and Rome.--Cornelius Lapide, Commentary on Matthew 27:60

11th Century, Greek Orthodox bishop and Bible commentator, Theophylact of Ochid (Bulgaria) wrote:

« Μετὰ ταῦτα ἠρώτησε τὸν Πιλάτον Ἰωσὴφ ὁ ἀπὸ Ἀριμαθαίας, ὢν μαθητὴς τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, κεκρυμμένος δὲ διὰ τὸν φόβον τῶν Ἰουδαίων, ἵνα ἄρῃ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ· καὶ ἐπέτρεψεν ὁ Πιλάτος. Ἦλθεν οὖν καὶ ἦρε τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ. Ἦλθε δὲ καὶ Νικόδημος, ὁ ἐλθὼν πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν νυκτὸς τὸ πρῶτον, φέρων μίγμα σμύρνης καὶ ἀλόης ὡσεὶ λίτρας ἑκατόν. Ἔλαβον οὖν τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, καὶ ἔδησαν αὐτὸ ἐν ὀθονίοις μετὰ τῶν ἀρωμάτων, καθὼς ἔθος ἐστὶ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ἐνταφιάζειν. Ἦν δὲ ἐν τῷ τόπῳ, ὅπου ἐσταυρώθη, κῆπος, καὶ ἐν τῷ κήπῳ μνημεῖον καινόν, ἐν ᾧ οὐδέπω οὐδεὶς ἐτέθη. Ἐκεῖ οὖν διὰ τὴν παρασκευὴν τῶν Ἰουδαίων, ὅτι ἐγγὺς ἦν τὸ μνημεῖον, ἔθηκαν τὸν Ἰησοῦν. »

 Τίνος ἕνεκεν οὐχ εἷς τῶν δώδεκα προσῆλθε τῷ Πιλάτῳ, ἀλλ’ ἐκ τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα ἴσως ὢν ὁ Ἰωσήφ, τολμᾷ τοιοῦτον;

Εἰ γὰρ διὰ τὸν φόβον τῶν Ἰουδαίων εἴποι τις κεκρύφθαι τοὺς μαθητάς, καὶ οὗτος τῷ αὐτῷ κατείχετο φόβῳ. Ἔστιν οὖν εἰπεῖν, ὅτι σφόδρα ἐπίσημος ἦν, καὶ τῷ Πιλάτῳ γνώριμος διὰ τὸ ἔνδοξον. Ὅθεν καὶ νομίσας σβεσθῆναι τὴν ὀργήν, ὡς ἤδη ἐσταυρωμένου τοῦ ἐναντίου αὐτοῖς, μετὰ ἀδείας πρόσεισι, καὶ πολυτελῆ ποιεῖται τὴν ταφὴν σὺν τῷ Νικοδήμῳ, οὐδὲν μὲν θεῖον περὶ αὐτοῦ φανταζόμενοι ἀμφότεροι, ἀλλ’ ὡς περὶ ἀνθρώπου ψιλοῦ διακείμενοι, ἐπεὶ καὶ τοιαῦτα φέρουσιν ἀρώματα, ἃ μάλιστα τὸ σῶμα πέφυκεν ἐπιπολὺ διατηρεῖν, καὶ μὴ συγχωρεῖν ταχέως ἐνδιδόναι τῇ φθορᾷ· ὅπερ ἐδείκνυ αὐτοὺς οὐδὲν μέγα φανταζομένους περὶ αὐτοῦ. Πλὴν ὅμως τὴν φιλοστοργίαν ἐνδείκνυνται· οὐ γὰρ ὡς κατάδικον ἐνταφιάζουσιν, ἀλλὰ πολυτελῶς, ὡς ἔθος τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις.

Ἐπεὶ δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ καιροῦ συνείχοντο (ἐννάτης μὲν γὰρ ὥρας ἐγεγόνει ἡ τελευτή· εἶτα ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ τῷ Πιλάτῳ προσιόντων, καὶ καθελόντων τὸ σῶμα, εἰκὸς ἦν ἑσπέραν καταλαβέσθαι, ἐν ᾗ θέμις οὐκ ἦν ἐργάσασθαι μνημεῖον), τιθέασιν αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ πλησίον μνημεῖον.

« Ἦν γὰρ ἐν τῷ τόπῳ, ὅπου ἐσταυρώθη, κῆπος, καὶ ἐν τῷ κήπῳ μνημεῖον καινόν.»

Οἰκονομεῖται δὲ πλησίον εἶναι τὸ μνημεῖον, ὥστε καὶ τοὺς μαθητὰς δύνασθαι παραγενέσθαι, καὶ θεατὰς καὶ μάρτυρας τῶν γινομένων εἶναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ στρατιώτας ἀποσταλῆναι εἰς φυλακήν, καὶ μὴ σχεῖν χώραν τὸν περὶ τῆς κλοπῆς λόγον. Ἅπαντα οὐκ ἂν οὕτω προέβησαν, εἰ πόρρω ἐτέθαπτο.

« Καινὸν δὲ τὸ μνημεῖον, ἐν ᾧ οὐδέπω οὐδεὶς ἐτέθη, »

ἵνα μὴ συκοφαντηθῇ ἡ ἀνάστασις, ὡς ἄλλου ἀναστάντος, καὶ οὐχὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ. Καὶ ἄλλως δέ· « Καινὸν τὸ μνημεῖον, » συμβολικῶς τούτου δηλουμένου ὅτι καινοτομία γενήσεται διὰ τῆς ταφῆς τοῦ Κυρίου κατὰ τοῦ θανάτου καὶ τῆς φθορᾶς, καὶ καινισθησόμεθα πάντες ἐν αὐτῷ. Ὅρα δέ μοι καὶ τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς τοῦ Κυρίου δι’ ἡμᾶς πτωχείας. Ὁ γὰρ μὴ ἔχων οἰκίαν ἐν τῇ ζωῇ, οὐδὲ μετὰ θάνατον μνῆμα ἔχει, ἀλλ’ ἐν ξένῳ κατατίθεται· καὶ γυμνὸς ὤν, ὑπὸ Ἰωσὴφ περιστέλλεται. Ἔστι καὶ νῦν ὁ Ἰησοῦς νεκρός, ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπηρεαζόντων ἢ πλεονεκτούντων νεκρούμενος, ἢ ὑπὸ λιμοῦ ταὐτὸ πάσχων. Ἀλλὰ καὶ γυμνός. Ὅσα γὰρ ὁ πένης πάσχει, Χριστὸς πάσχει.

Μίμησαι καὶ σὺ νῦν τὸν Ἰωσήφ· πρόσθες τῷ καλῷ ( Ἰωσὴφ γὰρ « πρόσθεσις » ἑρμηνεύεται ), καὶ τὴν γύμνωσιν περίστειλον τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἤτοι τοῦ πένητος. Ταῦτα δὲ ποίησον, μὴ ἅπαξ, ἀλλ’ ἐν τῷ μνημείῳ θὲς τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ ἀεὶ μνημόνευε, καὶ ἀεὶ λογίζου, καὶ φρόντιζε τῶν τοιούτων ἔργων. Παραμίγνυε δὲ καὶ σμύρναν καὶ ἀλόην. Τὰ πικρὰ γὰρ καὶ στύφοντα τοῦ ἐκεῖσε αἰῶνος δικαστήρια ἐνθυμεῖσθαι χρή, καὶ τὴν φωνὴν ἐκείνην τὴν κατηραμένους ἀποκαλοῦσαν, καὶ εἰς πῦρ ἀποπέμπουσαν τοὺς ἀνελεήμονας, ἧς οὐδὲν πικρότερον οἶμαι.--Patrologia Graeca: 124:285, 288

Translation: 

Why was it that none of the Twelve disciples approached Pilate, but Joseph—who was perhaps one of the Seventy—dared to do such a thing?

For if someone should say that the disciples were hidden out of fear of the Jews, Joseph too was held by the very same fear. It is therefore possible to say that he was extremely prominent, and well known to Pilate because of his high nobility. Whence, believing that their rage had been extinguished—since their adversary had now been crucified—he approached with confidence and arranged a lavish burial together with Nicodemus.

Neither of them imagined anything divine concerning Him, but rather were disposed toward Him as toward a mere man; for they even brought such spices as are especially suited by nature to preserve a body for a long time and not allow it to quickly succumb to corruption—which showed that they imagined nothing great concerning Him. Nevertheless, they showed great affectionate devotion; for they did not bury Him like a condemned criminal, but lavishly, according to the custom of the Jews.

But since they were pressed by time (for the death had occurred at the ninth hour; and then, in the interval of approaching Pilate and taking down the body, it was likely evening when it overtook them, during which it was not lawful to construct a tomb), they placed Him in the nearby tomb.

“Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb.”

It was providentially arranged for the tomb to be nearby, so that the disciples could be present and become spectators and witnesses of what took place, and also so that soldiers could be sent to guard it, leaving no room for the argument concerning theft. All these things would not have proceeded in this way if He had been buried far off.

“A new tomb, in which no one had yet been laid,”

...so that the Resurrection might not be falsely slandered as though someone else had risen and not Jesus. And moreover: “a new tomb,” this being signified symbolically that a complete innovation shall take place through the burial of the Lord against death and corruption, and we shall all be made new in Him. Consider also for me the richness of the Lord’s poverty for our sake. For He who had no house in life does not even have a tomb after death, but is laid in a borrowed one; and being naked, He is wrapped in grave-clothes by Joseph. Even now, Jesus is dead—put to death by those who mistreat or exploit others, or suffering the same through hunger. And He is also naked. For whatever the poor person suffers, Christ suffers.

Imitate Joseph yourself now: add to what is good (for Joseph is interpreted as "addition"), and clothe the nakedness of Christ, that is, of the poor man. Do these things not merely once, but place them in the tomb of your soul, and always remember, always reason upon, and always care for such works. Mix in also myrrh and aloes. For one must keep in mind the bitter and astringent judgment tribunals of the age to come, and that voice calling men accursed and sending the unmerciful away into fire—than which I think nothing is more bitter.--Patrologia Graeca: 124:285, 288 (AI translation)

 to be continued