Matthew Henry Commentary Matthew 27:57-61

"And when even was come, there came a rich man from Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus` disciple: this man went to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded it to be given up. And Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb, and departed. And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre." — Matthew 27:57-61 (ASV)

In Christ's burial was nothing of pomp or solemnity. Just as Christ did not have a house of his own in which to lay his head while he lived, so he did not have a grave of his own in which to lay his body when he was dead. Our Lord Jesus, who had no sin of his own, had no grave of his own. The Jews intended for him to have made his grave with the wicked, to have been buried with the thieves with whom he was crucified, but God overruled this, so that he should make it with the rich in his death (Isaiah 53:9).

And although to human eyes the sight of a funeral may cause terror, yet if we remember how Christ by his burial has changed the nature of the grave for believers, it should make us rejoice. And we are always to imitate Christ's burial by being continually occupied in the spiritual burial of our sins.