And there were many women there, standing as near as they dared. Among these was Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus had cast seven devils; and Mary the mother of James and Joses; and Salome the mother of Zebedee's children, James and John, the disciples who had been with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, and at other special times during His ministry.
So these women stood and waited near the cross all those long hours till the evening, to see what they would do with their Lord.
And when the evening had come, there came a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph.
He was a counsellor and much respected among the Jews; and when the Lord had been condemned by them, he had not consented to what they had done. He was looking for the Kingdom of God, like many other godly Jews at that time.
So he brought fine linen to wrap the precious body of Jesus in; and sweet spices for His burial.
And he went boldly in to Pilate and begged him to give him the body of Jesus.
So Pilate gave him leave, and Joseph hastened back to take Jesus down from the cross, and to wrap Him in beautiful pure linen, and to carry Him away to his own new tomb which was in a garden close to Calvary.
We are told by those who have been there, that just beneath that hill outside Jerusalem called The Skull, there is a garden with a tomb in it, cut out of the rock. It is thought by some, that this is the tomb in which Jesus was laid; but no one can be quite certain that this is so.
At any rate, we are told in the Gospel of John that the garden was near at hand. And here they buried the body of our dear Lord, and rolled a great stone across the door of the sepulchre.
And Mary Magdalene and the other Mary saw where He was laid, and sat down over against the sepulchre to watch.