Christ carried to the Sepulchre

Saint John - Chapter 19

Christ carried to the Sepulchre. J-J Tissot

[41] Erat autem in loco, ubi crucifixus est, hortus : et in horto monumentum novum, in quo nondum quisquam positus erat.
Now there was in the place where he was crucified, a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein no man yet had been laid.

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

The new sepulchre given by Joseph of Arimathæa is close at hand, not a stone's throw off the flat piece of rock where the washing and embalming of Jesus have taken place.  Behind the spot, however, the ground suddenly rises, whilst the walls enclosing the Garden make it impossible to go straight to the tomb.  The procession is therefore compelled to make a slight detour to avoid places so steep that the sacred burden would be shaken in a manner not at all consistent with the reverence due to it.  The ground was not, in fact, then as level as it became later.  The sun is setting; haste must be made, for the Sabbath will very soon begin and the whole ceremony ought to be completed before that.  This will explain how it was that there was something left to be done on the Sunday morning, and why the Holy Women will return to anoint yet again the body of the lord.

The round stone seen from without. J-J Tissot

The sky is clear; all the serenity of an evening in spring is once more restored.  There is no wind, the smoke of the torches lighting up the tomb ascsend straightly, the women shrouded in their morning garments follow singing psalms, the sweet sound of their voices being heard afar off through the still air.  The body of the Master is borne upon a kind of litter carried on their shoulders by Saint John, Joseph of Arimathæa , the centurion and Nicodemus.  Then comes Mary, accompanied by the Holy Women.  On leaving the Stone of Anointing, the procession turns in the direction of the town, then, skirting along the spot where the crosses are lying, reaches the garden, passes beneath a few olive and fig trees, the shadows of which gradually deepen and lengthen, finally arriving, after having made an almost complete circuit of Golgotha, at the entrance to the sepulchre, which is reached by going down a few steps.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam