What does John 19:39 mean?
Nicodemus is the only person associated with the Jewish religious leaders who seems to have been open about His views. He visited Jesus in private (John 3:1–2), but also spoke up in Jesus' defense among his peers (John 7:51). Here, he joins with another council member, Joseph, who has gotten permission to take Jesus' body for burial (John 19:38). It's almost certain that the group who condemned Jesus to death in a sham trial deliberately excluded men like these (Matthew 26:57–59; Luke 23:50–51).Nicodemus brings along common burial materials. Rather than remove organs or embalm a body, Jewish people typically covered the corpse in perfumes to allow a controlled, natural decay. The original Greek of this verse lists these as totaling 100 litras, with each litra being just under 330 grams. This represents roughly 75 modern pounds, or 33 kilograms.
Nicodemus and Joseph have little time to bury Jesus (John 19:31). Fortunately, Joseph's own personal tomb (Matthew 27:59) is close by (John 19:41) and has been recently completed.