DAY FORTY – Saturday, April 8, 2023
Mark 15:42-47
Who was this Joseph of Arimathea? The Bible says he was a prominent member of the council. Was he there when Pilate asked for the vote to condemn Jesus, or was he absent? He is spoken of only in this passage and never spoken of again. Yet he is a very important person to the Easter story!
Burial, in the time of Jesus, was to be done before sunset and before the Sabbath. Without his burial in the tomb there would be no place from which Jesus could arise! Would we have Easter as we know it, if these acts had not been done?
The passage says the Joseph went “boldly” to Pilate. Would you or I go “boldly” and ask for Jesus’ body? Would I risk everything for a man whom they had condemned and crucified, most especially when some of his own disciples had denied even knowing the man? When the Easter season arrives, I often have so many questions about the strength of my faith. It is passages like this one that force me to look deep inside.
Joseph sought to honour Jesus. He wanted Jesus to be buried in a proper fashion as was the custom of his faith. With great sadness and quite possibly fear, he removed Jesus’ body from the cross. He took his own monies and bought the linen for Jesus’ body and placed him in the tomb.
With these acts by Joseph, God is showing you and me that in our faith life we are to have courage, to act out of what we believe is right and just according to God and his teachings.
Bonnie Solomon (from 2018)
Mark 15:42-47
Who was this Joseph of Arimathea? The Bible says he was a prominent member of the council. Was he there when Pilate asked for the vote to condemn Jesus, or was he absent? He is spoken of only in this passage and never spoken of again. Yet he is a very important person to the Easter story!
Burial, in the time of Jesus, was to be done before sunset and before the Sabbath. Without his burial in the tomb there would be no place from which Jesus could arise! Would we have Easter as we know it, if these acts had not been done?
The passage says the Joseph went “boldly” to Pilate. Would you or I go “boldly” and ask for Jesus’ body? Would I risk everything for a man whom they had condemned and crucified, most especially when some of his own disciples had denied even knowing the man? When the Easter season arrives, I often have so many questions about the strength of my faith. It is passages like this one that force me to look deep inside.
Joseph sought to honour Jesus. He wanted Jesus to be buried in a proper fashion as was the custom of his faith. With great sadness and quite possibly fear, he removed Jesus’ body from the cross. He took his own monies and bought the linen for Jesus’ body and placed him in the tomb.
With these acts by Joseph, God is showing you and me that in our faith life we are to have courage, to act out of what we believe is right and just according to God and his teachings.
Bonnie Solomon (from 2018)
