An example to inspire us

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.  Matthew 27:57-60

You think you know someone pretty well – you have, after all, known them for quite a time. And then you meet someone else who also knows them well, and they tell you something about them that you didn’t have a clue about. You gain a whole new insight into their life and character. “Well, fancy that”, you say.

Every man and woman is like a mosaic, and each of us knows only a small part of that mosaic. (Note to self: Never be surprised to learn something new about somebody I thought I knew well! Second note to self: Remember, there is no such thing on the face of planet earth as an uninteresting human being, if only I am prepared to give them patience and respect.)

If we were to be asked “Who was Joseph of Arimathea?” we would probably answer, “The rich man who took Jesus’ body down from the cross and had it laid in a tomb”. And we would be right.

But there’s more to this very minor New Testament character. In spite of having only a small part in the story, he appears in all four of the Gospels, and they all have a different angle to emphasise.

Let’s pull together the different parts of the mosaic…

Matthew tells us that he was rich, that he was a disciple of Jesus, and that the tomb in which he placed Jesus’ body was his own.

Mark tells us that he was “a prominent member of the Jewish council” – their “parliament” - and that he was “waiting for the kingdom of God”.

Luke misses out the word “prominent”, but says that he was “good and upright”, agrees that he was “waiting for the kingdom of God”, and wants us to know that he “had not consented” to the lengthy “trial” in which the council agreed to hand Jesus over to the Romans.

John adds that his discipleship was “secret… because he feared the Jewish leaders”; and that he was accompanied by Nicodemus, a fellow-member of the council (the man who “came to Jesus by night” (John 3)).

No doubt there was a lot more to Joseph of Arimathea as well. But certainly, if we take all these details together, we build up a picture of an impressive character: a prominent Jew, educated, respected among his own people, of a godly and spiritual nature.

Various things stand out. They may be a word to us…

First, he was courageous. All right, he may have kept his discipleship secret, but the way he approached Pontius Pilate to ask for the body was “bold” (so says Mark), no doubt involving risk. And the fact that he had stood against the other council members – perhaps the only one in that meeting to do so? – was brave. (Was that the first time he had broken cover and made his discipleship open?)

Courageous... Is that a word to us? Has the time come to “stand up, stand up for Jesus”, as the song puts it?

Second, he was generous. To have provided the necessary burial clothes and, along with Nicodemus, the various anointing ointments, would have been very costly. And to have given Jesus the dignity of burial in a tomb he had had built for himself, no doubt at great expense, showed a wonderful indifference to his own wealth.

Generous... Is that a word to us? Through Joseph, and through the unknown woman who squandered “an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume” (Matthew 26:6-3), is God calling us to have a fresh look at our attitude to money?

Third, he was wonderfully humble - such was his desire to honour Jesus that he was prepared to be identified with a convicted criminal.

He couldn’t bear the thought that Jesus’ body might end up slung into a ditch or a common grave (the usual fate of criminals who didn’t have anyone to bury them).

(Perhaps he had in mind too the words of Deuteronomy 21:22: “If someone guilty of a capital offence is put to death and their body exposed on a pole, you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse”. Of course, at that point Joseph didn’t know that in a very wonderful sense Jesus was indeed “under God’s curse” because he had “borne our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). But that doesn’t take away from the beauty of his action.)

Humble... Is this too a word to us? Are we willing to suffer humiliation for the sake of Jesus?

Above all, Joseph of Arimathea loved Jesus. Where else did this courage, this generosity, this humility come from?

Yes, he may have had only a minor part to play. But when the moment came for him to step onto the stage, how beautifully he did so.

Again, is this a word to us?

Thanks be to God for the example of Joseph of Arimathea.

Lord, it is my chief complaint/ That my love is weak and faint:/ Yet I love Thee, and adore;/ O for grace to love Thee more! Amen. William Cowper, 1731-1800