Little Bit of Joseph of Arimathea in All of Us

There are prison chaplains for the death row units in the U.S. in states like Texas.

One chaplain said that some of the condemned men who he had dealt with had truly come to faith, but there were others who were hardened to the gospel. As a death row chaplain, one of his responsibilities was to meet with each condemned man just before his execution. Whether or not they wished to speak with him about spiritual things, there were some other matters which had to be discussed. In particular, they had to discuss their burial arrangements. Unless other arrangements were made in advance by family or loved ones, the body of the executed criminal would be buried in what was, in effect, "boot hill"-a gravesite designated for executed criminals near the prison.

As we come to John's account of the burial of our Lord, I am reminded of the fact that in all likelihood, our Lord would have been buried in the "boot hill" of His day: Under Roman law, the bodies of executed criminals were normally handed over to their next of kin, but not so in the case of those crucified for treason as Jesus was.

They were left to the vultures, the ultimate in indignity and shame.

Ironically, most of the disciples were keeping their distance from Jesus at this point in time. It does not even appear to be possible for any of Jesus' disciples or family to secure His body and give it a proper burial.

But God had the details of Jesus' burial planned a very long time ago. The Old Testament had prophesied that the Messiah would be buried in a rich man's tomb: "He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth" (Isaiah 53:9, NIV). Somehow, the Messiah would be put to death as a criminal (Isaiah 53:3-4), with criminals (53:9), and yet He was also to be buried with the rich (53:9).

Let us take a look at the man Joseph of Arimathea. We know a few things about this fellow from the other gospels. The gospel of Matthew says Joseph was rich. He was wealthy, yet spiritually minded. One of the hazards of plenty of disposable income is a feeling that one does not need God, but not Joseph.