Tag: Joseph of Arimathea

Matthew 27:57-60 ” 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.”

In reading these verses you can’t help but notice the use of the impersonal pronoun “it” in speaking about the body of Jesus.  It was no longer His body, for in verse 50 of this Chapter as He hung from that Cross, “When then Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He gave up His spirit.”   The Greek word for “gave up” literally means to permit, allow, or hand over.  Jesus was in complete control…even to the point of having total dominion and power over His time of death…He let His spirit pass, and the body that remained behind was just a empty shell.

John 19:40 ” Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.”

Both Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were members of the Jewish Council, but both were also secretly disciples of Jesus. Observance of the Law caused Joseph to boldly ask Pilate for the body, for it was Preparation Day, and the sun was quickly setting…they didn’t want the body of Jesus to remain on the cross during the Sabbath. So these two Teachers of the Law carefully prepared their Lord’s body according to custom, but pondering all the while what Jesus had said was to come.