Mark 15:42-47
Let’s continue to pray for Jim and Marty.
“Notice what you notice.” Mark’s account of Jesus’ burial is very similar to Matthew’s, except that Mark does not include the Jewish leaders asking Pilate for a guard on the tomb. Mark, however, has a much more elaborate description than Matthew on Pilate granting Joseph of Arimathea the burial rights. He first has Joseph summoning up the courage to ask Pilate for the body, then Pilate asking the centurion if Jesus had already died, then Pilate granting permission when he was assured that Jesus was dead. Matthew only had Joseph asking Pilate for the body.
The striking thing in all this, that I had not seen before, is that Joseph …took courage and went to Pilate… (v. 43b). This little blip gives a picture of Pilate as a powerful, dominating leader, not the weak-willed man we saw granting the Jewish leaders their crucifixion request. Then again, the courage that Joseph summoned up may have been associated with his breaking with the Jewish leaders and ?having pity? on the man that they had wanted dead. Either way, Joseph was now “out’ing” himself at one level as a possible follower of Jesus or at another level as one who stood opposed to the Jewish leaders in the Sanhedrin. His life would be forever changed.
I think there’s a message for us in looking at Joseph’s example of courage. Many of us – I hope most of us – are concerned with sharing our faith. What we know as the greatest gift we could ever give anyone is also often a hard topic to bring up. Mostly, I think, we fear rejection by the one to whom we are speaking, either rejecting our message or rejecting us. That’s exactly where Joseph stood. His rejection could have been two-fold – from Pilate and from the Jewish leaders. We probably suspect that Joseph had been a secret follower of Jesus for some time, at least someone more than willing to listen to His message – yet he remained silent until Jesus’ crucifixion gave him the courage to step forward. So, are we waiting for some “big event” to unshackle us from our fears? I daresay that “big event” in our lives is simply a heartfelt confession to Jesus of our fears and hesitation. If He has the power to overcome death, He can overcome whatever little “big thing” is bothering us. Look at Joseph. Done. GLORY!
Slava Bohu!