Scripture Daily

Context No. 2172 of 4322 · Luke

Context · Reflection

Luke 23:50-56: in context

50Behold, there was a man named Joseph, who was a member of the council, a good and righteous man 51(he had not consented to their counsel and deed), from Arimathaea, a city of the Jews, who was also waiting for God’s Kingdom. 52This man went to Pilate, and asked for Jesus’ body. 53He took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb that was cut in stone, where no one had ever been laid. 54It was the day of the Preparation, and the Sabbath was drawing near. 55The women who had come with him out of Galilee followed after, and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. 56They returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

After Jesus dies, when his disciples have fled and all seems lost, a man steps forward. Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the council that condemned Jesus, but a good and righteous man who had not consented to their decision and deed, goes boldly to Pilate and asks for Jesus' body. He takes it down, wraps it in linen, and lays it in a new tomb. At the moment of apparent defeat, when association with Jesus was dangerous and shameful, Joseph came forward openly to honor him.

Joseph's action is marked by a double courage. First, he had already, quietly, refused to go along with the council's wicked decision; though a member of that body, he had not consented to their counsel and deed. He stood apart from the wrong of the group he belonged to, rather than going along with it for the sake of belonging. And second, at the moment of Jesus' death, when the cause seemed defeated and association with the crucified was dangerous and shameful, Joseph came forward openly, boldly asking for the body and giving it honorable burial. He honored Christ publicly at the very moment it was least popular and most costly to do so, when even the disciples had fled. This holds up two forms of courage worth learning. One is the courage to dissent from the wrong of a group we belong to. It is hard to stand apart from the decisions of our own group, our peers, our institution, our people, when they are wrong; the pull to go along, to belong, to not be the dissenter, is strong. Joseph did not consent to his council's wicked deed, standing apart from the wrong of his own body. And the other is the courage to honor Christ openly at cost, when it is unpopular. Joseph had been, the other Gospels tell us, a secret disciple, holding back for fear; but at the moment of the cross, when it was most costly, he came forward openly. The fear of man, the proverb says, lays a snare; but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe. This searches our own courage on both counts. Do we dissent from the wrong of the groups we belong to, or do we go along for the sake of belonging, consenting by our silence to what we know is wrong? And do we honor Christ openly, even when it is costly and unpopular, or do we hold back, keeping our allegiance quiet for fear of what others will think? Joseph did both: he stood apart from his council's wrong, and he honored Christ openly at the moment of apparent defeat. And his example calls us to the same courage, to refuse to go along with the wrong of our group, and to honor Christ openly even when it costs us and even when it is least popular to do so, coming forward as Joseph came forward when others had fled.

Do I have the courage to dissent from the wrong of the groups I belong to rather than going along for the sake of belonging, and to honor Christ openly even when it is costly and unpopular, or do I hold back for fear of what others will think, and can Joseph of Arimathea, who did not consent to his council's wrong and who came forward boldly to honor Jesus at the moment of apparent defeat, move me to both these courages when the fear of man would silence me?

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