To remove his ragged body

Today’s reading is from Luke 23. Jesus has already been crucified and his body is still hanging on the cross.

50-54There was a man by the name of Joseph, a member of the Jewish High Council, a man of good heart and good character. He had not gone along with the plans and actions of the council. His hometown was the Jewish village of Arimathea. He lived in alert expectation of the kingdom of God. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Taking him down, he wrapped him in a linen shroud and placed him in a tomb chiseled into the rock, a tomb never yet used. It was the day before Sabbath, the Sabbath just about to begin.

I consider myself a follower of Jesus, but to be a follower of Him while he was still on earth must have been a completely different experience. People were able to see him perform miracles and preach, yet the Bible still talks of people doubting.

I find it interesting that the Bible mentions that Joseph of Arimathea “lived in alert expectation of the kingdom of God”, which to me, says he had Kingdom work on his mind.

But, to see the Savior of the world nailed to a cross, get mocked and stabbed, only to die and then just hang there, would have shaken me greatly.

That’s not the worst part though. “Give me the body of Jesus,” Joseph says. Pilate agrees. It’s now your duty to take the swollen, beaten, battered body of the son of God and lay it to rest. That whole experience would have proven to be too great for me. Sure, I’d have started the process, but I think at some point during, I’d have simply collapsed, mentally, at the weight of my actions. To hold the lifeless body of Jesus in my arms, and to know that just days before he said, “I have to be killed, but I will be back.”

God, I have faith that your son, Jesus, will return again one day. May others see your endless love through the selfless actions of Jesus, through his willing surrender. And, through that surrender, may they come to know what true peace is.

What a price was paid that day at Golgotha.

luke-23, jesus, crucified, crucify, joseph, arimathea, pilate, herod

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