Joseph of Arimathea: In Secret, Now Out Good Friday 2006
John 19: 38 Pastor Mark Nieting

?¨Jesus called out with a loud voice: ?¨Father into your hands I commit my spirit.?Æ When he said this, he breathed his last.?Æ (Luke 23: 46) Imagine, if you can, the scene on Golgotha. Most of the people gathered together on that scary place weren??t there for the two thieves, they were there to watch Jesus. When Jesus said these words, the last of His ?¨Seven,?Æ it seemed to be all over but the grieving. I??m sure some of the people left to ?¨beat the rush?Æ back into Jerusalem, just like people run out of sports events early when the score??s a blow-out. 

But the history of Jesus wasn??t over. There was one man, Scripture calls him a ?¨rich man?Æ and a ?¨respected member of the Council, a good and upright man?Æ (Lk 23:50) who was still there. He was a man who was ?¨looking for the kingdom of God.?Æ (Mk 15:43). He most likely sat in on the trial of Jesus, but he was one who ?¨had not consented to the (council??s) decision and action.?Æ (Lk 23:51) Matthew calls him a disciple of Jesus. (Mt 27:57). His name was Joseph, and he came from the small town of Arimathea, a village in the hills about 20 miles northwest of Jerusalem. History knows him as Joseph of Arimathea.

Scripture records for us that Joseph went boldly to Pontius Pilate and asked him for the body of Jesus, and that Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own unused tomb.

The way Mark records it, it was an action that must have taken some real guts. 

Our text spells the story out a bit farther. ?¨Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, because he feared the Jews.?Æ Joseph was a Jew who was looking and hoping for the promised Messiah to come. He knew the prophesies of the Old Testament, and he had heard?ñand seen Jesus. It was through this that the Holy Spirit brought Joseph to faith in Jesus Christ?ñ.but he didn??t want anyone else to know. He was afraid. And why shouldn??t he have been?

Joseph had friends in high places, influential members of the Sanhedrin and the ruling council. They were powerful people who held swap almost literally over matters of life and death?ñ.and Joseph had seen what they had manipulated to happen in the case of Jesus. Joseph was a man of means and a man who had position?ñ.and wrong politics and wrong religious leanings could cost a man hugely?ñ.even his life. Belief in Jesus as the Messiah was both wrong politics and wrong religion in the eyes of the Jewish leaders. 


It??s like this: Joseph knew the truth, but the truth was no more popular then than it is today. So being a good and upright man, Joseph committed himself to working within the system to do the things he could do to keep things fair for Jesus?ñ.but he wouldn??t admit to believing IN Jesus. He played it close to the vest to protect his vested interests. So he tried to hang on to the truth, and to his job and money. He was living in two worlds?ñ.one open and one in secret.

It was, however, the events of THIS Day, Good Friday, that proved to be more powerful to Joseph than his desire for self-preservation. It was the death of Jesus, the Son of God that opened Joseph??s heart fully and his mouth finally. He couldn??t witness the sham that was the trial of Jesus and watch the crucifixion and eventually the death of Jesus and remain silent. He couldn??t stay a secret believer any more. Jesus had said some words that finally made the difference to Joseph, ?¨Whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.?Æ (Mt 10:33) Jesus was who he said he was and Jesus?? words would last.
He KNEW he couldn??t stay a secret believer, so boldly he did what history records.

We??ve addressed a lot of characters during this Lenten season: Pilate, Nicodemus, Judas, Simon of Cyrene and more, but more than all the rest, I think that you and I can be a lot like Joseph of Arimathea. Belief in Jesus can be risky for most of us. Belief in Jesus challenges the beliefs that others around us hold so dear to themselves. Expressing your faith might cost you your job. Try teaching science in a major public school system and lift up creation, even as an ?¨alternative?Æ to evolution and see what happens. Try asking your soccer coach for Wednesday evenings off for confirmation class and see where it goes. Try blowing the whistle on immoral behavior on the part of the boss and see how long you last. What??s the sense of lifting up the cross of Christ in public if it??s going to get your throat cut?ñ.financially, anyway? A guy has to be practical, doesn??t he? 

Joseph had reasoned?ñand lived?ñlike that until he reached the point where he had to stand and speak up for the truth. What gave him the courage? Knowing that Jesus Christ was truly GOD!

All four Gospel record the witness that Joseph gave for Jesus, a rather amazing testimony to a man who, for most of his faith life, was silent. All four Gospels record more details conjointly about Jesus?? burial than they do about His last words from the cross?ñand they all record that Joseph buried Jesus in a shroud.


The Shroud of Turin is arguably the most famous piece of cloth in the world. It is purported by some to be the very cloth which Joseph used to wrap Jesus, imprinted, some say, by the face of Jesus from the radiation energy of his resurrection. But we??re not here to engage in scientific speculation. The Shroud of Turin isn??t the evidence that creates faith in Jesus Christ, nor is it the place to which we look to even add to our faith. 

Yet interestingly enough, the Shroud keeps the testimony of Joseph of Arimathea in full view of millions of people 2000 years later. It reminds us of Joseph. Hidden belief comes full circle and is now broadcast to the entire world. Here is a miracle of faith right in the midst of a world that doesn??t believe in miracles. It??s the testimony of one man: Joseph, who was given the courage to speak by the cross of Christ.

Maybe we too need the courage of our own convictions, the boldness of our beliefs so that we will not be secret believers, but rather bold witnesses willing to tell anyone and everyone about Jesus?ñ.the one who gave His life, so that we can live. It??s time to stand up and be counted?ñ.for Christ, with Christ.

Amen.