Joseph Does What He Can (Luke 23:50-53)

We are familiar with the saying ‘cometh the hour, cometh the man.’ There are several examples of that happening in the Bible. Sometimes, the person is then referred to many times because every person that does a great deal for God has to start somewhere. At other times, he is not referred to again, which may not mean that he did not do anything again that was important for the cause of Christ. This is the only occasion when Joseph is mentioned, although each Gospel account records what he did. John adds that Nicodemus was with Joseph, but the other Gospels don’t include that detail. Yet the action that Joseph did is obviously a very important one.

Who was Joseph?

The way that Luke describes Joseph could indicate that he had died by the time Luke wrote his Gospel, which would not be surprising given that about thirty years may have passed since the death of Jesus. Joseph was from Arimathea, although we don’t know if he still lived there because he did have a house in Jerusalem in which there was a garden containing a tomb for himself eventually. Arimathea is possibly the same place as Ramah where Samuel was born, and if so it was located about twenty miles from Jerusalem.

His character

Luke says that Joseph was a good and righteous man. Basically, this description means that he lived an upright life according to God’s commandments. Yet his conformity to God’s requirements was not like an overcoat that he put on when he wanted to impress someone and then took off. Rather his lifestyle came from his renewed heart. God had given him spiritual life and therefore he lived as a spiritual person. He was consistent in his character. Not many people in the Bible are described as good. Joseph had a character similar to the man described in Psalm 15.

His career

Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin, one of the seventy-one men who made decisions affecting the Jewish people in areas of life connected to their faith, although in the days of Joseph it was a corrupt body, marked by intrigue and manipulation. He was not a member of that body because he had a religious role such as a priest or a scribe. Rather he was a wealthy ruler, and he probably had this position in the Sanhedrin because he came from a prominent family. Luke tells us that Joseph had not consented to the decision of the Sanhedrin to execute Jesus, although it is not clear if this happened because he was absent from the meeting that condemned Jesus or whether he had stated his disagreement at the meeting.

His concern

We are told about Joseph that ‘he was looking for the kingdom of God’. Obviously, this describes his religious outlook. But what does Luke mean by this description? Joseph may not have described himself in this way, but this is how his religious concern is summarised in God’s Word. First, it means that, at the time mentioned here, Joseph did not believe that the kingdom had yet arrived to the extent that he was anticipating. Maybe he had been influenced by John the Baptist who announced that the kingdom was soon to come when the Messiah appeared. Since he was a secret disciple of Jesus, he would have known that Jesus had preached about the kingdom of God because the basic meaning of a disciple is a person who follows the instruction of a teacher. And since he was a friend of Nicodemus, whom Jesus had spoken to about the kingdom of God (John 3), perhaps he and Nicodemus had spoken to one another about what this kingdom was like.

Second, it means that he believed that the kingdom was about to come. That is obvious from the way that Luke describes Joseph’s faith. He was looking for the arrival of the kingdom. Looking, by definition, is active and alert to what is happening. If a person is looking for something, he does not walk about with his eyes shut. Yet in order to look correctly, a person needs guidance about the matter. Where would Joseph have received guidance from? He would not have found it in the Sanhedrin or in the temple authorities or with the Pharisees. But he would have found it in the Word of God. His concern would have been, ‘What did the Old Testament say about the coming kingdom?’ And he had linked the arrival of that kingdom to Jesus, although he may not have realised all the implications of what Jesus had said in his teaching.

His courage

On this particular day Joseph had showed that he possessed courage in more ways than one. He had been prepared to disagree with the Sanhedrin and he was prepared to approach the Roman governor to ask for the body of Jesus. He had to overcome some personal reticence in this regard. Why did he do it?

An obvious answer is that Joseph loved Jesus. Love can make a coward brave. In his heart, there was burning affection for the Saviour. Love does not need to know all the answers before it does something for Jesus. The reality is that no one has ever done anything for Jesus without love for him being the major cause of the action. Where does such love come from? It is a fruit of the Spirit, and we should give him the glory whenever we see such love in action.

Another answer is that Joseph knew he could do something about the situation. Perhaps he had wondered many times how he could do something for the Saviour. Now he had the opportunity. Two opportunities were available for him. Not many people would have had access to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus in the way that Joseph could. Not many would have had a tomb close by in which to place the body in the way that Joseph had. Those two matters he could provide for Jesus, and he did. He took a look at himself and wondered what he could do for Jesus. By looking at himself, he found that God in providence had put him where he could do something, and do something crucial.

It is striking that Joseph knew that Jesus had died. How would he have known that had happened? He must have been near the cross for some of the time that Jesus was there, especially towards the end. Maybe he was one of the acquaintances that Luke mentions a few verses earlier. Or perhaps he saw the melancholy crowds making their way home. Perhaps the unexpected events that accompanied the death of Jesus compelled Joseph to act on behalf of his Saviour. What we do know is that Joseph went to Pilate after the ninth hour (3pm) and before the twelfth hour when the Sabbath began.

His care

Joseph, along with Nicodemus, would have gently taken the body of Jesus from the cross. We have no idea how high the cross may have been from the ground and what instruments would have been needed. It can be estimated from the way that a soldier could pierce the side of Jesus that the Saviour’s body was not that elevated and perhaps Joseph and Nicodemus could reach him without difficulty. Whatever the height, we know that it would have been a labour of love.

Luke focuses on how the body of Jesus was wrapped in a linen shroud. Since it was provided by a wealthy man, we can assume that the linen was costly. John tells us that the ointment used for anointing the body of Jesus was copious in amount. They gave according to their ability. The fact that Jesus was now dead, and his cause seemed weak was not a reason for them not to show their devotion to him. We can say that they stood up for Jesus at the darkest of times.

His choice

Joseph, as we have seen, was a devout Jew. As a devout Jew eager to conform to the Levitical rituals he would have known that contact with a dead body would have rendered him ceremoniously unclean and therefore unable to participate in the Feast of Unleavened Bread that had just commenced after the Passover. It is unconceivable to imagine that Joseph would not have realised this effect would happen. Therefore, he had to make a choice regarding doing something for Jesus that would cost him a great deal in religious reputation and in social status. He chose to do something for Jesus, and he has become famous as a result. If he had played safe, who would have heard about him?

Lessons

The obvious lesson that comes from this activity by Joseph is the reliability of the Word of God. What Joseph did fulfilled the prophecy found in Isaiah 53 about the body of the Messiah being buried in a rich man’s property. The accuracy of this prediction is astonishing and should lead us to see that the Word of God is entirely dependable. After all, numerous prophecies were fulfilled in connection with what happened at the cross when Jesus died.

A second lesson is that the Lord has his people in surprising places. If we had asked Peter or the other disciples if there were disciples of Jesus in the Sanhedrin they would have dismissed the question as ridiculous because their experience had indicated the opposite. Yet there were at least two disciples among them, Joseph and Nicodemus. Maybe the disciples had assumed that the evening visit three years earlier by Nicodemus to Jesus had come to nothing in a spiritual sense. Yet the Lord had been working in the hearts of those two men and they were ready to nail their colours to the mast when the moment came. We don’t know what the Lord is doing in secret, and we need to be careful with how we speak about people and places. We are reminded here that the Lord may have followers connected to those who oppose the gospel.

A third lesson is that it is never good to be a secret disciple. We don’t know why Joseph had been unwilling to link himself publicly with Jesus. Perhaps he was apprehensive that he would lose his place in society; maybe he was a man who was too careful about his decisions and took far too long to make up his mind. Whatever the reason, he had been hiding his light under a bushel. He was on the journey to heaven, but no one else knew that he was. Secret disciples as far as Christianity is concerned are a contradiction in terms. They are denying the Master who went to the cross to pay the penalty for their sins.

A fourth lesson is that understanding the significance of the cross is the best place to bury cowardice and reluctance to profess that one is a disciple of Jesus. Spurgeon makes quite a striking comment regarding this reality: ‘The shameful death of the Cross had greater power over Joseph than all the beauty of Christ’s life!’ Joseph obviously had found Jesus attractive as a Teacher. Maybe it was when he realised what Jesus had done for him that he found courage to make his request of Pilate for the body.

A fifth lesson is that Calvary is a place where spiritual wonders occur. When Jesus was crucified, a stranger (Simon) was drawn into the event by carrying the cross, a criminal about to die was converted, a group of disinterested soldiers discovered that Jesus was the Son of God, and two secret disciples were brought to confess their faith in a surprising way. Surely there is a call here for us to spend more time considering the cross, and if we do, then many good outcomes will be experienced.

A sixth lesson is to note Paul’s description of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15 in which he says that details of his gospel include the death of Christ for our sins, the burial of Christ, and the resurrection of Christ. In what way does the burial of Christ affect the gospel? It confirms that he had died (Pilate would not have released the body if it had been otherwise), it confirms his own prediction that he would be buried, and it reveals the depth of his humiliation that he, the Lord of life and glory, would be in a tomb. But the burial was not the end. The resurrection would soon occur.