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CHARACTERS IN NEED OF RESURRECTION: JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA
Mark 15:42-27; Mark 14:53-65
A sermon preached at First Presbyterian Church by Carter Lester on
April 2, 2017
Joseph of Arimathea is hardly a household name. And yet, like Pilate, Barabbas, and Mary Magdalene, he is one of a tiny number of people named in all four gospels who are not members of Jesus’ family or one of the twelve disciples. But unlike Pilate, Joseph is not mentioned in any work outside of the Bible. Unlike Barabbas, his name was never shouted by the crowds. And unlike Mary, he is never described as having a one-on-one encounter with the living Jesus. Joseph’s time on stage is brief – about five verses in each of the gospels. He comes to get Jesus’ body from the cross, wraps Jesus’ body in linen cloths, lays him in a tomb, and then disappears from the Bible.
But at the time of Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea was well known. A “respected member” of the Sanhedrin, the council of leaders in Jerusalem, is how the gospel of Mark describes him. “Rich” is the adjective used by Matthew. A “good and righteous” man is how Luke characterizes this Joseph.
However we classify him, obscure or prominent, disappearing from view, or taking on a unique role, this Joseph who lived nearly 2000 years ago has at least three things to teach us as we live here and now.
First, there is his example of courage. It is “bold” of Joseph to approach Pilate, Mark tells us. Jesus has been branded a blasphemer and criminal, an enemy of the state, and has been executed by crucifixion by the Roman army. It is dangerous for Joseph to step forward to claim Jesus’ body, to go public with his faith, and let everyone know that he is indeed associated with Jesus. What a contrast he makes with Peter who in the past 24 hours has denied that he knows Jesus – not once, not twice, but three separate times.
Frederick Buechner, the Presbyterian chaplain and novelist, paints this portrait of Joseph and his courage: “As a prominent member of the Jewish establishment, Joseph of Arimathea needed guts to go to Pilate and ask for the dead body of Jesus so he could give it a decent burial. It is presumably no easier for a closet Christian to come out of the closet than it is for anybody else, and you can’t help admiring him for it.”[1]
Here in Mark 15, Joseph of Arimathea does not have the benefit of seeing Jesus’ vindication on Easter. The only thing he can see at this point is Jesus’ dead body, and Pilate’s power. And yet, Joseph goes directly to Pilate himself to claim the body of the crucified Jesus – bold indeed.
C.S. Lewis once wrote that courage “is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality...an honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be…honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful till it became risky.” At some point, our faith in God cannot help but drive us out of safety and into deep and uncharted waters, or it really is not faith in God. Because God’s ways are not the world’s ways, and to follow God’s ways, to follow Christ, will inevitably, at one time or another, take us out of our comfort zones.
And the more we have to lose, in terms of popularity or status or wealth or security, the harder it will be. That is one of the reasons that Jesus told his disciples that it would be harder for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. As a rich and prominent member of the highest and most powerful Jewish council, Joseph is risking a lot when he goes public here with Pilate.
But there is a time when faith can no longer stay private but must go public: to do what is faithful and merciful, honest and right, loving and generous, even when it is risky, even when we might lose something if we do it. In some places in the world, for some Christians, physical safety is an issue if they go public in their faith. For others of us, the risks and losses are more subtle: losses of status or popularity or even money. It is easier to go along and get along. And so among more cynical family members, we don’t say what we believe or why we have hope. We silently listen to the putdowns and mean words said about others at the school lunch table, rather than speak out. We put up with dehumanizing business practices at work rather than do something about them or walk away and look for a new job. We let fear rather than faith define us during changing social times.
Matt Perman, who writes on issues of leadership, faith, and work, puts it this way: “Doing good, and pursuing Christ-like character, is not something to do simply when it is easy. What really counts is when you continue being merciful or generous or justice-seeking or truth-affirming even when it is risky, dangerous, and possibly to your own disadvantage. To be merciful or loving or generous only when it is easy is not to be merciful or loving or generous at all.[2]“
Joseph of Arimathea gives us an example of why we need to be willing to public in our faith, and show courage in living out our faith. We do not do it to be showy or to draw attention to ourselves. No, we go public and leave our comfort zones because sometimes that is what Christ needs, and it is the right thing to do. But when courage is called for, remember Anne Lamott’s description of Christian courage: “courage is fear that has said its prayers.”[3]
Second, Joseph gives us an example of humility.
Look at the bulletin cover again and one artist’s imagination of what this scene might have looked like. Joseph, the prominent and rich member of the Sanhedrin, takes Jesus’ lifeless corpse in his own arms. He does not call on others or order his servants or the palace guards to do it. He does it himself – even though handling a corpse means that he will be unclean and must stay away from the Temple for the high holiday of Passover.
Joseph is willing to do hard and menial work here. He takes Jesus’ body and he wraps his body in linen cloth, as was the usual custom. He then carries the body himself to a tomb that had already been hewn by hand out of the rock. The gospel of Matthew suggests that this tomb is one Joseph had previously bought and prepared to be his own. As far as we know, Joseph was not there at the Last Supper, when Jesus took up a cloth and bowl and washed the feet of his disciples. But is there any better example of such servant leadership?
To follow Christ into the world requires humility and a willingness to get our hands dirty doing menial work. Because no such work is ever beneath us. Indeed, as hard as it is to say this, it is meant to be a privilege to serve others by washing feet or wrapping bodies in linen cloths. The way of Christ is not a way of power and status; instead, as with Joseph of Arimathea, it is a way of humility and service. Whether we are rich and prominent as Joseph was, or simpler, cruder, and poorer like the 12 disciples whom Jesus called are, we are called to follow in Joseph’s footsteps as we see him here, because those are the footsteps and footprints of Jesus Christ.
Third, Joseph does not just give us an example of courage and humility. He also gives us an example of failure and grace.
Mark is right: It does take boldness here for Joseph to go public and approach Pilate to ask for Jesus’ body. But there is a detail that is implicit and not explicit in the gospels. Joseph was a member of the Council, we are told. A “prominent” and rich member of Council, at that.
Do you remember the description of when Jesus came before the Council that we heard earlier from Mark 14? It is a tumultuous scene that ends up with Jesus being unanimously condemned, beaten, and taken to Pilate for final disposition - unanimously. The whole council was apparently there, and there is no record in any of the gospels of any dissent or contrary opinions being expressed when it came to the verdict handed down about Jesus. In other words, what did Joseph do when he had a chance to speak out and declare his faith and cast a dissenting vote? Nothing. Nothing. Joseph may be bold here in Mark 15 but he was far from that in Mark 14.
Perhaps, we see in Joseph what we see in ourselves. That we, like him, fall short. We do not do what we should do and we fail to speak when we should speak. Like Joseph of Arimathea, we too can be moral cowards.
But may we also see in Joseph those sins and moral cowardice to not push us outside of God’s love and grace as revealed in Jesus Christ. Despite our shortcoming and failures, we like Joseph, can still play a role, still be of use.
This is a hard double reality for most of us to realize. Either we tend to think of ourselves as pretty good people, good enough at least that there is not much need to confess or change. Or we can take the opposite tack and see ourselves as so flawed that we are worthless and useless. But neither is the truth. We are sinners, plain and simple. Yet God is gracious and merciful, plain and simple. God is willing to use us despite our failures and sins – as God used Joseph of Arimathea.
Samuel Wells calls for us to open our eyes and see the gospel reality: “Jesus says to you, ‘Life isn’t about never making mistakes. It’s about what you do when you’ve made them…Christianity isn’t about effortless perfection. It’s about costly forgiveness. If you’re floating along pretending you’re living a flawless existence, you’re living a lie and you’re living in fear, because one day the truth is going to bring you crashing to the ground. Come down from that lofty place right now, and get in the dust where the mistakes are happening…and meet the true redemption and the painful reconciliation that the gospel is all about.’”[4]
In the dust, at the foot of the cross, at the entrance of a borrowed tomb – this is where the true redemption and the painful reconciliation that the gospel is all about take place. This is where Joseph goes. This is where we need to go. Because this is where Jesus is: dying to set us free.
Beneath the cross of Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea begins to change. The one who is quiet and acquiescent as Jesus is condemned before the council is now bold in his faith. No longer private, he has gone public – because of the cross and the love he has seen displayed by Jesus on the cross.
If the cross can change Joseph this much, can you imagine what the empty tomb will do?
[1] Frederick Buechner, Peculiar Treasures: A Biblical Who’s Who (New York: Harper & Row, 1979), 79.
[2]
[3] Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies (New York: Pantheon Books, 1999), 239.
[4] Samuel Wells, Learning to Dream Again (Norwich, UK: Canterbury Press, 2013), 72.