Reading: Matthew chapter 27 verse 11-26.
Ill:
In A.D. 373John Chrysostom became a hermit;
• He went alone into the mountains near Antioch, seeking to know God better.
• Although his time of isolation was cut short by illness,
• He discovered that with God at his side,
• He could attend alone against anyone or anything.
• That experience served Chrysostom well.
• In A.D. 398 he was appointed patriarch of Constantinople.
• Where his zeal for reform antagonized the Empress Eudoxia,
• Who had him exiled.
• After a period of time he was allowed to return once again to Constantinople.
• But yet again Chrysostom infuriated Eudoxia, who once again sent him away.
• Question: How did Chrysostom respond to such persecution?
• Answer: With these words:
• “What can I fear? Will it be death?
• But you know that Christ is my life, and that I shall gain by death.
• Will it be exile?
• But the earth and all its fullness are the Lord’s.
• Poverty I do not fear; riches I do not sigh for;
• And from death I do not shrink.”
Unlike Chrysostom most of us do fear other people:
• Sometimes it is easier to ‘keep a low profile’ than to make a stand.
• True in lots of areas of life;
Quote: Robert Kennedy:
“Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence, yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change the world”.
• ‘Keeping a low profile’ rather than making a stand.
• Can apply to lots of areas in life;
• But it is especially true, when it comes to making a stand for Christ!
• ‘To speak up or to keep quiet’ – that is the question!
• In our case study this morning we meet such a man:
• His name Joseph of Arimathea.
(1). A secret disciple.
• According to John’s account (chapter 19 verse 38) while Joseph of Arimathea,
• Was “a disciple of Jesus,” he was a secretly one.
• The reason for his fear is clearly stated “for fear of the Jews.”
• He allowed his fear to keep him from making his decision about Jesus to be made public.
• His fear had caused Joseph not to take a bold stand for Christ;
• Even though he knew that his heart was telling him to do so.
• Question: What kind of fear was this that kept Joseph a secret disciple?
• Answer: we do not know if it was.....
• Fear for his own life, for his family or for his position?
• It’s not always easy to step up against the authorities.
Ill:
• During his years as premier of the Soviet Union, Nikita Krushchev,
• Denounced many of the policies and atrocities of his predecessor Joseph Stalin.
• Once, as he reproached Stalin in a public meeting,
• Krushchev was interrupted by a shout from a heckler, in the audience who said,
• “You were one of Stanlin colleagues. Why didn’t you stop him?”
• “Who said that?” roared Krushchev.
• An agonizing silence followed as nobody in the room dared move a muscle.
• Then Krushchev, replied quietly, “Now you know why.”
Because he was gripped by fear, for awhile Joseph remained a “secret’ disciple.
• It is as if he is on the proverbial fence;
• Trying to keep a foot on each side.
• Most of us,
• If not all of us know exactly how he felt;
• We have all at some time blended in with everyone else;
• When we know that we should have taken a stand for Christ!
• Joseph, for as long as he could, kept his faith in Christ a secret;
• But there came a point in his life where that secret had to be shared!
• Joseph of Arimathea was a man who went from cowardness to courage.
• From fear of man to lover of Christ.
• A turning point came for Joseph when he had to make a decision regarding the body of Jesus;
• To see it rot or to see it honoured!
Note:
• In honouring Jesus by providing for him his own tomb:
• Joseph was unknowingly fulfilling the words of Isaiah the prophet (chapter 53 verse 9):
“He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death”
• Christ died with both the wicked i.e. the two criminals at Golgotha.
• And with the rich in his death, i.e. buried in the tomb of a wealthy man.
(2). A council member.
• He was a member of the Sanhedrin,
• The highest judicial and ecclesiastical council of the ancient Jewish nation,
• Composed of from 70 to 72 members
• The Sanhedrin as a body claimed powers that lesser Jewish courts did not have.
• As such, they were the only ones who could try the king,
• Extend the boundaries of the Temple and Jerusalem,
• And were the ones to whom all questions of law were finally put.
• In NT times The Sanhedrin was composed of three elements;
• The priests, the scribes (some of whom were Pharisees) and representatives of cities in Palestine.
The gospels describe three trials before the Sanhedrin:
• All of them presided over by the high priest,
• It was only natural that the Sanhedrin would condemn Jesus;
• We are told several times in the gospels;
• That their minds were made up to rid themselves and their people of this man.
• The Sanhedrin did have a problem;
• But the Sanhedrin could not execute capital sentences (John 18:31)
• Only the Roman authorities could pass the death sentence;
• So they must present Jesus to the Romans as one who was breaking Roman laws.
Note:
• Joseph we are told,
• Did not agree with the decision reached by this council concerning Jesus.
• This can mean he disagreed by not attending,
• Or that he was there but did not vote,
• Or that the council had not informed him because they knew how he would vote.
(3). A man of character.
We are told that he was a “good and just man”:
• Quote: Herbert Lockyer says in his book;
• ‘All the Men of the Bible’.
“the Bible never uses words unnecessarily, therefore there must be a distinction
between ‘good’ and ‘just’.”
‘Good’:
• When we are told he was a “good” man;
• That speaks of what he was in himself, i.e. his character, his nature.
‘Just’:
• Being a “just” man speaks of what he was to others.
• i.e. he was ‘just’, ‘fair’, ‘reasonable’ ‘honest’, in his dealings with others;
• ‘Just’ was the outward expression of his inner goodness.
• We might say he was a good man who behaved in a good way!
He was also a man of ‘great courage’:
• That might sound contradictory;
• When we read that he was a secret disciple for fear of the Jews.
• But Mark in his Gospel account (chapter 14 verse 43);
• Makes it quite clear that Joseph exhibited “great courage”;
• When he went before Pilate to request the body of Jesus.
Ill:
• I guess most of us can identify with that double-sided nature in Joseph;
• Just like we identify with the man who came to Jesus on one occasion and said;
• “I believe, Lord help my unbelief”.
Well, it took great courage for Joseph to face Pilot for several reasons:
(A).
• It took courage because under Roman law;
• Those condemned to death had lost the right to be buried.
• They were either left for the birds to consume;
• Or they were taken down and thrown on the city’s rubbish tip (left to rot or be eaten by dogs etc).
• Ill: In fact many believe Golgotha:
• May have been called the place of the skull, not because the hill was skull shaped,
• But because it was littered with skulls from previous crucifixions.
• Remember when the Jews asked Pilot to change the wording (the superscription):
• That was on the cross of Jesus he out-rightly refused
• Joseph went expecting the same kind of negative answer;
• But he still went and that took courage.
(B).
• It took courage because Pilate the Roman governor;
• Was already put out with the Jewish religious leadership.
• Remember the Jewish religious leadership had brought Jesus before Pilot;
• On trumped up charges (they knew it and so did Pilot!)
Not only was it a mockery of a trial;
• The Jewish religious leadership had insisted;
• That Pilot find Jesus guilty and condemn him to death.
• When Pilate resisted they all but threatened to complain to Rome saying, (John 19:12)
• “If you let this man go you are not Caesar’s friend.”
• To Pilot Joseph was just another Jewish religious leader;
• Part of the group that had bullied him into executing an innocent man.
• Nobody likes to be forced or pressured into a decision that they do not want to make;
• The Jewish leaders put Pilot in that situation (rock and a hard place).
So when Joseph stood before Pilot (in his Jewish leaders robes):
• He had no right to expect that Pilate;
• Would be receptive to his request for the body of Jesus.
• He had no legal rights to the body and he had no right to expect any favours from Pilate.
• But yet he courageously went.
(C).
• It took courage to request the body of Jesus;
• Because in so doing he was declaring that he was a believer in Jesus Christ.
That meant for Joseph he was about to pay a great price;
• The price was not financial;
• But far more costly than that!
HE PAID THE PRICE OF HIS PERSONAL DIGNITY.
• In going to Pilot he would have to humble himself;
• In our passage in verse fifty-two simply says; he “asked for the body of Jesus”;
• The Greek would is (‘aitao’) and can be translated as “begged.”
• The implication here is that Pilate made Joseph beg and plead for the body of Jesus.
• As a member of the Sanhedrin;
• Joseph was used to people begging before him and not the other way round!
• For the first time in many, many years;
• Joseph had to humbly bow down and plead for the body of Jesus.
HE PAID THE PRICE REGARDING HIS SOCIAL STATUS.
• How is having to explain to Pilate why he wants the body?
• When it was his group (the Sanhedrin) who demanded Jesus’ death,
• He must have felt like a fraud or a traitor or at least a hypocrite;
• As he tries to explain his change of mind to Pilot
• He could not justify his actions of wanting to give Jesus a decent burial;
• Without admitting that he was follower of Jesus.
Joseph was no fool:
• Mark in his gospel (chapter 15 verse 43) tells us that;
• Joseph was a distinguished, highly respected member,
• He was a prominent member, a person whose council must have been eagerly sought,
• He was a man who carried influence
• Yet, he knew that the moment he went to Pilate asking for the body;
• That news of this indiscretion would soon reach the Sanhedrin.
• He every reason to expect that as soon as the Sanhedrin heard this news,
• He could lose his social standing, his status, in fact he could lose everything he had.
• It not hard to imagine they voted Joseph out of the Council,
• Excluded him from any position of religious or social influence,
• And did everything they could to ruin his reputation in Jerusalem.
• Yet he was willing to pay that price!
HE PAID THE PRICE OUT OF HIS PERSONAL FINANCES.
• There was also certainly a financial cost to Joseph.
• He has given up his personal tomb, which was a very expensive thing to do.
• Remember,
• He is not expecting it to be vacated in a mere three days.
• He could have taken another option;
• And provided a cheaper tomb outside of the city,
• But he did not!
• He wanted to give Jesus his best.
• When Jesus was alive Joseph had given him second best as a secret follower;
• But not anymore, from now on Jesus would have the best that he could give!
Ill:
• John tells us in his account (chapter 19 verse 39),
• Joseph and Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighting about 75 lbs.
• And then the two men wrapped the body of Jesus in strips of linen,
• In accordance with Jewish customs.
• Quote: One commentator suggests
• The only time that anyone got anointed with 75lbs of this stuff;
• Was when they were royalty.
• It is as if these two men were saying to the world,
• You may not have accepted him as your king, but He is!
He paid the price regarding his religious status.
• When verse fifty-three says, “He took it down”
• It cannot mean that Joseph took the body of Jesus down from the cross by himself.
• Taking a lifeless body down from a cross is no one-man job.
• He had helpers, one of whom was Nicodemus,
Note:
• Joseph and Nicodemus took the body of Jesus from the cross and prepared it for burial.
• They were willing to sacrifice their religion for Jesus Christ.
• Joseph was a good man, a deeply religious man, who always upheld the law.
• As a member of the Sanhedrin he was an example of keeping the laws of Judaism.
• But, in order to bury the body of Jesus,
• He was prepared to defile himself ceremonially by touching a dead body.
• (Numbers 9:6, 19:11-12).
• That would have been bad enough but don’t forget when he made himself unclean:
• On the very eve of the most important religious celebration of the year, Passover;
• This act will make it impossible for him to participate in the festival.
Both Joseph and Nicodemus made a tough decision:
• They felt that it was more important to give Jesus a proper burial;
• Than to remain ceremonially clean so that they could participate in the Passover.
• This meant that they let go of their religious rituals;
• And laid hold on Christ (swopped a religion for a relationship)
Note:
• What I think is even more amazing about this story is;
• That he is making all of these sacrifices for a man who is dead;
• And as far as he knows, that is the way he will stay!
• What a remarkable commitment!
• You and I this morning are called to give our best to one who lives!
• To one who is exalted and glorified;
• To the one who reigns in the heavens!
• Unlike Joseph with have a fuller picture of the gloried Christ!
