John 19:38-42
The Burial of Jesus
38Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. 39He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Jesus is taken by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus after He dies on the cross...All four gospels mention Joseph of Arimathea, burying Jesus in a tomb...
We do not anything about this Joseph during the four writings of the gospels, other than his assistance with the burial...He must have kept quiet about his following of Jesus, during the previous three years...Nicodemus was a student of Jesus, who visited Him at night...St. John writes about Nicodemus in John chapter three...
A crucifixion can take a long time before death, so Joseph and Nicodemus were waiting for Jesus to pass...Jewish law was such that anyone hung from a tree or cross need to be buried before nightfall...The body would desecrate the land...This was part of Moses Law, Deuteronomy 21:23...
The two influential men who had been rather quiet throughout Jesus' ministry have now stepped forward and taken the steps necessary to give Him a proper burial...Nicodemus brought seventy five pounds of myrrh and aloe and embalms Jesus...Jesus is buried in a garden and in a new tomb...He is laid in a new tomb, and no one can say, someone else rose besides Jesus...
Because of all the controversy surrounding Jesus, this would have taken much courage to take Jesus from the cross and pay for the embalming and burial costs...This men appear to be part or least associated with the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council...
Disciples should show and express themselves toward the Son...God has now given the two the fortitude, to bury His Son... Joseph and Nicodemus show their conviction and belief in the Son's doctrines by doing this act of passion...
Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:32-33 that "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven...."...Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus acknowledged Him...