42Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time. 45So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. 46Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. 47And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed where He was laid.
I had heard the story before. I always thought of Joseph of Arimathea as a rich influential man, but I had never given it much thought before. Now the fact that he was a council member caught my eye. A footnote of my Bible says he was a member of the Sanhedrin. That puts a whole new light on what might have been going through Joseph's mind that day.
If you look back to where Jesus was presented to the Sanhedrin, in Mark 14:55 it said the chief priests and all the council sought testimony against Jesus to put Him to death. Then in Mark 14:64 it said they all condemned Him to be deserving of death. Joseph must have been there that day. He must have been one of those on the council who agreed to Jesus' death.
It says he had to take courage before he went to Pilate. Why? Pilate had nothing against Jesus. In fact, he thought Jesus was innocent. He just ordered the crucifixion to satisfy the crowd. I think the bigger thing Joseph feared was other council members finding out that he has now changed his mind about Jesus. Before when I read that he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God I thought it meant he was old and would die soon and would soon need a tomb for himself. But now I wonder if it means he now believed what Jesus said to the Sanhedrin in Mark 14:62 that he would "see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven." He was awaiting the kingdom of God that was at hand. I think he had to take courage and put on a front that he was still a staunch member of the council even though what he really wanted was to do one last favor for Jesus, and that was to remove Him from the cross and bury Him in a fine tomb. I think he had more to fear from the Sanhedrin than from Pilate.
Pilate was surprised that Jesus was already dead. Another confirmation of Jesus' swift death as talked about in the previous verses. The way the chief priests and scribes had worked up the crowd against Jesus, I wouldn't be surprised if they would have rather have had Jesus' body hang till it rotted. But Joseph was a prominent council member. Pilate knew a council member's wishes would override the wishes of the chief priests.
Another surprise to me was when I read that Pilate summoned the centurion. I bet this is the same centurion mentioned in Mark 15:39 who witnessed Jesus' death and claimed "Truly this man was the Son of God".
This is quite the trio of men together here: Joseph, Pilate, and the centurion -- a man who caused Jesus' death, the man who ordered Jesus' death, and the man who witnessed Jesus' death. None of whom knew Jesus personally before. All of whom now believe in Jesus' innocence. I would love to hear the three of them get together and discuss their feelings on this whole tragic story. But they are all from different classes, all have different backgrounds, all have different stories to tell. But they can all still come to know Jesus. The same is true today. Regardless of your background, you can still come to know Jesus.
Joseph took Jesus down from the cross, wrapped Him in fine linen, and placed Him in a fine tomb. Giving Him the best possible burial was the most he could do for Jesus at this point. This man who condemned Jesus to death is now trying to make good, to show his love for Jesus. Remember, it is never too late and you could never have done anything bad enough that you can't still turn your love to God.
Once again, mention of the women. None of Jesus' followers were able to get close to Him, though they knew He died, as the women witnessed it from afar. The women saw where He was buried. The women knew the tomb was sealed as they saw them roll the stone into place. Through the women's eyes, even though none of His followers could be there, they all knew what had happened. The amazing story that is to follow would not be able to be denied by his followers later because the women of their group had witnessed that Jesus truly had died and His body had been placed in a sealed tomb.