John 19:38-42
And after these things Joseph of Arimethia, who is a disciple of Jesus secretly because of the fear of the Jews, requested Pilate that he might take the body of Jesus, and Pilate permitted. Therefore he came and took his body. And Nicodemus came also, the one who came to him first by night, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes something like one hundred pounds then they took Jesus’ body and wrapped him in linen pieces with spices, according to the custom of Jewish burial. And there was in the place where he was crucified a garden, and in the garden a tomb in which no one had yet been placed therefore because it was the Jewish Preparation, since the tomb was near, they placed Jesus there.
This has been a very interesting series for the Lenten lunches. We have journeyed with Jesus from Gethsemane, to the denial of Peter, to Jesus before Pilate, with Simon of Cyrene, who probably had other things to do, to Jesus’ Crucifixion, and his death. Today, the day our savior died is the day we see him laid in the tomb. This is a dark day. As we celebrate Good Friday, many of us will use the color black, which brings a connotation of death, and will have bare alters and worships spaces where usually there would be ornaitment, flowers, and liturgical paraphernalia. We see this as a day devoid of hope. How can we hope when we have lost our leader, the messiah has died, is this what was suppose to happen.
Really think about how the disciples must have felt. They have given up three years of their life to follow Jesus. They left everything, their jobs, their families, their villages, their lives behind to follow Jesus and learn from him. Now their teacher has been crucified for high treason against the Roman’s. There is no hope. They can no longer continue the path they have followed for the past three years, at least in their minds they can’t, and they can not go back home. Can you image the ridicule they would receive from family members and neighbors? Their lives might as well be over too. There is no hope. Jesus is dead, where do we go, and what can we do.
Can we empathize with the disciples? Have there ever been situations in our lives that have left us feeling totally helpless, like there is no chance of life continuing? This is the end of it, there is no hope after this. I can think of a few situations. Have you ever not been able to have a child, it was medically proven that fertility was not there, there was not going to be any children born from this couple. Then a miracle of miracles happens, and the couple becomes pregnant. After a couple of months though there are complications, and the baby is no longer living. There has to be a DNC. The miracle has ended in no hope, the child that was to be will never be. What if you awake in the morning to go to the crib to get your 6 month old daughter? There is no movement and when you look in closer you see there is no more life in your daughter. No hope. How do you go on from this? Or what if there is a phone call late at night to your house. It is the State Police, there was an automobile accident and your 16 year old son has been killed. Where is the hope, where is the love that usually rains down on us? What if you are going into see your doctor because of the second miscarriage in less than a year, and there is nothing medically wrong to be causing these miscarriages. Where is the family you so long for, and how can you possibly continue in life in the face of hopelessness? Where do we turn when our savior is behind the rock, and wrapped in the linens of one who is dead? How can the messiah help us now?
Well we can see the hope even in this hopeless time in our text. Joseph of Arimathea was a secret disciple of Jesus. He was one of the ones possibly listed in John 12 Nevertheless many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. He could have been someone who followed the teaching of Jesus for some time and secretly held it to be truth, without wanting to jeopardize his place in the synagogue. But at the death of Jesus, Joseph lays it on the line. In the hopelessness of Jesus’ death he comes forward to request the body of Jesus be removed from the cross and allowed to be buried. Usually the Roman’s would leave the bodies on the cross for the vultures and other birds of prey, and as an example for those who would walk by to not push their luck, and stay within the bounds of the laws of the Romans. But Joseph puts everything on the line to make sure Jesus’ body is given the respect it deserves as a teacher of the truth, as the one who claimed to be the messiah. And there is another named in our text, which mixes darkness and light, hopelessness, and the bountiful hope. Nicodemus. Nicodemus is the Pharisee who first comes to Jesus under the cover of darkness in John chapter 3. We all know the story, of how Nicodemus questioned Jesus on how a person can be born again, how can some one go back into their mother’s womb? Nicodemus just did not get it then, but over time probably came to be one of those listed in John chapter 12 as the secret disciples of Jesus. We see in John 7:45-52 where the Jewish leaders and Pharisees want to arrest him, and Nicodemus stands up for Jesus. Albeit a lukewarm stand up, he is making a statement for Jesus. And here in our text, he is coming out with Joseph, shedding the shroud which they follow Jesus under. They are opening the door and walking into the light. Now in what seems like the darkest part of Jesus existence, Nicodemus steps into the light to prepare Jesus’ body for death. The darkness has been over come by the light and the fear of the Jews no longer has any effect on Nicodemus or Joseph. They are the hope in this hopeless time. They are the believers that are not in our radar screen, the ones who come to our aid when things happen in our lives and it seems like the world is shutting in on us. They are the ones who bring the hope, and love of the one who seems like he is far from us in those dark hopeless corners of our lives. They are living the love that Jesus portrayed to all who followed and listened, to all who happened on him, to all who were rejected by all others. Even in the darkest point of Jesus existence, when the 11 disciples are no where to be found, there are disciples, and there is the love, faith and hope that comes from our savior. And as Paul tells the Thessalonians so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope, there is still hope. Even in the darkest time of Jesus existence, there is hope. The light comes through the disciples who came out of hiding, to proclaim their belief in the teachings of this man, who is the messiah and the savior of the world. So they laid Jesus in the tomb, and the message of his faith, hope and love continued in the faces of the unknown disciples, those hidden from the public before, but those who now lay claim to Faith, Hope, and Love abiding, the same faith hope and love given to us by our savior, so come out of the darkness and claim the hope that is there, and will never leave. Amen
aSacredRebel 