THE CHURCH OF CHRIST 2
The Secret Disciple
by
Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid (February 3, 2016)
“When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre and departed...And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand”” (St. Matthew 27:57-60; St. John 19: 38-42, King James Version [Christ's death and burial]).
Greetings, In the Name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest (St. Matthew 21:9),
My brothers and sisters, you have been told there is no faith without doubt, but Jesus (died 30-33 A.D. [“All time before Jesus became B.C., “Before Christ” and every year since was A.D. [anno domini “the year of the Lord”] Readers Digest Association, 1994; Wikipedia, 2016) told you, according to the witness of Matthew, “...when he saw a fig tree in the way,...and found nothing thereon, but leaves only...and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away...Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (St. Matthew 21:19, 21 [the fig tree in the way---withered away]). There was a man named Joseph Arimathaea of southern Samaria, who also according to the witness of Mark looked for the kingdom of God [“an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God...(St. Mark 15:43, KJV)]. Accordingly Luke said, “And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just: (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God” (23:50-51, KJV). This same man most likely a dissenting member of the Jewish Council known as the Sanhedrin that condemned Jesus to death, was more than apparently a secret disciple but a man of strong convictions in his heart who stood before Pilate to ask for the body of Christ and who legend said took care of the mother of Jesus, Mary, for many questioned what happened to Mary, the mother of Jesus and recalled, “When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home” (St. John 19:26-27, KJV [the loved disciple took Mary, the mother of Jesus to his own home] but early Christian literature revealed stories of Joseph's imprisonment, rescued by the resurrected Jesus, caring for Mary, the mother Of Jesus for the rest of her life as he established Christianity in England and carried the Holy Grail to England with him [The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 1994]. However, since the attempted poisoning of the beloved disciple John was exiled by the Roman Emperor Domitian during the 14th year (95 A.D.) of his reign (81 A.D. - 96 A.D.) to the Greek Isle, Patmos [an island just off the coast of Turkey in the Aegean Sea, 37 miles southwest of the ancient city Miletus, in the general region of the seven churches named by
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John that are in Asia (Rev.1:4, KJV)].
Most importantly, we know the disciple who Jesus loved was at the last supper and leaned on his bosom to ask, Lord, who is it?--- To find out who of all the disciples was the one to betray Jesus, for it is written, “Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved” (St. John 13:23, KJV), so the same was the loved disciple at the cross (St. John 19:26, KJV), therefore Mary the mother of Jesus remained with Apostle John until she died [Wikipedia, 2016]. According to John, we also know that Mary Magdalene witnessed “to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him” (St. John 20:2, KJV). We also know Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias and the loved disciple recognized him first after he said...Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find... “Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord...” (St. John 21 5, 6-7, KJV). Of the ones, at the sea of Tiberias , in the boat, “There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus (twin), and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the two sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples” (St. John 21:2, KJV) and of the sons of Zebedee, who were fishing partners with Simon, “And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them” (St. Matthew 4:21; St. Mark 1:19, St. Luke 5:10, KJV). Also, Peter asked Jesus about the disciple he loved,
“Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved
following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord,
which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord,
and what shall this man do?” Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he
tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me”
(St. John 21:20-22, KJV [Christ's charge to Peter]).
Moreover, in the witness of Matthew, at the last supper Jesus sat down with twelve, for it is written, “Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve” (26:20, KJV). Accordingly, Mark said, “And in the evening he cometh with the twelve” (14:17, KJV). Furthermore, Luke said, “And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him” (22:14, KJV).Also, according to Matthew,
“And when he called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power
against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness
and all manner of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these;
The first, Simon, who is called Peter (died by crucifixion upside down in
64 A.D. under the persecution of Nero Augustus Caesar, in Rome [The
Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 1994; Wikipedia, 2016]), and Andrew his
brother (died mid to late first century in the Roman Empire called Patras,
Achaia martyred by crucifixion in the shape of an X ordered by a Roman
proconsul; his bones kept in Constantinople wherein he founded the See
of Constantinople in 38 A.D., one of his arms was taken to St.. Andrews,
Scotland; Crusaders brought them to Italy in 1204 [The Reader's Digest
Association, Inc., 1994; Wikipedia, 2016]); James the son of Zebedee (died
44 A.D. In Jerusalem, Judea by the Roman Empire---the same year the
Roman King Herod Agrippa I who ordered him killed by the sword was
killed by the Angel of the Lord [The Acts 12:23, KJV]---the only martyred
apostle killing that was recorded in the New Testament [The Reader's Digest
Association, Inc., 1994; Wikipedia, 2016], and John his brother (died 100 A.D,
in Ephesus, Asia); Philip (died 80 A.D.---in Hierapolis, Anatolia, Roman
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Empire---martyred by crucifixion upside down or beheaded for
converting the wife of the proconsul of the city [Wikipedia, 2016]),
and Bartholomew (died after 80 A.D.---in the first century A.D.
He was martyred---skinned alive or beheaded in Albac or
in Albanopolis near Baskale, Turkey. Another story says he was
kidnapped, beaten unconscious and thrown in the sea to drown. The
Emperor Anastasia gave the body to the city of Dura Europos.
According to Gregory of Tours, his body washed up at Lipari, a
small island off the coast of Sicily, the part of Italy controlled by
Constantinople, a large piece of his skin and many bones kept at the
Cathedral of St. Bartholomew in Lipari, then translated to
Beneventum in 803 and translated to Rome in 983 by Holy Roman
Emperor Otto II and conserved at San Bartolomeo all' Isola
[Wikipedia, 2016]); Thomas [died 21 December 72 A.D. ---in
Mylapore, Chennai, India, a martyr, in India; his relics enshrined as
far as Mesopotamia; in the third century, then, later, in 1258 moved
to Abruzzo, in Ortono, Italy at the Church of Saint Thomas the
Apostle [The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 1994; Wikipedia,
2016]), and Matthew (died a martyr, in Hierapolis or Ethiopia)
the publican; James the son of Alphaeus (died 62 A.D.---crucified
at Ostrakine in Jerusalem, Judea, Roman Empire or Lower Aegyptus
(Egypt) [Matthew 10:1-4, KJV; Mark 2:14; 3:14-19, KJV;
Luke 6:13-16; Acts 1:13, KJV) and Lebbaeus (died first century in
Persia, whose surname was Thaddaeus, also called Jude,
Jude of James, Jude Thaddaeus, Judas Thaddaeus and Lebbaeus---
honored in Armenian church [Wikipedia, 2016); Simon the
Canaanite (died 65 A.D.---either in Pella, Armenia, Suanir, Persia
or Edess, Caistor; relics claimed in Toulouse, Saint Peter's Basilica
[Wikipedia, 2016; Luke 6:15, KJV; Acts 1:13, KJV; Matthew 10:4,
KJV; Mark 3:18, KJV), and Judas Iscariot (died 30-33 A.D.
[Wikipedia, 2016), who also betrayed him” (Matthew 10:1-4, KJV
[the twelve disciples/apostles/Christians]). “...And the disciples
were called Christians first in Antioch” (The Acts 11:26, KJV
[the disciples called Christians in Antioch]).
Henceforth, just as God spoke, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (St. Matthew 3:17; 17:5; KJV; [God approved Christ Jesus}, for the Prophet Isaiah prophesied, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring
forth judgment to the Gentiles” (Isaiah 42:1, KJV), so, also did Jesus speak of John, for according to Matthew, Christ Jesus said, “Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles” (12:18, 19-23, 24-37, KJV [Christ's testimony about John]).
Hence, John was apocalyptic like the Prophet Daniel and was to deliver the judgment of God to God's peoples, wherein visions of God defeating evil through Christ Jesus explained the end times as a result of the present evils of man to alleviate the sufferings of man to restore man (woman) to his (their) rightful position of divine favor of blessedness, for it is written in the beginning when God
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created the world that he said, “It is good” for each creation---the light, the Earth, the Seas, seed after his kind, two great lights to rule the day and night, for signs, for seasons, for days and for years, the stars, great whales and moving creatures after their kind in the waters, fowls after his kind that fly above the earth and in the open firmament of heaven, living creatures after his kind on the earth, cattle, creeping thing, beast after his kind, man in our image after our likeness, in his own image, in the image of God, both male and female and he said, “It is very good” (Genesis chapter 1, KJV [Creation of heaven, earth, and man]). Howbeit, Eve was tempted to take man into the evil that came out of the fruit of the tree of good and evil that she ate and gave to Adam, even though God walked in their midst in the Garden of Eden. We pray for Christ Jesus' restoration power to take man back to, “It is good” and “It is very good”, only, the blessed position of holiness.
In closing, according to Matthew, Peter, the rock of the church was the head of the Church of Christ, was ordained in the “Rock Of My Church” dialogue, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (16:18-19, KJV [Peter, the rock]). How true is it what Robert de Boron spun in a story---a legend about Joseph of Arimathea, the secret disciple, “that he collected the Holy Grail---the chalice at the Last Supper to collect the blood of Jesus at the Cross when he was removed from the cross. The story continued that Joseph of Arimathea was thrown in prison by angry Jews, similar to the same Sanhedrin process that gave Jesus a death sentence but Jesus visited Joseph in prison and freed him and also explained the mysteries of the blessed cup. Joseph escaped and traveled with his in-laws and other followers to the west where he established a dynasty of Grail keepers which included Percevel (Wikipedia, 2016). However, in the Gospel of Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea testified to the elders and the priests Caiaphas and Annas:
“On the day of the Preparation, about the tenth hour, you shut me in,
and I remained there the whole Sabbath in full. And when midnight
came, as I was standing and praying, the house where you shut me in
was hung up by the four corners, and there was a flashing of light in
mine eyes. And I fell to the ground trembling. Then some one lifted
me up from the place where I had fallen, and poured over me an
abundance of water from the head even to the feet, and put round my
nostrils the odour of a wonderful ointment, and rubbed my face with
the water itself, as if washing me, and kissed me, and said to me,
Joseph, fear not; but open thine eyes, and see who it is that speaks to
thee. And looking, I saw Jesus; and being terrified, I thought it was a
phantom. And with prayer and the commandments I spoke to him, and
he spoke with me. And I said to him: Art thou Rabbi Elias? And he said
to me: I am not Elias. And I said: Who art thou, my Lord? And he said
to me: I am Jesus, whose body thou didst beg from Pilate, and wrap in
clean linen; and thou didst lay a napkin on my face, and didst lay me in
thy new tomb, and roll a stone to the door of the tomb. Then I said to
him that was speaking to me: Show me, Lord, where I laid thee. And he
led me, and showed me the place where I laid him, and the linen which
I had put on him, and the napkin which I had wrapped upon his face;
and I knew that it was Jesus. And he took hold of me with his hand, and
put me in the midst of my house though the gates were shut, and put me
in my bed, and said to me: Peace to thee! And he kissed me, and said to
me: For forty days go not out of thy house; for, lo, I go to my brethren
into Galilee” [translated by Alexander Walker].
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Joseph of Arimathea also told the Jewish Council or the Sanhedrin “that Jesus had risen from the dead
and ascended to heaven, also that others were resurrected after Jesus resurrected which confirmed the testimonies of Matthew 27:52-53, KJV (Holy Bible, n.d.).
Furthermore, Jesus took fishermen and made them fishers of men, notably, Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John, he took a rock, also Simon Peter, he took an eagle (also John), a man that was hard to understand but loyal and earnest (Philip), a man with the power of faith/a hero-martyr (Bartholomew), a doubter (Thomas), a despised man for collecting taxes for Rome, a man who added his own charges to the taxes, a man who was unclean, a man who the Jews could not associate with (Matthew), a young man (James the son of Alphaeus), a club (Lebbaeus or Jude), a Zealot (Simon the Canaanite) and a betrayer (Judas Iscariot) and built a church. With that said, Jesus and his disciples changed the world. May Christ be with you, to the end. Peace and salvation be with you. Amen (So be it).
