March 29, 2006 Matthew 27:55-61
Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons. As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
The Faithful Come Out of the Closet in the Darkness of the Evening
When you’ve been up for twenty four hours with a gut wrenching flu; with your body completely wasted and wiped out from a night’s worth of vomiting; and you are reduced to a weak and helpless shell of a person in a matter of hours; it can be a very purifying experience. When you get wiped out - all you want at that point is to feel better. You don’t really care if your hair is disheveled. You don’t bother with niceties or small talk about the weather. When you really feel like garbage - it has a powerful way of making you thankful for the simple things in life. You tremendously enjoy the ability to just eat a piece of bread or sitting in a chair without being in pain. It makes life much simpler and pure. It isn’t the good times that let you shine - it’s the dark times.
Tonight’s lesson takes us to the darkest time of Jesus’ first time on earth. We fast forward past the troubling of the cross - since that will be covered on Good Friday - and look at the time after the cross - to the burial of Christ. This had to be the darkest point - because there was no hope left at this point - not from a human point of view. No matter how sick someone is, as long as they are breathing there’s always some hope of recovery. Jesus had performed unbelievable miracles up to this point - even having raised the dead. But now Jesus was dead. The skies had turned black. Everything seemed lost, as all those witnessing this travesty went away beating their breasts. There was no hope of him coming down from the cross. The deed was done. They couldn’t take back what they had done. For him to raise Himself from the dead - in spite of what He predicted - it simply would seem impossible. What especially must have seemed disheartening was that those who you would expect most to remain strong in this time - the disciples - had deserted Jesus and run away. All that was left were a few weeping women at a distance.
If you look at this from a human point of view - who in their right mind would want to join this religion at this point? Imagine if you were thinking about visiting a church - you’d seen their web sight; talked to their pastor; liked what they had to say; and then finally decided to go to the worship service. Imagine if you then came to the worship, and when you arrived they had a casket up front with a dead body in it. Imagine if there were a bunch of women sitting in the back of the church weeping. What would you do if you walked into such a worship service? The greeters would come to you and say, "we’re sorry to tell you this, but our Savior and God has died. The leaders of our congregation were not able to endure this, so they left. If you would like to stay, our order of worship for today is weeping, crying, and then mourning. Following the sorrowful time and prayer we would like you to purchase a grave sight, and then take the body from the casket and place our dead Savior in the grave." How would you respond? "Whoa, this wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I was looking for something a little more cheery; more optimistic. I thought this was a more lively religion. Maybe I’ll come back later." Even if you told the visitor that this was not a "normal" worship service, how many would come back? The point I’m trying to make is that this death of Christ is the most offensive portion of the Christian religion. With Jesus having given his last breath - from all our senses He appears to have lost. This is the darkest hour.
It’s at this darkest hour that something completely unexpected happens. Matthew 27 reads, "As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus." Joseph was a rich man who had become an apostle of Jesus. He was most likely not present during the trial of the evening. This was a stacked deck - where the Sanhedrin only called those whom they knew would vote in favor of Jesus. What this text doesn’t say is who Joseph exactly was. Luke 23:50-51 adds, "Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God. John 19 adds that Joseph’s discipleship was a secret one, because he was "afraid of the Jews." Since the Pharisees and teachers of the Law were putting people out of the synagogue if they showed any affinity towards Jesus, they had become very intimidating to everyone. Joseph had gained the reputation of an upright and righteous man - who was a member of the much distinguished 70 member Sanhedrin. Up to this point in his discipleship - he had remained in the dark. He was afraid of the ostracism that would have come with coming out of the closet. So he remained quiet - and followed Jesus from a distance - in the dark - until Jesus’ darkest moment - when He is dead.
It’s at this point, when all seems to be lost, that Joseph comes out. Mark 15:43 says, "Joseph . . . who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body." He was not the only one to come out of his shell either. John 19:39-40 says, "He 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. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs." It would appear that both of these men had conspired with one another in their plan. As Joseph went to Pilate, Nicodemus went to go and get the myrrh and aloes. They recognized that if they didn’t act up now, Jesus’ body would be disgracefully thrown in a pit with the other criminals. Nicodemus, if you remember, came to Jesus in the middle of the night to talk with Jesus. During that time Jesus told him about what it meant to be "born again" - of water and the Spirit. Like Joseph he also showed fear at being associated with Jesus. Yet later on in John chapter 7 he made a subtle attempt to defend Jesus. In John 7:51-52 he says, "Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?" They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee. That’s all the more we hear of him at this instance. However now, in Jesus darkest hour, Nicodemus also decided to come out of the closet. It wouldn’t take long for the rest of the Sanhedrin to see that these two men had joined what they considered the dark side.
The response of these men in the darkest hour is something that we all have to admire. Instead of running away from Jesus - instead of kicking themselves for believing in Jesus - they boldly proclaimed their faith by taking on His burial. What was it that set them apart from the disciples - that gave them such a boldness to go forward and be associated with this dead Savior at His darkest hour? Wouldn’t we have to conclude that they showed a better informed faith than the disciples? Whereas the disciples kept on waiting and expecting Jesus to establish an earthly kingdom - denying the possibility of his death - these members of the Sanhedrin must have expected Jesus to die. Remember, these were men who knew their Scriptures. They had listened to and read books such as Isaiah and the Psalms. Maybe they even heard Jesus refer to these texts in reference to Himself - texts that said things like Isaiah 53:3-6,
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Therefore, instead of basing their faith on the power of Jesus - their faith was based on the weakness of Christ - the death of the Christ. When Jesus did what He said He would do, in the darkest hour - they then felt compelled to let their light shine. Instead of killing their faith - seeing Jesus fulfill His promise of love flickered it into a strong flame. Perhaps they also read the very prediction as to what would happen to the Christ in Isaiah 53:9, "He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth." I can’t help but think that faith in these predictions encouraged them to take a public part in the gospel, especially since the disciples had taken to a temporary highway.
Joseph and Nicodemus offer hope to all of us who have spent our share of time in the "Christian closet" so to speak. First of all, I want to note that Joseph was called a disciple even while he was not asking for Jesus’ body. From the eyes of the world and even the disciples he and Nicodemus may have been tagged as either just plain enemies or at least cowards in the faith. If they had died prior to Jesus’ burial they probably would not have even gotten a Christian burial. Nobody in this world would remember their names. Yet God knew who these men were. He saw what was in their hearts. Jesus knew from his private visit with Nicodemus who Nicodemus was. He heard the question that he asked in the closed doors of the Sanhedrin. God’s Word says that "the Lord looks at the heart." He also told Elijah - who thought he was the only one left, that there were still 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal. There may be times when you compare your public actions to those of the disciples and the more outspoken followers of the Lord - and you might be embarrassed at how you have shown fear at letting your light shine. These are things you should be embarrassed over. We should never be afraid of what men think of us - especially unbelievers. Yet the comfort of looking at Joseph and Nicodemus shows us that God is very patient and gracious. Instead of cutting them off, God patiently waited on them - giving them a great opportunity to let their light shine. Even though their faith wasn’t as bold as the disciples, God still loved them and forgave them - knowing that they truly had faith in Jesus as the Messiah of God’s kingdom. God is so gracious that He forgives and still loves all of us who have faith in Christ - even that which spends too much time in the closet. He knows what we have in our hearts, even when we don’t show it as often as we should. He forgives us because of Christ - not because of the strength of our faith.
As we are confronted with our own cowardice, God wants us to do exactly what Joseph and Nicodemus did. Instead of running away from the cross - look to the cross and death of Jesus. Stare at it in faith. Cling to Jesus in His darkest hour. Grasp his dead body in your arms. Recognize that Jesus’ crucifixion and death was not just a sign of weakness - it was also a sign of God’s love and mercy. Cling to the message of that cross - know that Jesus was dying for people just like you - the kind of people that aren’t as brave as they should be; the kind of people that put too much importance on their reputations and their positions of authority. You are people that Jesus died for as well! So look at the cross and cling to it with your arms of faith.
Secondly, as you look at what happens with Joseph and Nicodemus, let it encourage you to a new confidence in the gospel. A pure look at the love of the dead and dying God did wonders for the faith of Joseph and Nicodemus. When they saw the reckless abandon with which Jesus faced death - with His hope in the resurrection - it seemed to encourage them and motivate them and motivate them to put aside their fears. They were willing to do the dirtiest job there was - to place their hands on their dead God - make themselves ceremonially unclean - risk their own ridicule and death - and bury him in the rich man’s tomb.
Jesus was willing to give up everything - even His relationship with the Father for a time in hell - to make you holy. There may come a time in life where you are faced with a similar situation as Joseph and Nicodemus. Perhaps all of the people you expect to step up will go running. Perhaps identity with Christ will be a disgraceful and dangerous thing - where you can lose your reputation and even your life. You may expect yourself to be a coward at such a point. At such a time, don’t underestimate the power of the Gospel. Seeing Jesus die on the cross and die for you is a powerful statement of God’s love and dedication to you. Instead of bringing out the coward in you, it may bring out the courage. It may make you step it up a level - to let your light shine when it is needed most. If God could do it with Joseph and Nicodemus, He can do it with you.
As the evening approached, we witness some strange things happen. Our eyes see a God who is supposed to be all powerful and live forever - we see that God get overcome with three measly nails on a cross. We see disciples who were supposed to be strong - who vowed never to forsake Jesus - run like scared rabbits and deny their Lord. Yet we also see some seemingly weak women continue to follow Jesus to the cross. We see two seeming cowards step up their faith and go to bury Jesus. We see a rich man - whom Jesus said has an impossible time entering the kingdom of heaven - show some of the strongest faith of all.
As we witnessed events occur this evening, remember that not everything is as it appears. God - in His death - is not showing His weakness - but His strength. The disciples - though running scared, have not lost their faith. The women - though weeping and helpless - are still following. Joseph and Nicodemus - who seem to be so silent - end up showing great strength - plotting on how to honor Jesus in His death. God is working behind the scenes with unlikely candidates and through unlikely scenarios to accomplish his purpose. God’s works are the most powerful when they work through the weakest scenarios.
Some times you may play the role of the disciples - and run at the time you are needed most. Other times, you may play the role of Joseph and Nicodemus, and step it up when you are needed. Regardless of which role you end up in - remember the true power of this story. It’s not in Joseph or Nicodemus - but in the power of the Gospel - in the power of God. It’s amazing how the death of God as the substitute of the world could bring about anything strong in anyone. It’s amazing how our FAITHFUL God is able to work through weakness and death to bring about strength in this hour of despair. In this hour of the evening, believe that God’s power works in weakness. In the midst of death and burial - see God’s strength and see life. Amen.
