LowCountry Community Church
Road to the Cross | Joseph of Arimathea
Locations & Times
LowCountry Community Church
801 Buckwalter Pkwy, Bluffton, SC 29910, USA
Sunday 8:30 AM
Sunday 10:00 AM
Sunday 11:30 AM
Sophie Scholl
Rosa Parks
William Tyndale
Rosa Parks
William Tyndale
It was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, when evening had already come, that there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph. He was a prominent member of the Council, a good and righteous man (he had not consented to their plan and action), who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God.
He gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate wondered if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether Jesus was already dead. the centurion, Pilate ordered it to be given to Joseph and granted the body to him.
So Joseph came for the body of Jesus. So did Nicodemus, who had first come to Jesus by night, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. They took the body of Jesus down and took it away. They bound it in clean linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.
Now in the place where Jesus was crucified there was a garden, and Joseph laid Him in his own new tomb which had been hewn out in the rock where no one had ever lain. Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. Joseph rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.
Matthew 27:57-60; Mark 15:42-46; Luke 23:50-52; John 19:38-42, NASB
He gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate wondered if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether Jesus was already dead. the centurion, Pilate ordered it to be given to Joseph and granted the body to him.
So Joseph came for the body of Jesus. So did Nicodemus, who had first come to Jesus by night, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. They took the body of Jesus down and took it away. They bound it in clean linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.
Now in the place where Jesus was crucified there was a garden, and Joseph laid Him in his own new tomb which had been hewn out in the rock where no one had ever lain. Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. Joseph rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.
Matthew 27:57-60; Mark 15:42-46; Luke 23:50-52; John 19:38-42, NASB
While Joseph never consented to the Sanhedrin’s actions, he never contested them either.
To be a disciple means to be one who believes His teachings, rests upon His sacrifice, walks in His Spirit, and imitates His example.
A disciple is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.
What happened ON the Cross changed the people AT the Cross.
It was an act of bravery.
His was an act of sacrifice.
It was an act of love.
It was an act of worship.
Hymn: A Ruler Once Came To Jesus At Night
A ruler once came to Jesus by night,
To ask Him the way of salvation and light;
The Master made answer in words true and plain,
“Ye must be born again!”
https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/1019It was a public act.
What can you and I learn from this account of Joseph of Arimathea’s life?
There is no such thing as being a secret disciple of Jesus.
There is no such thing as being a secret disciple of Jesus.
If what happened on the cross changes you, you will be public in your commitment to Christ and His teachings.
Speech by Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1910
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
https://www.trcp.org/2011/01/18/it-is-not-the-critic-who-counts/