This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Luke 23:52
It mattered nothing to the Roman soldiers what happened to the bodies of crucifixion victims. In most cases, they simply left the bodies on the crosses to rot. Jewish purity laws prevented that from happening in and around Jerusalem, but unless somebody was there to claim the body, the soldiers merely tossed the mangled remains into the local garbage dump. That was normal back then, although today we would view that as a disgusting indignity to offer to any body. But our text is not speaking about just any body. Men did their very worst to the Lord Jesus while He was yet alive. But His death marked the completion of the work that He had come to perform. And God would not allow sinful humanity to heap any further indignities on His Son. But the disciples had scattered, and the women and other followers who had come to the scene of the crucifixion were far too timid and intimidated to come forward. Besides, they had no plan or plot for the body. It would take somebody with influence, courage, and resources to come forward. God had His man waiting and ready.
Joseph of Arimathaea was no ordinary man. Verse 50 reminds us that he was a good man and a just, and a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, while verse 51 adds that he had disagreed with that council’s plot and purpose to get rid of Jesus. Matthew 27:57 notes that Joseph was a rich man and confirms that he was a disciple of Jesus. Mark 15:43 describes Joseph as honourable, and notes his boldness in approaching Pilate for the body. John 19:38 adds the information that until this point Joseph’s discipleship had been a secret. It is Matthew who tells us that the sepulchre in which Jesus was laid belonged to Joseph. That is an amazing amount of preparation that God made, to have such a man, with the courage, the resources, and the tomb, all at the ready at the moment that the need arose. This was no ordinary need, of course; this was the handling of the body of the Lamb of God, the sacrifice for our sins. It is no coincidence that wicked members of the Jewish high council sought and demanded the death of the Lord Jesus, but it was righteous members of the Jewish high council who provided the dignity and respect that His burial demanded.
God always provides for His purposes, both great and small, and He always has His own men and women at the right place and at the right time. And if He could provide Joseph and Nicodemus at exactly the right time and with exactly what was needed, why should we doubt that He will do any less in situations that concern you and me? -Jim MacIntosh