GOOD NEWS FROM ST. JOHN
E
VERY burial and the ceremony of burial is a solemn and sacred time, but none so solemn and sacred as the burial of Jesus. We judge the importance of a burial, and the importance of the one buried, by the number of people who attend the ceremony and witness the burial, but this is not necessarily the right criteria. Many dear people of God have died and been buried in obscurity, but are nonetheless great in the eyes of God. Here at the greatest burial, and the most sacred burial, of all, there are only two people present, and they have to carry out all that is necessary on their own. However, the one they buried was the greatest of all, for he was and is the Saviour of the world. We are privileged to attend his burial as we attend the event in reading this simple account in the Gospels, and we can be there in heart and mind, and be blessed by all that his burial means for us in eternal salvation.We learn several things from this account. Firstly, we learn that there are true believers in Jesus where we may least expect it. At this point all the disciples had fled and were hiding, and thinking, no doubt, only of their grief. Here were two unknown disciples who were ready to stand out and be counted, and give time, and cost, and much energy, to come and take the body of Jesus and bury it with honour.
Joseph of Arimathea we meet only here. Nicodemus we have met before. How far he has come since he came secretly to Jesus at night. Both showed they loved Jesus and believed on him by their action of love. Let us not judge people as graceless and godless simply because they don't belong to our group and don't conform to our way of doing things.
Secondly, we learn what marks out the true disciple and believer in Jesus. We judge whether others are Christians by all sorts of rules and evidence. We often cast off people as unsaved because they don't come up to what we believe is a true Christian. I expect many today, if they met Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus in their lives at the time, would write them off as unbelievers, but they were most truly believers. How can we be so sure? We can be so sure because they showed undeniably, by their actions here, that they loved and honoured Jesus, and their hearts were bound up with him. This is the mark of a true believer. We may be able to affirm all the great doctrinal truths of salvation, but this in itself is no real evidence of true discipleship. The devil knows the Gospel better than anyone.
What shows true faith and discipleship is true love for Jesus, which is shown in a life of devotion to Jesus. Those who are Christ's people are filled with God's love for them in giving his Son to die for them. True disciples are overwhelmed with wonder that Jesus loved them and bore their sins in his body on the cross. Such love can't be denied and is shown in glorifying Jesus in our lives, and devotion to Jesus and the upholding of the honour of his name. The root question is do we truly love Jesus. Jesus expressed this so profoundly, when he told the Pharisee, at whose house he was dining when the women anointed him with costly perfume, you love little, but this woman shows she is my child because she has loved me so much.
Thirdly, true service for Jesus will always find the way opened for that service to be performed and completed. God honours his servants, who follow his will, by providing the means for them to fulfil his will and purpose. How often do we find God asking his people to have faith to do what seems to be too difficult and impossible, but God never asks his servant to do what he does not provide the means for performing it.
Here was Joseph and Nicodemus presented with great difficulties. They had only three hours to arrange and carry out the burial of Jesus, yet this did not daunt them. They had to go to Pilate and obtain leave to take the body of Jesus for burial. God opened the way so they gained access to Pilate, and Pilate was inclined to grant their request. How many times have we looked at a problem God has set us, and given up because it seems impossible. Who would have thought Pilate would have been so ready to accede the request here for the body of Jesus, but he was, because God was in the request. Then they had all the embalming to do, and then they had to find a tomb. God made all this possible, because it was true service to Jesus.
When we are called by God to service of Jesus, and the service seems too difficult for us, let us remember Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus and this task they were given, and go forward confident that God will make all things possible.
Lastly, let us take comfort as we face the fact of our death one day, that Jesus our Saviour has gone before us. He knows all about this valley of the shadow for he has experienced the totality of its horror before us and for us. He knows all our fears and anxieties, and he will be there at the moment when he calls us. He said to his disciple in John 14 that he would come to take them to the place he had prepared for them in heaven. This promise is for us too. He will be there at that moment. He will comfort our hearts, and remove our fears. He will lead us through the portal of death, and brings us home to his eternal glory.