We move to Jesus’ burial at John 19:38-42.
Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away.
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.
At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
- Do you remember the scene with Nicodemus? Can you paraphrase what Jesus told him and why it is important to us today?
- The passage called Joseph of Arimathea a secret disciple of Jesus. Is this the kind of disciple Jesus wants us to be? Can you name any Gospel passage that supports your opinion?
- What kind of disciple are you? A secret one, or one who proclaims the Gospel to others by your behavior and words?
Rick's Thoughts:
1. Do you remember the scene with Nicodemus? Can you paraphrase what Jesus told him and why it is important to us today?
John 3 speaks of Jesus’s meeting with Nicodemus where Jesus tells him how to get to Heaven. The answer is to be born again. John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. Whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.”
2. The passage called Joseph of Arimathea a secret disciple of Jesus. Is this the kind of disciple Jesus wants us to be? Can you name any Gospel passage that supports your opinion?
Jesus compares secret disciples with lamps kept under a shad that cannot spread light.
“No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.” (Luke 8:16-18)
“Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.” (Matthew 5:15)
Jesus also tells us that there are consequences for keeping our relationship with him secret. “I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God.” (Luke 12:8-9).
How curious it is for Jesus state the importance of us acknowledging our faith before angels.
3. What kind of disciple are you? A secret one, or one who proclaims the Gospel to others by your behavior and words?
I try to spread the Gospel in different ways through bible teaching, online missionary work, and serving the church. The hardest way for me is to spread the Gospel in my behavior. I am a constant work in progress.