Read through the Gospels in a Year: Mark 15:42-47
Read the New Testament in a Year: Galatians 5:13-26
Joseph … who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. —Mark 15:43
Funerals are sad times. Often our grief is made greater by our regrets. “Why didn’t I make that phone call to Dad?” “Why didn’t I tell Mom more often that I loved her?”
Today’s reading describes how that Jesus’ burial was important because it’s solid evidence that Jesus truly died. He was neither unconscious nor in a coma. Both the centurion and Pilate would want proof positive that he was dead. Our salvation rests on this. “Christ … suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death …” (1 Peter 3:18).
Joseph was a prominent member of the religious leaders’ council who had not consented to their decision to have Jesus crucified (Luke 23:50-51). But the deed was done. Many would have thrown up their hands and said, “I did what I could,” and gone on with life.
But Joseph resolved to do more. He “went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.” He sought permission to bury Jesus, and he buried him in the grave he had prepared for himself (Matthew 27:60).
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