Joseph of Arimathea

From We Were There

By Sarah A. O'Malley and Robert D. Elmer

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA:My name is Joseph. I come from a town called Arimathea. I saw the drama unfold to the bitter end. I was with the council that planned his death, and although I did not support the council's action, I wonder if I did enough. Could I have stopped them if I had been more learned or more eloquent or more impassioned in my address to them? Was I perhaps afraid of the council; afraid they might discover that I was a secret disciple?

Nicodemus and I were both hidden disciples, both afraid to follow him openly. But after his death, I cared little what the council would think. Jesus warned me about the use of riches for I am indeed a rich man. I was overjoyed when he accepted me as a disciple and allowed me to use my resources to support him. That was a privilege but not the greatest. The real privilege came when I asked Pilate for Jesus' body and buried him in a tomb meant for me. In the end, instead of burying Jesus in a pauper's grave, I had the consolation of serving him in death and unknowingly fulfilling the prophesy of Isaiah which said: "His tomb will be with the rich."

I stood by when they closed the tomb. I was there on the day Jesus died for everyone, rich and poor alike.

What about you? Were you there on that somber Friday?