03 April - The Courage to Act with Love
“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.”
John 19:38-42
Holy Saturday was also the Sabbath Day, when no work could be done according to Jewish custom. Hence the hurry to take down the body of Jesus and place it in a tomb. John’s account of the Passion has several differences from that of the other three Gospels and this short account is no exception, and they are significant.
Joseph of Arimathea is identified by Mark and Luke as ‘a member of the council’, who was ‘waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God’. Luke adds that he had not ‘agreed to their (the Council’s) plan of action’. Matthew goes so far as to call him a disciple, but John suggests that Joseph was a secret disciple because he feared the Jewish leaders. Only in John does Joseph join up with Nicodemus, who, he reminds us, ‘visited Jesus at night’. Nicodemus brings the necessary spices. So, whereas, John says, the disciples had forsaken Jesus, fled the scene and were locked indoors ‘for fear of the Jews’ (John 20.19), these two had the courage to step up and go to Pilate and ask for the body of Jesus and then care for him with love, laying him in a garden tomb in which no-one had laid before. This poses the question for us, “Are we courageous disciples?”
Christian action in word and deed has never been more important. Communities across the world are crying out for healing love, for justice and care. Yet our societies are so often preoccupied with seeking their own survival and success. They need to be challenged. In everyday life, however, it is very easy to conform to the herd. We do not want to ‘rock the boat’ by challenging what is decided and said, not just in the councils of our society, but in the conversations of our own life, at work and at home. And yet, Jesus did just that. He spoke out for love to guide life more than laws and the social mores, and we are called to follow the example of Jesus. This may mean saying uncomfortable things, even being a bit unpopular. Joseph, although not a committed disciple of Jesus, did not agree with the majority. Nicodemus was not sure and ‘came by night’, but he did the right thing in the end. Christians do not hold the monopoly of acting with courage for love, but they should certainly be at the forefront.
PONDER
Are there times in your life and ministry, when you have been slow to speak out against the herd or failed to act with love through lack of courage?
PROMISE
Jesus said ‘the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth’ (John 16.13) and ‘remember I am with you always, to the end of the age’ (Matthew 28.19c).
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, grant that I may, today and every day, be not slow to speak out, but be given the courage to challenge in the cause of love; to speak and act with confidence, so that you may bring new life and hope into needy hearts and lives, in the pattern of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Article by the Reverend Canon Tony Barnard, former Canon Chancellor of Lichfield Cathedral, England. Tony and his wife Anne, hosted many Malaysian Anglicans when they visited Lichfield during the years of our diocesan companion relationship.