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Joseph of Arimathea’s Bold Move and Its Significance
Comparing Peter’s fear with Joseph of Arimathea’s courage, Keith Cohl explores how two followers of Jesus responded under pressure?
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Transcript
All right. Hey, it worked. Isn't technology wonderful? For those of you who were looking
Speaker:at the schedule and were expecting to see Justin or Chelsea, surprise! Yeah, there was
Speaker:a little mix-up and so, Barbie asked me to fill in on Friday. So, if there's a slight
Speaker:bit of panic in my presentation, you'll understand why. Today, we're going to be talking about,
Speaker:from John 19, chapter 19, 31 through 42, the burial of Jesus. Last week, I spoke quite
Speaker:a bit about the crucifixion, the prophecies that led to the crucifixion that pointed to
Speaker:Jesus. We talked about how it was His cross and not our cross. He didn't take my cross
Speaker:and suffer my death on the cross. It was His death and only His. He was the only one perfect
Speaker:enough to be the perfect sacrifice. So, let's get into this here. 31, "Since it was the
Speaker:day of preparation and so that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the Sabbath,
Speaker:for that Sabbath was a high day, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken
Speaker:and that they might be taken away." The day of preparation for the Sabbath. This was not
Speaker:a new thing for Jews to prepare for the Sabbath. They had 40 years in the desert preparing
Speaker:for the Sabbath. If you remember when God first gave them what is it, which is what
Speaker:manna means, first gave them manna and He told them, "You only take one day's worth
Speaker:for each person in your household. If you try to take two days by the second day, when
Speaker:you wake up in the morning, it will be rotten." He said, "But on the day before the Sabbath,
Speaker:you may gather two portions and it will keep." The Jews were not allowed to do any work on
Speaker:the Sabbath. You couldn't make a fire. You couldn't cook. You couldn't do anything. So
Speaker:there was a lot of preparation. And because this was the conclusion of Passover, it was
Speaker:an even more special day. And so the Jewish ruling party, as I'll call them, your Bible
Speaker:probably says the Jews. In Greek, it's eudioia. It doesn't necessarily mean Jews as a large
Speaker:group. All the Jews didn't hate Jesus. Jesus was a Jew. His apostles were Jews. His disciples
Speaker:were Jews. In fact, there wasn't a non-Jewish believer in Christ until almost 30 years after
Speaker:he died. And that first one was Cornelius, the Roman centurion. So Jews in Galilee loved
Speaker:Jesus. There were Judean Jews that loved Jesus. John is trying to point us towards their leadership.
Speaker:So the leadership comes into Pilate and says very piously, "Well, they didn't come into
Speaker:him. They wouldn't go into him because that would defile them for the Passover. So he
Speaker:had to come outside to them. And they said, 'We don't want these bodies hanging up on
Speaker:the cross on the Sabbath.'" Sounds really pious. They were fulfilling the law. If we
Speaker:look at this, Deuteronomy 21, 22, and 23 says, "And if a man is committed a crime punishable
Speaker:by death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain
Speaker:all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed
Speaker:by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance."
Speaker:Hang on a tree. Don't confuse that with crucifixion. That was not what that phrase referred
Speaker:to. By extension, we refer to it as someone hanging on a cross. That referred to a phrase
Speaker:some of you may, if you ever studied any medieval history, it's called gibbeting. It's basically
Speaker:a gallows. That's what it is. That's what he's referring to there. And so it sounds
Speaker:like this just Jewish ruling party is like really pious or trying to maintain the law.
Speaker:But John in his gospel all along has given us glimpses into the hypocrisy of the Jewish
Speaker:ruling party. He gives us several examples where they, in order to trap him, in order
Speaker:to condemn him, they will break their own laws. All right? One was the woman caught
Speaker:in adultery. Okay? The question is, where was the man? Where was the man who was caught
Speaker:in adultery? Leviticus 20, 10, "If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor,
Speaker:both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death." They left the man
Speaker:out of it. They violated their own law to try to trap Jesus. His trial, his mock trial,
Speaker:it occurs, it's supposed to be, first off, based on the testimony of two witnesses. Now,
Speaker:I started to do some research into what the Jews have expanded that law to, how it's supposed
Speaker:to read. If one man witnessed an event out of one window and another man witnessed the
Speaker:same event out of a different window, those two could not be the two witnesses. They had
Speaker:to view it from the same perspective at the same time in order to be credible witnesses.
Speaker:Let's take a look at a few examples here. Matthew 26, 59 to 61, "And the chief priests
Speaker:and the elders and the whole Sanhedrin looked for false testimony against Jesus so that
Speaker:they might put him to death, but did not find any. Even though there were many false witnesses
Speaker:coming forward, they did not find any. But at last, coming up, two false witnesses said,
Speaker:'This one said, "I am able to destroy the temple of God," and through three even days
Speaker:to build it.'" Now, it sounds like they found their two witnesses. But when you're studying
Speaker:anything in the Gospels, if you read something in one Gospel, you need to find it in all
Speaker:four if you can, because Mark gives us a better insight. He says, "We heard him saying, "I
Speaker:will throw down this temple made with hands, and through three days I will build another
Speaker:not made with hands," and neither in this was their testimony identical. I sat on a
Speaker:trial one time. A pastor was accused of molesting two little girls. As it turns out, it was
Speaker:their mother who put the girls up to it, their mother who was locked in prison for forgery,
Speaker:and because she had been getting help from the church, and at some point they had to
Speaker:cut it off. And so she put the girls forward, but I remember each girl coming up giving
Speaker:her testimony. Neither testimony was even close. It was like this, three and two. One
Speaker:would say it happened this way. This one would say, "No, it happened this way." But it wasn't
Speaker:like you could look at it and say it was two perspectives of the same event. It was like
Speaker:two separate events. Anyway, that's what happened there. Also involving the trial itself. I
Speaker:was reading the accounts. Jesus was taken first, apparently according to John, was taken
Speaker:to Annas' house. Annas was the father-in-law of the high priest. He had been high priest,
Speaker:but he wasn't high priest this year. The high priest rotated under Roman rule. Whoever had
Speaker:the gold got the job. It was given by the Roman governor and not by God at that point.
Speaker:And so Annas starts to question him. Now it's in the middle of the night. That's a no-no
Speaker:no. Trials do not happen at night. And the trial is supposed to happen before the high
Speaker:priest. So they go to Caiaphas' house and they hold the trial. "What need do we have
Speaker:we of witnesses?" He's guilty and everyone agrees that's voting. That's a violation of
Speaker:Jewish law. This is out of the, from the Talmud, Sanhedrin 17a20. Rav Kahana says, "In the
Speaker:Sanhedrin, where all the judges saw fit to convict the defendant in a case of capital
Speaker:law, they acquit him." The Gemara asks, "What is the reasoning for this halakhah?" It is
Speaker:since it is learned as a tradition that suspension of the trial overnight is necessary in order
Speaker:to create a possibility of acquittal. The halakhah is that they may not issue the guilty
Speaker:verdict on the same day the evidence was heard, as perhaps over the course of the night one
Speaker:of the judges will think of a reason to acquit the defendant. And as those judges all saw
Speaker:fit to convict him, they will not see any further possibility to acquit him because
Speaker:they will not be anyone arguing for such a verdict. Consequently, he cannot be convicted.
Speaker:Jesus was tried, convicted, and sentenced on the same day in direct violation of Jewish
Speaker:law. His whole trial was a sham. John keeps pointing to the fact that the Jewish ruling
Speaker:party would do anything to eliminate Jesus. And that brings us to the point of why did
Speaker:they ask for the bodies to be taken down. Understand when a person was crucified and
Speaker:died, his body became the property of Rome. Rome could dispose of it any way they wanted.
Speaker:In some cases, the bodies were taken down off the cross and thrown into an open pit
Speaker:where they would just rot. They would not be buried. In other places, the Romans would
Speaker:leave the body on the cross, the dead body, so the birds could pick it clean. Because
Speaker:you have to remember what was the purpose of the Roman cross. The purpose was to reinforce
Speaker:the ironclad rule of Rome. This is what happens if you disobey Rome. Don't do it. It was to
Speaker:instill fear. Dictators throughout history have done the same thing. Adolf Hitler did
Speaker:it. Mussolini did it. Tojo did it. Pol Pot, mousy tongue. All of these have used fear
Speaker:to deal with their victims, to keep their subjects in place. But I believe that in asking
Speaker:Pilate that the bodies, that the men be, the legs be broken so that they would die, the
Speaker:Sanhedrin had an ulterior motive. It comes up in Isaiah 53, 9. "And they made his grave
Speaker:with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and
Speaker:there was no deceit in his mouth, the they refused to the reverse of the Jewish Sanhedrin."
Speaker:You see, they hated him so much, they wanted to do this last insult to him. They had already
Speaker:humiliated him by having him beaten and hung naked on a Roman cross. That wasn't enough
Speaker:for them. They wanted to deny him a proper Jewish burial. That's why this verse says,
Speaker:"And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death," as we're going
Speaker:to find out, that refers to Joseph of Arimathea. But God would not allow his Holy One to be
Speaker:thrown on a pile of dead bodies. So he arranged it. But these Jews, the Jewish ruling party
Speaker:really disliked Jesus and wanted to do something to further humiliate him and to keep his followers
Speaker:from having a rallying point. "The rich man refers to the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea."
Speaker:Okay, moving on, it says, "But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and
Speaker:at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it is born witness, his testimony
Speaker:is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth, that you may also believe. For these
Speaker:things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled. Not one of his bones will be
Speaker:broken." And again, another scripture says, "They will look on him whom they have pierced."
Speaker:Now, I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on TV, but I was looking up what was happening
Speaker:to Jesus, the significance of the blood and water. Hanging on a cross would bring about
Speaker:a condition called pericardial effusion, which is a mass of water in the pericardial sac
Speaker:around the heart, which would lead to cardiac tympanad, which is your heart has got so much
Speaker:pressure from all of this liquid that it can no longer pump properly, and your organs start
Speaker:to fail, and your heart rate starts to race, and you can't breathe, and you finally die.
Speaker:The soldier coming to Jesus and saying, "Yeah, he looks dead," well, he had to confirm it,
Speaker:because the penalty for him misdiagnosing death was death. If that man came off that
Speaker:cross and was later found that he didn't die on the cross, that he was alive, that soldier
Speaker:was killed. He was executed. He wouldn't be hung on a cross if he was a Roman citizen.
Speaker:If he was a soldier, people, men enlisted in the Roman army for one reason and one reason
Speaker:only. It wasn't because of the pay or the benefits. Well, it was one benefit. The benefit
Speaker:was when you've completed your tour of duty, you were made a Roman citizen. Roman citizenship
Speaker:was held in high regard. If the soldier had not yet achieved his Roman citizenship, he'd
Speaker:be on a cross. If he had received his Roman citizenship, he'd be hung, or there were some
Speaker:other horrible things that they did even to their own soldiers. So John tells us about
Speaker:this. He pushes the sword in, and water and blood flowed out. Now, I did some research,
Speaker:and some of the early Church Fathers—I'll give you three, for example—Ambrose, Augustine,
Speaker:and Chrysostom make the blood to be an emblem of the Eucharist and the water an emblem of
Speaker:baptism. So they put a heavier meaning on it. There's a lot of Catholic leanings in
Speaker:that, but it was a good example of the water and the blood. Baptism, blood, it's by the
Speaker:blood that we're saved, and we go through the water of baptism. Just had a baptism last
Speaker:week. You die to yourself. You're showing everyone, "I've died to myself, and I've risen to Christ.
Speaker:I have made my declaration," if you will. Okay, John also says that the one who saw
Speaker:it has borne witness. His testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth
Speaker:that you may also, also may believe. For these things took place, the scripture might be
Speaker:fulfilled. Once again, all throughout John's Gospel, there has been that underlying theme
Speaker:of the two witnesses. Okay, and here, John is presenting this story and saying, "I have
Speaker:two witnesses. I'm one of them. I saw it with my own eyes." And the other witness is God,
Speaker:because he says that, "For these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled."
Speaker:Who wrote the scriptures? Men under the direction of the Holy Spirit wrote the scriptures. So
Speaker:in essence, if the scripture was being fulfilled, it was from God who wrote the scriptures.
Speaker:God dictated them. So he's saying, "I'm one witness. God is the next." Jesus would say,
Speaker:"My Father is one witness, and the miracles that I do are the other witness." Once again,
Speaker:John keeps repeating the theme. It's a courtroom theme. There's two witnesses. There are two
Speaker:witnesses. This testimony is true. Why? What's the point? Because he wants you, us, all of
Speaker:us throughout the ages to be able to believe, to understand, to know, and to trust that
Speaker:what was written about Jesus of Nazareth is true. And it is true, 100 percent true. The
Speaker:two scriptures that he quotes here at the end, one you might remember from last week,
Speaker:about one of his bones we broke, and that's Psalm 22 17. And also ties back to when Moses
Speaker:was originally given the instruction for the Passover lamb, they said, "You shall not break
Speaker:any of its bones." A little prophecy there about the coming Messiah. And the other one
Speaker:is Zechariah 12 10. "They will look on him whom they have pierced." All right, here we
Speaker:go. John 19 38 through 42. And we may get out early today. "And after these things Joseph
Speaker:from Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus but concealed because of fear of the Jews,"
Speaker:once again, the Jewish ruling party, "asked Pilate that he might take the body of Jesus,
Speaker:and Pilate gave permission. Then he came and took the body of Jesus, and Nicodemus," old
Speaker:Nic at night, "also came, the one coming at first to Jesus by night, bearing a mixture
Speaker:of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred Roman pounds." A Roman pound is roughly 12 ounces.
Speaker:"Then they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linens, with the spices as is usual
Speaker:with the Jews in burying. And there was a garden in the place where he was crucified,
Speaker:and a new tomb in the garden, in which no one yet ever had been placed. There then,
Speaker:because of the preparation of the Jews, because the tomb was near, they put Jesus." All right,
Speaker:some little bits of trivia here. Some Bible scholars believe that Joseph of Arimathea
Speaker:and Nicodemus were brothers, full name Joseph Ben-Gorian and Nicodemus Ben-Gorian. Whether
Speaker:it's true or not, there's some debate, but several theologians really lean towards that
Speaker:part. Where was Arimathea? In modern times, they called it Lida or Lida, right here. Here's
Speaker:Jerusalem, here's Lida. Now, there's been a lot of controversy over where Arimathea was,
Speaker:primarily because one of the gospels says he came from, he was Joseph of Arimathea,
Speaker:a city of the Jews. Well, he's also referenced as the birthplace of Samuel. Samuel, the prophet
Speaker:Samuel was an Ephraimite. Where was the tribe of Ephraim? Where would their land have been?
Speaker:It would have been in Samaria. So, years ago, some theologians did some digging, and Josephus
Speaker:says that, guess what? This whole area right here that used to be Samaria was bought back by Judea,
Speaker:prior to Christ, prior to Joseph of Arimathea being born. So, that shows up in Antiquities of
Speaker:the Jews, Volume 1, Chapter 13, C4, and the Apocryphal Book of 1 Maccabees 11, 34. If
Speaker:anybody wants those references, you can look that up. So, this is where he came from. So,
Speaker:who was Joseph of Arimathea? Gospel writers, give us a few insights. Matthew 27, 57, "An evening
Speaker:having come a rich man from Arimathea, Joseph by name, who also himself was a disciple of Jesus."
Speaker:So, according to Matthew, he was a rich man. Luke 23, 50, 52 expands it, "And behold, a man named
Speaker:Joseph being a counselor," he was a counselor, "and a good and righteous man, this one was not
Speaker:assenting to their counsel and deed," meaning in the trial of Jesus and his conviction, "he was
Speaker:from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, and who himself was eagerly expecting the kingdom of God,
Speaker:came near to Pilate, this one asked for the body of Jesus." So, we see that he was a good and
Speaker:righteous man, that he abstained from voting the night Jesus, or the day of Jesus' trial,
Speaker:and that he was expecting the kingdom of God. He was looking for Messiah. He had a sense of
Speaker:expectation in him that this was going to be the time. John 19, 38, "And after these things,
Speaker:Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus," so he was a disciple, "but he was concealed because
Speaker:of fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take the body of Jesus, Pilate gave permission,
Speaker:then he came and took his body," took the body. So, we see now that he was rich, he was a counselor,
Speaker:he was a member of the Sanhedrin, he was a good and righteous man, he was looking for the kingdom
Speaker:of God, but he was not publicly a disciple of Jesus because of fear. Mark 15, 43, "Joseph of
Speaker:Arimathea came, an honorable counselor who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God, and
Speaker:taking courage, he went into Pilate and begged for the body of Jesus." Keep your mind on that
Speaker:thought. F. B. Meyer says, "God has his agents everywhere. They are not known to us, but are
Speaker:well known to him, and one word from him will bring them and their resources to his help."
Speaker:How many are unsuspected lovers of his kingdom? Who would have thought that Joseph was waiting
Speaker:for the kingdom of God or that he would have identified its advent with the death on the
Speaker:cross? God has people. Mark 14, 44, and 45, "Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already
Speaker:died, and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead, and when he learned
Speaker:from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph." Okay, interesting phrase
Speaker:there, and Pilate was amazed or surprised that he had already died. Why? Why would he have been
Speaker:amazed? Last week talked about the scourging that he received, the 39 lashes, the Roman half-death,
Speaker:40 lashes minus one. Why? Because 40 lashes was believed to kill a man, so 39 was the number of
Speaker:mercy. But as the whip would come down on the man's back, the man would shout his crimes,
Speaker:would confess his crimes, and as he confessed his crimes, the lash would get lighter and lighter,
Speaker:until finally on the 39th lash, they would lay the whip on his back. They wouldn't hit him with it.
Speaker:They would just lay it on his back. That was them considering being themselves merciful. But Jesus,
Speaker:it says, was silent as a lamb before it, as a sheep before its shearers. He didn't utter a word.
Speaker:Pilate witnessed many, many, many floggings, and in all those floggings, men either screamed their
Speaker:confessions, just screamed in agony, swore, yelled back at the soldiers. They were very, very vocal.
Speaker:But here was this Jesus who didn't utter a sound, and it affected Pilate because when he brought him
Speaker:back out and he said, "Behold the man," it was kind of like him going, "This is the man. You ought to have seen
Speaker:this. He didn't utter a sound. He didn't make--he had great respect for him and didn't want to
Speaker:crucify him." But the Jews pulled the Son of God card. Son of God was a phrase reserved for Caesar,
Speaker:not reserved for anyone else. They made it a "you're no friend of Caesar's," who, by the way, Pilate had
Speaker:already gotten in trouble with Caesar for murdering a bunch of Galileans up on Temple Mount. So he had
Speaker:already had his wrist slapped the next time he might lose his head. So he didn't want to appear
Speaker:disloyal to Caesar, so they leveraged that. But Pilate would have been probably amazed that Jesus
Speaker:would have died so quickly, someone that strong who could withstand 39 lashes at full--at full
Speaker:wallop and not even make a sound. Also, it was not untypical for someone crucified to hang there for
Speaker:several days before they died. It was a horrible, wicked, miserable way to die. It was calculated
Speaker:that way. So he said, "Wait a minute. He's already dead?" Called the centurion. The centurion says,
Speaker:"Yes, I verify that he's dead. I'm sticking my neck out here." He was stabbed. Blood and water
Speaker:came out. The man is dead. I don't know if anybody has had any dealings with someone of the of the
Speaker:Muslim faith, but they believe that Jesus didn't die on the cross, that he swooned, and that the
Speaker:coldness of the tomb resurrected him. Knowing all that was in place by the Roman government,
Speaker:I find that extremely hard to even give even the slightest bit of credence to.
Speaker:Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes,
Speaker:about 75 pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the
Speaker:spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Matthew Henry, in his concise commentary, says,
Speaker:"Joseph of Arimathea was a disciple of Christ in secret. Disciples should openly own themselves,
Speaker:yet some who in lesser trials have been fearful and greater have been courageous. When God has
Speaker:work to do, he can find out such as are proper to do it. The embalming was done by Nicodemus,
Speaker:a secret friend of Christ, though not his constant follower. That grace, which at first is like a
Speaker:bruised reed, may afterward resemble a strong cedar. Hereby, these two rich men showed the
Speaker:value they had for Christ's person and doctrine, and that it was not lessened by the reproach of
Speaker:the cross. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb,
Speaker:in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb
Speaker:was close at hand, they laid Jesus there." That is the fulfillment of that prophecy in Isaiah 53.9,
Speaker:"He was with a rich man at his death." Matthew 27, 59, and 60, "And Joseph took the body and wrapped
Speaker:it in clean linen, clean linen shroud, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock,
Speaker:and he rolled a great stone in the entrance of the tomb and went away." That's why it's good to check
Speaker:between the gospel accounts. You pick up little bits of information. So the tomb was not only a
Speaker:new tomb in which no one had ever been laid, it was also Joseph of Arimathea's own tomb he had set
Speaker:for himself. Now Joseph of Arimathea, well, I'll get back, I'll get to that in a minute.
Speaker:I keep trying to get ahead of myself. So what was, why was it important that the tomb was new
Speaker:and that there were no other bodies contained in it? I'll throw that out. Anybody got any ideas?
Speaker:Why was it, why was it so important that the tomb never have had anyone in it and that there,
Speaker:because there was nobody else buried there, and that it was new?
Speaker:It was to be, to keep from any confusion being created. When Christ rose from the dead,
Speaker:if there were other bodies in the tomb, it would be easy to say, "Oh no, no, that was so-and-so
Speaker:that that came out of the tomb," or, "That was so-and-so." This precluded any possibility of that.
Speaker:There was only one person in the tomb. And I'll just kind of take a little side note.
Speaker:Jewish burial customs, Jesus would have been in the tomb for about one year.
Speaker:You weren't put in the tomb and sealed up like we put people in the ground right now.
Speaker:That didn't happen. After a year, the body would have decayed and just the bones were left.
Speaker:They would have gone to the tomb, taken the bones, put them in an ossuary, which is a box about
Speaker:that big, stone box, and they would have hauled it away and buried that somewhere.
Speaker:Okay. When Jesus was talking to the young man and he said, "To follow me," and he said,
Speaker:"Permit me first to bury my father." Okay, we think of it in modern terms that, "I'm going to
Speaker:bury my father." "Oh, well, yeah, okay, that's a day or two, you know, maybe a week." No, he was
Speaker:talking about the full year. And Jesus said, "Let the dead bury their own dead." It sounds kind of
Speaker:callous of Jesus, like, "Just leave your father to rot and come follow me." That wasn't the truth.
Speaker:In first century Judaism, most people had funeral directors that took care of this thing for them.
Speaker:They would walk out in mourning. They would put the body in there. A year later, these people
Speaker:would come back and take the bones and then bring them back to the family. It wasn't like he had to
Speaker:sit there and wait because he had to do something. So Jesus was pointing out his excuse rather than
Speaker:being cruel. I want to do a little comparison here. I think this is important
Speaker:between Joseph of Arimathea and Peter.
Speaker:Peter, he was the first called of the apostles. He was the first to confess Jesus as the Christ
Speaker:at the gates of hell there in Caesarea Philippi, or as it's known there, Banias.
Speaker:He walked for a short time on the water. Now, I don't, I didn't put that there to knock him. I
Speaker:want people to laugh, but the truth be known, my feet have never walked on the surface of the water.
Speaker:Even in a puddle that deep, my foot goes all the way through. Okay? I've got a lot of respect for
Speaker:Peter in just having the faith to get out and walk even for a short time. He traveled and ministered
Speaker:with Jesus for three years, publicly identifying with Jesus as a disciple. He was public about it.
Speaker:Everyone knew, even the servant girl in the high priest's courtyard that said, "You're one of them.
Speaker:I know you are. I've seen you."
Speaker:Peter vowed to follow Jesus no matter where it led to prison or death. Then Jesus said to them,
Speaker:"You will all fall away because of me this night, for it is written, 'I will strike the shepherd
Speaker:and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' But after I am raised up, I will go before you
Speaker:to Galilee." Peter answered him, "Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away."
Speaker:Jesus said to him, "Truly I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny
Speaker:me three times." Peter said to him, "Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you." And all
Speaker:the disciples said the same. Peter was fearful on that night. He was fearful for his life.
Speaker:He was fearful of the Jewish ruling party and what they could do to him. He could be kicked out
Speaker:of the synagogue. He could have the loss of his livelihood. They could take all that away from him.
Speaker:Joseph of Arimathea, he was a rich man. He was a member of the Jewish ruling party.
Speaker:He did not openly follow Jesus for fear of the rest of the Jewish ruling party.
Speaker:He refused or abstained from participating in Jesus' trial.
Speaker:Joseph was fearful of the Jewish ruling party and what might happen to him if it made known that he
Speaker:believed Jesus to be the Messiah. He could lose his wealth, his position, and his life.
Speaker:The crux of the argument for Christ at this point is whether or not he was the Jewish Messiah.
Speaker:Okay, Messiah was promised. Messiah was here. These men, it's important to understand,
Speaker:to understand church history, that these men did not turn their back on Judaism to accept Christ.
Speaker:They did not see Jesus as a new religion to follow. They saw Jesus as the fulfillment
Speaker:of Jewish prophecy, of biblical prophecy. He was Messiah, the promised one. Now, most of them,
Speaker:all of them, had it screwed up in what was supposed to happen. They thought that Messiah
Speaker:was supposed to come on the scene, take Rome's boot off their neck, re-establish David's kingdom,
Speaker:and everything was going to be wonderful. They didn't realize that he was going to suffer.
Speaker:So Peter, who had openly followed Jesus, denied him when this cataclysmic event happened.
Speaker:Joseph, who had followed Jesus secretly, publicly declared his following of Jesus by going to Pilate
Speaker:to ask for the body. This would not have gone unnoticed by the other members of the Jewish
Speaker:ruling party. When push came to shove, in this instance, poor Peter caved.
Speaker:But timid Joseph said he got the courage and he went to Pilate. Now, I don't say any of this to
Speaker:knock Peter and say that there's something wrong with Peter. Okay? None of us can accurately say
Speaker:what we would do in a situation like that. Okay? There's, I remember a story years ago,
Speaker:uh, back when the Soviet Union controlled everything and Christians had to meet underground
Speaker:and there was a church service happening, maybe 20, 25 believers packed into this room,
Speaker:when all of a sudden the door opened and three Russian soldiers with fully loaded automatic
Speaker:weapons walked in the room, told everyone to stand up, put their arms in the air.
Speaker:They said, "Anyone who wants to deny this Christianity, let them leave." And three or
Speaker:four people walked out the door. Then they said, "Now the rest of you, keep your, keep your arms up,
Speaker:put their guns down in worship of our Lord and Savior."
Speaker:They used a rough tactic to weed out those who weren't truly following. But
Speaker:many, especially in this area, and I have no problem with it, many people have carry permits.
Speaker:They have their guns with them. I don't have a problem with that. No problem whatsoever.
Speaker:But something my father told me years ago, he said, and my father was a weapons officer
Speaker:in the Navy for 33 years. And he told me, he said, "If you ever are in a position where you
Speaker:are going to pull a gun on someone in defense, you know, not go out wildly just starting to
Speaker:shoot people, but in defense, before you grab that gun, you better have it made up in your mind
Speaker:that when you pull that gun, you're going to pull the trigger.
Speaker:Because if you don't, they'll take it away from you and kill you with it."
Speaker:The thing is, none of us knows, though we may have, like Peter, false bravado,
Speaker:"I will never do this," or "If I was in that situation, I surely wouldn't have done that."
Speaker:You don't know. But God greatly used both of these men.
Speaker:Peter was restored to faith, even though he denied Jesus. He was restored to faith and became the
Speaker:father of the Church, basically, one of the pillars of the Church, in fact, dying a martyr's death.
Speaker:That death, he said he would die. It took him a while, but he did it.
Speaker:So God is able to use us. And I say that by means of encouragement. You know, we all struggle with
Speaker:sin. We all do. If we say we don't, we're a liar. We all do. And sometimes it's real easy to
Speaker:look at everyone else and go, "They all look so perfect. They're happy. They seem to have
Speaker:their life together, and I see God using them, and I go, 'God, why aren't you using me? What's
Speaker:wrong with me? There's something wrong. I am broken.'" And God's saying, "No, you're not.
Speaker:You're not broken. At least you're not so broken that I still can't use you,
Speaker:and that I can't mend you." He mended Peter. Peter was broken at that night. He went away weeping
Speaker:bitterly. Okay? And that carries with it the idea that he was just beside himself in grief.
Speaker:And yet, Jesus said, "Peter, do you love me? Feed my lambs. Take care of my sheep." He restored him
Speaker:to his position, and Peter was able, after the day of Pentecost, on the day of Pentecost,
Speaker:preached a sermon that thousands came to know Jesus. I was on the eastern side of the city
Speaker:of Jerusalem, and built in around the steps are all these mikvah pools. A mikvah pool is like a
Speaker:small, oh, probably 10 foot by 5 foot by about 4 foot deep pool with stairs leading in,
Speaker:used for ceremonial cleaning when all the pilgrims would come up to Jerusalem for a festival. Before
Speaker:they came up on Temple Mount, they would have to wash in the mikvah pool to become clean,
Speaker:so they could go up to the temple. All those pools were put into use to baptize people
Speaker:that day, all from Peter, who denied Jesus and fell away when push came to shove.
Speaker:Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea provided Jesus with a proper Jewish burial. They showed him
Speaker:respect and love, and like the saying said, they didn't regard the cross as being something to
Speaker:despise, something to say, "Okay, well, this can't be, so I'm just going to cut off. I'm
Speaker:not going to deal with him anymore." Both of these heroes of the faith responded differently
Speaker:to the stress of the moment. I think it's important to understand that neither of them was
Speaker:considered worthy or unworthy because of their actions. Peter went on to be a great leader in
Speaker:the early church. Not much is known about Joseph of Arimathea. Scripture is silent about him after
Speaker:the burial of Jesus. There are, however, many, many stories that have grown up around Joseph
Speaker:of Arimathea, that he brought the gospel to Great Britain, that he founded the Glastonbury Abbey
Speaker:there, that he was somehow related to Jesus, based primarily on a Jewish custom that the oldest
Speaker:relative, living relative male, was to bury family members. Joseph, Jesus' father, was dead,
Speaker:and they're saying that Joseph of Arimathea was his mother Mary's uncle. Purely speculation,
Speaker:purely myth and legend, most of it created by the Catholic Church in their early days,
Speaker:but the Bible presents this man, both these men, Joseph and Nicodemus,
Speaker:as having the courage to come forward when previously they were afraid.
Speaker:Anybody have any questions? I realize that it was kind of
Speaker:a brief thing and sketchy, but I only had two days, so... But anybody have any questions?
Speaker:Well, either I did really good or...
Speaker:Thank you. Well, God bless you. We've got a few minutes before 10,
Speaker:and... But so feel free to hang out and talk. We can't go through there for a few more minutes
Speaker:until the service is out, so... And just... Go ahead.
Speaker:Just one thing. When you put down Peter, we walked on water just for a little while.
Speaker:Peter was the only person on this earth that we helped walk down water.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:We need to give him more credit.
