Page 117 - laten-08-06-2020

Matthew (Matthew 27:57-61) presents this Joseph as a disciple
who is rich and who provides his own tomb for Jesus’ body to
be buried.
We have some extracanonical reference to Joseph of
Arimathea that in Apocryphal writings he is portrayed as caring
for Mary after ascension.
A popular legend about this Joseph is that, in AD 61,
Philip sent Joseph for Gaul to preach gospel in England, who
arrived there with the very chalice used by Jesus, now with the
blood shed upon the cross. When Joseph and their missionaries
came to the other side and he struck his staff in to the earth,
from it grew the Glastonbury thorn.

The Funeral
The entire episode on Joseph of Arimathea revolves
around the funeral of Jesus. Though Jesus was killed in Roman
way, he was buried in the Jewish way. In fact the human race
offered Jesus a manger at his birth and a tomb at his death.
Regarding the funeral of Jesus, Jesus being surrounded by a
multitude around him on many occasions, ironically, we find
a stranger like Joseph and secret disciple Nicodemos and a few
women to perform the last rites. The body of Jesus had to be
begged and was at the disposal of a human authority. Like his
trial, the funeral also was performed in haste. There are two
explanations to this haste. One is sanitation, according Roman
law. The other being defilement according to the Jewish law.
As the day was a preparatory day, ie, the day before Sabbath,
for a strictly observing Jew, a body on the cross would defile
the Sabbath. According to the Jewish law, even the body of a
criminal should not be hanging all night, rather had to be
buried that day itself.(Deut.21;22,23) further it is particularly
compulsory when the following day is a Sabbath.
The entire episode on Joseph of Arimathea revolves
around the funeral of Jesus. Though Jesus was killed in Roman

111
Lenten Meditations Re - Imaging People