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Commentaries
English
John
  
f) Burial of Jesus
(John 19:38-42)
38After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him leave. So he came and took away his body.


Not all the seventy members of the Council agreed on the sentence passed against Jesus. It appears from recent archaeological finds that sentence would be passed only if there were at least two dissenting voices. But if all consented on the death sentence, that would mean human prejudice against the accused, and show that the Council had fallen into a miscarriage of justice. On this basis, the trial was repeated and the evidence investigated more carefully. Assuming this rule applied in Jesus’ day, it would mean that at least two members opposed the ruling. One was Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple (Matthew 27:57 and Mark 15:43). He was anxious not to lose his seat in the Council, or his influence on the nation’s course, thanks to his mature wisdom. Joseph was angry with Caiaphas for his injustice and for running the Council sittings with trickery. Joseph abandoned neutrality and publicly acknowledged his association with Jesus, but this admission came too late, and his testimony was an official rebuttal of the Council’s decision. but the course of events led to the passing of the sentence to crucify Jesus.
After Jesus’ death, Joseph went to Pilate (he was entitled to do so). Pilate consented to his request, and gave him permission to take down the body of Jesus from the cross for burial.
Thus, Pilate avenged himself once more on the Jews, who would drag executed criminals to the Hinnom valley to be devoured by jackals, and surrounded by burning rubbish. God saved his Son from such shame. He had finished his vocation as the divine sacrifice on the cross. His heavenly Father led Joseph to bury Jesus in a respectable tomb.