A record of the final hours of Jesus’ life, and the events surrounding that. One thing that stands out is the faithfulness of Joseph of Arimathea. Jesus was dead. Not even Jesus’ closest disciples had understood what he meant when talking about being crucified and raised, so its probable that Joseph wouldn’t have understood either.
Yet here is Joseph, putting at risk his position on the council to properly take care of the body of Jesus. He risked everything he had in life, to bury the man who he’d believed was the Messiah; a man who’d just suffered a cruel, humiliating death. That takes an incredible amount of faith, courage and self-sacrifice.
We have the benefit of hindsight to help us understand the reason for Jesus’ death and resurrection. Joseph’s faith should inspire us to “seek first the kingdom of God”, knowing that our faith now will be rewarded in the life to come.