Joseph of Arimathea

John 3:1-17 (I recommend the RSV)

I have already mentioned Joseph of Arimathea (who shares St Nicodemus’ Feast Day on August 31st…who’s ready to party?) in yesterday’s devotional. Although his name only appears in the Gospels in references to his claiming Jesus’ body after the crucifixion, the traditions and legends that his name inspired live on today. 

Let me clarify my terminology for you. To me, there are two sources outside scripture that enlighten us about biblical figures. The first I refer to as “tradition.” By that I mean references that we have from the first 300 years (from 27-313 AD) of Church history. The second term I use here is “legend” which I define as those references to biblical characters that rose out of the centuries that followed 313 AD. 

That being said, we do not really know where the city of Arimathea was located, but legend identifies it with present day Ramallah which is eight miles north of Jerusalem, an area associated with the prophet Samuel. 

What we can surmise from the Gospels is that he was a man of some great import, enough so in that Pilate would grant him an immediate audience and even more so in that Pilate would actually turn the body of Jesus over to him simply based on the conversation they had. The bodies of crucified individuals were usually simply disposed of in the local dump.

Unlike Nicodemus, Joseph must have been more public in his support of Jesus and his ministry. But he and Nicodemus would have formed the core of whatever support Jesus had on the Sanhedrin. And the size of his influence and the regard in which he was held may also show why Joseph remained as part of the Sanhedrin in spite of his support for Jesus’ ministry. He must have been quite the salesman.

Tradition holds that Joseph of Arimathea was the Mary's (the Mother of Jesus) uncle (younger brother of her father according to the Talmud). This idea is reinforced by the location of his family tomb. According to the Gospel of Peter, an apocryphal writing from the second century, Joseph’s newly hewn tomb was in Joseph’s Garden and his family’s plot just outside the city walls. That would have been expensive real estate so he must have been a wealthy man. Early Christians saw this as echoing Isaiah’s (53:9) writings about the Suffering Servant dying among the evil but being buried among the rich. Appropriately, St Joseph of Arimathea is the Patron Saint of Funeral Directors.

The legends that grew up around St Joseph of Arimathea melded with the legends of The Holy Grail. As a wealthy tin merchant, the story goes, Joseph took the young Jesus along with him on his journeys specifically to the city of Glastonbury in Britain. Then, after the resurrection of Our Lord, Joseph returned to Glastonbury with the Cup of Christ, i.e. The Holy Grail. This cup was supposedly the one the disciples shared at the Last Supper as well as the cup that would have been used to catch the Blood of Christ as he bled to death on the cross. (I would refer you to the movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.)

Joseph of Arimathea is credited, in legend, as the man who brought Christianity to Britain, the source of the tin upon which his wealth was based. In fact, St Jerome ( from the 4th and 5th centuries AD) claimed that Joseph held the Roman imperial office in Britain of “Minister of Mines” which would have expanded his enterprise beyond tin.

It is likely that Joseph helped fund Jesus’ ministry since we do not have any references to Jesus having worked like we do have to Paul’s work as a “tent and sail maker” in the New Testament. He would have started as more of a secret follower, perhaps funneling funds via so other member of Jesus’ Jerusalem Cadre like Mary Magdalene or perhaps Lazarus. But by the time of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, Joseph would have been known proudly and publicly as one of Jesus’ supporters.

In that way, his journey ran parallel to that of Nicodemus. It may have even served as the basis for the bond that formed between them. That bond must have been a strong one, for time was short as sundown approached on that Good Friday when they moved quickly to achieve Christ’s burial before the Sabbath began. They may have even have even had a plan in place so it could be quickly implemented. 

That bond and the actions both men took that fateful Good Friday may also have sealed their fates. We hear no more of either man after the resurrection. The legends that eventually rose concerning Joseph’s post-resurrection life did not appear in writing until the Middle Ages, over 500 years after the events of the Gospels. Those legends make for good movies, but cannot really be taken seriously.

So what of us here in the 21st century? Will our lives and actions be the subject of legend? The well of tradition here at St Andrew UMC is currently only measured in decades. But the traditions on which those were built are both ancient and very real and we can draw proudly from both wells today as strive to serve Our Lord.

One of the things that we can take pride in here at St Andrew UMC is the work we do together in service to our community and in service to the Kingdom of God. We pool our resources, financial and spiritual, along with the gifts and graces so many of our members contribute. In doing so, we have done mighty things in the Name of Christ and hope and plan to to do many more!

My prayer for you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, is that we never fade in our commitment to God’s Kingdom and the ministry we carry on in the Name of Christ. We are Jesus’ Marietta Cadre! May we never forget it.

Blessings and Joy,

Jim McGrath