Will you follow Christ even if it brings shame?
English: Burial of Christ, Nicodemus depicted on the left, Joseph of Arimathea depicted on the right (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 27:57–61 “Joseph took the body…and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away” ( vv. 59–60 ). Mary Magdalene and the other women are not the only ones who show faithfulness to Jesus in His death ( Matt. 27:55–56 ). Today’s passage tells us about Joseph, “a disciple of Jesus,” who is responsible for His burial ( vv. 57–60 ). Joseph is from Arimathea , known in the Old Testament as Ramathaim-zophim , a town twenty-two miles northwest of Jerusalem where the prophet Samuel was born ( 1 Sam. 1:1–20 ). This Arimathean has secretly followed Christ ( John 19:38 ), probably because Joseph’s seat on the Sanhedrin ( Mark 15:43 ) would be in jeopardy if the other council members found him out. Since Joseph sits on the Sanhedrin, we know that not all the religious leaders...