friends, if they chose to ask for them; and a
claimant appeared for the body of Jesus, to whom Pilate was by no means
loath to grant it.

This is the first time that Joseph of Arimathea appears on the stage of
the gospel history; and of his previous life very little is known.
Even the town from which he derives his appellation is not known with
certainty. The fact that he owned a garden and burying-place in the
environs of Jerusalem does not necessarily indicate that he was a
resident there; for pious Jews had all a desire to be buried in the
precincts of the sacred city; and, indeed, the whole neighbourhood is
still honeycombed with tombs.

Joseph was a rich man; and this may have availed him in his application
to Pilate. Those who possess wealth or social position or
distinguished talents can serve Christ in ways which are not accessible
to His humbler followers. Only, before such gifts can be acceptable to
Him, those to whom they belong must count them but loss and dung for
His sake.

Joseph was a councillor. It has been conjectured that the council of
which he was a member was that of Arimathea; but the observation that
he "had not consented to the counsel and deed of them," which obviously
refers to the Sanhedrim, makes it more than probable that it was of
this august body he was a member. No doubt he absented himself
deliberately from the meeting at which Jesus was condemned, knowing
well beforehand that the proceedings would be utterly painful and
revolting to his feelings. For "he was a good man and a just."

We are, however, told more about him: "he waited for the kingdom of
God." This is a phrase applied elsewhere also in the New Testament to
the devout in Palestine at this period; and it designates in a striking
way the peculiarity of their piety. The age was spiritually dead.
Religion was represented by the high-and-dry formalism of the Pharisees
on the one hand and the cold and worldly scepticism of the Sadducees on
the other. In the synagogues the people asked for bread and were
offered a stone. The scribes, instead of letting the pure river of
Bible truth flow over the land, choked up its course with the sand of
their soulless commentary. Yet there are good people even in the worst
of times. There were truly pious souls sprinkled up and down
Palestine. They were like lights shining here and there, at great
intervals, in the darkness. They could not but feel that they were
strangers and