Joseph of Arimathea was a respected member of the Jewish ruling council, but he believed in Jesus and wanted to follow Him. Although he was afraid of the reaction of the others on the Council (John 19:38) he did not agree with Jesus being put to death (Luke 23:50-51). However, after Jesus had died Joseph took the unusual step of associating himself with Jesus, as though he was a relative. The secret disciple wanted to honour His body in burial.
 
It was heavy physical work to move the body and so Joseph enlisted another secret disciple, Nicodemus (John 19:39). Together they covered Jesus' body in a large quantity of expensive embalming spices and wrapped it in linen cloth strips (John 19:40) before placing it in the rock tomb which Joseph had dug for his own burial. The tomb was then closed up by rolling an old circular millstone across the entrance.
 
Once again, Matthew makes a point of recording that their activity was witnessed. Two women saw it all. They were at the cross, they saw the body of Jesus being taken down, they knew who took the body away and were certain where it had been laid (they came back to the same spot two days later – Matthew 28:1). God knew that many people would want to deny the death and resurrection of Jesus, and so He ensured that eye-witnesses were present at every event to prove that Jesus really did die, and was buried and was raised again.
 
The gospel is based on those facts, even though some claim they are not true. The Jesus who died for you is the same Jesus who was buried in a known tomb, and who rose from the dead leaving it empty - apart from the spice impregnated strips of linen (John 20:6-7). Our faith is anchored in the facts that Jesus died as a punishment for our sins, He was buried in place of us, and He rose so that we might have new life with Him (Romans 4:25). Our devotion to Jesus is not primarily based on enjoying church fellowship and worship, being religiously active or doing good: we trust in Him because of the unshakable facts of what He has done for us. When others deny those facts, we need to proclaim them and invite people to respond by repenting and receiving Him (www.crosscheck.org.uk).