It had been a long Friday.  The agonising procession to Calvary terminated in torturous nails hammered though Jesus' flesh - and all the insults that added to the injury of crucifixion.  Worst of all was the unique separation of the Godhead (Mark 15:34), marked by darkness as our sins were punished in Christ's body.  The triumphant cry, "it is finished!" signalled the end and His body hung with no more breath (John 19:30).  But, as the afternoon pushed on into evening, the daylight returned; with the Sabbath only hours away, Jewish law demanded a burial.

Joseph was a common name.  This Joseph was a religious lawyer from Arimathea; he sat on the council that condemned Jesus to death.  All four gospel writers include Joseph.  Matthew tells us that he was a follower of Jesus, a rich man, who had an unused rock tomb carved out for himself (Matthew 27:57-60).  Luke tells us that although he sat on the Sanhedrin council, he was a good man who had not agreed with the decision to condemn Jesus to death (Luke 23:50-51).  John tells us that Joseph was frightened of what the others on the council would say: he was a secret disciple (John 19:38).  Mark and Luke say that he was looking for the kingdom of God (Luke 23:51).

Although he did not agree with the decision, He said nothing to reverse the sentence of death; and his conscience would not rest.  He had also been waiting for the Messiah to come.  Secretly he believed, but publicly he was a coward.  He found another disturbed conscience in Nicodemus, who had come to Jesus under cover of darkness (John 19:39).  It was that dreadful feeling of knowing they were wrong, but it was too late to make any difference.  This was the last opportunity to honour the Man, even though He was dead. The minutes were ticking by and soon the Sabbath laws would prevent him handling a corpse.  So, together with Nicodemus, he went to Pilate urgently to ask permission to bury Jesus.  It was risky; he was not a family member and reverence towards a criminal might wreck his social and religious future.

How many times have we felt ashamed of failing to identify ourselves with Jesus?  The more secret we make our faith, the more difficult it is to be open.  We know we let Jesus down by our silence.  Although you may feel that it is too late to honour Jesus in your family or at work, it is not!  The time to stop being silent about Jesus is now.  The time to stop denying that you know Him and trust Him, is now.  It will be the response that the Lord has been seeking during your 'quiet phase'.  Don't forget, Father God will honour you even if you think nobody else will (Matthew 10:32,33).