Hope Filled Risk

⁴² And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, ⁴³ Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 

Have you ever wondered what Joseph was up to?

It was the day of preparation, the day before the Sabbath. And not just any Sabbath, the Sabbath after Passover. It would have been some time after 3pm, and the Sabbath started at sundown, maybe 6pm. He had at most three hours to gain Pilate's permission to take Jesus body down, work out a way to take it down, wrap it up and deliver it to the tomb he had ready. He couldn't handle a corpse on the Sabbath without becoming unclean, and he knew that. he'd have to work quickly. It was risky.

Joseph was a respected member of the council. He was risking more than being unclean on the Sabbath, he was risking his very life. He'd either kept his mouth shut in the night time trial, or perhaps more likely, they'd not included him in the plans, as a known Jesus sympathizer. But he knew that the scorn of men was worth less than the scorn of God. He'd been looking for the Kingdom of God and he was pretty sure he'd found it. He was going to take care of Jesus body, he was going to identify with the Nazarene. It was risky.

But why take the risk?

Joseph would have known his scriptures. He would have known Psalm 22. He'd have known the hope of the God forsaken, and would have known the ultimate hope of the ultimate God forsaken. He'd have known that all the ends of the earth would come and worship the Lord, he'd have known that Jesus righteousness would be proclaimed to a people as yet unborn, that He has done it. He knew, perhaps through a glass darkly, the hope of the resurrection. So filled with this hope, he took probably the greatest risk of his life.

When we know the One who holds time, when  we know the One who sustains the universe, risk is right. In fact, there's not even really such a thing as risk. He knew that a life lived without hope filled risk in the resurrected Saviour was a life not really worth living.

Joseph, filled with hope went to get Jesus, and gave Him the burial He deserved. What might we achieve, filled with the same resurrection filled risky hope?