57Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. 58This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him. 59When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed. 61And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.
I really don’t know much of the custom of the time, but I had assumed one of the reasons for crucifixion was to set examples for others to see. I would have thought that the bodies of those crucified would be left hanging for a long time. Yet here someone asks Pilate for Jesus’ body the day He died, and Pilate commanded the body be given to him.
Look at what Pilate had been through. He was brought this Man who he tried questioning and was only able to marvel at Him. His wife warned him to have nothing to do with this Man, and seemed to respect the dreams his wife had. So he tried having Jesus released at the feast, but the crowd was starting to start a riot in order to have Jesus crucified. So finally, he washed his hands of the matter, saying Jesus’ blood was on their hands, not his.
He wanted nothing to do with the death of Jesus. It is not mentioned here, but I would assume that he knew what happened that day: he most likely saw the darkness came over the land for the three hours before Jesus died, he most likely felt the earthquake the moment that Jesus died, he probably heard of the he the opening of the graves in the earthquake, and maybe even the appearance of the saints, and he may have even heard of the destruction of the curtain in the temple. What does someone like Pilate believe and do in such a situation. He was probably relieved when Joseph of Arimathea came and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate wanted nothing to do with the death of Jesus. Even though the custom may have been to leave bodies hanging for awhile, he probably felt that the sooner the death of Jesus could be put behind him the better.
So, what about Joseph of Arimathea? All we know is that He must have loved Jesus, wanted to take care of His body, and that He gave up his own tomb for Jesus. Through Joseph’s kindness, Jesus was able to have a noble burial.
But where was Joseph during the feast when someone should have stepped up asking for Jesus to be released? As all the other disciples, the sheep were scattered. They were not there. Many of the disciples were probably hiding to prevent their capture. But here is one disciple of Jesus’, Joseph, who bravely went straight to Pilate, and asked for Jesus’ body. And Pilate didn’t have him arrested! Instead, Pilate granted him his wish, and Joseph was able to take Jesus’ body.
And what about the women? They were there and witnessed the death of Jesus. They are there now and witnessed the burial of Jesus. They are the believers in Jesus who can testify to the actual death of Jesus. What they know isn’t just from hearsay, but from what they actually witnessed.