A Quiet Courage at the Cross

38 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. 39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
John 19:38-42
+
A Quiet Courage at the Cross
The body of Jesus is taken down in silence. The shouts have faded. The soldiers have gone. What remains is a crucified Lord and two unlikely disciples stepping forward. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had remained hidden before, cautious and afraid. Yet now, when Jesus appears defeated, they come into the open. Their actions reveal that faith often emerges most clearly at the cross, where all human confidence is stripped away. They do not rescue Jesus from death; they honor Him in death. They wrap His body, lay Him in a tomb, and keep the Sabbath, trusting God’s Word even when hope seems buried. This is the theology of the cross: God working salvation precisely where human eyes see only loss. So also for us. When Christ seems absent, when all we can do is wait, the cross still speaks. Jesus’ burial proclaims that He truly died, and therefore truly conquered death for us. Our hope rests not in visible victory, but in the crucified and risen Lord.