Apr 12, 2020
Joseph and Nicodemus were rich, powerful, religious leaders. They risked their reputations, jobs, and possibly their lives by taking Jesus from the cross. They washed His bloody body, wrapped Him in linen, put oil and spices on Him, and laid Him in Joseph’s tomb, becoming ritually unclean (John 19:38, 39). Sometimes God uses the least likely to play the most important part! Upon seeing Jesus so savagely beaten, crucified, and stabbed with a spear, no one expected to see Jesus physically alive again. Because Jesus was buried on Friday at sundown before the Jewish Passover (Saturday), no Jews were allowed to do work or deal with dead bodies until sunup on Sunday. From Friday until Sunday morning, Jesus laid dead in the tomb—the Lamb of God, slain for the sins of the world (John 1:29). The perfect was given for the imperfect, the infinite for the finite!