“Be A Friend In Need!”

“Be A Friend In Need!”(Lk.23:50-56).
There is often much noise about “the silent majority,” while little or nothing is considered of “the silent minority.” “If you can’t beat them, join them” doesn’t mean compromising your stance.
Where majority carry the vote, the minority has to respect the verdict based on the majority choice, but that does not mean compromise.
In the Council that condemned Jesus to death was a member name Joseph of Arimathea, “a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action…he was waiting for the kingdom of God.”
Joseph by all indications is a microcosm of a moral minority. In as much as we take for granted that silence means consent, it does not apply in all contexts.
When a sane voice is overshadowed and hushed down by the majority, silence is the only way.
Joseph showed his opposition of the Council’s decision and action by going to Pilate and asking for Jesus’ body. “Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.”
(Excursus: Last year when I visited in the US, I brought back to Bali the soil of a military kinsman who died over there and was buried there. It is a cultural and religious value to be buried in one’s family home. Where this is not possible, soil from where you were buried must be brought home for re-burial).
Joseph of Arimathea showed great love to Jesus. He defied any challenge from fellow members of the Council, and he mustered courage to boldly ask Pilate for the body of Jesus.
Chances are that if he did not take Jesus down from the cross, he would have remained there. The place where Jesus was crucified was called Golgota(place of the skull) suggesting that crucified bodies often decomposed there when there was no-one to claim the corpse.
Joseph was there when all who were close to Jesus were absent; “the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee,” and who “followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it.” Joseph used a new family tomb to lay the body of a stranger. What a great show of agape love!
One time in the Seminary I conducted a research by asking colleagues and teachers to give me one or two of their favourite songs from the Church hymnary. Eighty percent of the songs collected showed that interest in the Trinity relies more on their providence, protection and care. There’s little interest in songs that glorify the awesomeness of the Divine if it has nothing to do with sustenance.
Joseph of Arimathea did not do all those things to Jesus because he hoped for any favours. He did them because he was “a good and upright man who…was waiting for the kingdom of God.”
Dear friend, as we wait for the kingdom of God let us try not to be fairweather friends of Jesus, loving his friendship only for what he offers. Let us be his friends because of what he has suffered for us. The best way to do this should be in our readiness to suffer for others in the same way that Jesus suffered for us.
Passion Saturday prayer: Holy Spirit teach us daily to cultivate the spirit of love and sacrifice for the sake of the kingdom. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.
19/04/2025.