“Even In Dead, Jesus Is Lord!”

“Even In Dead, Jesus Is Lord!”(Mt.27:62-66).
At the death of Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body…” Pilate gave the body to Joseph. So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb…”(Mk.15:42-47).
Mark had earlier on told us that all the members of the Council voted for the death of Jesus (Mk.14:64). This means that Joseph was not present in that Council to have voted against the dead sentence pronounced on Jesus.
Joseph’s action teaches us that at times, those who may show love to us may not necessarily be the ones we call friends; not even family members. Despite Joseph’s demonstration of goodwill, it is important to stand by somebody when he is alive, than to give lavish support to him in death. Why was Joseph not present in the Council session that condemned Jesus? What did he do to protect Jesus during all the times when they plotted against him? In the midst of these questions, we should give thanks to Joseph that he at least provided a decent burial for Jesus.
I just read somewhere on social media, a communique where the Director of the Bamenda Regional Hospital is asking for families to come and identify and collect four corpses that are in very bad state and have been there for long. Thank God that the likes of Joseph was there to boldly go up to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus, and to bury him in his family tomb. Poor Jesus!
This Jesus who is supposed to make believers rich “owned nothing. He had no place to be born in but another man’s stable, no closet to pray in but the wilderness, no place to die but on the cross of an enemy, and no grave but one lent by a friend.”
Let us concentrate on the futility of the efforts of Jesus’ accusers. They said his claim to be the Son of God was a deception. They said the second deception will be worse than the first, if they allow it to happen. The second deception was Jesus’ claim that after three days he will rise from the dead. In other to preempt this second and worse deception they asked Pilate to secure the tomb. They feared that Jesus’friends would steal his body and lie that he had been raised from the dead. Pilate asked that a guard be placed at the tomb with a seal on the tomb.
Unfortunately for these people each action they took only helped to make come true what Jesus had told them.
It was a good thing for the tomb to be secured so that when the resurrection happened there would be no argument to justify that it was a fraud.
No human plan can thwart the plan of God! Whoever works against God’s plan only helps it to fruition.
Today, as it stands, the worse deception is not to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he was raised from the dead! You disbelieve it at the risk of your salvation.
Passion prayer: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, even as we mourn your death, we thank you for deliberately dieing to offer us salvation. Amen!
Have a blessed passion Saturday! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.