Joseph of Arimathea enters the Gospel accounts on the day Jesus died. We know little about his earlier life, yet all four Gospels name him and explain his part in the burial. Together, they show both the fear that had kept his discipleship secret and the courage with which he finally identified himself with Jesus.
What the Four Gospels Tell Us About Joseph
The Gospels give us no account of Joseph’s childhood or family, and they do not describe his later ministry or death. Matthew introduces him through his wealth and his relationship with Jesus:
Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.
Mark adds that Joseph held a prominent place on the council and was waiting for God’s kingdom:
Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
Joseph belonged to the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem. His request to Pilate publicly connected a member of the council with the man the rulers had rejected. He was asking the Roman governor to release Jesus’ body to him.
Luke calls him “a good and just man” in Luke 23:50. Wealth and influence alone could not account for that description. Joseph had become a disciple of Jesus and was waiting for the Lord to keep His promises to Israel. Simeon looked for Israel’s Consolation, the comfort God would bring through the Messiah, and Anna spoke to those looking for redemption in Jerusalem. Joseph shared that expectant faith.
His position and resources would help him provide for the burial. Using them for Jesus, however, meant letting others see that he followed the King whose kingdom he awaited.
The Secret Disciple Took Courage
John explains the secrecy that marked Joseph’s discipleship before his approach to Pilate:
After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being 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 the body of Jesus.
In this context, the reference to fearing the Jews concerns the hostile authorities and the consequences of their opposition. It is not an accusation against the Jewish people as a whole. Jesus, His apostles, Joseph, Nicodemus, and the first believers were themselves Jewish. Joseph feared openly associating himself with the Lord whom the authorities opposed.
Although he belonged to the council, Luke distinguishes him from those responsible for its decision and deed:
This man had not consented to their decision and deed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God.
Joseph had not consented to what the council did. Luke does not tell us whether he voiced an objection in its proceedings, was absent, or was able to intervene. We should not turn his refusal to consent into a public defense the passage does not record. We do know that the man John describes as a secret disciple had not agreed with the action taken against Jesus.
After Jesus died, Joseph did something that made his allegiance visible. The Preparation Day was drawing to a close, and the Sabbath was approaching:
Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
Joseph went to the governor who had authorized the execution and requested Jesus’ body. He was identifying himself with a man Rome had crucified under the title “King of the Jews.” Remaining silent might have protected his standing among the leaders. By making the request, he risked losing their respect and facing their hostility.
Mark describes him as “taking courage.” The Greek participle τολμήσας (tolmēsas) comes from tolmaō, a verb meaning to dare, venture, or act boldly. Joseph dared to identify himself with Jesus when the authorities’ rejection of Him was already plain.
Pilate did not immediately grant the request. He was surprised that Jesus had died so soon and summoned the centurion to confirm it:
Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time. So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.
Joseph received Jesus’ body only after the officer responsible for the execution had confirmed His death to Pilate. He was not carrying away a living man in need of recovery. Both the burial and the later resurrection testimony rest on the fact that Jesus had truly died.
An Honorable Burial in the Rich Man’s Tomb
Once Pilate gave permission, Joseph bought linen, took Jesus down, and prepared His body for burial. Matthew and Mark describe what he provided and where he laid Him:
When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and 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.
Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.
Matthew identifies the tomb as Joseph’s own. It was new and cut into the rock, and no one had previously been laid there. Joseph made it available for Jesus and wrapped His body in clean linen. His wealth made those provisions possible, but his position could not replace the time and labor required to take Jesus down and care for His body.
That burial work also carried ceremonial consequences. Under the Law, contact with a dead body brought uncleanness, as Numbers 19:11 explains. This uncleanness required purification; it did not mean that burying someone was morally wrong. Caring for the Lord’s body therefore meant accepting both the work and the need for purification.
Men had stripped, mocked, and crucified Jesus. Joseph could not undo their violence, but he treated the body they had dishonored with reverence. He rolled a large stone across the entrance, and the women saw where Jesus had been laid. The burial took place in an identifiable tomb, with people who knew its location. The study on the resurrection grave clothes follows what the disciples later found there.
This burial also fulfilled Isaiah 53:9, where the suffering Servant’s grave is associated with the wicked, yet He is with the rich at His death. Jesus had been crucified between criminals, but a rich disciple placed Him in his own tomb. Isaiah also says that the Servant had done no violence and had no deceit in His mouth. Jesus suffered as the innocent One giving Himself for sinners, rather than as a man dying for His own crimes.
The Gospels describe Joseph arranging an honorable burial before the Sabbath; they do not say he was deliberately staging a fulfillment of Isaiah. Pilate confirmed the execution before releasing the body, and the rulers had sought Jesus’ condemnation. God fulfilled His word through those different decisions while each person remained responsible for what he chose. The fulfillment did not excuse the evil done to Jesus. The study on Isaiah’s prophecies of a Messiah examines that larger prophetic witness.
Joseph, Nicodemus, and the Gospel Witness
John adds that Joseph did not carry out the burial alone. Nicodemus joined him with a substantial quantity of burial spices:
And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.
Nicodemus was the ruler who had first visited Jesus by night in John 3, when the Lord taught him that a person must be born again. In John 7, he appealed to the leaders to hear Jesus before judging Him. At the burial, he came with myrrh and aloes and joined Joseph in caring for Jesus’ body. Both men had standing among the leaders, yet were now visibly honoring the One those leaders had rejected.
Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.
They wrapped the body with the spices according to Jewish burial custom. John locates the new tomb in a garden near the place of crucifixion and explains that its nearness allowed them to lay Jesus there on the Preparation Day. The approaching Sabbath made their work urgent, and they buried His body in a place others knew how to find.
The One they buried was the eternal Son who had taken human flesh, remaining fully God while becoming fully man. Wicked people had inflicted real bodily torture and crucifixion on the sinless Savior. He willingly gave Himself to be slain as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, shedding His innocent blood. His blood and death completed that saving sacrifice before Joseph and Nicodemus buried Him. Their care added nothing to His atoning work; it honored His body after His death. The study on the moment Jesus died considers His death more fully.
Paul includes the burial when he sets out the gospel he had preached to the Corinthians:
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
Death, burial, and resurrection belong together in this announcement. Christ died for our sins and rose bodily from the dead; the gospel does not leave Him in Joseph’s tomb or reduce His resurrection to a spiritual survival. The same Lord whose body Joseph received was raised on the third day.
Paul also includes the burial when preaching at Antioch. After describing Jesus’ rejection and death, he says that “they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb” in Acts 13:29. He then announces, “But God raised Him from the dead” (Acts 13:30). The study on post-resurrection Jesus and His ascension follows the Lord’s ministry after He rose.
We are not told that Joseph expected Jesus to rise on the third day. His service had a place in the resurrection testimony whether or not he understood all that would follow. He cared for the body and provided the tomb that Jesus’ followers would soon find empty. God used his obedience in events whose full significance went beyond the task immediately before him.
What Joseph’s Testimony Teaches Us
Later traditions associate Joseph with Britain, relics, and other claims the Gospels do not record. Those traditions should not carry the authority of Scripture, and we do not need them to explain his part in the burial. The Gospels already tell us that this wealthy council member followed Jesus secretly because he was afraid. He had not consented to the council’s deed, and he took courage and approached Pilate after Jesus died. We should teach what Scripture records without embellishing his life to make him more impressive.
I appreciate that Scripture calls Joseph a disciple while honestly recording his fear. Peter denied Jesus, and other disciples scattered, so Joseph was not the only follower whose courage had failed under pressure. His earlier secrecy does not require us to reject the Gospels’ description of him as good and just. Yet his discipleship should not become an excuse for us to hide our loyalty indefinitely. Joseph eventually did what fear had previously kept him from doing: he allowed others to see his allegiance to Jesus.
If I protect my position or reputation at the cost of honoring Christ, the very things I am trying to preserve can keep me from obeying Him. Joseph had reason to consider what his peers might think, but he went to Pilate while there was still time to care for the body. I should bring my fear to the Lord and obey while the opportunity remains, rather than use Joseph’s earlier hesitation as permission to put obedience off. I see the Lord’s grace in the courage of a man whose weakness Scripture has already made plain.
A wealthy disciple is not more spiritual simply because he can provide something expensive. Joseph’s tomb and linen served a particular need, and his position may have helped him approach Pilate. He still accepted the burial work himself. Another believer may be able to give time, offer a skill, or provide a place for hospitality. The question is whether what God has entrusted to me is available for His service, including my reputation when obedience might damage it.
The Gospels record no sermon from Joseph. We should confess Christ in words, but we also need to do the work that love and reverence require. At the burial, that meant asking for the body, supplying linen and a tomb, and caring for the Lord when many others were absent or afraid. Quiet service can require considerable courage when doing it identifies us with someone others despise.
Joseph did not earn salvation by carrying out that service. He was caring for the Savior who had died for the sins of the world, and our need is to receive that Savior by grace through faith. We trust the crucified and risen Lord, not our ability to equal Joseph’s courage.
My Final Thoughts
When I put the four accounts together, I see a disciple whose fear finally gave way to an act of costly loyalty. Joseph used his standing, possessions, and labor to honor Jesus after His death. God used that service in fulfilling Scripture, and the burial Joseph carried out became part of the gospel witness.
I do not want to excuse Joseph’s earlier secrecy or overlook the courage he later showed. His example encourages fearful believers to obey with what God has placed in their hands. Our salvation rests in the Savior he buried, who shed His blood for us and rose bodily from the tomb.