This man . . . begged the body of Jesus . . . and laid it in a sepulcher.
One of the Lord’s disciples, unknown to us until this time, went to Pilate for permission to bury the Lord. That being granted, Joseph of Arimathea buried the Lord in his own tomb, never used, a cave hewn out of a rock. Joseph was rich. And that’s why the Old Testament says that the Lord “was with the rich in His death.” The Lord was given a good burial, by friends. He was not assigned a burial with criminals, because He had done no wrong, neither was guile found in His mouth. God saw to it that He was honored in His burial. But death could not hold Him and three days later He rose from the dead. Only God could do that!