| JOSEPH |
| Joseph was a good and honest priest. He loved God. He had watched Jesus be lied about so bad people could put him to death. But Joseph refused to vote to kill Jesus. He loved Jesus. However, Joseph did not do very much to try to stop them from crucifying Jesus. Now he was very, very sorry. Nichodemus was another good priest, one of the Temple leaders. He and Joseph were friends. Although they believed in Jesus, they didn't let their other friends know because they were afraid they'd lose their friends. After Jesus died, the two friends met and said they could not hide their belief in Jesus any longer. They had to tell everyone they believed Jesus was the Son of God, even if it meant losing their jobs as priests. So they went to Governor Pilate and asked if they could take Jesus' body off the cross and give it a decent burial. He said they could. The two good priests went to the market and bought 75 pounds of spices to wrap all around Jesus' body in strips of cloth like a mummy. Then, even though they had on fancy priest robes, they went to the cross to take Jesus' body down. It was bloody and dirty. They didn't care. They loved Jesus. They pried the nails loose from his hands and feet, then gently lowered him onto a cot. They picked up the cot and walked carefully to a garden at the bottom of the hill. People in Bible times were often buried in caves. Joseph's own burial cave was there in the garden. There was a spring of water in the garden. They washed Jesus the best they could. He had a lot of wounds from the beatings and nails. Then they put the spices in the strips of cloth and wrapped him up in it. Finally they put him in Joseph's brand new burial cave and rolled a stone across the entrance. The same day Jesus died, the Jews killed their Passover lambs to eat that night. The Jews had already killed Jesus, God's Passover lamb. Jesus had planned it that way. Just like Joseph and Nichodemus, sometimes we hide from people that we believe in Jesus. We're afraid they'll get mad at us, or make fun of us, and not want to be our friends any more. Would you like to tell your friends about Jesus? Maybe they've been told Jesus doesn't like them. Tell them Jesus loves them. |