Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Matthew 27 and Psalm 27

It all happened so quickly after Jesus was betrayed, arrested, abandoned and falsely accused that Thursday night (Matt. 26).

Early on the Friday morning, shortly after the rooster crowed the third time, Jesus was already hauled off to the palace of Pilate, the Roman governor. Standing alone and in silence, Jesus bore the chief priests’ false accusations, the crowd’s rejection, and the sentence of execution by crucifixion. Abandoned and alone, He was stripped, clothed as a “king” only to be mocked, spat upon and beaten. Led out to the hill called ‘Golgotha’ by the Jews and ‘Calvary’ by the Romans, Jesus was nailed to a wooden cross and raised into position to hang on that hillside until dead.

At 12pm darkness and silence fell. At 3pm Jesus cried out in the prayer of Psalm 22:1 to His Abba Father, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken Me?” And shortly thereafter, Jesus gave a loud cry and “gave up His spirit”.

It all happened so quickly, and about 9 hours after sunrise, His body was dead.

The whole day, Jesus had received no kindness. But now, after His death, Joseph of Aramathea arrived on a mission of kindness. He hadn’t been there in time to witness the crucifixion, but that was okay. He wasn’t meant to be. It seems God sent him there on a very specific mission – to bury Jesus’ body. So that is what he did. While the authorities wanted the unclean bodies gone, so as not to dishonour the “holy Sabbath” the next day, Jospeh personally appealed to Pilate for Jesus’ body. He personally received it from the authorities, personally prepared it as best he could, personally laid it in his own tomb, and personally sealed that tomb. Then “he went away”.

Joseph’s cameo appearance teaches us that none of us is expected to be all things to all people, or to do all things for all people. God simply expects each of us to fulfil the specific role to which He calls us. It may prove very costly to us. It certainly cost Joseph something significant. But it could never cost us more than it cost Jesus. And the LORD will always provide us with all the resources we need for our role.

Life Application: What act of kindness is the Lord calling you to perform today? Keep an eye out for it. And when you spot it, do it!