Mark 15:40-47
40 There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.
42 And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the Council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. 45 And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 46 And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.
The final movement of this awesome chapter described the burial of our Lord. There is a great tenderness about it, as broken-hearted love tended the broken and tortured body of the crucified Saviour. Music lovers will recall the inexpressibly moving words of the final chorus of Bach's St. Matthew Passion - 'In tears of grief, dear Lord, we leave Thee'. We have often thought that it was an unfortunate lapse of theology that Bach should end his great masterpiece on this note, when, in fact, our Lord's death was not the end of the story, Resurrection followed and made the story a gospel. But Bach certainly captures the pathos and the tender, loving grief that breathes through these verses, and surely interprets the feelings of those who ministered to Him in that dark hour. We do not know whether Joseph of Arimathea had previously declared his allegiance to Christ or not, but certainly his 'experience' of the Cross drew him out into the open as a confessed disciple (as was the case also with Nicodemus, see John 19:39), and we should not miss the significance of the fact that these, along with others like the centurion (39) and the dying thief (and, dare we surmise, Barabbas?) were the first fruits of His passion. Had He not said 'I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto Me'? Even this early we see the drawing power of the Cross doing its gracious work in men's lives!