The Cairo Debate — Page 66
"After this Joseph of Arimathe'a, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews. . . . " (Jn. 19: 38). . In Mark and Luke he is seen as a member of the Jews' sanhedrin, a courageous and righteous. In John he is shown fearful of the Jews the sly. and keeps his allegiance to Jesus. Matthew tells us that he openly was a disciple of Jesus. Whatever the case may be the question is how Joseph of Arimathe'a, who was coward enough not to let his faith be known for fear of the Jews, in such a critical situation when all the disciples of Jesus had betrayed him, had the audacity to demand Jesus' body from Pilate. This narrative of the Gospels seems irrational. It is baffling to see that Pilate did not ask him what relation he had with Jesus and why he asked for his body; instead he rushed to hand over the body to him. Only from this incident, if Christians think it over, they could come to know that all of it was due to Pilate's well-engineered plan. It was but proper to select such a person for the removal of the body whose membership of Jesus' community was not known. On the encouragement of Pilate he could take heart to carry out the plan swiftly. (16) Who dug Jesus' sepulchre, and where? 66 "Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, where no one had ever been