Lent

[Suzi]

That was beautiful. Totally beautiful.

I love Footprints.. It's something that I've come back to so many times and it always brings tears to my eyes. It was years ago that I was talking about faith to a friend of mine who is one of the most religious people I've ever met - I love her, but sometimes it's a bit much itms? Well she was the one to introduce me to it and when we were talking it just "felt" itms?

[Paula]

Footprints is amazingly beautiful. I carry those words in my heart always

[Paula]

Luke 23:50-56
[50] Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, [51] who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. [52] Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body. [53] Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. [54] It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. [55] The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. [56] Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

Matthew 27:57
[57] As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.

John 19:38
[38] Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away.

Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Council, so one of the leaders. But he had also become a disciple of Jesus in secret. If he was ever going to come out into the open, this was it. (He was also very wealthy and had bought himself a tomb, which had not yet been used.) Going to Pilate and making his request was a big risk for him but, if he hadn’t, Jesus’ remains would have been thrown into a common grave. If he hadn’t, no one would have been able to say which were Jesus’s remains. Luke had to make it clear that Jesus had died (which had been verified by a Roman soldier and as Joseph and his men carried the body to the tomb). Also, Luke made it clear that a variety of witnesses had seen where he was buried - there was no question that people had ‘gone to the wrong tomb’ on Easter morning.

There’s also a symmetry in this passage. At Jesus’ birth, he was cared for by a man named Joseph, who laid him in a borrowed resting place. At Jesus’ death, he was cared for by a man named Joseph, who laid him in a borrowed resting place.....