Joseph of Arimathea

Biblical Record

All four Gospels mention him in their accounts of the burial of Jesus (Matthew 27:57-60; Mark 15:42-46; Luke 23:50-54; John 19:38-42). His hometown, Arimathea, was a town in Judea whose exact location has not been identified.

• Standing: The Gospel of Matthew introduces him as a rich man and a disciple of Jesus. The Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Luke describe him as an honorable member of the council (the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish decision-making body) and as one who was waiting for the kingdom of God. Luke adds that he was a good and just man who had not consented to the council's decision to have Jesus put to death.
• Burial: On the evening before the Sabbath, he went to Pilate and asked for the body. According to Mark, Pilate first ascertained from the centurion that Jesus was already dead and then released the body. Joseph wrapped the body in fine linen, laid it in his own new tomb hewn out of rock, and closed the entrance with a great stone.
• The Gospel of John's account: The Gospel of John portrays him as a secret disciple who kept his discipleship hidden for fear of the Jews. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about a hundred pounds, and the two carried out the burial together. The tomb was in a garden near the place of crucifixion.
• Mary Magdalene and other women saw where the body was laid (Mark 15:47).

Scripture records nothing further about him after this burial.

Significance Within Scripture

Joseph's burial of Jesus attests that Jesus truly died, and it forms the background for the subsequent accounts of the empty tomb and the Resurrection. In setting out the heart of the gospel, Paul includes the fact that Jesus "was buried" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). The words "and buried" in the Apostles' Creed also refer to this event. Many interpreters read Isaiah 53:9, which says that the suffering servant was "with the rich in his death," as fulfilled in this burial, although translations and interpretations of the verse differ.

Interpretations and Issues

• Secret disciple: Some interpreters regard his concealment of his faith out of fear as a shortcoming. Others emphasize the courage he showed in coming forward at great risk at the decisive moment when the disciples had scattered.
• Location of Arimathea: Some identify it with Ramathaim-zophim, the hometown of Samuel (1 Samuel 1:1), but this identification has not been confirmed.
• Extra-biblical stories: The apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus (also called the Acts of Pilate) contains a story that he was imprisoned and later set free. In medieval Western Europe a legend arose that he brought the Holy Grail to Britain and founded a church at Glastonbury, and this legend became intertwined with the Arthurian tales. Other stories claim that he was a relative of Jesus. All of these are later traditions not found in the biblical text, and their historical basis has not been established.
• Church tradition: The Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church commemorate him as a saint. The Orthodox Church commemorates him, together with the Myrrh-bearing Women and Nicodemus, on the second Sunday after Pascha. Protestantism does not practice the veneration of saints but regards him as an example of faith.

In the Korean Church

He is frequently mentioned in sermons on the burial of Jesus during Holy Week and around Easter. Preachers often present him, together with Nicodemus, as an example of hidden faith that came to light at a decisive moment. In Sunday school Easter lessons, he appears in explanations of the scene of the tomb and the great stone.