This is your daily reminder. God has not run
out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome
to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome back. Today
is Monday, March the 30th. So thankful you have
made it here. If you're new, be sure you like
and subscribe and follow and all the things.
And if you feel compelled to donate, you can
do so at the link in the description. Now, here's
what I love about today's scripture. We are back
in Luke chapter number 23 again. I preached this
text yesterday. We've read it now a few times
last week in the podcast and in our daily readings.
But Luke 23, specifically verses 26 down through...
the end of the chapter. And so we're going to
go all the way to verse 56 today. I know in some
of our reading plan things, it goes through verse
50, but I went ahead and preached through 56.
I wasn't going to originally, but then I did.
And so it kind of adapted and changed. But here's
what I want to talk about today. We've looked
at this text. We've talked about this text. We've
meditated on it. We've prayed over it. I'm going
to share something today that didn't make it
into the sermon. I also meet with a small group
on Sunday nights, and I did not even get a chance
to share any of this during my small group. So
if you're a small group listener, thank you so
much. And I'm going to give you something new
today. Don't want to be repetitive. So here you
go. I want to read just a little bit in Luke
23, down in verses 50 through 56. So I'm going
to read a couple of verses, talk about it, read
a couple of verses, talk about it back and forth,
because this text is what's jumping out at me
today. And I just, I love how it will all come
together and connect. Here we go. Luke 23, beginning
at verse number 50. Now there was a man named
Joseph from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He
was a member of the council. a good and righteous
man who had not consented to their decision and
action, and he was looking for the kingdom of
God. I want to stop right there. Whenever I think
about this guy Joseph of Arimathea, a couple
things it tells us about him. He was an aristocrat,
meaning he was the guy on the council. He was
a Sanhedrinist, if you can, if you will. He was
a guy that was a part of that leadership in Jerusalem,
in the Jewish culture, and he was a wealthy,
influential man. but he was not one of those
against Jesus. He was for Jesus. He loved Jesus.
He did not consent to this brutal, awful display
that we saw. So here you have a guy who has shown
up at the death of Jesus. He has just died on
the cross, just given up his spirit, committed
his spirit into the hands of the Lord, and this
guy named Joseph shows up. Now, here's a couple
of things I want to point out. Number one, here's
a fun little fact. If you look at the life of
Jesus. When he was born into this earth, he was
given a man at his birth named Joseph, right?
Joseph was not the biological father of baby
Jesus. Mary was the mother of Jesus, but God,
the Holy Spirit was the father. God was the father.
And so we see this guy named Joseph show up at
the birth of Jesus to care for him at his birth.
Now we see another Joseph at his death. to care
for him at his death. These two Josephs are the
bookends, right? They're the one and the first
and the last. And they kind of complete this
idea that Jesus was cared for from the beginning
to the end. And as he had this care, this shown
respect, this honor, this dignity, it is a beautiful
picture. I love the thought that God puts the
right people at the right places at the right
times. But here's what I think is awesome about
Joseph of Arimathea. This guy who shows up. He
has influence. He is a Sanhedrinist. He's of
the council. He's got some power and he can flex
some muscle. But here's what has to happen. Because
of the time Jesus died, he has to be very...
He has to move hastily. He has to move in a way
that is trying to get everything done very quickly
in order to make sure that his body is cared
for. And here's what he does. So he goes to a
guy named Pilate. I want to read the next couple
of verses to you just so that you see it in the
Scripture. Here's what the Bible says. This man
went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
I'll stop there. One of the things that I think
about Pilate in this situation. Pilate has got
to feel terrible, right? He's just announced
Jesus is innocent multiple times. He's turned
him over. He's handed him over to the religious
leaders, the Jewish leaders, and then they handed
him over to Rome, which ended up crucifying Jesus.
And Pilate has got to feel a little bit... I
mean, terrible about this, right? Now, there's
some political things happening here. I don't
want to jump too far into that because I don't
want to get us off on a rabbit trail that may
not help us. But there's some political things
happening that Pilate's probably making a decision
that will poke at Annas or poke at some of the
others that were involved in this situation when
he gives Jesus a dignified burial. Most of the
time, people on the cross, their bodies were
just kind of thrown into a trench or just kind
of wasted and gotten away from. But Jesus got
to have this delicate, beautiful dignity in his
death. After he had died, his body was given
shown respect. And so Pilate allowed that to
happen. He said, if anybody's going to take it,
I'm going to give it to this guy, Joseph, because
he is a well -known council member and he's trusted.
And it will also be a little bit of a jab to
the Sanhedrin at the same time, right? They were
the ones that wanted Jesus dead. And now they've
got this one of their guys is wanting to. to
care for the body of Jesus. So Pilate allows
Joseph to take him, and here's what happens.
Then he took it down, the body of Jesus, and
wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in
a tomb cut in stone where no one had yet ever
been laid. I want to stop there. Again, this
is something incredible. If we read Luke 23,
the whole chapter, or go back to Luke 22. Let's
look at him getting betrayed. Let's look at him
getting overwhelmed. He's with his disciples.
He was giving them great messages. And then he
gets betrayed. He gets arrested. Mob comes. And
from the moment that he is betrayed, after the
last supper, he goes into the garden and he prays.
And at that moment, it begins to be. Evil after
evil after evil after evil. It gets worse and
worse and worse and worse. He's treated with
absolute disdain. He's treated with the worst
possible human emotions ever. ever created, right?
Ever out there. And as he's going through that,
he's getting bruised, he's getting mocked, he's
getting cut, he's getting beaten, he's getting
scoffed at, he's getting humiliated, he's getting
everything you can imagine. They're gambling
at his feet while he's suffocating on a cross.
It is scene after scene of absolute terror over
and over again towards Jesus until he dies and
it's quiet. And you can almost hear, as this
text will say just before this text that I've
read. Go and read the whole thing today. Even
them leaving the cross, the people leaving the
scene of the spectacle, it's been revealed who
this person is. This man is not just a regular
guy that died. The temple veil was torn. There's
darkness over the earth. It's a lot. And I can
just imagine the people walking away, the centurion,
the guard, saying this guy was innocent. We made
a mistake. We should not have done this. Everybody's
beating their breasts, or they're saying, we
just can't believe this has happened. We feel
at fault here. Now we pick it up, and it's quiet.
It's silent. This guy named Joseph goes and gets
the body of Jesus and begins to wrap his body
in fine linens, in these cloths, in these moments,
in these things that are the best of the best.
So here's what happens. Joseph of Arimathea,
a wealthy man, has a lot of influence, a lot
of pull. He takes Jesus' body down with care.
The first time his body is handled with care
is after he dies. And this man is the one that
takes care of that. He said, I want to handle
this body with care. This is not just any body.
This is the body of the Lord. And then begins
to put expensive spices and things together as
the Scripture says. He was wrapped him in fine
linen shroud. This is good stuff. This is not
the cheap stuff. This is not them putting on
a robe that looks ridiculous and mockery and
scoffing. This is a nice, wonderful thing that
this guy is doing. And he's laid him in a tomb
cut in stone. No one's ever been laid there.
It's brand new. He gets the best in his death.
There's something really awesome that we will
see now from these ladies. Listen to what happens.
In verse 54, it was the day of preparation and
the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had
come with him from Galilee followed and saw the
tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned
and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath,
they rested according to the commandment. There
was a lot to be said about these verses. First
off, I had somebody ask me about how was the
timeline when all this took place? Well, here
it gives us the timeline, right? So you've got,
it says the preparation day of the feast. So
the day of preparation and the Sabbath was beginning.
There's a couple of Sabbaths that were happening
here in the Passover. I don't want to get too
much into the weeds to this. I've already kind
of... recorded this once and it got way too complex
and I didn't have graphs and charts and all kinds
of stuff. But basically, here's what's happened.
There's the 14th day of Nisan, which is the preparation
day of the Passover. Then there's the day of
the Passover feast, which is the 15th of Nisan.
And then there's the 17th day of Nisan, which
is the final, the third day of the feast. Now,
all that to say, here's kind of what took place.
Jesus was in the tomb for three days. As we work
through that timeline, here's what you need to
know. These women were doing exactly what they
were prescribed to do, exactly what they were
supposed to do. They show up and prepare the
day before the Sabbath that they couldn't come
and do those preparations. So they came. first
part of that feast of the Passover, which, by
the way, all this is still happening because
Jesus is the Passover lamb, right? He's been
prepared the day that he died, and then the feast
fully takes place on the first day of the week,
as we know, which he rises again. So the Jewish
Passover is now no longer in effect. It is now
the Passover lamb has been slain for the final
time. You no longer have to take part of the
Passover. No longer is it necessary. But here's
what I want. want to talk about today. The last
three things I want to say. The women do something
powerful in this story. It says first they watched.
They watched where they laid the body of Jesus.
Here's what I'll say. Watch where Jesus goes.
Just watch where he goes. Watch where he goes.
And then what you do is exactly what they did.
They watched and then they worked, right? They
come back and they prepare spices and the ointments.
They prepared the things for the Lord. After
they did that, they waited. Then they couldn't
go back. They couldn't do anything on the Sabbath.
Can I tell you, that's the prescription for all
of us. Watch where the Lord is, work for Him,
and then wait. Wait on Him to do the miraculous.
It's not our job to do miracles. It's not our
job to do the great spectacular things. It's
our job to watch Him, to work for Him, and then
to wait on Him. That is our job. I hope and pray
today that as you... read the scripture. You
allow it to read you. You look in and see how
the Lord has put all these things together so
that he can have a closer walk with you. That's
the purpose. I'm sharing something this Easter
that I'm very excited about, an illustration
that the Lord was walking me through as I was
digging into the scripture more and more. There
was a moment where I got a little bit, I don't
even know the word, maybe a little bit frustrated
that I wasn't inspecting the word enough and
I wasn't diagnosing it and I wasn't extracting
it and trying to figure, I felt like I wasn't
being a good Bible study guy. And I realized
that everything in this book is to bring me closer
to him. That's the purpose. So when you read
today, my encouragement is let it bring you closer
to the author.