ntioned several times; the other we meet nowhere
until he suddenly emerges from the shadows of his secret friendship,
when the body of Jesus hung dead on the cross, and boldly asks leave to
take it away, and with due honor bury it.

Several facts concerning Joseph are given in the Gospels. He was a
rich man. Thus an ancient prophecy was fulfilled. According to
Isaiah, the Messiah was to make his grave with the rich. This
prediction seemed very unlikely of fulfilment when Jesus hung on the
cross dying. He had no burying-place of his own, and none of his known
disciples could provide him with a tomb among the rich. It looked as
if his body must be cast into the Potter's Field with the bodies of the
two criminals who hung beside him. Then came Joseph, a rich man, and
buried Jesus in his own new tomb. "He made his grave with the rich."

Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin. This gave him honor among men,
and he must have been of good reputation to be chosen to so exalted a
position. We are told also that he was a good man and devout, and had
not consented to the counsel and deed of the court in condemning Jesus.
Perhaps he had absented himself from the meeting of the Sanhedrin when
Jesus was before the court. If he were present, he took no part in the
condemning of the prisoner.

Then it is said further that he was "a disciple of Jesus, but secretly,
for fear of the Jews." That is, he was one of the friends of Jesus,
believing in his Messiahship. We have no way of knowing how long he
had been a disciple, but it is evident that the friendship had existed
for some time. We may suppose that Joseph had sought Jesus quietly,
perhaps by night, receiving instruction from him, communing with him,
drinking in his spirit; but he had never yet openly declared his
discipleship.

The reason for this hiding of his belief in Jesus is frankly
given,--"for fear of the Jews." He lacked courage to confess himself
"one of this man's friends." We cannot well understand what it would
have cost Joseph, in his high place as a ruler, to say, "I believe that
Jesus of Nazareth is our Messiah." It is easy for us to condemn him as
wanting in courage, but we must put ourselves back in his place when we
think of what he failed to do. This was before Jesus was glorified.
He was a lowly man of sorrows. Many of the common people had followed
him; but it was chiefly to see his miracles, and to gather benefit for
themselves from his pow