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Morning Meditation
August 1, 2026
Feast Day of Joseph of Arimathea
Luke 23:50–55
Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council, had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments.
James 1:17–18
Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. In fulfilment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
Meditation by Peter Vanderveen
Where was Arimathea? No one really knows.
And yet all four of the Gospels refer to Joseph as someone who came from out of Arimathea. The Scriptural record is replete with references to places or cities or villages that we can still locate; and, more often than not, that positioning grants the text some kind of added meaning. We are told something by virtue of the place mentioned. Think of the little town of Bethlehem and of how Jesus’ birth, his beginning there, became a symbol that, at multiple levels, shapes our whole understanding of the Gospel.
This seems not to be the case, however, at the end of the story. Arimathea is, effectively, nowhere. It’s a nothing place. No one has ever asked me anything about it. As readers and as listeners this reference passes right by, and we feel no loss for not knowing – and not even caring.
But this example of our complete indifference is itself revelatory; because when we make the realization that Arimathea doesn’t matter, something more of the crucifixion story actually comes to light. For suddenly, as if from out of nowhere, there emerges a wealthy individual whose only concern is the proper disposition of Jesus’ body. Joseph hallows a corpse, a body from which all life, all future, and all possibility have been stolen.
At the risk of being entirely pedantic, this is what all the Gospels tell us: 1) that by means of the crucifixion, demanded by the masses (all of us), Jesus is brought to nothing; 2) that from out of nowhere, Joseph appears (strangely, a man with the same name as the father of Jesus who had no substantial role in his birth); 3) that Joseph was wealthy and was willing to act generously on behalf of someone who had become no one; 4) and that from out of all these reductions to zero, (ex nihilo) God acts by bringing about Jesus’ resurrection.
Taking notice of the mention of Arimathea shows us the rhythm of all of God’s work. We may insist, or demand, or take enormous delight in stripping down others to nothing. That’s a pretty adequate definition of evil. But, countering this, the greater passion and devotion of God is to bring new life from out of the chaos that we (so often gleefully) bring about. “As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.” At the heart of all that is there is a generosity that cannot be squelched. Josephs arise, as if from nowhere, to redeem all that we have dismissed. This is the witness of the church.
Prayer
God our Shepherd, give to us a new vision and a new charity, new wisdom and fresh understanding, that the eternal message of your Son may be hailed as the good news of a new age, through him who makes all things new, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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