Joseph of Arimathea
A man of Arimathea, a member of the council according to Mark and Luke, who in all four Gospels asks Pilate for the body of Jesus and lays it in a tomb on the evening of the crucifixion.
Mark calls Joseph a prominent member of the council who was himself looking for the kingdom of God. On the evening of the crucifixion he went to Pilate, asked for the body of Jesus, wrapped it in a linen cloth and laid it in a tomb cut out of rock (Mark 15:42–46). Luke adds that he was a good and righteous man who had not agreed to the council’s decision (Luke 23:50–53). Matthew calls him a rich man and a disciple of Jesus, and says that the tomb was his own, newly cut (Matthew 27:57–60). In John he is a disciple “secretly”, and Nicodemus helps him with the burial (John 19:38–42). See the Burial and Resurrection.
Luke calls Arimathea “a city of the Jews” (Luke 23:51). Joseph is not mentioned again in the New Testament.
In the timeline
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateThe Burial and Resurrection
The Gospels tell that Jesus was buried in a rock tomb on the evening of his death and that on the first day of the week women found the tomb open and empty and were told that he had risen. That God raised him from the dead is the central claim of Christian faith.