More About Joseph

[Fearing the last post turned sober thought into trite meandering.]


: extract from journal - 11.04.09 :


Easter Saturday – Switzerland, Sur le Buis

Today is the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. It is a day of rest. We rest with the difficulty of things, and the challenge of situations unresolved.

When Joseph [of Arimathea] came to take Jesus' body down from the cross, wrap it up and bury Jesus, he carried in his arms the deadweight of a strong man. The effort it would take to do this is one of fierce will, the sort of effort that is possible when the end goal–the ultimate vision–is clear in heart and mind. If I run a long race, the vision that gets me through the most gruelling parts is that of crossing the finish line and enjoying the victory of achievement at the end. For Joseph, he must have had some vision of the ultimate achievement beyond today in order to physically carry Jesus' body off the cross and into its tomb.

Joseph was the only man on the council who opposed the sentencing of Jesus. He was 'a voice of one calling in the desert'. How would his protestations have been received at council, and what would observers have made of his behaviour at the cross after Jesus died?

Joseph displayed a tenacity that relied solely on his hope for redemption, and yet what he carried of that hope was a deadweight, bloody carcass. For us, there are equivalents everyday – smaller, quieter echoes.

Today–Easter Saturday–is often, for me, the most difficult day of Easter. It is the liminal space where decisions or events determine a separation from the old, familiar way, and where the new way is not yet known or established. The new way is not even glimpsed, but we hope for it with all our hearts because one thing is sure: it would be a difficulty too far to live with the nothingness–the inconclusiveness–of things as they stand today. It is not even about being satisfied, complete or whole, but experiencing the powerful hand of redemption at work. That is what we hope for with Joseph.


Luke 23:51 "... he was waiting for the kingdom of God."


{that day's soundtrack: melting snow}