Scripture
After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus—but secretly because of his fear of the Jews—asked Pilate that he might remove Jesus’s body. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and took his body away. Nicodemus (who had previously come to him at night) also came, bringing a mixture of about seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloes.
John 19:28-39 CSB
Thought
The verses above come right after Jesus had been crucified. His disciples were confused and distraught. They thought this was the man who would finally lead them to brighter days and yet here they are without a leader, or so they think.
Following Jesus crucifixion we see that Joseph of Arimathea offers to bury Jesus. He is a disciple of Jesus but John tell us that this is actually a secret. The next guy who comes to help out with the burial is Nicodemus. We met Nicodemus earlier in John’s letter when he came to Jesus at night for fear of what it would do to his reputation to be seen with Jesus. What I love about this is how now Nicodemus isn’t trying to hide who he is anymore. He is no longer scared to be seen as Jesus.
I think that John put these very specific details in his letter to us. There have always been people who are scared at first to be seen with Jesus. But when you spend enough time with Him and truly believe you don’t care who sees you with Him.
Even in today’s world people can be very scared to be “seen” with Jesus. Some parts of the world you can be killed for following Jesus. Some parts of the world it may cost us our reputation, jobs, or relationships. For these reasons we try to hide it.
It can be normal when we first start to follow Jesus to be a little hesitant like Nicodemus and Joseph were. But may we never stay that way. May we be like Nicodemus and quickly realize what an honor it is to be known as a friend of the Savior.
Action
What is one way today that you can show you are proud to be a friend of Jesus? Would that be talking to a friend about Him? Would that be standing up believing in Christ as the Son of God in a conversation? What can you do today? Go do it!