When You Need a Friend

     I just received a notice from the insurance company that my funeral expenses are now paid for.  We had been paying so much a month for the past five years so that there would be no plans to be made at the time of my demise.  We have a tendency to make plans ahead for whatever event that could possibly take place.  Then we can say, "If everything goes according to plan, we should be OK."  The events of the crucifixion were not going according to the plan of the disciples or probably not even Mary.  They probably had not even thought of what they were going to do with His body after the crucifixion.  Matthew 27:57-60 says,"When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple:   He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.   And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,   And laid it in his own new tomb which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed."  
      When Jesus died that day on the cross on Calvary a man steps forward to take charge.  His first requirement is to go to Pilate and ask for the body of Jesus which he did and he got permission to take the body.  Joseph is mentioned several times throughout the gospels and the emphasis was on the fact that he was a rich man.  He already had made his own burial plans, and so had a new tomb that had not been used.  In those days, after a period of time, the bones of the person in the tomb would be removed and placed into a box called an ossuary   The tomb could then be reused.  In the case of this particular tomb, no one had been placed in it.  It was a new tomb.  Joseph is accompanied by an individual we all know from John 3, by the name of Nicodemus.  Together, they wrap the body, place the spices throughout the wrappings and place Him in the new tomb.  From the family's point, it was a relief.  Now they at least knew where the body would be and could visit it later.  There are times in our lives when we find ourselves in the middle of an event for which we had not planned.  Those are the times that someone may step forward out of the background and take care of the needs that have come up in our lives.  You may be the "Joseph" that can take of a need for someone else when they are dealing with much more than they can handle at the moment.  It is good in these situations that we are obedient to the leading of the holy Spirit in our lives.  So, If God has called you to be a Joseph to someone in your life today, don't hesitate but rather follow His leading.  Praise God today for the fact that He guides each and everyone of us in all the situations of life.