Arimathea

Our launching point for what we know for certain about Joseph of Arimathea is the New Testament, particularly in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.  The Bible informs us that, following the death of Jesus, one of the members of the Sanhedrin which so violently opposed Jesus actually asked Pilate for the right to bury Jesus in his own tomb (Matthew 27:57-61; Luke 23:50-56). This member was Joseph of the fairly obscure town of Arimathea.

Joseph appears to have been a wealthy man (Most leading members of the Council were).  And his offer to allow Jesus’ body to be lain in his tomb would put him at odds with the rest of the Sanhedrin, since this would be seen as a gesture of honor toward Jesus.

To fully grasp the significance of what Joseph did, one must understand how tombs / crypts were different from how we normally perceive them in the 21^st century.  It was quite common, especially for wealthy families, to have large family crypts.  Inside would be compartments for all the remains of the wealthy person’s immediate family.  Offering a spot in one’s tomb to a stranger is in effect welcoming him into one’s family.

Beyond the Scripture, later tradition added some interesting facts to the story of Joseph.  These can’t be simply dismissed on the grounds that they are “tradition,” since the Jews of that day placed a lot of stock on accurately communicating history through their oral traditions.

According to tradition of the day, Joseph was actually a distant relative of the family of Jesus who had derived most of his wealth from the mining of tin in Cornwall.

Some other elements of this story are clearly fanciful (such as the story that Joseph, following his trip to Jerusalem, planted his staff in Glastonbury, where the staff turned into a thorn tree).  Still, many historians seem content to believe the less whimsical parts of the traditions.

One part of these traditions state that part of the reason that Christianity grew so quickly in Britain was because Christians involved in the traffic of tin took it there.  And of course, one of the chief names mentioned in this theory is that of Joseph of Arimathea.

It seems likely, in any case, that Joseph would have told many people and many generations of this man named Jesus, who had made such an impact on him, that Joseph would bestow on him an honor due only to a much wealthier man.