‘There came Joseph of Arimathea, a councillor of honourable standing, who also himself was looking for the Kingly Rule of God, and he boldly went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. And Pilate was amazed that he was already dead, and calling to him the centurion he asked him whether he had been dead very long, and when he learned it of the centurion he granted the corpse to Joseph.'
Philo of Alexandria mentions that on occasion, especially at festivals, the bodies of crucified men were taken down and given to relatives to bury (Flaccus 10 83). Others have argued that this privilege was more general and was open to any friends or relatives who chose to practise it. Here, however, there was special reason for permission to be granted, for Joseph of Arimathea was a highly respected member of the Sanhedrin, and very rich.
‘A councillor of honourable standing.' ‘Councillor' indicated a member of the Sanhedrin. ‘Honourable standing' revealed that he was highly thought of both by his fellows and by the people. Matthew 27:57 tells us that he was rich. He may have been the source of some of the material in the earlier narratives, having been unable to stem the tide of hatred against Jesus.
‘Who was himself looking for the Kingly Rule of God.' He was a pious man and clearly thought well of Jesus. Possibly he had previously consulted with Him, as Nicodemus another councillor, had (John 3). Matthew described him as ‘a disciple' which must probably be taken to mean a positive attitude towards Jesus rather than the full discipleship that presumably came later. John 19:38 said he was ‘a disciple, but secretly for fear of the Judaisers', which more indicated his position. But he had left support too late and now (or so he thought) he could only do the best he could for the dead prophet.
‘He boldly went in to Pilate.' The action is depicted as ‘brave'. It must be remembered that Jesus had only been sentenced about seven hours before. Pilate might well have felt the action premature, and Joseph was taking the risk of offending him. It would have been another thing to make the request once the bodies had been taken down. He was also braving the wrath of his fellow members of the Sanhedrin as his action could hardly be seen as anything other than disapproval of their sentence.
Pilate was in fact taken aback because he could not believe that Jesus had died so quickly. But when he consulted with his centurion and discovered that it was so he granted Joseph's request. As consulting meant calling the centurion to come from his place of duty it was quite a favour. He was probably still feeling angry at the treatment he had received from the Chief Priests and was delighted to do something he might well think would annoy them.
‘Granted the corpse.' A rare use in the New Testament of the term ‘corpse', a body that had suffered a violent death (compare Mark 6:29). It may reflect official language, ‘the granting of the corpse'. In some authorities it was later softened to ‘body' (soma).
‘Arimathea.' Possibly Ramathaim-zophim (1 Samuel 1:10) or the Ramathaim mentioned in 1Ma 11:34. As a member of the Sanhedrin Joseph would live in Jerusalem, which explains why he had arranged for a tomb there. Arimathea was his ‘home town' and possibly where he had lands.