Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
Mark 15:43, and Luke 23:51. Who also himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. The highest commendation bestowed on Joseph is, that he waited for the kingdom of God. He is likewise praised, no doubt, for righteousness, but this waiting for the kingdom of God was the root and source of his righteousness.
We are here attending the funeral of our Lord Jesus, a solemn, mournful funeral. O that we may by grace be planted in the likeness of it! Observe, I. How the body of Christ was begged. It was, as the dead bodies of malefactors are, at the disposal of the government.
Commenting on Mark 15:42-47
And Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of Joses,.... Or Joseph, as the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions read: beheld where he was laid: very likely they saw Joseph, and his men, take him down from the cross, and they followed him, and observed where he laid him; or, as the Ethiopic version reads, "where they buried him"; placing themselves, as Matthew suggests, right "over...