Joseph of Arimathæa in Pilate's House

Saint Mark - Chapter 15

Joseph of Arimathæa in Pilate's House. J-J Tissot

[42] Et cum jam sero esset factum ( quia erat parasceve, quod est ante sabbatum),
And when evening was now come, (because it was the Parasceve, that is, the day before the sabbath,)

[43] venit Joseph ab Arimathaea nobilis decurio, qui et ipse erat exspectans regnum Dei, et audacter introivit ad Pilatum, et petiit corpus Jesu.
Joseph of Arimathea, a noble counsellor, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, came and went in boldly to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.

[44] Pilatus autem mirabatur si jam obiisset. Et accersito centurione, interrogavit eum si jam mortuus esset.
But Pilate wondered that he should be already dead. And sending for the centurion, he asked him if he were already dead.

[45] Et cum cognovisset a centurione, donavit corpus Joseph.
And when he had understood it by the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

Joseph of Arimathæa. J-J Tissot

Even Pilate must have been greatly troubled by the events of this terrible day.  The dream of his wife Claudia, on which he's had time to think quietly since the iniquitous condemnation, the awful phenomena of which he has been a witness, and above all, his memory of the bearing of the Master, of His words so pregnant with meaning, of His look so calm yet so penetrating, with His superhuman silence later, all combined to fill with alarm the guilty conscience of the Governor, who has sacrificed an innocent Victim to fear for himself.

All of a sudden, however, a member of the Sanhedrim comes to him, "went in boldly", says Saint Mark, and truly courage was needed to proffer such a request has his!  He came to crave as a favour that the body of the Victim should be given to him, thereby denouncing himself as a disciple of that Victim.  His boldness was indeed something quite new in Joseph the "honourable counsellor", for hitherto he had been, it is true, a disciple "but secretly for fear of the Jews".  It was Jesus on the Cross Who had changed him.  He is no longer afraid of anything; he goes boldly to claim the body of the Master.  And Pilate, full of marvel at so speedy and death, "called unto him the centurion" to learn the truth from his mouth.  The latter, as we know, himself full of emotion and excitement, told what he knew and withdrew.  Joseph of Arimathæa then repeated his request and Pilate granted it without demur.  Would not showing a little benevolence not soothe his own conscience, full of remorse as it was for the crime of the morning?  He therefore gave the body of Jesus to Joseph (donavit), Says the Vulgate with precision.  This free giving was by no means usual, for many a time did the procurators refuse to restore to their families the bodies of the dead unless they were paid to do so.  Pilate, however, in this case is bent on being generous.  He has no heart to make the bargain.  Joseph of Arimathæa therefore leaves at once and disappears in the streets of the city to seek a shroud.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam