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JOHN 19:38-40 [After Jesus died,] Joseph of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it. So, he came and took his body. Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night, also came brining a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom. |
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Gospelthink: Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus bravely bury the body of Jesus.
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“It can’t be said I’m an early bird, it’s ten o’clock before I say a word. I can never tell how you sleep so well. You keep telling me to live right, to go to bed before the daylight, but then you wake up for the sunrise. But while in this world, I think I’ll take my whiskey neat, my coffee black and my bed at three. You’re too sweet for me.” |
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The thought of romantic love is not presented in the four Gospels, but one can make a comparison to the love that different people showed toward Jesus in his life. There were many people according to the Gospels who interacted with Jesus, some of them with hatred and some of them with intense love. Interestingly enough, some were very cautious, and finally accepted the Lord after some time. In the Gospels, a man named Joseph of Arimathea and the Pharisee Nicodemus are among the people who were judging whether their love for Jesus was a committed one or not. At his death, they finally decided that their love for Jesus was complete. There was no doubt that the love Joseph and Nicodemus had for Jesus was real as they knew how they would be judged as they took charge of the burial of Jesus. No matter what anyone thought, they showed their committed love to Jesus. The Gospels provides many parallels with romantic love in a world in which we choose our love partners. That world of seeking love is captured in roughly 90% of modern songs. Studying how modern women and men choose committed love of each other, we see people who will not choose love at all and some who choose love completely after a time of love development. Into that mix of songs is the story of a love couple who discover that they love each other, but their own personalities do not match at all. Case in point is Hozier’s song “Too Sweet” presenting two people who might work toward committed love, but they will both have to make compromises in order to carry it out. It is not unlike Joseph of Arimathea or Nicodemus who finally chose to follow Jesus completely. A couple thinking of romantic love may be off and on throughout their lives, but in the end, they must decide whether they will compromise some feelings in order to completely love each other. |
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PRAYER Good and gracious God, as we choose our love spouses in life, we will have to make many compromises if we are to love each other completely. Give us the grace to understand our romantic love lives, and when we do choose our spouse, to make it a true commitment. Be with us, we pray. |
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