Joseph and Nicodemus: Imperfect Discipleship

Let’s hear it for imperfect discipleship.

We all wish that we could follow Jesus’s teachings and example in every circumstance without fail, with integrity and singleness of heart, but if you’re like me you have to admit that you often fail in that attempt. We all come with mixed motives, with longing hearts and dirty hands, to our service and devotion. Many of us resonate with Paul’s lament in his letter to the Romans: “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (Rom 7:19). We want to be flawless, yet we cannot escape our fallenness and our tendency to sin “in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone,” as the Anglican Book of Common Prayer puts it.

We, of course, are not the only ones who fall short in our efforts to serve God and follow Jesus. We have plenty of company, even in Scripture. Take, for instance, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, whom we encounter in John 19. Following the death of Jesus, these two men step forward to take care of the corpse, securing a tomb and preparing Jesus’s body with a burial fit for a king. Joseph asks Pilate for permission to take away the body, and together he and Nicodemus wrap Jesus in linen cloths and a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes. They then place him in a new tomb in a garden near the place of execution. Courageous and devoted actions by a pair of grief-stricken disciples.

Here’s the thing, though. Neither Joe nor Nick would qualify as paragons of courage or devotion before this moment. Yes, Nicodemus had shown some glimmerings back in chapter 7, when he raised a timid objection to his fellow priests’ and Pharisees’ harsh criticisms of Jesus, but that could hardly be described as a bold step of faith on his part. Instead, what we remember about Nicodemus, and what John is at pains to remind us about here, is that he “had at first come to Jesus by night” (v. 39) and had evinced no great understanding of the things Jesus said to him. We should also note that in the highly symbolic fourth gospel, “by night” does not just refer to the time of day, but rather indicates spiritual darkness, confusion, and fear on the part of Nick. Not a ringing endorsement, to say the least.

Then there is Joseph of Arimathea. His sole claim to fame is that he provided for Jesus’s burial, and yes, it did take a fair amount of courage to approach the prefect, Pontius Pilate, to request the body, considering that one of the more shame-inducing elements of crucifixion was that the bodies were generally left on the cross and not allowed decent burial. For Joseph to step up and ask Pilate to forgo this particular cruelty and give him the body shows that he did indeed have some mettle. But look at how John describes Joe: “[He] was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews” (v. 38). Talk about damning with faint praise.

These character flaws probably troubled Joseph and Nicodemus. They probably wished they were braver, bolder, quicker on the uptake. Joseph was likely quaking in his sandals when he went before the prefect, as was Nicodemus when he spoke up before his colleagues. But they did it. That’s what I find encouraging in the story of these two men. Even the timid ones, the flawed ones, the ones who still don’t quite “get” Jesus (it’s hard to imagine they were looking forward to his imminent resurrection when they wrapped his body in a hundred pounds of spices)—even imperfect disciples have a role to play. Imperfect disciples can still summon great courage when the chips are down. Imperfect disciples are still accepted by God, who patiently works on them to smooth out their imperfections. Imperfect disciples such as Joseph and Nicodemus. Such as Peter and Thomas and Mary and Paul.

Such as you. Such as me.

Grace and peace,
bob