Chapter 4.18
Joseph of
the
Secret Service
Nicodemus of the Secret Service
The Holy Grail; the Glastonbury
Thorn
Prophecy; The Lord’s good plan was
to crush Jesus.
Setting
the Stage
There are a dozen Josephs mentioned in the Book;
but it was four that made the greatest impact on mankind; 1) Joseph
son of Jacob, 2) Joseph of Nazareth, 3) Joseph
brother of Jesus and 4) Joseph of Arimathea being the most overlooked.
I would like to set the stage with
information from the “Acts of Pilate” and the “Gospel of Nicodemus” as found in
the APOCRYPHA;
you will not find these legends in the Book.
The ancient historical MYTHS and LEGENDS concerning Joseph of
Arimathea are centered around a
town called Glastonbury
where such legions include King Arthur and
the Holy Grail;
the cup that Jesus drank from at the last supper.
The Legends center around two themes; one
is Joseph as one of the 70 apostles SENT OUT by Jesus to take the Gospel; where it is said he
became the founder of British Christianity.
Side bar: In the Hebrew Bible,
there was thought to be 70 known nations as recorded in Genesis, and
in the Greek
Bible it was thought to be 72
nations, therefore some translations say 72 Apostles and others say 70;
so that’s the reason for the discrepancy if you are dotting your i’s and
crossing your t’s; just
sayin’.
The other Theme or legend is that Joseph
retrieved certain HOLY RELICS surrounding
Jesus Christ, one of which was the cup that
Jesus drank from at the Last supper. The
story goes that Joseph was the original guardian of the
Holy Grail.
MYTHS, LEGENDS
and TRADITIONS say that the Holy Grail was a cup or dish with
miraculous powers that provided happiness,
eternal youth and sustenance in infinite abundance. It is said that with this cup that Joseph
captured drops
of blood and Sweat from Jesus on the
cross. (Thus the HOLY
GRAIL) This spun off conspiracy
theorist who wrote about the
continuance of the “Royal Blood line of Jesus”. Today the term “HOLY GRAIL”
just means something that is elusive or out of reach.
Legend has it that Joseph of Arimathea was
a very rich tin merchant and was either Mary’s Uncle or her husband Joseph’s
Uncle, and that Joseph of Arimathea traveled by boat with his nephew Jesus and his father Joseph of Nazareth to Glastonbury where he instructed and showed them how he
extracted tin and purged it of its wolfram.
Arriving by boat in Glastonbury, legend says Joseph
stuck his staff into the ground and it miraculously took root, leafed out and
flowered into what was called the “Glastonbury Thorn” or “Holy Thorn”. The legend promulgated the Middle Ages Pilgrimages
to just see it, but alas it was CHOPPED DOWN during a war and a replacement or TWO has taken its
place. Today there is a hybrid tree
known as the “Crataegus
Monogyna” or Hawthorn tree that flowers twice a year and ONLY grows within a
few miles of Glastonbury.
It was there that Joseph of Arimathea
founded the GLASTONBURY
ABBEY. NOTE: during this time, the Church was
financially in trouble and these stories promoted PILGRIMAGES and the SELLING of RELICS which became a life line for the Glastonbury Abbey.
Luke
10:1 - Legend; Joseph of Arimathea one of the 70
(maybe)
1 After these things the Lord appointed
other SEVENTY also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city … (KJV)
Luke
10:1 - Legend; Joseph of Arimathea one of the 72
(maybe)
1 The Lord now chose SEVENTY-TWO other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs
to the towns and places he planned to visit (NLT)
Joseph of the Secret Service
Joseph was a wealthy man from the Judean
town of Arimathea as well an honored member of the Jewish council, and was looking forward to the coming of THE KINGDOM OF GOD.[1] He was a SECRET
DISCIPLE of
Jesus,[2]
and had OPENLY not
consented
to the council’s decision and actions to crucify Jesus.[3] When Jesus was crucified, Joseph asked Pilate
for permission to take the body of Jesus and bury it before the start of the
Sabbath at sundown. He was granted
permission because he was a near kinsman,
as only a kinsman’s could take possession of the dead body.[4]
Joseph owned a NEW tomb cut from rock near a garden
WHERE NO MAN HAD EVER BEEN LAID.[5] This is so cool; God pointed out that no man had ever been laid there, because the Book records that a man was thrown into the prophet’s Elisha
grave and was resurrected
when his body touched Elisha’s bones. So it was important that the people of that
time would absolutely know that no man’s bones had resurrected Jesus from the
grave. (There is a reason for EVERY WORD in the Book.)
2 Kings 13:21 – Prophet’s BONES
RESURRECTED a man
21 Once when some Israelites were
burying a man, they spied a band of these raiders. They hastily threw the
corpse into the tomb of Elisha and fled. But as soon as the body touched ELISHA’S BONES, THE DEAD MAN REVIVED AND JUMPED TO HIS FEET! (NLT)
Nicodemus of the
Secret Service
Nicodemus was also a member of the High
Council
and of kindred spirit with Joseph in the SECRET
SERVICE. He
helped Joseph get Jesus to the New Garden Tomb and brought along 75 pounds of
spices to anoint the body of Jesus for burial.[6] They had less than 3 hours to prepare him
before sunset and the beginning of the Sabbath. They finished up as best they could and rolled
a large stone over the entrance. The
women that had followed, all left to return after the Sabbath to anoint His
body with ointments in addition to the already applied myrrh and aloes.[7]
You may recall, Mary,
Martha’s sister had
unknowingly already anointed Jesus for
burial when she brought a
twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and anointed
Jesus’ FEET with it, wiping
his FEET with her hair.[8] A second unnamed woman at another time did
the same thing to Jesus’ HEAD anointing Him
for burial.[9] It’s in the Book
John 3:1-2 – Nicodemus SECRET SERVICE of Jesus also (ESV)
1 Now there was a man of the PHARISEES named NICODEMUS, a ruler of the
Jews. This man came to JESUS by night and said to him
2 “Rabbi, we know that you are a
teacher come from God,
FOR NO ONE CAN
DO THESE SIGNS THAT YOU DO UNLESS GOD IS WITH HIM.”
After the Sabbath
On the first day of the week after the
Sabbath, the women returned to the tomb where they had witnessed Jesus’ body
being buried and found the stone had been rolled away when suddenly two angels
appeared to them in dazzling robes.
MARY WAS
COMMISSIONED TO GO AND TELL what had happened. This action would make her the first apostle.
She was a female disciple; a follower. The Greek word “Apostle”
means “One
who has been sent.” Disciple
means “follower”.
Women were considered “SECOND CLASS” to their
father, brothers and husband. The
message of Jesus Christ was of freedom and equality of the sexes; liberation
from the constraints and restrictions of Jewish Law concerning women. This may be why so many women were OPENLY attracted to the teachings of Christ and
financial supporters of the sect known as “THE WAY”.
Women’s Lib was not the
agenda of Christ, as all twelve of His inner circle of disciples were male,
although women were certainly liberated to function as they desired. Mary of Madelia is always mentioned first
among the women and thus by interpretation, she can be assumed to be the leader
of the Women’s Ministry, the “WOC” Women Of the Church and
obviously she had the leadership qualities.[10]
God used a
woman; deemed “second class” to spread the
Gospel. He used the weaker vessel,
considered foolish, to confound those who think themselves wise.[11] There were other WOMEN
APOSTLES that
were mention in the scriptures; Junia is a female name and so is Priscilla
and both OPENLY
served “The
Way”; [12]
never a part of the male’s SECRET SERVICE.
I know that this
is a stretch, but Mary Magdalene could
be said to have established or originated “Christianity” as she was the first to believe
that Jesus Christ was “raised from the dead” and went and
told others as none of the Twelve Disciples were present.
The
resurrection
is the bed rock of Christianity. What if
Mary had not gone to the grave on the third day? Up until this time the disciples preached the coming
of the Kingdom
of God; now they were teaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ fulfilling the scriptures.
Noli Tangere – Touch Me Not
In
my BS,
my Belief
System, I want to see a tearful Mary taking hold of Jesus’ arm and holding
on ever so tightly, overjoyed to see him and not wanting Him to ever leave her
again. However, she may not have
actually touched Him and His words may have been for her to just release Him in
her heart to His work in the spiritual realm.
Jesus
told Mary to not touch Him; but in my BS, I believe it was said more like; “don’t hold
on to me” or better still; NOT TO RESTRAIN HIM,
because He had not YET ascended to the Father. The implication is that their relationship
would continue after his ascension and be different in another dimension. SELAH; Ponder that.
John 20:17 – Don’t hold me back, there’s more to
do, see you soon
17 Jesus saith
unto her, TOUCH
ME NOT;
for I am not YET ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them,
I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
KJV
KJV Touch Me not
NIV Do
not hold on to Me
NKJV Do not cling to Me
AMP Do not cling to Me (Do not hold Me)
The
Prophecy
All of this fulfilled the prophecy of
Isaiah
when he said there was nothing handsome about the appearance of Jesus, nothing
that would attract others to Him. Even
though He had not done anything wrong, He would be despised and rejected,
oppressed and treated harshly.
It was God’s “good” plan to crush Him; He would be whipped, beaten and his side pierced and WE WOULD NOT CARE. He would be led away like a lamb to the
slaughter, saying nothing. He would DIE like a criminal, but be buried in a rich man’s grave; dying WITHOUT ANY
descendants.
He exposed His own self to death and as He bore
our sins, He interceded to the Father for all of us who were in rebellion;
every one of us, just like sheep have strayed away to follow our own path. Because of offering His life for Sin, He will now have MANY descendants.
Isaiah 53:2-12 - PROPHECY
of Jesus crucifixion and death
2 My servant grew up in the LORD’s presence like a tender green
shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his
appearance, nothing to attract us to him.
3 HE
WAS DESPISED AND REJECTED— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest
grief. We
turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised,
and
WE DID NOT CARE.
4 Yet it was our weaknesses he
carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment
from God, a punishment for his own sins!
5 But HE
WAS PIERCED
FOR OUR REBELLION, crushed for our sins. He was BEATEN so we could be whole.
He was WHIPPED so we could be healed.
6 ALL OF US, LIKE SHEEP, HAVE STRAYED
AWAY.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the LORD laid on
him the sins of us all.
7 HE
WAS OPPRESSED AND TREATED
HARSHLY, yet
he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep
is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.
8 Unjustly condemned, HE WAS LED AWAY. NO ONE CARED that he died without descendants, that his life
was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my
people.
9 HE
HAD DONE NO WRONG and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal;
HE
WAS PUT IN A RICH MAN’S GRAVE.
10 But it was the LORD’s
good plan to CRUSH HIM and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an
offering for sin,
He will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the LORD’s good plan will prosper in his
hands.
11 When he sees all that is
accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his
experience,
my righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.
12 I will give him the honors of a
victorious soldier, because
He exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels.
HE
BORE THE SINS OF MANY and interceded for rebels.
(NLT)
Secret Disciples
Many times people have prayed for
healing and have received it, but then they won’t praise
God out loud for it. - THEY JUST SAY NOTHING, fearing that if the “healing doesn’t take” and comes back, they will
look silly and embarrassed for their WITNESS.
The Book gives us a story of a woman with an issue of
blood that had oppressed her for 12 years.
She thought that if she could just reach out in SECRET and touch the clothes of
Jesus; she would be healed; she did and WAS healed. Jesus
felt His virtue leave Him and asked WHO TOUCHED ME?[13]
Jesus being Omniscience, already knew who
touched Him, but this was a teaching moment for all of his followers. Jesus does not want us to be members of THE SECRET
SERVICE, our chief end is to
glorify God with our WITNESS of praise and worship.[14] He told the woman to SPEAK UP for all to hear, TO SHARE that it was her FAITH that got her healed.
Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego were not SECRET
FOLLOWERS of
God, but were examples of word and deed as they boldly spoke up in praise of
God saying; “if we are thrown into the blazing furnace, THE GOD WHOM WE SERVE IS ABLE TO SAVE US. He will rescue us from your power, Your
Majesty, BUT EVEN IF HE DOESN’T, WE WANT TO MAKE IT CLEAR TO YOU, Your Majesty,
that we will
never serve your gods or worship
the gold statue you have set up.”[15]
We are not to just listen to God’s word, we
must do what it says, otherwise we are only fooling yourselves. Faith without ACTION is a dead faith. [16]
New
Translations
If you don’t yet have a Bible, you will enjoy
the NEW LIVING TRANSLATION, not only because
it is so easy to read and understand, but because it’s not just paraphrased,
it’s a real translation from the Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic
manuscripts. Translators today are
guided by The
Masorah which refers to the whole chain of Jewish tradition which is claimed to be unchanged and
infallible.
However, I would be in error if I did not note that each student of the Word has their own Belief System
and many are KJV
Bible only
people; I have many translations and use them all; get the NLT.
The Masorah is a collection
of notes on the text of the Hebrew Scriptures as composed by the rabbis, these notes
on “traditions”
were placed in the margins to expand and clarify the thoughts of the writers. The notations tell why something was added,
corrected or deleted.
The
Take Away
The Women
Of the Church were overt OPEN followers of Jesus Christ and you
knew who they were by their fruits; their actions, their works.
We don’t do good works in order to be
saved; we do good works BECAUSE we are saved.
Joseph and
Nicodemus were SECRET
FOLLOWERS of
Jesus Christ, but when the going got tough, the tough got going, and in the end
they were in OPEN
disagreement with the High Council, not only in their Words, but in their Works; their Actions of
Faith. The Book of James says; show me your works
and I will see your Faith. FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS A DEAD FAITH
NOTE: According to
the “Gospel of Nicodemus”, a
non-canonized book outside the Bible; says the Elders were so angry with
Joseph that they IMPRISONED him, but then
about midnight while he was praying, Jesus appeared to him, explained all that had
transpired and transported him out of prison to his own house where he was told
to stay for 40 days while Jesus remained on earth; after which time Joseph could
then return to Arimathea. (Do with this
as your Belief System
allows)
So here’s where we are; regardless of
whether it’s convenient or not, or even if imprisoned or death as was most of
the disciples; it was through their FRUITS; their ACTIONS, their WORKS that we are identified with them. We are NOT member of some SECRET SERVICE, we are
commissioned to be compassionate ROYAL AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST.
We are known by
what we SAY,
but MORE
KNOWN by what we DO; our works.
It’s in the Book
James
2:14-20 – What good is faith without works; its USELESS
14 What good is it, dear brothers
and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can
that kind of faith save anyone?
15 Suppose you see a brother or
sister who has no food or clothing,
16 and you say, “Good-bye and have
a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any
food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see,
17 FAITH BY ITSELF ISN’T ENOUGH.
UNLESS IT PRODUCES GOOD DEEDS,
it
is dead and useless. Now someone may argue,
18 “Some people have faith; others
have good deeds.” But I say,
“HOW
CAN YOU SHOW ME YOUR FAITH
IF YOU DON’T HAVE GOOD DEEDS?
I
will show you my faith by my good deeds.”
19 You say you have faith, for you
believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and
they tremble in terror. 20 How
foolish! Can’t you see that
FAITH WITHOUT GOOD DEEDS IS USELESS?
(NLT)
Matthew
7:16 – You will know a believer by their works
16 YOU CAN IDENTIFY THEM BY
THEIR FRUIT,
that is, BY THE WAY THEY ACT.
Can you pick grapes from thorn bushes, or
figs from thistles?
(NLT)
Matthew
7:20 – A Christian is known by the actions
20 Yes, just
as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so
YOU CAN IDENTIFY PEOPLE BY THEIR
ACTIONS.
(NLT)
2
Corinthians 5:20 – We are Ambassadors; not SECRET SERVICE
20 Therefore, WE
ARE AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST,
God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ,
BE RECONCILED TO GOD.
(ESV)
[1] Mark 15:43 – Joseph waiting for the Kingdom of God to come
[2]
John 19:38-41 – Joseph of Arimathea, A SECRET DISCIPLE owned
a Tomb; never used before
[3] Luke 23:50-56 – Joseph did not agree with the religious leaders about
Jesus
[4] Matthew 27:57-59 – Pilate releases the body of Jesus to Joseph
[5] Matthew 27:60 – The NEW rock tomb had just been made for Joseph --
Isaiah 53:9 - Prophecy; buried in a
rich man’s grave
[6] John 19:39-41 – Nicodemus brought 75 pounds of ointment
[7] Luke 23:55-56 – The women witnessed the body buried, prepared to come back
after the Sabbath.
[8] John 12:3-7 – Mary anointed Jesus’ feet for His burial
[9] Matthew 26:7-12 – A woman anointed the Head of Jesus for burial
[10] Mark 16:6-7 – Mary Magdalene Commissioned to go and tell
[11] 1 Corinthians 1:27 – God uses the foolish to confound the wise
[12] Luke 24:1-12 - MARY MAGDALENE, JOANNA, and MARY the
mother of James, and several
other WOMEN return to the tomb with more spices -- Matthew 28:5-7 – Women commissioned to go and tell
[13] Mark 5:25-34 – We are not in the SECRET
SERVICE – Who touched Me?
[14] Psalm 69:30-31 – The Chief end of man is to glorify God
[15] Daniel 3:16-18 – God is able to save us, but even
if He does not we will not worship your gods.
[16] James 1:22 – It’s not enough to HEAR
the Word; we must DO the
Word; Faith without works is a dead Faith
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