The Request of Joseph of Arimathea to be allowed to have the Body of
Jesus.



Scarcely had the commotion which the town had been thrown into begun
to subside in a degree, when the Jews belonging to the Council sent to
Pilate to request that the legs of the criminals might be broken, in
order to put an end to their lives before the Sabbath-day dawned.
Pilate immediately dispatched executioners to Calvary to carry out
their wishes.

Joseph of Arimathea then demanded an audience; he had heard of the
death of Jesus, and he and Nicodemus had determined to bury him in a
new sepulchre which he had made at the end of his garden, not far from
Calvary. Pilate was still filled with anxiety and solicitude, and was
much astonished at seeing a person holding a high position like Joseph
so anxious for leave to give honourable burial to a criminal whom he
had sentenced to be ignominiously crucified. He sent for the centurion
Abenadar, who returned to Jerusalem after he had conferred with the
disciples who were hidden in the caverns, and asked him whether the
King of the Jews was really dead. Abenadar gave Pilate a full account
of the death of our Lord, of his last words, and of the loud cry he
uttered immediately before death, and of the earthquake which had rent
the great chasm in the rock. The only thing at which Pilate expressed
surprise was that the death of Jesus should have taken place so
quickly, as those who were crucified usually lived much longer; but
although he said so little, every word uttered by Joseph increased his
dismay and remorse. He instantly gave Joseph an order, by which he was