August 1: Joseph of Arimathea

The Collect of the Day

Joseph of Arimathea

Merciful God, whose servant Joseph of Arimathea with reverence and godly fear prepared the bodyof our Lord and Savior for burial and laid it in his own tomb: Grant to us, your faithful people, grace and courage to love and serve Jesus with sincere devotion all the days of our life; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Joseph of Arimathea

Merciful God, whose servant Joseph of Arimathea with reverence and godly fear prepared the body of our Lord and Savior for burial and laid it in his own tomb: Grant to us, thy faithful people, grace and courage to love and serve Jesus with sincere devotion all the days of our life; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Proverbs 4:10–18
Psalm 16:5–11
Luke 23:50–56

Joseph of Arimathaea was a secret disciple of our Lord whose intervention with Pilate ensured a burial for Jesus’ crucified body. After the Crucifixion, when many of Jesus’ disciples went into hiding for fear of the authorities, Joseph courageously came forward to ask Pilate’s permission to remove Jesus’ body from the cross in accordance with pious Jewish practice, namely, to provide the deceased with a timely and proper burial. Moreover, Joseph freely offered his own newly dug tomb for Jesus, preventing further desecration by humans or animals.

Although we know nothing of his further role in the early Christian movement, legends developed in later centuries about Joseph’s possible subsequent leadership, including medieval traditions connecting him to Glastonbury in Britain. However, Joseph’s remembrance depends primarily upon the gospel narratives of Jesus’ burial, attesting to his devotion, his generous compassion, and his brave willingness to take action on behalf of another when such action mattered.

Lessons and Psalm

First Lesson

Psalm

⁵O Lord, you are my portion and my cup; *it is you who uphold my lot.

⁶My boundaries enclose a pleasant land; *indeed, I have a goodly heritage.

⁷I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel; *my heart teaches me, night after night.

⁸I have set the Lord always before me; *because he is at my right hand I shall not fall.

⁹My heart, therefore, is glad, and my spirit rejoices; *my body also shall rest in hope.

¹⁰For you will not abandon me to the grave, *nor let your holy one see the Pit.

¹¹You will show me the path of life; *in your presence there is fullness of joy, and in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.

Gospel

¹⁰ Hear, my child, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many. ¹¹ I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness. ¹² When you walk, your step will not be hampered; and if you run, you will not stumble. ¹³ Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life. ¹⁴ Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evildoers. ¹⁵ Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on. ¹⁶ For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. ¹⁷ For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. ¹⁸ But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.