Defy the Crowd

From the time our kids are old enough to listen we tell them to stand for what they believe in.  We tell our children to stand against injustice and to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.  These are lessons that we repeatedly drive home, hoping our kids will grow to be the type of people who stand up for what is right.

The fact is that it is not always easy to take such stands.  If we are honest with ourselves we would have to admit that there are times that we may or may not do what is right.  There are those times that doing the right thing seems like it might cost too much.  As a result, we begin to do a cost/benefit assessment.

Scripture records (Luke 23:50) the story of a man who apparently made no such assessment in his own life.  His name is Joseph, no not the one who was locked in prison as recorded in the Old Testament.  Nor are we talking about the step father of Jesus.  This Joseph is the one who buried the body of Jesus.  It is important for us to realize that this was no mere character from the crowd.  We are told four things about him:

1.  He was a member of the Sanhedrin (v. 50).

2.  He was a good and upright man (v. 50).

3.  He had not consented to the decision and actions of the Sanhedrin (v. 51).

4.  He was looking for the kingdom of God (v. 51).

Even with this man’s dissenting vote, the Sanhedrin moved forward with the crucifixion of Jesus.  When all was said and done, we are told that Joseph went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus (v. 52).  We are further told that, “he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb (v. 53).

Joseph was unable to stop the crucifixion of Jesus, but he did what he could to make it right.  He took the body of a crucified man and gave him a proper burial.  Here we learn a couple of important lessons from this unsung hero in scripture:  First, it is not always expedient to take a cost/benefit analysis when doing what is right.  Second, while we cannot stop all injustice, we can act to do what we can to right the injustice.