Summing up my not so secret disciple

Church built on the ruins of the fist church built in England

• I spent today researching Joseph of Arimathea, and I discovered rather directly how many tradition and legends have him in the very King Arthur story. And after a while the legend becomes very fanciful. I spent some time trying to figure out his age. And right now I don't have anything definite. I think his age has a lot to do with what he could have done in the future. So here's some things that I found out.

I am of them the opinion that he would be older being one of  Jewish elders of the Sanhedrin. One source says he's eight years older than Jesus was and that would put them about 41. I looked up the source and I don't know how I could verify it, but I think he is the older based on the fact that he had taken the effort to buy a grave and usually we do those kind of things as we get a little bit older. Not that you couldn't do it at 41 and that's that's possible. You would be considered an old man if you made it into your 60's during this time so he may not been that old. If he was old it would be much harder for him to go out have a long history of reaching out to people and making a big impact as a disciple called an apostle to England. He was not an apostle according to the Bible. He is talked about being robust some 30+ years later. I think it is possible but not probable.

The story goes that he had mine interest in tin in Cornwall. So he might have been in the area were Doc Martin of the series on PBS. He is said to have built the first church in the first century before the church of Rome. Most churches in the first century were home churches.

Now we move into the area of legend. You may remember hearing the reference watching Indiana Jones. In the voices of Indy's father and Marcus Brody they recount the myths of Joseph's part in the Holy Grail that was in the notes of Henry's notebook they had to retrieve from Hitler. Hitler himself was fascinated by such legends.  Joseph is also said to brought the shroud of Turin. Legend also has the queen of England comes from bloodline of Joseph.

A few lines challenge some of these legends:
There is a contrast between the real segments of a real person struggling in good and evil in

Summit of Glastonbury, seen this on
Doc Martin

the Gospels versus the imagination of the Arthur legends.
The cup of Christ and the Shroud of Turpin are both objects that could lead to meet people worshiping them. These fanciful items have taken too many peoples on a silly chase from the truth and the real things that happened in the Bible and an early church history. It is along the same lines of Chasing Bigfoot or vampires. 
Considering his age being older and the effort for an older man to do move from his comfortable dwelling in Jerusalem to a harsher place in England should be factored in. Did he do church work in England? Middle Age traditions say yes. History may not be as certain. The linens that wrapped Jesus were several pieces and the face covered with a separate cloth. The Shroud of Turin has a Middle Ages origin. His activity is not in the book of Acts, but what we know from the gospels is pretty cool. 

How secret was he as a disciple? But a disciple is a learner, a follower. His faith is really between him and God. It is Paul says in Romans of faith that God sees, (Romans 2:2) what we see is what James talks about faith you see the action, 2:24 "you see", the external things that show to us some indication what the heart is like. Joseph here gives us several indications where he stands.

1. One he probably states his disapproval of the Sanhedrin's actions. He puts himself politically in a minority situation.

2. He gathers up the courage to ask Pilot for the body. Bodies of criminals who died in on the cross were put into a public poor man's grave. Probably a grave that had many bodies in it. Once again it was a public action that Joseph took for all to see.

3. Here we see him lovingly taking down the body of Christ and preparing it for burial. Joseph went for the body and Nicodemus got the supplies for burial. The spices dried the body and masked the smell of decomposition. He becomes unclean in a major holiday to care for Jesus he loved and respected. His actions here go against many of the ceremonial actions of the Pharisees.

4. I believe he's already an outsider who is excluded from the trials. Like our own politics it is well known where people stand, not so secret. Annas and Caiaphas knew.

5. He places Jesus in a grave that he himself had for himself. To me this suggested he was probably an older man. But it also shows he was willing to back up what he believed with this very important property.
He is a good man willing to help others. He is a righteous man in that he is honest before God about his sins and walks with God. He is not a perfect man as we see. He overcomes his fear to act bravely which I find fascinating. He stands up for right and shows compassion. Not bad for a secret believer. Keep walking