The Stranger and the Dead God

Did Joseph receive the gift of the One who nourishes and rules all things? When darkness fell, it was because the sun of righteousness had been left in Hades. Consequently, a man named Joseph, wealthy in reputation, came from Arimathea, remaining in hiding due to the fear of the Jews. Nicodemus also came, he who had approached Jesus by night. This is a mystery of mysteries, a hidden thing. Two secret disciples come to conceal Jesus in a tomb, teaching through their own concealment the hidden mystery in Hades of the God hidden in the flesh.

One exceeds the other in his disposition toward Christ. For Nicodemus was magnanimous in myrrh and in flame, but Joseph is worthy of praise for his boldness and confidence toward Pilate. This man, having cast away all fear, dared to enter before Pilate to request the body of Jesus; and having entered, he used words with great wisdom so that he might reach his desired goal. He did not use any entanglements or lofty words with Pilate, lest he should provoke this man to anger and fail in his request. He does not say to him: Give me the body of Jesus, who a short time ago darkened the sun, cast down the stones, shook the earth, opened the tombs, and tore the temple veil. He says nothing of such magnitude to Pilate.

Instead, he asks for something pitiful, and something small in the eyes of all. O judge, I have come to ask of you a very small request. He says: Give me a corpse for burial: the body of that Jesus of Nazareth, judged by you—the poor Jesus, the homeless Jesus, the crucified Jesus, the naked, the insignificant Jesus, the carpenter's son, the prisoner, the outcast, the stranger, the unknown one through alienation, the well-disposed, and the one hung upon all. Give me this stranger; for what does the body of this stranger profit you? Give me this stranger; for he came from far from this land to save the stranger, for he descended into the darkness to carry the stranger up. Give me this stranger; for he himself also exists as a stranger. Give me this stranger, whose land we strangers do not know. Give me this stranger, whose father we strangers do not know. Give me this stranger, whose place, lineage, and manner we strangers do not know.

The stranger. Give to me this stranger, who lived a life and an existence as a stranger among strangers. Give to me this Nazarene stranger, whose birth and manner we strangers do not know. Give to me this voluntary stranger, who has no place here to bow his head. Give to me this stranger, who as a stranger was born upon a manger, and from that same manger fled as a stranger from Herod. Give to me this stranger, who was made a stranger among the stalks in Egypt, possessing no city, no village, no house, no dwelling, and no relatives; for this stranger happens to be in a foreign land.

Give to me, O leader, this one naked upon a tree, so that I may cover the one who covered my own nature with nakedness. Give to me this dead one who is also God, so that I may cover the one who covered my own lawlessness. Give to me, O leader, a dead man, the one who buried my own sin by the Jordan. I plead for a dead man who was wronged by all, sold by a friend, betrayed by a disciple, persecuted by brothers, and struck by a slave. I advocate for a dead man, the one condemned by those whom he freed from slavery, the one made to drink the vinegar by them, the one wounded by those whom he healed, the one abandoned by the disciples, and the one deprived of his own mother. I cry out for a dead man, O leader, the one hung upon a tree without a home. For there is not present for this one a father on earth, nor a friend, nor a disciple, nor a relative, nor a burial provider; but he is alone, the only-begotten of the only, God in the world, and no other.

These things having been thus said by Joseph to Pilate, Pilate commanded that the all-holy body of Jesus be given to him. And having come to the place of Golgotha, he took down God in flesh from the tree, and places him upon the earth: God in flesh naked, and not a mere man. And he is seen lying below, the one who drew all things up above; and briefly he becomes breath, the life and breath of all; and he is seen bodiless, the one who created the many-bodied; and he lies face down, the resurrection of all; and God dies in the flesh, the one who raises the dead; and briefly the thunder of the Word of God is silent; and the dragon who holds the earth is lifted up of old. For indeed, or perhaps, O Joseph, having asked and having received, do you know whom you have taken? Or perhaps, having approached...