READING AND REFLECTION AT THE TENTH STATION
JESUS IS PLACED IN THE TOMB
READING
JOHN 19:38-41
Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, Lord of life, you were laid in a cold, dark tomb and hidden from sight: be with all who suffer and die in secret, hidden from the eyes of the world. Jesus, by your Spirit may we know that in our silences we are not alone. Thank you that you are the God who is with us even in darkest and deepest tragedies, the most forlorn of silences. Amen