When the evening was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple:
All Commentaries on Matthew 27:57 Go To Matthew 27
Jerome
AD 420
Joseph of Arimathea is referred to as a rich man not because the writer of the Gospel wanted to boast that very wealthy and noble men were disciples of Jesus but rather in order to show why he was able to obtain Jesus’ body from Pilate. For the poor and obscure did not have the right to approach Pilate, the representative of Roman power, and obtain the body of the Crucified. In another Gospel, this same Joseph is called bouleut&#;s, which means “councilor” or “senator.” Some think that the first psalm was composed with him in view: “Blessed is the one who does not walk in the counsel of the impious,” and so on. .
