{"id":1919,"date":"2012-07-11T06:08:32","date_gmt":"2012-07-11T10:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/activistfaith\/?p=1919"},"modified":"2012-07-11T09:09:25","modified_gmt":"2012-07-11T13:09:25","slug":"courage-at-the-cross-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/2012\/07\/courage-at-the-cross-4.html","title":{"rendered":"Courage at the Cross"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Activist Faith co-founder Daniel Darling<\/a>:<\/p>\n

At Gages Lake Bible Church, we\u2019re going through the gospel of John. This Sunday, we\u2019re finishing up chapter 19, covering verses 31-42. This is an interesting part of Scripture where John describes, with great detail, the burial of Jesus. There are great themes here with Jesus fulfilling prophecy even in his burial, the symbolism of water and blood (sanctification and justification) as well as the importance of Jesus actually being dead. If he wasn\u2019t dead, He didn\u2019t really rise and we are, as Paul says, \u201cof all men most miserable\u201d (1 Corinthians 15:19).<\/p>\n

But there is a subtle secondary application, one that I didn\u2019t catch until this time through John 19. It\u2019s a great lesson on the real meaning of courage.<\/strong>Who really had courage at the cross? (Besides Jesus who willingly took the cup of God\u2019s wrath?). Ironically it wasn\u2019t the outwardly bold Peter. It wasn\u2019t John who famously asked Jesus to call down fire on the bad people (Luke 9:54).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ironically, the real courage might have been \u00a0displayed by the guys who previously seemed to have exhibited the least amount of courage: Joseph of Aramathea and Nicodemus. <\/strong>Now many commentators and preachers throughout the years have made hay of the fact that Joseph and Nicodemus were \u201csecret disciples.\u201d I\u2019ve read a lot of stirring material on the importance of boldly living out your faith, counting the cost, etc.\u00a0This is true.<\/strong>But I\u2019m not convinced in the case of Joseph and Nicodemus.<\/p>\n

All the gospels seem to take a pretty high view of these guys. They were members of the San Hedrin, who convicted Jesus of blasphemy and\u00a0marshaled\u00a0him to the Romans and to the cross. But clearly Joseph and Nicodemus objected to this. In fact, we have the record of Nicodemus defending Jesus before the San Hedrin (John 7:50-52). It seems to me that perhaps this arrested Joseph\u2019s attention and they found common cause as disciples of Jesus in a hostile environment (the San Hedrin). Perhaps they were planning carefully their \u201ccoming out\u201d as disciples. We don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

We do know that Nicodemus, though being an esteemed teacher of the law, was curious about Jesus and met him at night (John 3). We also know that Luke describes Joseph this way:<\/p>\n

Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God.(Luke 23:50-51 ESV)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now\u00a0John did describe Joseph as being \u201cfearful of the Jews.\u201d \u00a0Of course this text is typically the launching pad to say these two men were more fearful of man than God and should have boldly come out and declared their allegiance. Now perhaps they should have, but perhaps they were being \u201cwise as serpents and harmless as doves.\u201d Courage doesn\u2019t always have to be displayed loudly, and with conflict. Plus we know that Jesus, at times, even cautioned his disciples to be circumspect in their display of their faith in Him. Sometimes this is the wisest course of action. I think of Christian missionaries in countries where the Christian faith is illegal. Most operate secretly, underground, so as to not attract attention.Would they die for their faith? Sure they would. But they\u2019d rather do their work quietly until they are forced to stand trial.<\/p>\n

Joseph and Nicodemus did eventually act courageously when they took care of the body of Jesus. This would forever mark them as followers of Jesus. They\u2019d surely lose esteem in their social circles and perhaps risk their position on the San Hedrin. Perhaps they\u2019d even be in danger of violence or death.\u00a0But they just chose to display this courage at the right time when it was needed most<\/strong>. God gave them the courage to stand up for Christ,\u00a0when it was needed and not a minute too soon. <\/em>The big story is that God worked through these men to fulfill the Scriptures (Isaiah 53:9). But Joseph and Nicodemus became part of the story by applying wisdom to their faith.<\/p>\n

Regardless of your opinion on Joseph and Nicodemus, there is here, I think, a terrific lesson on courage. We typically attach courage to men like Peter who grab a sword. But in the end, Peter lacked the courage he needed. We typically associate \u201cmanliness\u201d and courage with hairy-chested, angry outbursts. But the Scripture shows us that courage is less about personality or an action, but about the willingness to wisely stand up for what is right when it is needed.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thinking this is a great application for those who live and work in an environment hostile to their faith.<\/strong> The courageous Christian doesn\u2019t obnoxiously declare Christ every day and annoy his coworkers. He just lives it out and when the time comes to stand up, when he might even lose something, Christ gives him the strength to do it. And his courage is respected, because its something real.<\/p>\n

When words are many, transgression is not lacking,<\/p>\n

but whoever restrains his lips is prudent. Proverbs 10:19<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Activist Faith co-founder Daniel Darling: At Gages Lake Bible Church, we\u2019re going through the gospel of John. This Sunday, we\u2019re finishing up chapter 19, covering verses 31-42. This is an interesting part of Scripture where John describes, with great detail, the burial of Jesus. There are great themes here with Jesus fulfilling prophecy even…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity"],"yoast_head":"\nCourage at the Cross - Activist Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/2012\/07\/courage-at-the-cross-4.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Courage at the Cross - Activist Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From Activist Faith co-founder Daniel Darling: At Gages Lake Bible Church, we\u2019re going through the gospel of John. This Sunday, we\u2019re finishing up chapter 19, covering verses 31-42. This is an interesting part of Scripture where John describes, with great detail, the burial of Jesus. There are great themes here with Jesus fulfilling prophecy even…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/2012\/07\/courage-at-the-cross-4.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Activist Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-07-11T10:08:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-07-11T13:09:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dillon Burroughs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Courage at the Cross - Activist Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/2012\/07\/courage-at-the-cross-4.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Courage at the Cross - Activist Faith","og_description":"From Activist Faith co-founder Daniel Darling: At Gages Lake Bible Church, we\u2019re going through the gospel of John. This Sunday, we\u2019re finishing up chapter 19, covering verses 31-42. This is an interesting part of Scripture where John describes, with great detail, the burial of Jesus. There are great themes here with Jesus fulfilling prophecy even…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/2012\/07\/courage-at-the-cross-4.html","og_site_name":"Activist Faith","article_published_time":"2012-07-11T10:08:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-07-11T13:09:25+00:00","author":"Dillon Burroughs","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/2012\/07\/courage-at-the-cross-4.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/2012\/07\/courage-at-the-cross-4.html","name":"Courage at the Cross - Activist Faith","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-07-11T10:08:32+00:00","dateModified":"2012-07-11T13:09:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/d931a1eb5dc2e7bf29e30bb1ea7d0311"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/2012\/07\/courage-at-the-cross-4.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/2012\/07\/courage-at-the-cross-4.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/2012\/07\/courage-at-the-cross-4.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Courage at the Cross"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/","name":"Activist Faith","description":"Christian Inspiration, Christian Blogs, Christian News, Top Christian Blogs","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/d931a1eb5dc2e7bf29e30bb1ea7d0311","name":"Dillon Burroughs","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/e7e\/e7e0e064c658f0c59bfb3c9a1a05121bx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/e7e\/e7e0e064c658f0c59bfb3c9a1a05121bx96.jpg","caption":"Dillon Burroughs"},"description":"DILLON BURROUGHS is an author, activist, and cofounder of Activist Faith. Dillon served in Haiti following the epic 2010 earthquake and has investigated modern slavery in the US and internationally. His books include \"Undefending Christianity,\" \"Not in My Town\" (with Charles J. Powell), and \"Thirst No More\" (October 2011). Discover more at DillonBurroughs.org.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/author\/dburroughs"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1919"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1920,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1919\/revisions\/1920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}