December 16, 2011 – Luke 23:50 - 24:12

There is something about the name, Joseph. It appears to mean “part of a group, but different from them.” Joseph, after Moses, was part of the group of 12 that went up to the land, but apart from them because he believed God could bring victory and thus he was allowed to see the promise land. Here, Joseph is a member of the Council, but not a part of group that worked to kill Jesus. And Joseph, step-father of Jesus, was in the royal Davidic line, but he was a lowly carpenter. It is a little confusing whether Peter believed or not. It says that the women told them but they didn’t believe “but Peter” went to the tomb. So, either Peter didn’t believe but went to the tomb for himself or did believe and just went to the tomb on his own. I think it makes more sense that he didn’t believe and this follows better with the other Gospels were Peter runs in and the other Apostle runs there faster and sees and believes. But maybe even seeing the tomb was not enough for Peter, because it still doesn’t say that he believed.