Good Friday 6pm

Friday
6.00pm

The longest day

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. (Matthew 27. 57-61)

It has been a long day, the longest the world has known. Now they have placed the body of Jesus in the tomb that has been given to them by a stranger, Joseph of Arimathea. It was either that or the body of Jesus would be taken away and thrown into a common pit. They carefully and lovingly, carry the body of their friend, their Master, their Teacher, their Lord, from the barren hillside into a garden where the tomb was being created. And in the gathering gloom they lay the shrouded body there, roll the stone in place and, embracing the women, who are watching, leave.