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 …
He was accompanied by Nicodemus,
the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night.

John 19:38-39

Two ‘secret disciples’ certainly. But very brave men who, when it mattered, came out of the shadows and nailed their colours firmly to the mast of discipleship. With the rest of the Sanhedrin Council so relentlessly opposed to the Lord, it must have been very difficult, if not utterly dangerous, to have been one of his followers.
Admiring their boldness and courage, recalls the words of a well-loved hymn: Stand bravely for your master, you soldiers of the cross (G. Duffield – PHSS 390), which fittingly concludes
he with the King of Glory shall reign eternally.

Daily Reading: Proverbs 24