When evening was near, a man named Joseph from Arimathea town came there. He was a member of the Jewish council, one whom everyone respected. He was also one of those who had been waiting expectantly for the time when God would send his king to begin to rule. He knew that, according to Jewish law, people’s bodies had to be buried {someone had to bury people’s bodies} on the day they died. He also realized that it was the day when people prepared things for ◄the Jewish day of rest/the Sabbath►, and that the Sabbath would start when the sun set. So he became courageous and went to Pilate and asked Pilate to permit him to take the body of Jesus down from the cross and bury it immediately.