Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 15:43

"there came Joseph of Arimathaea, a councillor of honorable estate, who also himself was looking for the kingdom of God; and he boldly went in unto Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus." — Mark 15:43 (ASV)

Preparation Day was the name given to the day before a festival or a Sabbath. Here it refers to the day before the Sabbath (as Mark explains for the benefit of his Gentile readers). It was now probably around 4:00 P. M., and there was not much time to take Jesus’ body down from the cross. This is apparently what spurred Joseph of Arimathea into action.

Mark describes Joseph’s request for the body of Jesus as a bold act, as indeed it was, because it would inevitably have identified him with Jesus and his followers. For a man in Joseph’s position, a prominent member of the Sanhedrin, such an act could have serious consequences. But he was a pious man who had not consented in the decision and action of the council .

Ordinarily a relative or close friend would have requested the body, but apparently the mother of Jesus was so distraught that she was incapacitated; and all of Jesus’ disciples but John had fled. There is no evidence that Jesus’ brothers and sisters were in Jerusalem at the time of the Crucifixion.