The tomb was empty. The angel explained this saying, �He has risen, just as he said.� Human history turns on this one event. Imagine trying take it all in!

So is it possible to be a �secret disciple� of Jesus? It seems the answer is, �Yes, but not for very long.� Joseph and Nicodemus show us that ultimately the belief that Jesus is Lord means that we must step outside of the world�s ways.

All the details recorded in John�s account of Jesus� crucifixion serve as verification. The truth is reinforced and tested by the details. This is the work of an eye-witness. Meditation and reflection on the details allow us to enter into the text and its meaning in new ways, and so draw near to God in response.

At the end of a series of sham trials and interrogations, Jesus was condemned to die by torture; that is, by crucifixion. John's gospel record of this event is quite economically told. Apparently small details are collected together, and together they do the job of telling the whole story. And so our attention fixes on the details in order to grasp a full picture.

Finished! Done and complete. Jesus' work is finished in his death.

Jesus experiences absolute abandonment on the cross, the kind of abandonment envisaged by Psalm 22.