The Secrets of Arimathea

[Joe Cervasio]

Hi, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Joe Cervasio, and I am a native of Nutley, NJ, and I like to write.My latest project is a book I have been working on for two years, about the "mystery man of the Bible," Joseph of Arimathea.Joseph, you recall, was the man of wealth who gave his own tomb for the crucified Jesus to be buried in.It seems, in the Bible, to be a magnificent gesture -- donating a permanent place to house the bones of a dead prophet. Tombs were expensive. At a time when so many were denouncing or denying Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea was right there, doing a bold and costly thing.Little did he know his permanent gift was only good for a weekend.Then -- poof -- Joseph disappears from scripture.And my thinking was: What was the rest of Joseph's story? Taking many liberties with the bare threads provided by the Bible, I wrote a tale in which Joseph was horribly demoralized by the crucifixion. Although Joseph had the courage to give Jesus his tomb, he quickly descended into a dreadful funk, crushingly disappointed that his beloved prophet was dead, and that none of his promises would ever come true.You see, Jospeh did not have information other disciples had, and he, being a rational, sensible man, concluded that the "resurrection" was merely vandalism, another outrage heaped on a mountain of outrages.But something happens -- a series of visitors come to Joseph in his despair, and one by one they fill him in on the details that were missing from Joseph's understanding.Peter, Mary of Magdala, Nicodemus, Zaccheus, the "rich young man," even the wife of Judas .. eleven in all, they make their way to Joseph's darkened villa and shed light on the the true meaning of the open tomb.My book is called "NOW or NEVER: The 11 Secrets of Arimathea." It's not for sale yet, so this is not a "sales call." Nevertheless I'm very anxious to know what people think about the idea, and whether it speaks to them and their spirits.What I want is to smack you all right in heart with the gift Christ so gladly gave -- the gift of our lives, lived moment to moment, in the radiance of His grace.If you are willing to be so "smacked," please ... take 30 seconds to view my little "trailer" about Joseph of Arimathea, the mystery man who was everyman.The pictures alone are worth the price. Which is free.The trailer is at http://picasaweb.google.com/mfinley98/NOWO...572212349627282.I am very happy to have found Christianity Board, and am enjoying poling through the many good posts.I also have a blog that is all about Joseph of Arimathea these days: http://joecervasio.typepad.com.Leave a comment there, or write me directly at [email protected].Isn't it great that we have places like this where we can pipe up about what is in our hearts!In Jesus -Joe Cervasio

 

[tim_from_pa]

And my thinking was: What was the rest of Joseph's story? Taking many liberties with the bare threads provided by the Bible, I wrote a tale in which Joseph was horribly demoralized by the crucifixion.
I wish you success on your book, although I hope that your claim about taking liberties is made so that someone does not mistake this with history.
Then -- poof -- Joseph disappears from scripture.
There are no shortage of legends as to what became of Joseph, and I consider them plausible. Joseph was in the tin trade business and was related to Jesus (his uncle) which is why he had the bravery to ask for his body as it would not be considered wrong for a relative to do so. He made regular visits to Britain, and was known by nobility there that even given him land. Some lore even has an auburn-hair youth accompanying him which may account for Jesus' "missing years". After the crucifixion, Joseph as well as some of the women and the disciples ended up going to Britain where the lost sheep of the house of Israel resided, and the church was already present before the Roman church.This is where the grail stories, King Arthur, Sir Lancelot and other romance legends have their basis as they perpetuated the Monarchy of Christ by His bloodline. Of course I do not believe the monarchy of Judah continued in Jesus' lineage physically since God cursed the genealogy of Matthew and no Messiah comes from that line. Rather, I believe the lineage continued hundreds of years earlier thru Tea Tephi, the daughter of King Zedekiah and is an alternate form of grail legend.BTW, I saw your slide show. Very nice. The one picture of Mary Magdalene you had there I already have on my computer as a desktop background for many years. However, that source claimed that princess was Tea Tephi. Of course nobody knows what either one looked like, so I guess one can assign that young lady's picture to anyone they like.

 

[Christina]

I agree with Tim hereJoseph was with the daughter of Zedekiah that went into Ireland there are things about him written in Celtic History that I have readGreat topic by the way