It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath).1 So as evening approached,
Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council,2 who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God,3 went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body.
Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died.
When he learned from the centurion4 that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph.
So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.547
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses6 saw where he was laid.