When we celebrate on Easter weekend, I think it's easy to jump right from Jesus' crucifixion to his resurrection.

But one of my favorite stories in the Bible actually takes place between His death and resurrection and includes two people seemingly just mentioned in passing.

The first is Joseph of Arimathea.

Joseph was a wealthy and influential man with a lot to lose, especially by associating himself with man church leaders just crucified. I mean, Jesus' own disciples, who spent three years with him, even scattered and denied him.

But after Jesus' death, Joseph went to Pilot and asked for Jesus' body. He did it in secret, but again, Jesus' closest friends were too afraid to even do that.

Joseph, with the help of a man named Nicodemus (we'll get to him in a bit), prepared the body and laid it in Joseph's own empty tomb, cut into rock in a garden in his yard.

I think there's a misconception that this was an ordinary thing, but only the wealthy could afford tombs cut into rock, and it was planned in advance. You had a tomb cut for you and your family, sometimes for generations.

This was a new tomb, meaning Joseph had plans for it.

Another nuance is that Jewish law allowed for only new tombs to be sold.

This means after giving Jesus this expensive and large tomb, Joseph either had to find and purchase a brand new tomb for himself, or Jesus would be buried as his family in his yard.

Either way, incredible.

Then there's Nicodemus, who I said we'd get to.

After Joseph recovered Jesus' body, Nicodemus helped with the burial, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes to wrap the body in.

The Bible mentions that this mixture (which was probably mostly myrrh) was about 75 pounds. Then it says "as is the burial custom."

While that's technically true, that's uh... underselling it just a little bit.

See, a traditional burial used 1-5 pounds (sometimes less, depending on financial means).

Those who were buried with more than that were typically extremely well-respected and/or wealthy individuals. Even then, 75 is a lot.

This was about an amount you'd expect for a king.

The price for that quantity of an expensive spice was, as you might imagine, enormous. It's estimated this mixture would have cost Nicodemus between $150,000 and $200,000 in today's money.

But he did it for a man that had just been condemned and crucified.

There are plenty of things to take away from this, but I'm always blown away at how faithful these men were to a dead man.

I think that's a thing that's easy to forget in this season. At one point, Jesus was dead. The man the disciples followed for 3 years was dead. It was over.

Jesus told them about the resurrection, but that's an absurd thing to expect someone to believe even after it happens (I see you, Thomas), much less as his bloody, lifeless corpse is laying in front of you.

He was dead. He was actually dead. How do you have faith in a dead body?

That's why I admire Nicodemus and Joseph so much. They were faithful servants even at the least hopeful time.

They weren't trying to figure out how it would be okay. They weren't worried about the future. They weren't worried about the ramifications.

And Jesus was dead.

Those two men gave everything they could when being faithful to Jesus seemed more hopeless than it ever has.

I have the benefit of believing that he resurrected and reigns forever (again, for those of you who don't believe, I know how absurd that is), and I still can't do that.

I think my overall takeaway from their story is that no matter how hopeless your situation is, be faithful.

Remember, Jesus was dead once.