In our previous meditation, we learned that material possessions should not be what define our life. However, this does not mean that we are to take a perpetual oath of poverty. When we spoke cautiously about possessions, it is to avoid the pitfalls that come with it. The associated risks of wealth include the tendency to draw one’s significance from it. Beyond this, there is also the tendency to place one’s security or assurance of tomorrow in what is accumulated.

If we consider what we have as tools for advancing divine purposes, we will be safe…Power and possessions need not be a curse that will drown the soul. All we need to do is to deploy them for God’s cause.

A better way of viewing the issue is to never see possession as an end in itself. If we consider what we have as tools for advancing divine purposes, we will be safe. The text for meditation today is a clear demonstration of this fact. The Bible described Joseph of Arimathaea as an honourable counsellor. That means he was a man of some considerable power. He was the one who went to Pilate to ask for the body of Christ for burial. If he was not a man familiar with corridors of power, it would have been impossible for him to have access to Pilate. Arguably, he was also a man of means. The pointer to this is the fact that he had a tomb prepared for himself while he was still alive. It was not a cheap piece of land, but one cut into the rocks. Poor people care less where they are buried. Joseph was able to pursue a noble cause, yielding his tomb for Jesus. In the same token, he became an agent to fulfil a prophecy that Jesus made His grave with the rich. Power and possessions need not be a curse that will drown the soul. All we need to do is to deploy them for God’s cause.