In the parable of the sower contained in Matthew 13, Jesus explained that the seed that fell among thorns are those who allowed the care of this world and deceitfulness of riches to choke the word. What makes riches deceitful? The tendency to draw one’s significance from it is one reason. Beyond this, there is also the tendency to place one’s security or assurance of tomorrow in what is accumulated. Few things have been greater sources of temptation to human beings than the craving for power and possession. It is common place to see how one is used to leverage for the other. Those who have power tend to use it to gain possession, and those with possession want to buy their way to power. In a world with little concern for ethics, some are ready to kill and maim to achieve their inordinate goals. 

However, both power and possession can be tools for advancing divine purposes. 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 readily yielded his tomb for Jesus; thereby helping to fulfil a prophecy that He made His grave with the rich. Power and possessions need not be a curse that will drown the soul; what we have to do is to dedicate both for God’s glory.