“Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent Council member, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus.” Mark 15:43 LSB https://bible.com/bible/3345/mrk.15.43.LSB

Men have been afraid to identify with Jesus since Jesus, Who is God, has lived among us as one of us. Peter denied Jesus three times. The apostles all fled from Jesus upon His arrest. Only one disciple was with Jesus at His crucifixion. After His death, one wealthy businessman, who loved God, took courage, and identified himself with Jesus by asking for His body. Courage has always been the mark of the greatest men though few men have had the opportunity to muster great courage. Wars, catastrophes, bring about such opportunities for demonstrating physical courage. The marketplace, the university, the government offices, are providing Christians increasing opportunity to demonstrate the courage of identifying with Jesus. These opportunities are being ignored for the most part, most are blind to them, not seeing the ordinances of men are antithetical to the Word of God and His ways so Christians implement these ungodly policies, they participate in ungodly marketing and they live unbiblical lives that are socially popular. It takes courage to identify ourselves with Jesus, to risk the scorn, denial, and even persecution that comes from living obediently to everything He commands including sharing the requirement of every man to repent and live in obedience to Jesus lest they be condemned upon that day they will meet God face to face. Without faith it is impossible to please God, courage is the fuel for exercising faith in the public square.