All four Gospels say a man named Joseph, from Arimathea, took charge of Jesus' body after his crucifixion. Luke (23:50) describes him as a 'good and upright' man who had not consented to the death of Jesus and was 'waiting for the kingdom of God'.

In an act of great bravery – in spite of his high status – he asked Pilate for Jesus' body, had it wrapped in a linen cloth and placed it in a tomb – one that had been prepared for his own interment, Matthew says (27:60). In Luke's version the women 'who had come with Jesus from Galilee' – named in Matthew 27: 55-56 as Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses and the mother of Zebedee's sons, and in Luke 8:3 adding Joanna and Susanna – went to the tomb with him and saw where it was, but couldn't anoint the body with spices as it was already too late – the Sabbath started on Friday evening. That's an important detail: they did not visit the 'wrong tomb' on Sunday, as some have claimed.

But who was Joseph of Arimathea?

We know nothing about him other than what the Gospel writers say, which is not very much. But from the few details we are given, we can tell that he was rich (rich enough to afford a new tomb) and respected (a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Council).

And what happened to him after the Resurrection? Did he believe Jesus was raised? We aren't told, and Joseph drops out of the biblical story. But it wasn't long before other stories grew up. According to St John Chrysostom, (347-407 CE), he was one of the 70 apostles appointed in Luke 10. And in the 4th-century Gospel of Nicodemus he describes the risen Lord appearing to him.

Later still the legend grew up that he had visited Britain with the infant Jesus and planted his staff at Glastonbury, where it took root and flowered as the Glastonbury Thorn. He is also said to have been the custodian of the Holy Grail. There are all sorts of romantic tales based on these myths, but they are not true.

Joseph is one of those people who played a small but significant part in the story of Jesus, then fades from history.