Legend Respecting Joseph
Mark 15:42-47
And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,…


A special interest attaches to his name for Englishmen from his supposed connection with this country. He is one of the few Scriptural names that are associated with the early legends of British history. He shares the distinction with Pudens, Claudia, and St. Paul. Tradition says that he was sent by St. Philip as a missionary to this island, and that, settling at Glastonbury, he erected the first Christian Church in Britain, made of wicker twigs, on the site where the noblest abbey was subsequently built. His pilgrim's staff, which he drove into the ground, is said to have taken root and grown into an umbrageous thorn to protect him from the heat. We smile, perhaps, at the legend, but it was only the romantic dress in which an imaginative age clothed an important truth. It tells how, from a small and unpretending enterprise, the founder, whoever he may have been, was able to raise up a vast monastery, within the walls of which he took refuge himself, and offered means of shelter to others from the bustle and turmoil of the world.

(H. M. Luckock, D. D.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,

WEB: When evening had now come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath,




Joseph's Position and Character
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