Matthew 27:57-60 – 57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.

The noise of the execution has faded into a heavy, suffocating silence.  Joseph, a member of the Sanhedrin who had not agreed with the decision to crucify Jesus, wanted to give Christ an honorable burial. This painting captures the moment of transition from the public agony of the cross to the private sorrow of the tomb.
 
The Gospel invitation at this station is to wait. We know that the stone will eventually roll away, but here, in the darkness of the painting, we learn that God is often doing His deepest work in the places where we see only an end.

Jesus was definitively dead, His corpse was sealed, and yet He had made a promise about that third day–that He would rise again. A promise that in the dark of the tomb, with the dead Christ lying before them, seemed impossible.
When life is at its darkest, when all hope seems lost, do you hold fast to your faith or do you lose your grip?