Matthew 28.11-15

In our passage today, Matthew takes a second to turn the camera from the women en route to tell the disciples about the resurrection to the guards who saw the angel as well.  While today’s passage seems like something of a side note, it contains a glimpse of one reaction to the resurrection which is still taking place today.

Matthew 28:11

11 While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 

If you didn’t know what happens in the next passage, what would you expect here?  When the women heard about the resurrection, they were filled with joy.  When they met the risen Jesus they fell at his feet and worshiped him.  So what would we expect out of the chief priests when they hear about the resurrection?  We might expect that they will have a change of heart, that they might be filled with joy, that they might finally see Jesus as the Messiah and King.  However, we soon find that even the resurrection won’t change their hearts.

Matthew 28:12-15

12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day. 

How do the chief priests respond?  In the same way they have until now.  They use their power, position, and money to combat Jesus.  They respond in fear not with joy.  They try to quench the work of God rather than submitting.  

Despite their attempts, they had no sufficient answer for the empty tomb.  Their whole conspiracy would have been unnecessary if the tomb wasn’t empty.  All they had to do was go to the tomb and produce the body, but they couldn’t.  The guards couldn’t.  No one could. 

The guards knew they were in trouble no matter what.  If the body was gone, they were liable and punishable by death.  At least with a good alibi and the chief priests’ political tact behind them, they might get away.  So they were easy to convince to join the conspiracy.  But it was just that, a conspiracy.

There is no way that the disciples could have stolen the body.  The guards wouldn’t have been asleep.  The disciples were Jews who wouldn’t mess with a dead body like that.  They had run off anyway.  How could the guards have known that it was the disciples who stole the body if they were sleeping? 

 It was a pretty shoddy story, but many have followed suit since then.  Even Matthew says that the rumor has circulated until his time of writing.  Justin Martyr wrote in the next century that the rumor was still out there.  Today, writers like John Dominic Crossan have said that Jesus’ body was thrown in a shallow grave and eaten by wild dogs.  

So we, just like Matthew’s first audience, have a choice to make.  Are we going to believe his testimony to the resurrected Lord and his explanation of the empty tomb, or are we going to believe those trying to cover it up?  This is not a decision to be made without careful thought and consideration.

After all, which we chose to believe determines if we fall at the feet of the risen Lord in worship or if we join the movement to fight against the work of God.