Week 37 Matthew 27
After the Lord had been crucified & died & been buried the religious leaders came to Pilate. This time they wanted to post an armed guard at the Lord’s tomb. They told Pilate: we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, “After three days I will rise again”.
I check the cross-references for where Jesus actually said that. There they are: Matthew 16:21 & 17:22-23 & 20:17-19 (plus some in Mark & Luke). They make the point that the resurrection conversations were private & privileged – the Lord only told the disciples.
But somehow word got out. Maybe Judas told. Maybe an insider let the cat out-of-the-bag. But the leaders knew the story. And now that “that deceiver” was dead they didn’t want things getting out of hand with a fake resurrection story added to the mix.
In spite of all the miracles the Lord performed I don’t get any impression the religious people thought there’d be an actual resurrection. Even when the guard’s told them what had happened the leaders stuck with their Grave Heist narrative.
And it’s also a pretty interesting thing with the guards. Matthew says they actually saw a luminescent angel just before they fainted into unconsciousness. But the supra-world experience didn’t have any residual traction. They were paid-off. They changed their story. And that-was-that. Whatever impact the vision might have had they seem to have sublimated it. Who says seeing-is-believing?
Note: quote from Matthew 27:63 (NIV). See refs in Mark 8:31 9:31 10:32-34 Luke 9:21-22 18:31-34.