Question:
Dear Greg,
Thank
you for your work. I have a question
which came to mind as I was reading Matthew 27:62-64.
By asking Pilate to post a guard at the tomb, did the chief priests and
Pharisees demonstrate a more clear understanding of Jesus’ teaching (of his
resurrection) than Jesus’ disciples? It
appears that they were allowed to understand certain aspects of the Lord’s
teachings, especially his resurrection.
Thanks,
Fred
Answer: Dear Fred,
Matthew
27:63 quotes the chief priests and Pharisees telling Pilate, “we remember that
while he was alive THAT DECEIVER said, ‘after three days will I rise
again.’” In verse 64 they say,
“otherwise his disciples may come and steal his body and tell the people that
he has been raised from the dead. This
last deception will be worse than the first.”
The
Pharisees did not believe in Jesus in any manner, shape or form—they delighted
that he was dead and now they wanted him and stories about him, and any ongoing
belief in him and in his teachings, to stay dead.
Hence the request for guards to guard the tomb.
There
were many stories circulated after the resurrection that Jesus’ body had been
stolen. Justin, an early Christian
writer, says that they were still circulating in the second century.
There was no way to deny that the tomb was empty, so humans were casting
around trying to come up with a plausible explanation about how this could have
happened.
Matthew
writes, probably about 30 years or so after the resurrection, recounting what
happened, and no doubt includes this testimony as evidence of fabrication from
the very beginning about the resurrection.
In
Christ,