Key
Verse: 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.
Matthew
28:15
Wow! Isn't it amazing what a person will do for
money? The story, on the face of it, is
preposterous! A Roman soldier is willing
to admit that he was overpowered by an untrained fisherman who was brave enough
to dare to break the roman seal, enter the grave and steal a dead body? When you consider the fact that later
stories, in Acts, reveal that Roman soldiers would rather commit suicide than
admit that they allowed a prisoner to escape, (Acts
16:27) it is hard to comprehend why the soldiers were willing to humiliate
themselves in this way. Yet, sadly, for
those who do not want to believe, this fabricated story still exists today.
If
the Jews were willing to seal the grave when Jesus died, why weren't they
willing to look for the dead body and bring the disciples to justice? Why weren't they interested in confronting
those who had supposedly perpetrated such a fraud and put them on public
display, as they had Jesus? After all,
shouldn't Jesus' followers have suffered the same fate as He, since, by the
story anyway, they were willing to continue to lie to the people by claiming He
had risen?
Also,
if those disciples were so bold and brave to take on the Roman guard, why did
they run the night that Jesus was arrested and remain in hiding throughout the
next few days? We saw Peter's pathetic
ability with a sword. We saw his cowardice
in front of a servant girl, of all things. Where would such bravery have possibly come from to accomplish such an
amazing feat as this?
As
the writer to the Jews, it was Matthew who made sure that his version of the
gospel included both the fact that the Jewish leaders coerced Pilate to assign
a Roman guard to the tomb, (Matthew
27:62-66) and that this deception is also a part of the resurrection story. In relating these details, he demonstrates
how willing many are to believe a myth rather than the truth. The Jewish leadership had a lot to lose if
the resurrection was true. Just as they
were willing to pay Judas to try to have Jesus killed, now, they are willing to
pay even more to spread a lie, breaking their own ninth commandment: "You shall not give false testimony
against your neighbor." (Exodus
20:16)
In
the beginning, God created a beautiful place for us to live. Satan sought to destroy it in whatever ways
he could. Now, on this day, Satan's main
tool, death itself, had been conquered. But along with that good news, the master of lies spread a lie that
would stop many from believing that what Christ had accomplished was true. Again, from the beginning, the tares were
sewn among the wheat. (Matt.
13:25-30)
Every
day we are forced to choose to believe the lies that satan shouts or the truths
that just are because God is. Satan uses
emotions and circumstances that are seen. God calls us to rely on His promises which He always keeps and never
changes. Jesus promised that death would
not be the end. He promised that He
would never leave us. He promised us His
peace. Satan uses any means he can to
cause us to doubt. The choice is ours
and will be until we reign with Him forever.
Hymn: "He Lives"
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