We will look to Matthew's gospel this morning for an account of the guards being placed at the tomb, for Mark skips over this event and goes straight to the events of Sunday morning.
"The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate." (Matthew 27:62) According to several Bible scholars, and William Barclay in particular, this means the Pharisees went to Pilate on the Sabbath. Barclay explains, "Now Jesus was crucified on the Friday. Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath. The hours from 3pm to 6pm on Friday were called The Eve, or The Preparation. Therefore, the Sabbath began at 6pm on Friday, and the last hours of Friday were The Preparation. If this is accurate, it can only mean one thing---it must mean that the chief priests and Pharisees actually approached Pilate on the Sabbath with their request." If Barclay and those scholars who agree with him are correct, the enemies of Jesus broke the Sabbath by continuing their work of eradicating Him not only from the face of the earth, but by attempting to eradicate Him from the memories of the people.
Jesus died on the cross at 3pm and as we learned yesterday, Joseph and Nicodemus hastily prepared Him for burial as best they could before the Sabbath began at 6pm. They placed His body in a new tomb Joseph intended for the future use of his family, then they rolled the stone across the entrance. The followers of Jesus aren't the only people who watched His body go into that tomb. His enemies watched the proceedings as well. They knew exactly where the body of Jesus was placed and, as soon as they saw Him interred, they went straight to Pilate on that same evening with a request. "'Sir,' they said, we remember that while He was still alive the deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, His disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that He has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.'" (Matthew 27:63-64)
It's ironic that these men call Jesus "the deceiver" while they themselves stand before Pilate and either knowingly or unknowingly reveal that all along they knew Jesus was never speaking of the literal temple when He said, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." (John 2:19) Jesus has never been a threat to the temple or a threat to Rome, as they have claimed. He was only a threat to the authority and power the religious leaders held over the people. Now that He is dead, these men no longer care whether Pilate sees through their charade.
The enemies of Jesus have listened as closely to Him as anyone else. They've followed Him, questioned Him, and accused Him throughout the years of His ministry. They fully understand that He repeatedly predicted His death and resurrection. While they don't believe He will actually rise from the dead, they do think it's possible the disciples will come secretly and remove the body in order to claim Jesus has risen. Right now these men have only one goal in their lives: to keep the body of Jesus in the tomb. It's an impossible goal, for no power on earth or in hell is going to be able to keep Jesus in that tomb!
"'Take a guard,' Pilate answered. 'Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.' So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard." (Matthew 27:65-66) I am grateful to the chief priests, to the Pharisees, and to Pontius Pilate for sealing the tomb and placing soldiers there to guard it. No claim can ever be legitimately made that anyone came and stole the body of Jesus. The very thing these men sought to prevent (a resurrection "myth") actually proves the validity of the resurrection. No one came and stole the body of Jesus. Early on Sunday morning Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, is going to walk out of the tomb under His own power.
Our worship song link for today is below. This is a beautiful song about the fact that nothing was ever going to be able to keep Jesus in the tomb.
Rise Again
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