Hi ,
If you read the e-mail from last week, you saw what Jesus meant when He said that the Jewish leaders would "know" who He was when He was "lifted up" (crucified). If that wasn't enough, what was about to happen now shook them to the core...!
Matthew again gives us some fascinating details of the burial and resurrection of Jesus. The Jewish leaders, in their headlong pursuit of their own, godless goals, went to Pilate. They insisted that the tomb be made
secure because they were afraid that the disciples of Christ would come and steal His body away after three days had passed, and then claim that Jesus was resurrected. They further stated that this deception would be worse that Christ's supposed "deception" of claiming to be the Messiah. When Pilate gave them permission to make the tomb as secure as they knew how, look what happened...
They secured it first by placing a very heavy stone in front of it. Then they placed a seal on the stone. This was an official Roman seal that first authenticated that the contents were indeed there (in this case, a dead Jesus!), and that nobody may tamper with it. Unauthorized removal of the seal meant death. Then, a Roman guard was placed at the tomb. Depending on what type of military unit this was, it could have been anywhere from 4 men to 24 men.
Some would rest while the others stood guard. These were seasoned soldiers used to killing, and they would have had no problem doing that to a group of people trying to break the seal and remove what they were charged - on pain of death - to guard! Now comes the excitement!...
Matthew says that an angel appeared and rolled the stone away. At the same
time, there was another earthquake. The seasoned soldiers saw him and became like "dead men" - whatever that means (minimally, FEAR!). Not so the two godly women who had gone to the tomb! The angel spoke kindly to them and told them not to fear.
While they were joyfully on their way to tell the disciples, some of the Roman soldiers went..... where? Not to their
superiors! Why? Because it would have cost them their heads! So, they went to the chief priests who then devised a three-fold plan, knowing that the soldiers had not lied about what they had seen:
1) They met with the other leaders and conspired.
2) They bribed the soldiers and told them to tell the very lie that they had been concerned about
all along - namely that the disciples stole the body while they - the seasoned soldiers - slept! Slept? Yeah, right!
3) They, in turn, would do whatever was necessary (perhaps another bribe?) to keep the soldiers out of trouble with their superiors!
There is no way, after all of
the events of Jesus' life, His death, and His resurrection, that the leaders (the "blind guides") didn't know who He really was! They were just too stubborn to give up their sinful ways.
Finally, another event happened when Jesus was "lifted up". He Himself said that when this event happens, He will draw all men to Himself! (John 12:32) Praise God the He has not left us guilty in our sin, but has paid for it in full!
