Lent Day 40
Matthew 27:62–66
The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
The Priests and the Pharisees were not friends. The Priests belonged to the sect of Judaism called the Sadducees, who didn’t believe in a resurrected life after death. They also denied the authority of all of the scriptures except the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible, written by Moses). The Pharisees did believe in the resurrection of the dead, however, they had a lot to lose if Jesus reappeared after his crucifixion. Or, the concern of this passage, they were concerned that the disciples would fake his resurrection by stealing his body.
In this case, the Priests and the Pharisees shared a common interest. Neither wanted to see Jesus’s ministry continue. So they went to Pilate with this request: Seal the tomb and guard it. Pilate ordered an entire guard of soldiers to secure the tomb with some kind of seal (possibly a wax seal) and guard it as best they could.
What we can be certain of this Holy Saturday is that Jesus’s body was in the tomb. Jesus was spiritually in Sheol/Hades (1 Peter 3:19, 4:6), as the Apostles Creed states, “was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell [Sheol/Hades].” But tomorrow morning, roughly 2.4 billion Christians around the globe will gather in local churches to worship the man who rose from the dead, Jesus Christ.
There are still plenty of skeptics today who want to deny the resurrection, like the Priests and the Pharisees. They make excuses for how the disciples–ordinary men–may have overtaken the guards to steal away Jesus’s body. I think that the biblical evidence bolstered two millennia of Christian expansion, and a world population that is well over 25% Christian, paints a very different picture. Jesus really lived. Jesus really died. Jesus really rose from the dead. If that’s true, then we really do have peace with God through his death and new life through his resurrection.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for living a perfect life and your willingness to die on the cross for our sins. Thank you for rising from the dead, and by your life-giving power, you give us new life and communion with God for eternity. Amen.
In this case, the Priests and the Pharisees shared a common interest. Neither wanted to see Jesus’s ministry continue. So they went to Pilate with this request: Seal the tomb and guard it. Pilate ordered an entire guard of soldiers to secure the tomb with some kind of seal (possibly a wax seal) and guard it as best they could.
What we can be certain of this Holy Saturday is that Jesus’s body was in the tomb. Jesus was spiritually in Sheol/Hades (1 Peter 3:19, 4:6), as the Apostles Creed states, “was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell [Sheol/Hades].” But tomorrow morning, roughly 2.4 billion Christians around the globe will gather in local churches to worship the man who rose from the dead, Jesus Christ.
There are still plenty of skeptics today who want to deny the resurrection, like the Priests and the Pharisees. They make excuses for how the disciples–ordinary men–may have overtaken the guards to steal away Jesus’s body. I think that the biblical evidence bolstered two millennia of Christian expansion, and a world population that is well over 25% Christian, paints a very different picture. Jesus really lived. Jesus really died. Jesus really rose from the dead. If that’s true, then we really do have peace with God through his death and new life through his resurrection.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for living a perfect life and your willingness to die on the cross for our sins. Thank you for rising from the dead, and by your life-giving power, you give us new life and communion with God for eternity. Amen.
Posted in Lent 2024
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