Matthew 27:62-28:10
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
62 The next day, the one
after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to
Pilate. 63 “Sir,”
they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said,
‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 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.”
65 “Take a guard,” Pilate
answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made
the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
28 After the Sabbath, at
dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2 There was a violent
earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going
to the tomb, rolled back the stone
and sat on it. 3 His
appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid
of him that they shook and became like dead men.
5 The angel said to the
women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who
was crucified. 6 He
is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where
he lay. 7 Then
go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going
ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
8 So the women hurried
away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his
disciples. 9 Suddenly
Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet
and worshiped him. 10 Then
Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go
to Galilee; there they will see me.”
11 While
the women were on their way, some of the guards went
into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a
plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the
night and stole him away while
we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we
will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 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.
I had never really thought about
it before but Jesus’ body was prepared for us, on the day of preparation, it
was sacrificially prepared for the forgiveness of our sins. It was prepared as a lamb going to slaughter,
as the bread of life, for us.
The Pharisees had no idea who
they were up against. Thinking they
could place a couple of guards in front of the tomb and seal it to keep Christ
inside. Did they really think a seal
would keep Jesus in the tomb? If so,
they were wrong! Before I bash the
Pharisees too much, I have to ask myself, “How many times have I done the same?”
limiting my expectations of God and His
power. Certainly not intentionally but
how many times do I try to fix things on my own before I finally stop and ask
for direction from the Lord? More than I
want to count! I try to give God ideas
on how to make things better. I try to
do things on my own rather than depend on His power. It was a mistake for the Pharisees and it is
a mistake for me. I cannot move
mountains, but God can!
I am not surprised that the
Pharisees would have thought that the disciples would steal the body of Jesus
because they themselves were connivers.
As you read the account of the guards report you see that the Pharisees
still did not want to give God the glory but rather tried to hide their mistake
with a lie. We need to take note of this
and make sure that we ourselves don’t try to wiggle our way out of bad choices
by coming up with a lie. The lie wasn’t
even believable because if these men admitted that they were sleeping they
could have been put to death. They took
the risk by accepting money for their lies.
Do you remember anyone else who accepted money in order to betray
Jesus. The religious leaders sure liked
to hand out bribes. Money is the root of
all evil!
Next I was amazed to once again
see the women in the picture. Here the
women are again, going to the tomb to finish their anointing. But wait, remember He was already anointed
prior to His death, they must have forgotten!
You would have thought both the disciples and the women would have
running to the tomb to see that He was not there rather than going expecting to
see His body. You know, we have been
told in God’s word many promises of our Lord and Savior yet we do not see those
promises, we look over them, or we don’t understand them. We, like the women, do not always expect what
we should when it comes to the power of our Lord. Then when the women told them disciples some
of them still did not believe. Are we
ever in a situation when someone confirms to us what the Word of God says and
yet we still have to experience it ourselves before we truly believe it.
As you seek Him with all your
heart, never underestimate His power, believe His word, and be like the women,
go and tell others of His power!
Seeking Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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