Told unto the chief priests ( ). These Roman soldiers had been placed at the disposal of the Sanhedrin. They were probably afraid also to report to Pilate and tell him what had happened. They apparently told a truthful account as far as they understood it. But were the Sanhedrin convinced of the resurrection of Jesus?

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Mat 28:11

. And while they were departing. It is not only credible, but the fact is manifest, that the soldiers, to whom had been entrusted the charge of the sepulcher, were corrupted by a bribe, so that they were prepared to tell a lie at the bidding of the priests. They knew well that there was nothing which the priests dreaded more than that a report should gain credit that Christ rose on the third day after his death; and they knew that they had been sent there, that, by guarding the body, they might suppress that report. Those men, therefore, being addicted to making gain, and seizing on opportunities of making it from every quarter, after having found that their diligence was of no service to them, contrive a new method of cheating their employers out of their money. The words of Matthew — some of them came — leave it uncertain if a few cunning men adopted this resolution without communicating with the rest, or if they were sent, by a general agreement, in the name of all. The latter supposition appears to be more probable; for Matthew afterwards says that money was given, not to one or two, but generally to the soldiers, to induce them to commit perjury. It is at all events certain that, whether they all plotted together, or only a part of them, they sought to make profit of the cruel and implacable hatred which the priests bore towards Christ; and that, looking upon them as convicted of a crime. they abused their evil conscience to extort money from them. For, as usually happens with all wicked men, the priests, conscious of having done wrong, in order to cover their disgrace, were compelled to bribe the soldiers by a large reward. Thus it is evident that the reprobate, after having once given themselves up to a course of sinning, are continually entangled in new crimes; and this arises out of their desire to conceal their shame before men, while they give themselves no concern about the offense committed against God. Those wretched men not only bribe the soldiers by a large sum of money, but expose their own reputation and life to serious danger, should cognizance be taken of the crime. And what constrains them, in addition to the expense which they have laid out, to incur so serious a risk, but because inveterate rage does not permit them to withdraw until they have added sin to sin?

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL NOTES

Mat. 28:13. Say ye, etc.In addition to all the judgments of impotency, embarrassment, and rejection, they are now subjected to the judgment of stupidity (Lange). Let the critic say what better expedient they could have thought of, before he assigns its poverty as a reason for discrediting the story. That St. Matthew, and he alone, records it, is sufficiently accounted for by the fact that, his being the first written Gospel, and, moreover, the Gospel for the Jew, it behoved him to deal with a saying commonly reported among the Jews until this day; while its being recorded by him was a sufficient reason why no further notice should be taken of it, when there was so much of greater importance to tell (Gibson).

Mat. 28:14. If this come to the governors ears.See R.V. marg. If this come before the governori.e., not in the way of mere report, but for judicial investigation (Brown). Persuade.The word meant more than it would have been quite polite to have expressed (Morison). They say that gifts persuade even gods (Euripides, Medea, 964). Secure you.Rid you of care (R.V.). The only other place where the word occurs in the New Testament is 1Co. 7:32.

Mat. 28:15. This saying is commonly reported, etc.See R.V. Until this dayto the date of the publication of this Gospel. Justin Martyr, who flourished about A.D. 170, says in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, that the Jews dispersed the story by means of special messengers sent to every country (Brown).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mat. 28:11-15

Unwilling witnesses.In the earlier verses of this chapter we have a brief account of the first effects of the resurrection of Christ on His friends. The present verses describe the same in regard to His foes. They show us how dire was the consequent perplexity, and how utterly desperate the ultimate decisions of those who had been chiefly instrumental in effecting His death.

I. Dire perplexity.We find this, on the one hand, on the part of the guard. When the angel had gone, and the catastrophe was over, and they at last had recovered, they would dare to look round. We know what they would seethe seal broken, the stone removed, the sepulchre open, its Inmate gone! What were they to do? Some, it would appear, were too perplexed to do anything but stand still. Others among thema portion onlywent their way to the priests (Mat. 28:11). Probably they thought that these would certainly hear something of what had occurred, and that it would be best, on the whole, for the story of it to be told by themselves. In any case, what they had to say would reflect much on themselves. In any case, it would seem to those who heard it very hard of belief. It was hard to say, therefore, whether telling it in person would be of any avail.

Yet, what else could be done? The point is one which divides them in an irreconcilable way. Evidently, as a body, they were at their wits end as to what ought to be done. We find similar perplexity, on the other hand, on the part of the priests. It is very observable that they never seem to have thought for a moment of asking for the punishment of the guard. It seems evident, therefore, that they did not doubt their story so far as it went. We may well believe, indeed, that there was something in the still terrified looks of these men, and in the very tone and manner of their speech in telling their story, which vouched irresistibly, so far, for its truth. And we can well understand, also, how that story, if believed in, would shut out the idea above named. Even Roman soldiers could not be expected to fight against supernatural force. On that side, therefore, and in that way, there was clearly nothing to be done. Could anything be done, in any way, on the other side of the case? Could anything be done in the direction of explaining away the undoubted facts of the case? To answer this questionearly in the day as it was, and many as had been their recent assemblingsthey call another one yet (Mat. 28:12); an assembly of their whole body, so the words (Mat. 28:11-12) seem to imply; an assembly also (see Mat. 28:12-13) having the soldiers still within call. Any advice from any one opposed to Jesus would be welcome to them in that emergency. What a picture, again, of a set of men at their very wits end!

II. Desperate decisions.What these many counsellors finally resolve on is of a twofold description. The soldiers are never to repeat again the story told by them that day. They are to say, instead, that the disciples of Jesus had come by night and stolen Him away while they slept (Mat. 28:13). How desperate a plan this was felt to be, on the one hand, may be seen from what we are told of the conduct of all the parties concerned. The conduct of the soldiers. Unless large money is given to them they will not consent to adopt it. Better, even, to be reported to the governor for not discharging their trust. The conduct of the authorities, in willingly consenting, with all their notorious covetousness (Mat. 23:14, etc.), to hand over the large amount demanded of them, and in being ready, also, to spend more still (so some consider to be implied in their language in Mat. 28:14) if required. Anything was better to them, than that what they had heard should be heard by others as well. Equally desperate will the plan appear when looked at in itself. See what it assumed, on the one hand, about the disciples of Jesus. First, that they were the kind of men to think of so daring a deed, and that in spite of the precautions taken to prevent such an attempt (Mat. 27:63-66). Next, that they were more faithful to the body of Jesus than they had been to Himself. Lastly, that such courage as was possessed by them had been increased by His death! Assumptions all, which none who knew them would find easy to believe. See, also, what this plan assumed on the part of the guard. First, that such sentinels as they wereamongst the best in the worldshould have been asleep at their posts! And, next, that they should know, being so, what was done during their sleep! The whole explanation, in short, is more difficult far than what it sought to explain. In itself, there is no difficulty in believing that these men had been overpowered by a greater power than their own. There is every difficulty in believing that they had allowed a far inferior and greatly discouraged power to bring about the very thing which they had undertaken to prevent; and so, to do that of which the priests had thought previously that, in such circumstances, it could never be done. To go and say now of this that it had been done was to declare themselves equally foolish and false. And yet to say this was allbe it observed lastlythat could be said then on that side. Years afterwards (end of Mat. 28:15) those who denied the resurrection of Jesus had found nothing better to say. They could only explain, even then, what was undoubtedly true by what was impossible to believe!

1. How striking a proof, therefore, we have here, in the first place, of the truth of Christs resurrection! It is the testimony of enemies. Of enemies driven to bay. Of enemies doing their worst. We account for what the soldiers have seen, for the empty sepulchre, for the absent body of Jesus, by saying that He has risen again. All that His cotemporary enemies can offer to us instead of this is that which, on the face of it, is self-contradictory. At least, therefore, they leave the field clear for our view of the subject. Better, in such circumstances, to consider the miraculous than to accept the absurd. This is saying the least.

2. How cogent a proof we have, in the next place. Cogent, because it does not stand by itself, but follows up that already furnished us in the earlier part of this chapter. Difficult to dispute in itself, it is still more difficult to dispose of with that other evidence by its side. Cogent, also, because the evidence it is thus combined with is of so widely different a description. That other was negative. This is positive. That was from friends. This, from enemies. The first, through those afraid to believe. This, by those who longed to dispute. The two, therefore, are as independent of each other as they could very well be. The two in combination, therefore, are about as strong as they could very well be. It would be a miracle, indeed, if two such sets of opponents had invented the same myth!

HOMILIES ON THE VERSES

Mat. 28:11-15. The resurrection of Christ; an argument drawn from the explanation of enemies.There are three impossibilities developed in this narrative, which go a great way to show the impossibility of denying the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

I. It was impossible for these enemies to deny that Christ had, by some means or other, left the grave.

II. It was impossible for them to give any other explanation than that which they now invented.Their grand object was to deny that He rose Himself from the dead; and how could they explain His absence from the grave in any other way than they did?

III. It was impossible for this, the only explanation they could give, to be credited.D. Thomas, D.D.

Mat. 28:12. Bearing down the truth.

1. Christs malicious enemies are of the devils nature; they will never cease to oppose Him, though they know Him to be the Son of God.
2. The madness of malicious adversaries of the gospel and the slavery of Satans captives are wonderful, as here is seen; for after they are assembled, they resolve to corrupt the witnesses against the light of their conscience.
3. Money is a great blot in the world. The priests and elders think it may overbalance the most precious truth, and are confident for gain to make the soldiers tell a lie against the resurrection of the known Messiah.
4. The more men be engaged in a sin, they are the more forward to go on in it, and will spare no cost to gain their point. These priests and elders gave but thirty pieces of silver to have Christ crucified, but here they gave large money to keep down the report of His resurrection.David Dickson.

Mat. 28:12-15. Judicial blindness.This last appearance of the rulers in the Gospel is full of tragic significance, and is especially important to Matthew, whose narrative deals especially with Jesus as the King and Messiah of Israel. This is the end of centuries of prophecy and patience! This is what all Gods culture of His vineyard has come to! The husbandmen cast the heir out of the vineyard, and slew him. There was a deeper depth than even that. They would not be persuaded when He rose again from the dead.

They entrenched themselves in a lie, which only showed that they had a glimmering of the truth and hated it. And the lie was willingly swallowed by the mass of the nation, who thereby showed that they were of the same stuff as they who made it. A conspiracy or falsehood, which knew itself to be such, was the last form of that august council of Israel. It is an awful lesson of the penalties of unfaithfulness to the light possessed, an awful instance of judicial blindness. So sets the sun of Israel. And therefore our Gospel turns away from the apostate nation, which has rejected its King, to tell, in its last words, of His assumption of universal dominion, and of the passage of the glad news from Israel to the world.A. Maclaren, D.D.

Mat. 28:13-15. Bribing the soldiers.

1. Calumnies and lies devised by Christs adversaries are the special engine which they use against the gospel. When all other devices do fail, they make service to Satan by this means.
2. They who are entered in service of ungodly masters can hardly win out; still new and worse employment is furnished unto them.
3. The wicked care not what shame they do put upon themselves, and one upon another, to gain their point.
4. Such as do tempt unto sin, labour to make the sinner secure from worldly inconveniences, but cannot secure him against Gods justice. The priests here do undertake to secure the soldiers at the governors hands, but no further.
5. A profane person will make sale of conscience and tongue, and all for money.
6. Such as can be content to be silent, and to keep up truth for any earthly gain, will yield also to speak contrary to known truth for gain.
7. Such as do not apprehend any wrath from God for sin, do seek no guard against it, but do think it sufficient to be secure at mens hands.
8. He that taketh the bait of sin, will also swallow the hook; for so soon as these men took the money they did as they were taught.
9. Where truth is rejected, a lie will be received, were it never so incredible.David Dickson.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

SECTION 77
JESUS GUARDS TESTIFY TO HIS RESURRECTION

TEXT: 28:1115

11 Now while they were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city, and told unto the chief priests all the things that were come to pass, 12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave much money unto the soldiers, 13 saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. 14 And if this come to the governors ears, we will persuade him, and rid you of care. 15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught; and this saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continueth until this day.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

a.

Is there any evidence in the text that the soldiers fled from the tomb in terror, once they overcame their initial fright? In what sense is it true that some of the watch went into the city and reported to the chief priests?

b.

Why did the soldiers report to the chief priests and not directly to Pilate? Are these not Roman soldiers?

c.

What do you think the soldiers actually reported? If you had to write the script for their report to the authorities, how would you word it?

d.

Why would the chief priests need to consult with other authorities?

e.

If the authorities were certain Jesus could not rise from the dead, why did they bribe the soldiers to tell a fabricated story? Why not present the evidence to prove Jesus was still dead, without all this difficulty?

f.

Do you think the authorities, upon hearing the soldiers report, recognized that they were defeated? What does their reaction reveal about their character?

g.

Why do you suppose the soldiers had to be bribed? Were they black-mailing the Jewish authorities?

h.

Why would the governor be concerned that some of his men had slept on guard duty?

i.

Is it not blatantly inconsistent to affirm a fact purportedly observed while asleep? If so, in what way(s) would the soldiers spread the rumor that the disciples stole the body while they slept?

j.

The disciples disbelieved the eyewitnesses who testified that Jesus had risen. How does this disbelief prove that they could not have perpetrated a resurrection hoax?

PARAPHRASE

The women had started on their way, when some of the guards went into the city to report to the religious authorities everything that had happened. After these latter held a meeting with the elders and discussed the matter, they gave a substantial bribe to the soldiers with these instructions: Tell people, His disciples came during the night and stole Him away while we were asleep. Should the governor hear about his, we will convince him and you will have nothing to worry about.
So the soldiers accepted the money and carried out their instructions. Furthermore, this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to the present day.

SUMMARY

After the departure of the women and perhaps also of the angels, the guards find their courage and report to the Jewish authorities for instructions. The hierarchy and civil officials prefer to hush up this damaging news by bribery and dishonesty. Jesus disciples are to be blamed for stealing the corpse, while the guard slept. Further, the authorities promised to persuade the governor too, should the guards run into difficulties because of their story. At the writing of Matthews Gospel this report was still circulating throughout Judaism.

NOTES

Truth Suppressed by Wickedness

Mat. 28:11 Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city, and told unto the chief priests all the things that were come to pass. It would appear that, contemporaneous with the womens second departure on their mission, part of the guard arrived in the city. Although the exact timing of the womens arrival and departure is not indicated with relation to that of the mens, there is no need to believe that the women did not also see the stunned soldiers still at the tomb. Matthews silence about the presence of the guard while the angel talked with the women is no proof the soldiers were not there. In this case, the soldiers may have heard the angelic message to the women and this would become part of their deeply disconcerting report to the Jewish officials. The stupefied soldiers possibly got hold of themselves when the angel and the women disappeared. So, while they were going, the guards perhaps hastily evaluated their own alternatives.

1.

All could remain at the tomb until relieved from duty by further orders. But, if the tomb is empty, there is no further purpose to guard it.

2.

All the men could abandon their post. In a shameful display of unmilitary conduct some could scatter in fear, while only some of the guard had the courage to report to the authorities.

3.

While some men remained on duty until relieved, some of the guard could leave the tomb to report and update the status of their mission.

Apparently, they chose the third option, because, if they all abandoned the tomb, they would all have gone into the city, since their barracks lay inside the city at the Castle Antonia, and not some of them (tines), as Matthew affirms. So, while the women perhaps took one route to find the lodgings of Peter, John and the other disciples, the soldiers took the most direct route to the house of Caiaphas.

That Roman guards reported to Jewish chief priests is not surprising, because they were granted by Pilate to the Jewish authorities for temporary service (Mat. 26:65 f.). Further, the very character of their report required that these supernatural events be reported to those most qualified to interpret them and give counsel. To have reported them to the Roman officers would have been to invite unmitigated humiliation, but to go to the Jews meant receiving information and counsel in the explosive situation. Further, had they rashly broadcast the news that Jesus was risen, this testimony could have meant their death too, since to testify to that fact which they were supposed to prevent, would expose them to the unjustified wrath of those most determined to keep it from happening. So, they desperately needed to get advice from the Jews.

What would these unwilling witnesses have reported? Their humiliating shock in the presence of one superterrestrial being? Were they fully conscious, even if immobile, to stare helplessly while the angel rolled away the stone and sat on it? Were they in a position to see inside the tomb, hence to testify to the fact that it was empty, even though no one had disturbed it or them before that first terrible fright? Did they hear the angels confident announcement to the women: He is not here! He is risen as He said! Come see the place where He lay!? Was this message relayed to the Jews? The fact remained that the seal was broken, the stone rolled away, the tomb was empty, its temporary Tenant gone.

The Pious Pay-Off

Mat. 28:12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave much money unto the soldiers. The emergency assembly thus convoked brought together the ruling body of Israel, present in its constituent members. It matters little whether it was called as an official session of the Sanhedrin or not, for these official advisors are not acting as private citizens, but as Israels spiritual heads. There is no backing out now. They were all too deeply implicated in this supremely crucial question, and so must decide their future course together. The choice which lay before them was either to admit the obvious or to maintain their dignity only by the most preposterous lie.

Here is invincible blindness: they received the unimpeachable testimony of soldiers who honestly reported undeniable, supernatural events. Punishing the guard was never even discussed: their story was irresistibly convincing. How could they escape the undeniable conclusion that, if what the soldiers testify is true, the Sanhedrin and priesthood of Israel have been soundly defeated? They had done everything humanly possible to insure the absolute certainty of the Nazarenes death. Now they could not claim that He had merely fainted or that, after recovering in the tomb, He managed to escape alone. Their own disbelief excluded the hypothesis of a break-out from within the tomb. The testimony of armed guards among the best disciplined in the world excluded a break-in from without. By all their precautions, they had defeated themselves. They all knew that Jesus had threatened to rise from the dead on the third day (Mat. 27:63 ff.). Incredibly, the authorities persist in denying the possibility that Jesus highest claims were true.

The authorities were immobilized into inaction, because they knew that producing a fraudulent corpse would be disastrous. The usually shrewd Caiaphas and his crew could not pass off a mauled, decaying body of just anyone recently dead in place of the executed Nazarene. Such a contrived rebuttal must backfire, because not all of the soldiers had left the tomb over which the Jews themselves had set them. They could easily identify its location and could publicly swear that this tomb previously occupied by only one body was now empty. There could not be the confusion of disciples who might have gone to the wrong tomb and lied about a resurrection, since the enemies knew the correct one and guarded it. The mental paralysis and failure of Caiaphas and his holy brethren demands explanation: they could find no reasonable solution to their dilemma, because they knew that something had really happened at that tomb that spelled disaster for them. Aside from understandable fear that someone would taLk. they were forced to concede that what they feared was true.

They gave much money unto the soldiers. These pious men thoroughly grasped the magic influence of money to shut mouths. But the pay-off must be generous, if the Romans must testify to a lie which could cost them their lives. That men as notoriously covetous as Annas would spare no cost to gain their point gauges how determined they were that the soldiers testimony be heard by no other ear. The Man who had cost them initially only thirty pieces of silver is beginning to cost them much, much more.

Where could Christians have learned about this secret corruption of the guards? Everyone learned what the guards were to say, but who could have leaked the news of the corruption itself? From inside the Sanhedrin from Nicodemus or perhaps Josephus of Arimathea? From some of the priests converted later (Act. 6:7)?

The Official Account

Mat. 28:13 saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. The authorities must openly admit that the absence of the body is a fact requiring public explanation. A quick examination of the tomb could verify this. But the empty tomb alone does not prove that Jesus emerged from it alive. It is merely circumstantial evidence of a fact, if it can be proved to be a fact on some other basis, as by His presenting Himself alive to competent witnesses. His foes recognized that an empty tomb has another possible interpretation: the body was hauled out dead. So, a face-saving statement could yet be worded so as to counter the damaging report of a resurrection. The Romans must never again tell the story they had just reported. The only viable solution open to those hardened men living with the concrete realities was to accuse the disciples unjustly of a theft that everyone on the inside knew could not have taken place.

However, the resulting, well-financed lie is blatantly self-contradictory. It reveals more than it conceals:

1.

The soldiers would be testifying to a fact that required their own death, we slept on guard duty. But they were obviously not going to suffer punishment for it, or they would not admit it.

2.

The soldiers must swear to a fact supposedly observed while the observers themselves were asleep: they positively identify the transgressors of the tomb as none other than His disciples. If they recognized them, why did they not stop them? If they slept, how could they recognize them?

3.

The disciples showed no readiness to rescue Jesus from death. They had not expected His death, much less now His resurrection (Joh. 20:9; Luk. 24:6; Luk. 24:25 f.). Every available indication shows that the disciples knew nothing of the seal or the guards at the tomb and learned of these precautions only after the resurrection, Like Jesus, their Teacher, these men were too honest even to think in terms of molesting the tomb or perpetrating a hoax. Then, when they were notified that the resurrection had actually occurred, they continued to demonstrate their inability to invent the resurrection story, by stubbornly disbelieving the witness (Mar. 16:11; Luk. 24:11). So far from being visionaries ready to believe any convenient story, their dissatisfaction with numerous, competent witnesses proved them far too skeptical to be psychologically capable of that of which they are accused. Although the Jews could not know this, the modern critics can, if they will.

4.

The soldiers could be believed, if they told of their being overpowered by a force superior to their own. But who would believe that they were overwhelmed by an inferior number of unarmed, discouraged men?

5.

But even had they dared, the logistics of moving the body from the tomb without detection by even one of the many supposedly sleeping guards is also highly improbable. The night was illuminated by a full Paschal moon and moving a heavy stone door away from the tomb in absolute silence on a still night is virtually impossible. Further, they risked detection by anyone among the thousands of Passover pilgrims encamped all around Jerusalem.

6.

Everything about the tombs interior bespoke calm and order: had men stolen the body, they would not have calmly removed the burial garments and folded them (Joh. 20:5-7). The success of such an operation depended upon speed and stealth. Anything that compromises either must be rigorously eliminated, and yet there lay those perfumed wrappings and the face-cloth, evidence inconsistent with the theory of a hurried theft.

The Insurance Coverage

Mat. 28:14 And if this come to the governors ears, we will persuade him, and rid you of care. The eventuality of a military inquest defines these soldiers as Romans, since Jewish guards could have no fear of a military punishment from the Roman governor. Sleeping on guard duty was punishable by death, but everyone knew that these men had not slept. Their only fault is that they witnessed a politically embarrassing fact. So, should a judicial investigation be made into the soldiers story, the Jews promised their influence: We will persuade him, a promise that communicated more than would be diplomatic to reveal: the only penalty to pay would be another handsome bribe or some dark political threat for Pilate. Corruption through bribery was the standard operating procedure to achieve political power in Palestine (Ant., XVIII, 6, 5; XX, 6, 1; 8, 9; 9, 2; Act. 24:26). However, as Bruce (Exp. Gr. T., I, 338) suggests: Of course they might take the money and go away laughing at the donors, meaning to tell their general the truth. Could the priests expect anything else? If not, could they propose the story seriously? The story has its difficulties. Their dilemma consisted in the impossibility of inventing a plausible story that could stand up against undeniable truth.

The Snow Job

Mat. 28:15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continueth until this day. Because the soldiers orders had come from the Jews, they could risk admitting whatever their Jewish superiors wanted published. If they are satisfied, then everyone is satisfied. Matthew does not affirm that the soldiers actively spread the rumor. The soldiers simply did as they were taught, while this saying made the rounds throughout Judaism.

This saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continueth until this day. Aside from the expression, King of the Jews, this is the only time Matthew, himself a Jew, uses the expression the Jews. Squarely facing the prejudiced unbelief circulating among his readers and dealing with it, of all places, even in his next to last paragraph, he defused it. Jewish readers could reason thus: If the author of this testimony were trying to deceive the gullible in Judaism, he would not have dared reveal the origin of this absurd rumor and the facts which explode it. Too many would yet be able to disprove his thesis. Further, even decades after this event, any Jew could know what Matthew affirms: opponents of Christs resurrection had still turned up no more convincing explanation of the phenomena than the soldiers tale.

Naturally, this section has come under attack from anti-super-naturalists. The attack objects that the Jewish attempt at a rebuttal of the resurrection is so flimsy that men so astute as the Sanhedrinists could not have originated it nor the soldiers propagated it. Farrar (Life, 664, note 1) exposes their inconsistency:

Those who are shocked at this suggested possibility of deceit on the part of a few hard, worldly and infatuated Sanhedrists, do not shrink from insinuating that the faith of Christendom was founded on most facile and reprehensible credulity, almost amounting to conscious deception, by men who died for the truth of what they asserted, and who have taught the spirit of truthfulness as a primary duty of the religion which they preached.

Granted, the false report was a clumsy expedient. But, under the circumstances, what better solution could have occurred to the best minds among Israels leadership? He who would criticize as illogical the story Matthew attributes to them and discount his report as unauthentic, must furnish a more rational alternative to their best efforts. They were baffled (1) by the fearless, precise, unassailable evidence given by courageous witnesses, and (2) by their own incompetence to explain the undoubted absence of the body from the empty tomb or to produce the corpse as undeniable evidence of the disciples supposed fraud. Naturally, they would admit no more than absolutely necessary, but some plausible interpretation of the facts must be circulated to reduce the damage to a minimum. They could do no less than admit the absence of the body. The authorities only solution was brazenly to lie in harmony with their rationalistic evaluation of the risk they faced (Mat. 27:64). The authorities arrested the early Christians for propagating the resurrection of Christ, but they never accused them of theft of the body, showing how little they believed their own story. May we not imagine the spies of Annas and Caiaphas surreptitiously listening in on everyones conversation for some clue to the whereabouts of the Galileans corpse, or out wildly combing the hillsides and caves of Palestine, searching desperately for any evidence of a recent burial?

Unfortunately, This saying . . . continueth until this day provides no direct clue to the writing of Matthews Gospel, since Justin Martyr (165) reported the continuance of this calumny till his time (Dialogue With Trypho, 108, 2). In fact, Justin charged that the Jews aggressively sought to check the powerful influence of the resurrection Gospel by propagating this calumny by means of special couriers sent all over the Jewish world. Unable to dispel the power of the facts, these disbelievers settled on a legend which would hide from their descendants what they themselves could not deny was the truth.

But that Matthew alone, of all the Evangelists, reported the Jews efforts is adequately explained by these factors:

1.

Matthew addressed his Gospel to the Hebrew reader, so needed to meet this issue head-on.

2.

Other Gospel writers, precisely because Matthew reported it, needed not give this even more publicity, when they too had so much more to tell.

But this passage furnishes another unexpected evidence of the Gospels truthfulness. Matthew knew that one is known not merely by the friends he keeps, but also by the quality of his enemies. The Jewish lie must stand throughout history side by side with the life-transforming message, the heroic martyrdom, the conscientiousness and morality of these same disciples. The result of the comparison leaves no doubt as to the sincerity, dedication and ethics of the Christians as compared with the best efforts of their detractors to conceive some plausible alternative explanation of the fact everyone admitted: the empty tomb. Further, the disciples did not foster the gradual spread of a vague rumor. Rather, by their fearless proclamation of the risen Christ right in the heart of world Judaism, these eye-witnesses launched their pointed public testimony in the teeth of a vicious storm of persecutions, privations and death. If the enemies desired to demolish the data on which the Christian preaching was based, they could desire no greater or fuller opportunity.
Matthews testimony also removes the suspicion that Jesus body was secreted away by some of His enemies. Otherwise, when the early Christians began to shake Judaism to the core by making thousands of believers in the risen Christ, the rulers would have mercilessly exposed the hoax by simply producing the badly decomposed body themselves. That they did not means they could not.

Together with its companion passage (Mat. 27:62 ff.), this section stresses just how much the whole Passion was under the direction of an omnipotent God whose plans could not be frustrated by the most careful planning of rebellious men bent on having their own way. This realization prepares the mind to accept Jesus universal authority and the Great Commission (Mat. 28:18 f.; cf. Mat. 10:28). Turning his attention away from unbelieving Israel that had despised its true King, in harmony with his Apostolic commission (cf. Act. 13:46), Matthew turns to the Gentiles (Mat. 28:18-20). Further, by showing that God permitted the resurrections first messengers to be the enemies own witnesses whose report was never questioned as completely true, Matthew underlines the fact that intellectual knowledge of the greatest fact in the world is insufficient to produce saving faith. Rather, ones heart must be that of a disciple, open to God, willing to be taught, before faith can lead to salvation. (Cf. Mat. 13:18-23; esp. Luk. 8:15.)

By reflection on the superficialness and absurdities involved in this story which is included as a model of what skeptics are capable, Matthews readers are emboldened to face with intelligence; skill and courage all other rationalizing attempts to explain the empty tomb.

FACT QUESTIONS

1.

State the reaction of the guards when they returned to their senses.

2.

To what specific authority did the soldiers report?

3.

Why report specifically to them?

4.

What was the immediate reaction of this authority?

5.

What was the strategem chosen by the authorities to deal with the new crisis?

6.

Explain why people hostile to Jesus invented nothing more plausible than the strategem on which their council finally settled.

7.

Did this strategem work? If so, to what extent? If not, to what extent did it fail?

8.

List the facts that demonstrate the absurdity of the strategem.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(11) Some of the watch.This incident, like that of the appointment of the guard, is reported by St. Matthew only. As writing primarily for the Jews of Palestine, it was natural that he should take special notice of the rumour which hindered many of them from accepting the fact of the Resurrection, and trace it to its corrupt source. The object of the soldiers was, of course, to escape the penalty which they were likely to incur for seeming negligence, but their statement to the priests was at first a truthful one. They told all the things that were donethe earthquake, the opened and emptied sepulchre, perhaps also of the form in bright raiment that had filled them with speechless terror.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

THE WATCH REPORT, AND ARE BRIBED TO FALSEHOOD, Mat 28:11-15.

11. The watch We suppose the quaternion or guard of four soldiers. While the women departed to inform the disciples, they departed to inform the Jews of the disappearance of the body. They bear no report to Pilate, for fear of punishment. They resort for aid and safety to those in whose behalf they have been serving. Chief priests Annas and Caiaphas. All the things that were done How great must have been the consternation of these men to find that after all the matter was not to die with the crucifixion; and that “the last error,” which they had feared as “worse than the first,” had truly taken place.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city, and told the chief priests all the things that had happened.’

At the same time as the women were going to tell the Apostles and their fellow-believers that the tomb was empty, the guards were going to the Chief Priests for the same reason. But while the women went with joy in their hearts the soldiers were very unhappy, and they came to the Chief Priests and explained what had happened.

Came into the city.’ There is a parallel and contrast here with coming into the city of the ‘saints’ as witnesses to the resurrection (Mat 27:53). The saints came to ‘many’. The women came to the disciples. And the soldiers came to the Chief Priests. All in their own way testified to wonderful happenings. It was only the Chief Priests who refused to hear and believe.

‘All the things that had happened.’ That is, everything of which they were aware. They had not witnessed the resurrection, nor possibly could they remember much about the angel, for the former had taken place before the grave was opened, (unless we take Mat 27:51-52 as indicating that it resulted at the same time as the earthquake), and they were traumatised by the latter

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Chief Priests Bribe The Guards So That They Will Say That Jesus’ Body Was Stolen (28:11-15).

This whole Section from Mat 26:1 onwards commenced with the Chief Priests bribing Judas so that He would betray Jesus (Mat 26:14-16), prior to which was the anointing of Jesus (Mat 26:6-13), now it ends here with the Chief Priests bribing the guards so as to lie about His body being stolen, after which we learn of Jesus’ heavenly anointing as He is invested with all authority in Heaven and earth.

Note how this episode is placed specifically in between two appearances of Jesus in His body, in one of which He was actually seized by His legs (Mat 28:9). People would have to believe whether they received the testimony of men who were asleep, or of those, both men and women, who were wide awake.

Analysis.

a Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city, and told the Chief Priests all the things that had happened (Mat 28:11).

b And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave much money to the soldiers (Mat 28:12).

c Saying, “Say you, ‘His disciples came by night, and stole Him away while we slept.’ And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and rid you of care (Mat 28:13-14).

b So they took the money, and did as they were taught (Mat 28:15 a).

a And this saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continues until this day (Mat 28:15 b).

Note that in ‘a’ the guard came and told the Chief Priests what had happened, and in the parallel they went to the Jews and told them what they had been told to say. In ‘b’ they were given much money, and in the parallel they took the money and did as they were taught. Centrally in ‘c’ we have details of what they were to tell the people, and a guarantee of safety from the governor’s wrath.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The report of the watch:

v. 11. Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.

v. 12. And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,

v. 13. saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole Him away while we slept.

v. 14. And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.

v. 15. So they took the money, and did as they were taught; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

While all this was taking place, and while the women were hurrying to the city with their joyful news, the soldiers of the watch gradually awakened from their stupor into which they had been thrown. The damage had evidently been done, and they must make the best of it, for there was no denying the facts. A few of them were delegated to make the report of the morning’s happenings to the chief priests, who were responsible for their presence at the grave. The matter was serious enough to demand a meeting of the Sanhedrin, in order to consider ways and means to prevent damage to themselves and their cause. It was finally resolved to bribe the soldiers, to give them a considerable sum of money. They were not at all careful about the amount, they gave with a free hand; for the lie which they taught the soldiers to repeat was surely the essence of stupidity. They were to spread the report that the disciples of Christ came by night, while they were sleeping, and stole the body. The soldiers are to have been asleep, and yet to have seen the thieves, and known that they were disciples! Of far greater importance to the soldiers was the promise which the members of the Council were forced to give, namely, that they would guarantee to straighten out the matter in case the governor should ever find out about it; they would vouch for their safety. For a Roman soldier to be found asleep at his post was anything but an easy matter for him. So the ridiculous report went out among the Jews and became a common rumor among them, taxing their credulity, to be sure, but saving their face, as they fondly hoped.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Mat 28:11-15. Now when they were going, &c. The chief priests, having received the report of the guard, called the whole senate together, and consulted among themselves what they were to do. The deliberations, however, of the meeting were not kept secret. They were reported to the disciples, perhaps by Joseph and Nicodemus, two members of the council, who were our Lord’s friends. The priests were reduced to a most absurd story, though certainly the best colour which they could put on the affair; a story, which they endeavoured by bribery and every other mean method to propagate as much as they could; and accordingly St. Matthew tells us, Mat 28:15 that this idle tale was commonly reported among the Jews, even so long after the ascension of our Lord as when he wrote his Gospel. Justin Martyr informs us, that the Jews sent a rescript or embassy to their brethren of the dispersion, and theirconverts all over the globe, affirming this very thing; and Tertullian likewise says as much. To furnish the Jewish converts with an answer to this absurd story so industriously propagated among their unbelieving brethren, and supported by the authority of the chief priests and elders, this Evangelist relates at large the history of the guarding the sepulchre, the earthquake, the descent of the angel, his rolling away the stone, and the fright of the soldiers at his appearance: and indeed, by comparing this relation with the report given out by the soldiers, it will easily appear on which side the truth lay. For as there is nothing in the miraculous resurrection of our Lord, so repugnant to reason and probability, as that the disciples should be able to roll awaythe stone which closed the mouth of the sepulchre, and carry away the body of Jesus unperceived by the soldiers, who were set there on purpose to guard against such an attempt; so it is also evident, that the particulars of the soldiers’ report were founded upon the circumstances of this history. In this report three things are asserted; viz. that the disciples stole the body,that they stole it in the night,and that they stole it while the guards were asleep.

That Jesus came out of the sepulchre before the rising of the sun St. Matthew informs us: who says, that the earthquake, &c. happened at the time when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary set out to take a view of the sepulchre, which was just as the day began to break. This fact was undoubtedly too notorious for the chief priests to venture at falsifying it, and was besides favourable to the two other articles: this therefore they admitted; and, taking the hint from what the soldiers told them, of their having been cast into a swoon or trance, and becoming like dead men at the appearance of the angel, and consequently, not having seen our Saviour come out of the sepulchre, they took the hint, we say, of framing these two last-mentioned articles from that circumstance related by St. Matthew, of the keepers shaking and becoming like dead menupon the sight of the angel;for throughout this whole history there was no other besides this, upon which they could prevaricate and dispute. The stone was rolled away from the sepulchre, and the body was gone; this the chief priests were to account for, without allowing that Jesus was risen from the dead. The disciples, they said, stoleit away. What! while the guards were there? Yes; the guards were asleep. With this answer they knew many would be satisfied, without inquiring any farther into the matter: but they could not expect that every body would be contented; especially as they had reason to apprehend, that although the soldiers, who had taken their money, might be faithful to them,keep their secret, and attest the story which they had framed for them, yet the truth might come out by means of those whom they had not bribed; for St. Matthew says, Mat 28:11. “Some of the watch went into the city, and shewed” &c. Some therefore remained behind, who probably had no share of the money which the chief priests gave to the soldiers; or, if they had, in all likelihood it came too late: they had already divulged the truth, as well from the eagerness which all men naturally have to tell any thing wonderful, as from a desire of justifying themselves for having quitted their post. The chief priests therefore were to guard against this event also; in order to which nothing could be more effectual than to counter-work the evidence of one part of the soldiers, by putting into the mouths of others of them a story, which, without directly contradicting the facts, might yet tend to overthrow the only conclusion which the disciples of Jesus would endeavour to draw from them, and which they were so much concerned to discredit; viz. That Jesus was risen from the dead. For if the disciples and partizans of Jesus, informed by some of the soldiers of the several circumstances related in St. Matthew, should urge these miraculous events as so many proofs of the resurrection of their Master, the unbelieving Jews were, by the testimony of those suborned witnesses, instructed to answer that the earthquake and angel were illusions and dreams,that the soldiers had honestly confessed that they were asleep, though some of them, to screen themselves from the shame or punishment that such a breach of duty deserved, pretended they were frightened into a swoon or trance by an extraordinary appearance, which they never saw, or saw only in a dream;that, while they slept, the disciples came and stole the body; for none of the soldiers, not even those who saw most, pretend to have seen Jesus come out of the sepulchre;they were all equallyignorant by what means the body was removed;when they awaked, it was missing;and it was more likely that the disciples should have stolen it away, than that an impostor should rise from the dead. This story is founded entirely upon the circumstance of the soldiers not having seen Jesus come out of the sepulchre; a circumstance, that even those who told the real truth could not contradict, though they accounted for it in a different manner, by saying that they were frightened into a swoon or trance at the sight of a terrible apparition, which came and rolled away the stone, and sat upon it. But this fact the chief priests thought not prudent to allow, as favouring too muchthe opinion of Christ’s being risen from the dead; neither did they reject it intirely, because they intended to turn it to their own advantage; and therefore, denying every thing that was miraculous, they construed this swoon or trance into a sleep, and, with a large sum of money and promises of impunity, hired the soldiers to confess a crime, and, by taking shame to themselves, to cover them from confusion. The guards say, that they were asleep, and that the disciples in the mean time stole away the body: but how came they to be so punctual in relating what had happened when they were asleep? What induced them to believe that the body was stolenat all? What, that it was stolen by the disciples, since, by their own confession, they were asleep, and saw nothing,saw nobody? as this story has no evidence to support it, so neither has it any probability. The disciples were ignorant men, full of the popular prejudices and superstitions of their country; and is it likely that such men should engage in so desperate a design as to steal away the body in opposition to the combined power of the Jews and Romans? What could tempt them to do it? What good could the dead body do to them? Or if it could have done them any, what hope had they to succeed in the attempt? A dead body requires many hands to move it; the great stone at the mouth of the sepulchre was to be removed, which could not be done silently, or by men walking on tiptoes to prevent discovery; so that if the guards had really been asleep, yet there was no encouragement to go on in this enterprize; for it is hardly possible to suppose, but that rolling away the stone, moving the body, and the hurry and confusion in carrying it off, must have awakened them. But supposing the thing practicable, yet the attempt was such as thedisciples, consistently with their national prejudices, could not undertake. They continued all their Master’s life-time to expect to see him a temporal prince, and they had the same expectations after his death. Consider now their case; their Master was dead, and they are to contrive to steal away his body; for what? Did they expect to make a king of the dead body, if they could get it? or, did they think, if they had it, they could raise it again? This is in all views absurd. It is not to be imagined that none but the disciples of Jesus visited the sepulchre that day. The story told by the soldiers undoubtedly soon spread all over Jerusalem; and bare curiosity,without any other motive, was surely sufficient to carry numbers to survey the scene of so astonishing an event:a sepulchre hewn out of a rock, closed with a vast stone, committed to a guard of Roman soldiers, notwithstanding all these precautions, opened, as one part of the soldiers reported, by an angel; as others said, by the disciples of Jesus; who stole away the body, which in effect was missing. There two different and irreconcileable reports must have likewise induced others to go and consider upon the spot, by examining into the nature and situation of the sepulchre, and the probability of that report which charged the disciples with having stolen away the body: for as, upon that supposition, none but human means are said to be employed, to know whether those means were proportioned to the effects ascribed to them, it was necessary to compare what was done with the manner in which it was to be performed. And upon such an examination, it must have appeared to every considerate man, if not impossible, at least improbable in the highest degree, for the disciples of Jesus to have stolen his body away, while the guards were at their posts. For supposing the disciples to be the reverse of what they were,bold, enterprizing, cunning impostors, and capable of making so hazardous an attempt; can it also be supposed, that a company of Roman soldiers, trained up under the strictest discipline, and placed there but the evening before, should be all asleep at the same time, and all sleep to soundly and so long as not to be awakened, either by the rolling away of thestone, which must certainly have been very large, or by the carrying off of the body? the former of which required a great number of hands, and the latter must have appeared to have been done with some deliberation, since the linen cloths in which the body was wrapped, and the napkin that wasabout the head, were found folded up and laid in different parts of the sepulchre? The sepulchre was hewed or hollowed out of the solid rock, and consequently must have been entered by that only passage which was closed up by a large stone and guarded by a band of Roman soldiers. These several circumstances, duly attended to, were of themselves sufficient to invalidate the testimony of those soldiers who pretended that the disciples stole away the body. But they were, on the other hand, very strong arguments for the credibility of that account in which all the rest at first agreed. For in this relation a cause is assigned proportionable to all the effects; effects, which, as they were visible and notorious as well as extraordinary, could not fail of exciting the natural curiosity of mankind, to inquire by what means they were brought about. The solution is easy and full;for the angel descended, &c. Mat 28:2. This accounts for the terror of the soldiers, their deserting their post, and their precipitate flight into the city; for the stone’s being rolled away from the mouth of the sepulchre, even while it was surrounded by a Roman guard; for the sepulchral linen being left in the grave folded up, and lying in different places; and for the body’s being missing. See West on the Resurrect. p. 16, &c. Sherlock’s Trial of the Witnesses, p. 43, &c. and Ditton on the Resurrection. Instead of large money, Mat 28:12 some read, a large sum of money.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Mat 28:11 . .] but while they were going away , to convey the intelligence to the disciples, Mat 28:10 . While, therefore, the women are still on their way, the soldiers in question repair to the city and report to the high priests what had happened.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

SECOND SECTION
JUDAISM, AND ITS TALE; OR, THE IMPORTENT END OF THE OLD WORLD

Mat 28:11-15

11Now when [as] they [the women] were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto [told]25 the chief priests all the things that were done. 12And when they [the high-priests] were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel,26 they gave large [much]27 money unto the soldiers, 13Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. 14And if this come to the governors ears,28 we will persuade him, and secure you [make you secure, free of care or danger, ]29 15So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day [i. e., the time of the composition of this Gospel].30

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Mat 28:11. As they were going.The Evangelist does not seek to show that the soldiers arrived in the city before the women, but only that, contemporaneously, a second account reached the city,that one message was borne to the friends, and another to the enemies.

Mat 28:12. And had taken counsel.This is the last session of the Sanhedrin, so exacting of reverence, which is recorded by Matthew, and its last decision. It is a very significant transaction, which gives us a perfect revelation, prospectively, of the post-Christian, unbelieving Judaism. Some have considered this very disgraceful decision of the council to be improbable. But, standing as they did upon the brink of moral destruction and condemnation, this improbability becomes the most awful reality. Still, we are not compelled by our text to believe that they held the meeting for the express purpose of bribing the guards: that was merely a result of their council, and of their deliberations. Probably the matter was handed over to a commission, to be examined into and disposed of; that is, the council left the matter in the hands of the high-priests, agreeing secretly with their designs.

Much money.Increased bribes, as compared with the former bribery, that of Judas: 1. The bribery in this case was in consequence of a resolution of the Sanhedrin. 2. The bribery by means of large sums of money, contrasts strongly with the thirty pieces which Judas received. 3. The bribery of poor Gentiles, and these Roman soldiers, who were seduced into a breach of discipline and into lies, which might have cost their lives; and with this were connected self-humiliation and self-abandonment on the part of the Sanhedrin before these very Gentiles. 4. The formal resolution, which was aimed, though indirectly, at the corruption of the soldiers, was the culmination of that guilt to which they had subjected themselves in accepting the willing and volunteered treachery of Judas. The whole account expresses distinctly the extreme and painful embarrassment of the chief council. They imagined that by means of thirty pieces of silver they had freed themselves of Judas; but now they begin first to experience the far greater danger to which the crucified and buried Saviour exposed them.

Mat 28:13. Stole Him away while we slept.In addition to all the judgments of impotency, embarrassment, and rejection, they are now subjected to the judgment of stupidity. The soldiers are to have been asleep, and yet to have seen thieves, and known that they were disciples! Grotius: . [This Satanic lie carries its condemnation on the face. If the soldiers were asleep, they could not discover the thieves, nor would they have proclaimed their military crime; if they, or even a few of them, were awake, they ought to have prevented the theft; it is very improbable that all the soldiers should have been asleep at once; it is equally improbable that a few timid disciples should attempt to steal their Masters body from a grave closed by a stone, officially sealed and guarded by soldiers, nor could they do it without awakening the guard, if asleep. But all these improbabilities are by no means an argument against the truthfulness of the narrative: for, if men obstinately refuse to believe the truth, God sends them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, 2Th 2:11. With this agrees the old heathen adage: Whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad,which is constantly exemplified in history. Infatuation is a divine judgment, and the consequence of desertion by God. Among the Jews this lie finds credence to this day, as it did at the time of the composition of the Gospel of Matthew, and in the second and third centuries, according to the testimonies of Justin Martyr and Tertullian.P. S.]

Mat 28:14. And if this come to the governors ears.Coram procuratore. Meyer, following Erasmus, interprets this in a judicial sense: When an examination shall be held before Pilate.31 But in that case, the mediation would come too late, because Pilate, according to military discipline, must have inflicted the penalty, if such a criminal violation of duty had been openly acknowledged. Accordingly, most commentators interpret, When this rumor shall reach the governor, be repeated unto him. Then the danger became imminent; but, according to this assurance, it would have been already removed.This was undoubtedly an excuse highly dangerous for the soldiers (see Act 12:19), and the high-priests could by no means be sure of the result, although they might be ready to give to the avaricious and corrupt Pilate a large bribe. The hierarchical spirit, which here reaches its climax, uses the Roman soldiers merely as tools to effect its own ends, as it had previously employed Judas; and was again fully prepared to let the despised instruments perish, when the work was finished.We will persuade him, . An ironical euphemism, indicating the means of persuasion. This was the manner in which they will keep the soldiers free of care and danger.

Mat 28:15. This saying, .This does not refer to the entire account (Grotius, Paulus), but to the lying statement (Mat 28:13), voluntarily adopted by these soldiers, that the body of Jesus had been stolen by His disciples (de Wette, Meyer). Upon the doubts regarding the narrative itself, which Stroth maintained to be an interpolation, consult de Wette and Meyer. Among the opponents of the truth of the passage, are Paulus, Strauss, Weisse, Meyer; among the supporters, Hug, Kuinoel, Hoffmann, Krabbe, Ebrard, etc. Olshausen adopts a modified view, that the Sanhedrin did not act in a formal manner, but that Caiaphas arranged the matter privately. The most plausible arguments which de Wette brings forward against the credibility of the narrative, were already disposed of in the Exegetical Notes on Mat 27:66 (p. 537). The objection that the Sanhedrin, in which sat men like Gamaliel, could not have so lost its sense of duty and dignity as to adopt so unworthy a resolution, rests entirely upon a subjective view of the worthiness of the council.32 We have already learned from the history of the crucifixion, that it was a Jewish custom to employ bad means to effect the ends of the hierarchy, and to deal with the despised Gentiles as mere tools, who were to be used and then treated with contempt. The existence of this saying among the Jews is acknowledged. See the quotations which Grotius gives out of Justin, from which we learn that the Pharisees spread the report among the people by appointed messengers; and also out of Tertullian. The Talmudic tract, Toledoth Jeschu.33 That the Evangelist has here communicated to us the prototype of the Talmud, and the Christ-hating Judaism, is a proof of his deep insight into the significance of the facts, and a testimony unto the consistent character of his Gospel.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Some of the watch.The other guards appear to have been so overcome, so prostrated by the phenomena of the resurrection, as to have recognized the matter as settled, the attempt of the chief council as futile, and, without further delay, to have returned to their military station. Only a part so far overcomes the influence as to go and give a report, probably in hopes of having a reward promised to them, and ready to be bribed. Those mercenary soldiers are a type of all trencher-soldiers, who must supply the hierarchy with power to compensate for their want of spiritual might. The nobler soldier, like the independent state, will not allow it even to be supposed that he will yield himself up as a tool to the hierarchy.

2. The intensified heathenism of the disbelieving Judaism begins with disbelief regarding the resurrection of Jesus, and adopts at once a characteristic trait of heathenism, by forming a dark tradition. But the myth of the chief council is worse than the myths of heathenism. The latter, according to their bright side, point to Christ; but the lie of the Sanhedrin forms the dark contrast to the facts of light recorded in the Gospels. The myths of the heathen world are the seed of its culture;34 the lying myth of unbelieving Judaism is the fruit of its obduracy.

3. Matthew, with prophetic spirit, has preserved this fact, the unmistakable germ from which sprang the Talmud, along with which Judaism, that held in the Old Testament fast by the path of faith and repelled all the myths of the heathen world, now manifests itself in its unbelief as the most intensified heathenism; resorting to the most debased of all myths, and endeavoring to destroy the evangelical history by a false exegesis of the Old Testament, by false traditions concerning facts of Gospel history, and by a perversion of the Old Testament into a system of absolute legalism and formalism. Hence it is, that in the following section this type of the Talmud is succeeded by the type of the New Testament.
4. It is indubitable that our narrative is the history of the most extreme self-abasement of the chief council, but is not the less worthy of belief. This is the perfection of the judgment of self-abandonment, under which the council had flung itself. Upon the special points of this self-rejection, see the Exegetical Notes.

5. The hierarchical falsification of the history of the resurrection is the beginning of the hierarchical and antievangelical falsifications of history. The Ebionitic Apocrypha, the donatio Constantini, the pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, etc.

6. Christs resurrection, according to Gods counsel, officially announced to the civil authorities, and to the hierarchy; and hence the evangelical faith, as belief in the resurrection, is independent and free.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Heathen guards, the messengers whom God had ordained to announce the resurrection unto the chief council.Despairing sinners (Judas, the guards), the usual preachers of repentance, sent unto the hypocritical, hierarchical powers.The unbelief of the chief council is bold enough to impart its own obduracy to affrighted Gentile hearts.Money and bribery, the A and (the beginning and the end) of the salvation which remained with the council.Bribery of every kind is the principal lever of all antichristian systems: 1. Bribery by money, 2. by honors.The utter incertitude of the Sanhedrin is clearly manifested by their last decision.The perfect overthrow which moral self-destruction caused to follow the supposed triumph of their faith.The imagination of blinded spirits, as though they could debase the grandest facts of heaven into the meanest stories (scandala) of earth.The fruitless lies, which are imagined capable of converting the most glorious facts into a deceptive myth.The criticism passed in the dark Jewish lane, upon the facts of Gospel history which took place upon the broad, open highway of the world.This is the course which all the enemies of Christian truth must pursue, because of the concealed self-contradictions: 1. They imagine the most absurd fables, to destroy the most glorious miracle; 2. they imagine the most senseless absurdity, to destroy what is full of meaning and clear to the soul; 3. they imagine what is mean, wicked, diabolical, to destroy what is sacred.The latest criticism in the Jewish Talmud, and the Talmud in the latest works of criticism.How the hierarchy has corrupted even the soldiers honor.Slander sneaks along in its impotent path, in pursuit of the Gospel rushing along its winged course: 1. Slander of Christ; 2. of the disciples; 3. of early Christendom; 4. of the Reformation, and so forth.How Judaism and heathenism unite to oppose Christianity.How the hierarchy leagues with the dissolute to battle against the faith.The inhabitants of hell try to make themselves believe that heaven has been built up by the devices of hell.God allowed the work of shame to run its wretched course, because the message of the resurrection was not intended to be extended in the form of worldly, but of heavenly certainty, by heavenly agencies.Powerless as are such attempts, as concerns the Lord, they succeed in destroying many souls.Thus has the Talmud, the production of the legalistic spirit of Judaism, placed itself between the poor Jew and his Christ, as a ruinous phantom. So too does the spirit of legalism endeavor to build up a wall of separation between the poor Christian and his Christ.It is only the preaching of the Gospel which can overcome the enmity to the Gospel.The more boldly the opposition advances, let the word ring out the clearer.

The Present Section considered in connection with the following Evangelical Narrative.The twofold development of the Old Testament: 1. The false continuation of the Talmud. 2. The true continuation in the New Testament.The great revolution in the life of Christ: 1. The apparent triumph of His foes becomes their most disgraceful defeat. 2. The apparent defeat of the Lord becomes His most glorious triumph.The grand development of Christianity and its dark counter-picture: 1. The fleeing soldiers, the heroic women. 2. The great council, and its decision; Christ upon the mountain, and His sermon. 3. The empty expectations of Judaism, and the actual testimony afforded by the Church of Christ.The perfect impotence of the opponents, and the omnipotence of Christ in heaven and upon earth.

Starke:Nova Bibl. Tub.: As divine wisdom has decreed, unto even the bitterest foes and persecutors of Jesus must the truth be told by their own beloved confidantes.The world takes money, and acts as she is taught, against her better knowledge and her conscience, 1Ti 6:10; 2Pe 2:13; 2Pe 2:15.No compacts prevail against the Lord.The devil seeks, where not by force and with boldness, still with lies and blasphemy, to oppose the kingdom and the life of Christ.Money has great power, but thou and thy money shall perish together, Act 8:20.Manifest lies require no refutation; they refute themselves.Quesnel: What a misfortune, that a man will turn to lies to cover his sin, rather than unto repentance for forgiveness!Zeisius: The lie, no matter how absurd, is believed rather than the truth, especially by the low and godless masses.Murder and lies, the devils weapons, Joh 8:44.

Lisco:Hate and wickedness incite Christs enemies to bribe the soldiers; low avarice makes them ready to free themselves from the crime, of a neglect of duty by availing themselves of a convenient lie.

Heubner:Contrast between this account and the preceding: 1. There truth; here lies. 2. There the glorified Hero in His perfect purity; here the terrified priesthood, affrighted because of its crime. 3. There, among the disciples, overmastering joy; here anguishing terror. 4. There, willing, unpaid servants of truth; here bribed servants of falsehood.Injustice brings a man to humiliation, shame, before the instruments of his sin: he resigns himself to them, must fear them, and they laugh him to scorn.Such people have never a clean mouth. The state of things might have been learned by the Apostles from secret friends and adherents among the priests, from several persons, perchance from converted soldiers.

Braune:As the friends heard from their own, so the foes from their own, the news of the resurrection.What revelation will be made on the day of judgment35 of what money can effect!Lies find admission, but they flee before the truth. Let no one, accordingly, be affrighted for what men can do; the Lords counsel stands fast.But let no one imagine that he must take in hand to destroy the attempts of another; leave that to the Lord.

Footnotes:

[25]Mat 28:11.[Comp. Critical Note No. 6 on Mat 28:8. Others prefer reported to.P. S.]

[26]Mat 28:12.[Or more literally: having assembledand taken counsel, So Conant and the N. T. of the Am. Bible Union.P. S.]

[27]Mat 28:12.[Wiclif, Scrivener, Conant. etc., render , much money, instead of large money, which dates from Tyndale, Coverdale, Cranmer, etc. The Rhemish N. T. has: a large sum of money. De Wette, Lange, and Ewald reichlich Geld; Luther: Gelds genug; van Ess and other German Versions: viel Geld.P. S.]

[28]Mat 28:14[Or: be borne witness of before the governor; an official or judicial hearing is intended; comp. for a similar use of Act 24:19-20; Act 25:9; Act 25:12; Act 25:26; Act 26:2; 1Co 6:1; 1Ti 5:19; 1Ti 6:13. But compare the remarks of Dr. Lange in the Exeg. Notes. Lachmann and Tregelles read: (instead of ) , if this shall be heard by the governor, following the Vatican Codex (B.), Codex Beza (D.), and the oldest Versions (Itale and Vulgata: si hoc auditum fuerit a prside). But Meyer and Lange regard this as a mistaken explanation of , which is sustained by the majority of authorities. Conant, in his Version, adopts the reading , but the N. T. of the Am. Bible Union, which otherwise follows his Version closely, has here: before the governor. Scrivener takes no notice of this verse.P. S.]

[29]Mat 28:14[Lange: sorgenfrei, free of care; Meyer: sorgenfrei im objectiven Sinne, i. e., frei von Gefahr und Plackereien; Tyndale 1.: make you safe; Coverdale: ye shall be safe; Tyndale 2., Cranmer, Genevan Bible, Scrivener: save you harmless; Bishops B., very improperly: make you careless; Conant and others: make you secure.P. S.]

[30]Mat 28:15.Lachmann and Tischendorf [not in his edition of 1859] add (day) after , which is supported by Codd. B., D., L., al. [Tischendorf, in the edition of 1859, says: ubi a paucis tantum testibus prbetur, potius illatum quam verum esse statuendum est, but the fact that Matthew in two other passages (Mat 11:23; Mat 27:8) uses without makes the insertion in this case less probable than the omission. Meyer and Alford likewise defend it here.P. S.]

[31][Erasmus: Si res apud illum judicem agatur. Se also Alford. Comp. my Critical Note No. 4 above.P. S.]

[32][Comp. the sharp reply of Ebrard to this objection of Strauss: What pious and conscientious men the Sanhedrists all at once become under the magic hands of Mr. Dr. Strauss! All the scattered Christians, these humble and quiet men, must, without any cause whatever, have devised and believed a palpable lie: but the murderers of Jesus were altogether too good to devise for the Roman soldiers a falsehood that had become for them a necessity!P. S.]

[33][This book gives an expansion of this lie of the Jews.P S.]

[34][In German: Der Same ihrer Kultur, which the Edinb. edition turns into the germ of its worship, as if Lange had written: ihres Kultus.P. S.]

[35][The Edinb. edition mistranslates every day we see, etc.; mistaking the German: jener Tag (remember: Dies in, dies illa) for jeder Tag.P. S.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

“Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. (12) And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, (13) Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. (14) And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. (15) So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.”

I refer the Reader to what was observed in the preceding Chapter, on the subject of those verses. See Mat 27:62 to the end.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 95

Prayer

Almighty God, the darkness and the light are both alike unto thee: thou dost not slumber nor dost thou sleep, nor are thine eyelids weary and heavy. Thou dost cast the horseman into a deep sleep, and in the time of his slumber thou dost work out the great wonders of thy name, yea thou dost blind men with light and cause the day to be unto them as the night, and then thou dost send unto them revelations and messages from heaven. In our day there are twelve hours, but one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years in thy sight are but as one day. We cannot measure thy going, we are surprised and overtaken by sleep; thou dost punctuate our time with nights and hours of forgetfulness, so that we cannot piece together in one line all the days and hours that we breathe. Thou only art sleepless, thou alone dost not slumber, the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, and there is nothing hidden from the penetration of thy glance.

We own before thee our wickedness, and we ask thee not to look upon it with the eyes of judgment, but to look upon it with the eyes of pity and compassion. Thou seest all things, and yet thou dost remember that we are but dust, or as a wind that cometh for a little time and then passeth away. In wrath thou dost remember mercy, thine anger is kept back by thy love, thy righteousness does not strike us with death, because thy compassion pleads for the life which we have forfeited.

We come before thee with praises, with songs innumerable, ay, and sweet, full of the heart’s tenderest tones, because of thy continual lovingkindness and the mercy which is to usward everlasting. We find thy mercy always near at hand: sometimes we have to seek for thy judgments, but thy compassions shine in all the light of the day and in all the radiance of the night. We live because thou dost love us; we do not deserve our life, but thou dost spare it unto us as another opportunity to come to thee and be renewed by thy Spirit and by thy grace.

Surely thou dost delight in the man whom thou hast made, otherwise thou wouldst cut him down as with a sword and cast out his name from thy recollection but thou dost spare him and watch him, with choice bread dost thou nourish him, and thou dost find for him water in the wilderness, and thou hast promised him growth and joy and rest in heaven. Thou hast indeed poured out thy heart’s love as wine to be drunk by the children of men. How great is thy love, how tender is thy pity, how incessant thy concern for the sons of men. We see this in the cross, we feel it in every beat of the heart of Christ, we behold it in all the revelation of the atoning ministry of the Son of God. In him we live, in him is our rest, in him is the spring of our joy, in him, through him, and by him alone do we live and move and have our being, and is our life lighted with a celestial hope.

We humbly pray thee to give us energy to meet all the demands that are made upon our life. Give us the responsive spirit which quickly, with all the joyous obedience of love, answers every appeal of thine. May we render thee no reluctant homage, but the homage of loving hearts, eager to pray, to adore, to sing, and to serve. Thus may our whole life be a sacrifice unto the Lord, heaven-ascending, sweet-smelling, acceptable unto God, that thou mayest yet have joy in the child of thine own creation.

Teach us how frail is our life upon the earth, how brief our time and how certain our dissolution. May we learn lessons from those that are round about us in pain, in weakness, in poverty and in distress, and whilst we are thankful that we are not reduced to the extremities of their condition, may we remember that in thy providence we too must lay down our life and die. May we therefore give our hearts unto wisdom, with all industry and patience; may we serve every hour of the appointed time, and may we know the joy of those servants who being always ready can hardly be surprised by their Lord’s coming.

Speak to those who are ill at ease, and cheer them with secret solaces from heaven. Save those that are helpless, and show them how in the extremity of weakness thou dost magnify thy gracious strength. Visit all who today need thee at home, because the house is dark, or empty, or filled with intolerable sadness. Be thou the Physician at home, and the preacher of thine own gospel to those who cannot come to thy church. Send a plentiful rain upon thine inheritance and refresh and bless every root which thou hast planted.

Care for our little ones, make their infancy the reason of thy tenderness, and because they are so little do thou bow thyself down to take them up, and in all such condescensions of love we shall see the mystery of our own redemption, and know how true it is that we are not saved by works, but by the grace of God. Amen.

Mat 28:11-20

11. Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city (related by Matthew only), and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.

12. And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,

13. Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.

14. And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.

15. So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

16. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a ( the) mountain where Jesus had appointed them.

17. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.

18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given (all authority was given) unto me in heaven and in earth.

19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations (make disciples of all the heathen), baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway (all the days), even unto the end of the world (the age). Amen.

The Final Commission

It may be a little fanciful, but I would ask you to remember that this text consists of ten verses, and further to note that the ten verses are equally divided, and may therefore be said to constitute, in point of length, two equal but very different programmes. It may assist your imagination, and contribute to your enjoyment of the exposition, if you will suppose yourselves to be holding one programme in the one hand and the other programme in the other. The one is the programme of the enemies of Christ, the other is the programme of Christ himself, and upon the moral difference of those two programmes I risk the whole Christian controversy! In studying the first five verses we shall see what the enemies did: when we come to the second five verses we shall see what Jesus Christ did, and let me repeat that upon the difference of moral lone, as between those two policies or purposes, I would risk every claim and every appeal coming under, the title of Christian.

Our attention then is to be fixed upon a moral difference. Unusual circumstances have transpired, and the question to be considered and answered by us is What different effects were produced by those unparalleled events? Circumstances develop the moral nature of men: suddenly placed in new relations, the true nature of the man asserts itself. There has been no time for trimming, for preparation, for arrangement of a calculating kind; suddenly, like thunder at midnight, the men on both sides have been awakened to a new consciousness, and the question which we have now to put is What was the moral complexion and tone and purpose of that new condition of affairs? You have the one programme in your right hand, you have the other programme in your left hand look on this picture and on this, and upon the moral difference of the two fear not, Christian believers, to rest and risk the whole truth concerning the kingdom of heaven upon the earth. Let us see, then, how the case stands in detail.

We have first of all, on the part of the watch and those with whom they communicated, confusion. The mind is unbalanced, events have occurred for which there was no adequate intellectual or moral preparation so one is saying one thing, and another another, and there is collision between the statements, and confusion is the word which best describes the condition of the mind of every speaker in that unhallowed communication. What was then to be done? First of all there was bribery, the money power was brought to bear upon those who had some part to play in the transaction. For money you can buy silence, for money you can procure false testimony, for money you can make the next step in your life comparatively easy. Then there were lies. You never find a single sin. Sin does not dwell, so to speak, in solitary places and alone; sin is no hermit, sin means progeny, multitude, allies, confederates of every name and every colour. “Say ye, His disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept.” Have a short and simple message to deliver, and stick to it. Put your answer into words of one syllable, which the shallowest head can remember, and having said your lesson over to yourself a few times, it will become familiar to you, and when you are asked a question, speak it, and stand by it.

But that very simple answer incriminated the very men who used it! For observe, they were to confess that they had themselves slept. Why, they had slept all the day before in order to be ready for the sleeplessness of the night on which they were appointed to watch the sealed tomb! But they did not see that they were called upon to make criminals of themselves whilst they were trying to bear false witness against others. It was necessary, to give any colour of probability to their absurd and criminal statement, that they should confess themselves to have been unfaithful to their trust. How difficult it is to be consistently bad! How all but impossible so to patch lies together that they will hold up like a piece of solid masonry, and not slip out here and there and let the roof tumble upon all that they had supposed themselves to have securely built. All stories have to be rehearsed and recast and calculated and tested here and there, and have to be approved by men of cunning and subtle mind, and then they are sent away to make the best they can of such conditions as may daily arise.

Followers and speakers and lovers of truth have no arrangements to make. They may contradict one another in verbal statement, there may be a difference as to the recollection of dates, there may be some apparent direct contradiction as to the fact, now and again, but all can be cleared up and reconciled and settled into self-consistent harmony, without arrangement, collusion, or preparation of any kind. Men are not afraid to own that they were mistaken, to recall a statement, to amend a particular, because truth is always proverbially audacious in its fearlessness. It is not mere boldness, it is sublimely religious courage which upholds truth in all the criticism and cross-examination to which it is subjected.

The men who can tell lies about themselves, can easily tell lies about others, and therefore they engage to say that the disciples came by night and stole him away. The liar takes away the character of other men easily, because he has first taken away his own. He who familiarizes himself with suicide of a moral kind falls easily into murder of a moral nature. His hand is in it, he is to the manner accustomed, if not born. Expect no justice from the liar. Do not imagine that the liar will become a truthful man on purpose to serve your interests and to promote your good fortune and happy progress. The liar will use you, the false man will tear down all that is sacred in your name, tender in your family, and holy in your household. Falsehood is bad, through and through; to it there is nothing sacred; it owns no altar, it respects no oath, it abides by no sacramental bond. It will drink to your health, and stab you under the fifth rib; it will smile upon you, and plunder not your property but your soul your soul! Do not therefore let us give way to the ever-damaging sophism that a man may speak lies in one direction and be quite truthful in another. There are no such anomalies in God’s moral creation. He who can deliberately tell one lie, will tell a thousand if he has anything to gain by the cataract of falsehoods.

Then was there truculence. They took the money and did as they were told. They had a part to play, they were paid actors, they were professional liars, they had been feed to swear and work on the other side.

This then is the programme of the enemy. I find nothing noble in it, I find nothing massively sensible about it, I never saw a pack of men so little, mean-minded, sour-hearted, wicked, vile, bad and there is no genius in their craft. Never did men go out into the world with so palpably absurd an account of a surprising event. Read the words again, and tell me if we ourselves, were we evilly disposed, could not have struck out something more ingeniously happy than this “Say ye, His disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept.” How could the men look at themselves and look at one another, after perpetrating a piece of contemptible folly like that? How could they ever shake hands one with the other in anything approaching trustful fellowship? How ever could they be sent out on any errand again so long as their life lasted, when they were capable of submitting to so contemptible a humiliation as to be told to say that the disciples outwitted them? Taking their own account of it, the disciples were sharper than they were. Taking the case exactly as they put it, they made fools of themselves as well as criminals. They had a charge, they were armed, the stone rolled to the door of the sepulchre was a sealed stone, and yet they said, for money’s sake, that disciples without arms and without strategical power and without resources, came and played a successful trick upon them whilst they were asleep!

The enemy has never got beyond this programme. The enemies of Christianity today are working according to this time-bill. They start from this point, take this journey, and arrive at this destination. The genius of anti-Christian argument has never published another programme than the one which is now before us. The words may have been altered, a little re-arrangement of sentences may have taken place, some difference may have been made in the punctuation, but in substance, in moral compass, in intellectual dignity, the programme of eighteen hundred years ago is the programme of anti-Christians this day.

Let us now look at the programme in the other hand, which is the programme of Jesus Christ and his disciples. The eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them the familiar mountain, the grand old hill-church, the typical place! No dark corner, screened off for dark uses, but a mountain caught by the great light of heaven at every point of its rugged majesty. Not into a cavern, not into a fissure of a rock, not into the depths of some inaccessible forest, but into a MOUNTAIN. There is health already in these living lines.

And when Jesus came to them, what did he say? “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth: go ye therefore and teach.” Who would not rather take this programme as his life-guide? Listen to the difference of the moral tone. On the one hand “Say ye, His disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept.” On the other, Jesus says, “Go ye therefore,” that is, because I have all power in heaven and on earth, “and TEACH.” In Christianity, when allowed to speak for itself, you always hear a tone of high spiritual robustness. Christianity is a lesson, a message, and has to be taught, and teachers are appointed of God who are qualified by his Spirit and grace to utter the lesson and explain alike its patent and its hidden eloquence.

And observe how this teaching is bounded. It is only bounded by ” all nations.” This is the beneficence of Christianity, it will not teach a few, it will not be dwarfed into a sect, it will not be bricked up within given boundaries, and held there as the prisoner of any number of partialists; its wings were meant to flap in the firmament, and its voice loud and sweet enough to be heard all over the spaces, and to cause its gospel tone to fall like a revelation upon the ear of every listening man.

Compare the breadth of the one programme with the narrowness of the other; the breezy, fresh, mountain-like air of the one programme with the head-to-head, whispering, collusive, calculated programme of the enemy. Judge the policies of men by their moral tone. Beware of men who set traps for the catching of the unsuspecting, and have faith in those teachers who have a grand moral tone, and who exhibit in every breath and act and word a life worthy of the majesty which they can but imperfectly represent.

These are the two programmes which are before the world this very day. First of all, in the camp of the enemies, there are perplexities: they do not move along straight lines; for a time the road seems broad enough and open enough, and they get along for a mile or two with considerable speed, and then suddenly there is a gate in the road to which they have no key, or a deep place which they cannot fathom, and dare not attempt to leap. There are ugly facts, there are surprising events to be accounted for, there are cross lights that daze the vision, and cannot be exactly set in their astronomical centres. So the enemies of Christ have told a crooked story, or a lame one, or a short one and I have to ask you to fall asleep over many a mile of the road, or you never can pass that way. There are imperfect explanations: if you will forget the substantial and central thing to be explained and vindicated, then you may be content with certain superficial references, but when you come to vital questions, heart enquiries, when you need an answer to a question shooting itself out of the very centre and sanctuary of the soul, you will not get a satisfactory reply.

And many of those men who undertake to misrepresent the Christian cause, fall into this very matter of self crimination: they are content to say,” We were asleep, we had not insight enough, we are but imperfectly acquainted with that subject, we have not before us the necessary information;” in some form or other they will use the explanation, “We were asleep.” Christianity is never asleep, truth is never asleep, reality never sleeps, never slumbers; reality is always the same, with a simple, straightforward, graphic, yet oftentimes profound and mysterious tale to tell but the mystery is only as the sky to the earth, a necessary part of the complete economy of things, but heightening itself beyond the hands and eyes of impertinent enquirers.

In the case of the second programme, we see the best and wisest way of treating the first. No notice was taken of the plan of the enemy, no caution was given as to the craftiness of the men who were setting up a contradictory story, That is the wisdom of Christianity, not to be answering the enemy always, but to be telling its own tale, speaking its own gospel, walking its own way, healing the hearts wounded and cursed by sin. The Christian pulpit will become what it ought to be when it pays less attention to the men who hold by the first programme, and when it goes straight forward on its great evangelistic and missionary tour, of telling the world that there is balm in Gilead, and that there is a Physician there. Men are not healed by argument, men are not saved by happy tricks in controversy. I have no message to any man who is not desiring the message before I utter it. The gospel is an answer you must provide the question. The gospel does not come down, saying, “Let us start an argument,” the gospel is God’s answer to man’s necessity. Therefore go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature every creature will not hear it, every creature will not respond to it, but you will find out in every house and town and land and empire where those are who are waiting for the consolation of Israel, and who are asking a question to which there is no true answer but from the cross of Christ. And every man has work to do: Christianity starts men upon no little errands, Christianity has no merely short journeys for its propagandists to undertake. Every journey is a long one, though it may seem to be locally short; there is no stopping place on the line of Christian evangelists until the knowledge of the Lord spread itself over the globe as the waters overflow in infinite billows the channels of the deep.

And then behold the inspiration under which all this work has to be conducted. “Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the consummation of the age.” He does not send us out alone; he divides the burden; he shares the peril; he inspires our courage; he is a present Captain, always in the thick of the fight, and always so near that a whisper may reach him, or a glance of weariness and doubt bring from his radiant face a shining that shall be as the dawning of a new day. Do we realize a present Christ? Have we that acuteness and largeness of faith which can feel the Son of God at our very side? Do we see him in the breaking of the family bread, do we hear him in the movements of the events of the day that is passing over us, do we catch glimpses of him in many a strange providence, and are we quite sure, by the happy realizations of spiritual affection, that he is within the reach, yea, within the beating of our own hearts? If not, we have lost the original inspiration, we are repeating a lesson, not delivering a message; we are uttering a statement in letters, and not a cry from a sanctified and impassioned heart.

This is the programme of Christianity today. If the one programme has not changed, neither has the other. You will get into dangerous places if you change one line of the original programme of your Saviour and Founder, as a Christian Church. Christianity comes to few men as an argument; it may come to all men as a blessing. The light does not come as a puzzle in solar physics, it comes in cheering brilliance and warmth to do manifold good in nature and in life. Few men may be theologians, but all men may be Christians. Go with the opposition, and you will have to evade and arrange and manipulate so as to escape the difficulties of history and the pressure of immediate facts, but go with Christ, and you will teach and comfort and bless all nations. You may be weak in argument, but you may be mighty in prayer. The clever manager of words may outrun you in the race of eloquence, but when the heart is sad and the night of loneliness is without one star to break its infinite and intolerable monotony, then your comfort will be sought as men cry for water when they burn with thirst.

Christianity will find its best eloquence in its beneficence. To do good is to repel every enemy and to answer every sneer. I want us as Christians so to work, that men will be able to say, when they are tempted to abandon the church and leave Christian society, “We are poor men, illiterate men, uneloquent men; we cannot answer arguments; but the Christians of this neighbourhood have been kinder to us than any other people. We know not what you say when you utter long words and refer to historical difficulties, but the woman who sat up with our dying child was a woman who could pray. We do not understand your chronology and archology and your scientific penetrations and oppositions; you confuse us with such unfamiliar words; but in sorrow it is the Christian who calls at this house first, it is the Christian who stays longest, it is the Christian who speaks most sweetly, it is the Christian that puts into our minds the most elevating and soothing thoughts.” So long as Christianity can elicit testimony like that, all opposition against it is a worthless taunt, a mockery that has no message for the heart, a lie that turns black in the face whilst it utters its base message.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

11 Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.

Ver. 11. Some of the watch came into the city ] God would have the point of the resurrection well proven, for our better settlement, in so weighty a matter. The priests were unworthy to hear of it by an angel; they shall hear of it therefore by the profane soldiers, who came in to them much afraid, and thunder struck, as it were, and told them all. Now the confession of an adversary is held in law to be the most certain demonstration of the truth that can be.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

11 15. ] THE JEWISH AUTHORITIES BRIBE THE GUARDS TO GIVE A FALSE ACCOUNT OF THE RESURRECTION. Peculiar to Matthew .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

11. . . . ] While they were going.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament