Guards Are Posted at the Tomb

Scripture: Matthew 27:62-66(NIV)

The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Devotional

“This last deception will be worse than the first.” Jesus had already been declared dead by professional executioners. A prominent member of the Sanhedrin collected His body and buried it in a tomb. A large stone blocked the entrance to the resting place.

But what if Jesus’ disciples managed to steal the body and falsely claim that He had risen from the dead? “This last deception will be worse than the first.” Seal the tomb. Post the guard. Take no chances. Keep the dead man dead.

Funny thing about death. It is so final. 1 Corinthians 15:26 calls death an enemy, taking life from us, once and for all. The Sadducees didn’t believe in the afterlife; Jesus would stay dead. The Pharisees believed in the afterlife, only for the righteous; Jesus would stay dead. The Roman authorities simply wanted political and social stability; Jesus would stay dead. Call it a conspiracy of convenience.

Friday night armed soldiers guarded the sealed tomb. All day Saturday, a new batch of guards took the post, securing the dead body of Jesus. And Sunday, from midnight to pre-dawn, fresh sentries separated death inside the tomb from life outside. It was as if the Pax Romana depended on the Son of God staying dead.

What they did not know is that Jesus already accomplished the work of God by His death on the cross, “so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

It was they who were deceiving themselves, thinking they could thwart the power of God with a few nails and a dark tomb. They speak for many people down through the ages. Way too many people dismiss the death of Jesus, thinking they can earn their way to heaven by good deeds (see the Pharisees’ belief mentioned above). All too often, we keep Jesus in the tomb, figuring we can make our way on our own.

Ahh, “This last deception will be worse than the first.”

Poem

Have You Ever Tried?

Have you ever tried
To hold the light
In a glass jar
All sealed up tight
On a bright sunny day
To hide it away
For opening at midnight?

Have you ever tried
To silence joy
In a melody
Voiced now deployed
From psalmantic praise
Already raised
From a heart in song employed?

Have you ever tried
To seal a tomb
And set a guard
A-nesting gloom
To keep Christ down
Within the ground
Which He himself created?

Podcast: Week 48

Sermon: Week 48

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