“And behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the doorway, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his rainment white as snow. And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.” Matthew 28:2-4, KJV
Just put yourself there that morning, as you see, feel, and hear the sights and sounds of this supernatural event. It’s happening right before you and those with you as part of this Roman watch, which consisted of 8 men that were constantly together as the smallest unit in the Roman army. God came and entered back into the dead body of Jesus with a great explosion of creative power that had never before happened. We as humans do not understand supernatural phenomena and it frightens us.
These men were fearless, hard hearted, professional fighting men.Yet here they were shaking in their shoes, frightened so badly that they all fainted, and were overwhelmed by this encounter with the supernatural. These brave soldiers see the angel as he effortlessly rolls the stone and opens the tomb. Then he sits down on the stone and looks at them, and they fall to the ground as dead men. No one else was there to see Jesus rise, but rise he did, right in front of those who were supposed to prevent it. and it caused an earthquake as the natural meet the supernatural.
Matthew gives us a few hints of the power involved in chapter 27:52-53, “and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which splept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” These people were dead and buried, months or years before, but, as Jesus left Paradise he took with him those who were imprisoned there with him, Ephesians 4:8. Resurrection morning was a lot more powerful than we have been taught, as we have just read.
Now the tomb was empty, the seal of Rome was broken, and the stone was rolled away by one angel of the Lord. When these men woke up all is quiet and the tomb is open and empty. They are quite concerned as they had failed in their job to secure it, so they leave to go back to their unit. Along the way a few of them decided to report to the chief priest all that they had witnessed. This caused a lot of confusion to them but they still would not believe Jesus was alive. They decide to give the guards a large sum of money to keep it quiet.
They told the soldiers to say that they were asleep and the disciples came and removed the body while they slept. No noise, right? A large stone that rolled soundless, burning torches to light the night up, and still they slept? Sometimes fiction is easier to believe than the logic of truth. Anyway these soldiers agree to say it happened this way and spread the story that people excepted. Ironically, the very fact of these men being there assures us that the resurrection actually happened, by those who were placed there to prevent it from happening.
These chief priests knew that Jesus had said he would rise again after 3 days, even though his disciples apparently forgotten it (Matthew 27:63), and now they actually hear he has risen from these excited soldiers. But, they still won’t believe it and pay these men a large sum of money from the temple treasury, to tell a lie to cover it up. Mind you that this money was not theirs to use in just any way they see fit, but they did so anyway. The Bible says that this version of it was believed, and still is today by the Jewish people.
Then to add more to their lie they tell the soldiers that if Pilate hears of it, then they will intervene for them with him. My guess is that they will pay Pilate a bribe to let these men alone. Granted this was not a military matter to him, but it still was a pretty serious accusation of guilt for them. Seems the truth would have been easier to tell and believe. But this is the way it happened, and Jesus is still risen and alive forever more.
This is just the beginning of our story as told by the 4 Gospel writers and I will continue it in part 2, as there is much to explain from four different sources. The Bible tells us that it takes more than one witness to establish the truth, (2 Corinthians 13:1). We all see what we believe happened, but by two or more seeing the same thing gives us all the facts that really transpired. There is much to discuss about who saw what and when it happened.
I am torn about making this a two part story but it seems that people do not want to read long stories any more. Such a shame that the attention span of mankind has become so short. I will close this letter as usual with my exhorting you to remember, you will make it, just don’t give up. Make this Sunday special because it is the basis on which we establish our belief that Jesus is who he said he was and he is coming soon to take us home too. He is the Risen Lord of all. See you in part two as we study God’s word together.
In His Service As Kilted Priest
The Kilted Priest 