Jesus' Resurrection
Introduction
27:62–66. It is a little surprising that a group of unbelievers would remember Jesus’ prediction that He would rise again on the third day, while the believing disciples seemingly forgot. The very next day after His death, that is, on the Sabbath, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate and informed him of Jesus’ words. While they did not believe in Jesus (whom they blasphemously called that deceiver), they feared His disciples might come … steal the body, and attempt to fabricate a resurrection lie. If this were to happen, the deception would be worse than anything Jesus had accomplished in His life. The Resurrection was the one thing these leaders feared, so they suggested the tomb … be made secure until the third day.
Pilate agreed with their suggestion and ordered that a guard be sent to the tomb to make it as secure as possible. The Roman guard not only sealed the tomb (presumably with the official Roman seal and with a cord and wax, which if tampered with, could be detected) but also continued to keep a guard at the scene. Their presence made stealing the body impossible
11 While they were going, behold, some of athe guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, b‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this comes to cthe governor’s ears, we will dsatisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews eto this day.
28:11–15. While the women were running to find the disciples and tell them of the Resurrection, another group was moving rapidly to counteract the truth. Some of those who had been guarding the tomb overcame their fear, went into the city, and reported to the chief priests all that had transpired. It was imperative that the priests have an explanation to counter the truth. After deliberation the chief priests and elders … devised a plan. They gave the soldiers who had guarded the tomb a large sum of money and told them what to report to their superiors. The fabricated lie was that the disciples of Jesus had come during the night and had stolen away the body of Jesus while the soldiers were asleep. Such a report would not have been well received by the officials for a soldier who fell asleep on guard duty would be put to death (Acts 12:19). The Jewish leaders realized this as well, but promised to make things right with the superiors. When this was brought to the attention of the governor, they promised to satisfy him and keep the soldiers out of trouble. Such satisfaction obviously would involve the payment of another large sum of money. The soldiers took the money offered by the Jewish leaders and did as they were instructed.
Jesus’ closing “Great Commission” of his apostles seems to allude to Dan. 7:14. Jesus, whose favorite title for himself throughout the Gospel has been “Son of Man,” is given all authority on heaven and earth (Matt. 28:18), just as the Son of Man in Daniel’s vision received an identical universal authority. It is even possible that the trinitarian formula in 28:19 reflects a modification of the triad of Ancient of Days (God the Father), Son of Man (God the Son), and angels as God’s spiritual servants as the implied agents of the Son of Man being led into God’s presence (and thus functionally analogous to the Holy Spirit), also found in Dan. 7:13–14 (see Viviano 1998).