Go and Tell Part 2 (The Origin of the Hoax)
The Sufferings of Christ through the Eyes of Matthew • Sermon • Submitted
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Please turn with me to Matthew 28:11-15 as we consider GO AND TELL Part 2 — The Origin of the Hoax.
From the time of the Garden of Eden incident, when Satan had such great success in deceiving Eve, he has been continuing to use deception in an effort to subvert God’s plans. Using the ungodly to do his bidding, he concocted a hoax in effort to dispel the message of the cross and the empty tomb. He has had great success in his hoax since the message of the cross is nonsensical to many and a stumbling block to others. But to those who are being saved it is the power of God to salvation.
In our text last week we saw the miraculous things that occurred to give witness to the empty tomb. There was a severe earthquake, and a glorious appearance of an angel who rolled away the stone that had been used to seal the tomb where Jesus had been buried.
Since the guard testified to the miraculous events that led to the witness of the empty tomb, the religious establishment of Israel had to concoct a false narrative which they convinced the guards to spread, with the incentive of money and the offer of protection.
As we consider this passage we will look at the stunning announcement of the guard, the stubborn refusal of the council, the spinning of a yarn, the suborn of a false narrative, and the scope of deception.
Let’s read our passage together.
Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened.
And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,
and said, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’
And if this should come to the governor’s ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.”
And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.
Let’s look first at
The Stunning Announcement of the Guards
The Stunning Announcement of the Guards
The first reason for the false narrative regarding the empty tomb is that some of those guarding the tomb reported all that had happened at the tomb to the chief priests.
Look again at verse 11.
Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened.
To begin with an interesting side-note, it is possible that the guards announced the news of the Risen Christ to the priests before the women had announced it to the disciples. What exactly was it that they reported to the priests?
Though the text does not explicitly say, we can assume that
They reported about the severe earthquake
They reported about the angel
If these were Roman soldiers rather than Temple Police, I wonder if they even knew what an angel was...
They reported the rolling away of the stone
They reported about the empty tomb
I wonder if they would have reported that they were paralyzed by fear?
Let’s consider next
The Stubborn Refusal of the Council
The Stubborn Refusal of the Council
The second reason for the false narrative was the stubborn refusal of the council to believe Jesus was who He claimed to be.
They accused Jesus of being a deceiver in Matt 27:63-64
and said, “Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I am to rise again.’
Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.”
They refused to believe that Jesus was the ultimate interpreter of Moses and the prophets as the Sermon on the Mount demonstrated
They could not be persuaded to change their opinion of Jesus, even though He had been raised from the dead Luke 16:27-31
And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house—
for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’
But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’
But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”
What I find intriguing is that the council did not reject the resurrection of Jesus. It would appear that they believed that He has risen from the dead, but they wanted to hide the truth from others. This brings us to our next point
The Spinning of a Yarn
The Spinning of a Yarn
In order to suppress the truth in unrighteousness, the chief priests consulted with the elders and began to fabricate a false narrative. Look at the first part of verse 12.
And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together,
The council needed a story that would sound credible
They needed corroboration for the story
The problem was that their own paranoia made their fabricated story hardly believable
Let’s consider next
The Suborn of a False Narrative
The Suborn of a False Narrative
The term “suborn” not to be confused with “stubborn” is usually used in the context of bribing a witness to commit perjury. And that is exactly what the council determined to do. Look at verse 12-14 for a moment. Matt 28. 12-14
And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,
and said, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’
And if this should come to the governor’s ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.”
First, they offered the guard a large sum of money. They played on the greed of mankind.
Second, they offered protection from Pilate
Whether these guards were Temple Police or Roman Soldiers seems to be the subject of much debate. The fact that they reported the incident to the chief priests first, seems to support the view that they were Temple police. But the fact that they might need protection from the governor seems to indicate that they were Roman Soldiers assigned to guard the tomb of a dead man. The evidence seems stronger for this guard being Roman Soldiers since the Temple Police would not need the promise of protection from Pilate.
Either way, it probably took a lot of money to convince these guards to lie about falling asleep on the job, since this dereliction of duty would bring with it the death penalty.
The absurdity of this false narrative is almost laughable. As one commentator mentioned (assuming they were Roman Soldiers):
It was highly implausible that all of the soldiers would have gone to sleep long enough for the disciples to have moved the stone and stolen the body, and even more implausible that the noise from moving the stone would not have awakened a single soldier.
The Roman military divided the night into four watches of between two and three hours each. A certain number of the men would keep watch while the rest slept, keeping up the rotation until dawn. Three hours was not a long period of time to stay awake, especially if one were under the threat of imprisonment or death for sleeping on watch. (MacArthur, pg. 325).
There is more humor to be found in this false narrative. As D. A. Carson points out:
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 8: Matthew, Mark, Luke 3. First Fraudulent Denials of Jesus’ Resurrection (28:11–15)
The story they concoct shows how desperate they are for an explanation, for if the guards were asleep, they could not know of the alleged theft; and if one of them awoke, why was not an alarm sounded and the disciples arrested?
Let’s turn our attention from the false narrative to
The Scope of Deception
The Scope of Deception
Look at verse 15.
And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.
Just how far did this false narrative reach? At the time of the writing of the Gospel of Matthew, around thirty years after the death and resurrection of Christ, this false narrative was still being circulated among the Jews. As a matter of fact, nearly a hundred years after the writing of this gospel one of the early church fathers, Justin Martyr, addressed this issue as it was still being circulated.
Since that time there have been many other attempts to explain away the empty tomb, none of which can really stand against the corroboration of over 500 witnesses at one time to the resurrected Christ.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep;
then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles;
and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.
But here are some of the views that have been proffered:
The Swoon Theory proposes that Jesus did not actually die, but went into a deep coma
But the Roman Soldiers confirmed His death, proving it when they pierced His side with a spear and brought out blood and water
The No-Burial Theory contends that there was actually no interment — since Jesus was not placed in the tomb it would have been empty
But there were eye witnesses to His being placed in a tomb — not the least being the chief priests who requested a guard at the tomb
The Hallucination Theory maintains that everyone who claimed to have seen the risen Jesus simply experience a hallucination, induced by an ardent expectation of His resurrection
But His followers did not grasp His references to resurrection until after His resurrection
The Telepathy Theory proposes that there was not physical resurrection, but rather God sent divine telepathic messages to Christians that caused them to believe Jesus was alive
This theory would make God to be a deceiver
The Seance Theory suggests that a powerful spiritualist, or medium, conjured up the image of Jesus by means of occult power and that His followers were thereby deluded into thinking they saw Him
Then how did they hold His feet, put a hand in His wounded side, and eat a meal with Him?
The Mistaken Identity Theory is based on the assumption that someone impersonated Jesus and was able to dupe His closest friends and companions into thinking he was really their Lord come back to life
But this imposter would have had to have evidence of nail pierced hands, scourge marks, etc
Josh McDowell, when he was doing his under-graduate studies at Michigan State University, set out to prove that Christianity was a hoax. In order to do so, he had to study the Bible in an effort to prove that it was false. But, as we know, the Word of the Lord is powerful, sharper than any sword, and it pierces to the very core of man. And that is what happened to McDowell. His effort to disprove Christianity brought him to the saving knowledge of Jesus. In his book, titled THE NEW EVIDENCE THAT DEMANDS A VERDICT, McDowell quoted J. P. Moreland:
The disciples had nothing to gain by lying and starting a new religion. They faced hardship, ridicule, hostility, and martyr’s deaths. In light of this, they could have never sustained such unwavering motivation if they knew what they were preaching was a lie. The disciples were not fools and Paul was cool-headed intellectual of the first rank. There would have been several opportunities over three to four decades of ministry to reconsider and renounce the lie.
Powerful logic!
Matthew wrote this portion of his account as an argument against the false narrative. Why did he do so? Because he was one of the many who had seen the Risen Christ. He could not help but to testify to what he had seen and known to be true.
It was said by one commentator that these guards were the first to share the message of the gospel of the Risen Christ. It was said by another that they were the first to share anti-gospel falsehood. Both are true.
There is both a similarity and a definite contrast between the two groups who witnessed the angel rolling the stone away from the tomb. Both groups went to tell others about what they had witnessed. The women went to tell the disciples about what they had seen and heard. The guards went and told the priests what they had seen and perhaps heard. The contrast is found in the audience and the outcome of their witness. The outcome of the witness of the faithful ladies was the spreading of the good news of of the gospel of Jesus Christ which God intended to use for the salvation of His people. The outcome of the witness of the guard was the spreading of a hoax which Satan intended to use to make the Church irrelevant and powerless.
Though Satan has succeeded in duping many to reject the gospel of Christ, he has not been able to overcome the truth. As Christ said to Peter:
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Today we have considered the stunning announcement of the guards, the stubborn refusal of the priest, the spinning of a yarn about the empty tomb, the suborn of a false narrative, and the scope of deception.
For those who are listening to this message, who are not presently in a right relationship with God through Christ Jesus, I invite you to consider the evidence of the empty tomb and the risen Christ. I invite you to embrace Jesus for who He claimed to be: the Son of God who became man so that He could die and absorb God’s wrath for all who believe in Him. That is what He accomplished on the cross of suffering. But He also was miraculously raised from the dead proving that He was who He claimed. Embrace His life, His death, and His resurrection, and be saved from the wrath to come.
Believers has our faith in the Risen Christ changed the way that we live? Do we adequately reflect Jesus in all that we say and do? Are we walking in a manner worthy of our a calling — are we walking in the newness of life?
Let’s pray.
Dear Father,
We have considered the events that led to the false narrative that was spread with the hopes of rendering the death of Your Beloved Son ineffective. And yet we know that nothing can thwart Your plans — and we are so grateful for that truth.
I pray for those who have listened to this message, who are at present not believers in Jesus Christ. I pray that Your Holy Spirit would open the eyes of their hearts so that they can perceive the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and be saved.
I pray for those who are believers that we would prayerfully examine our own lives to see if we are walking in the newness of life and reflecting the glory of Christ to those around us. I pray that if we aren’t, that Your Spirit would teach how to change.
In Jesus Name, Amen.
Closing Song: #366
I Live
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.