Bribing of the Guard.

(Mat. 28:11-15).

“Some of the guard,” (that ran from the Lord’s tomb) who apparently were in charge and responsible for leaving their post, informed the high priests of everything that had occurred. Namely them and not Pilate, because they were placed under their command and not the procurator’s. The high priests assembled the Sanhedrin and decided to bribe the guards into slandering the truth of the Lord’s Resurrection. “They bought His blood,” — states Saint Chhrysostom — “when He was alive, and with His crucifixion and resurrection, they again are using money to undermine the authenticity of the resurrection.” “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept’” — that’s what they taught the soldiers to say. “Their words are completely unbelievable and have no plausibility,” reasons Saint Chrysostom: “In what manner did His disciples steal the body, these poor and simple people, who didn’t even dare show themselves? And wasn’t there a seal placed at the tomb? Wasn’t this area surrounded by many guards, soldiers and ordinary Jews?….And for what purpose would they steal Him? Is it so that they could invent a teaching on resurrection? But how would thoughts of something like this enter the minds of people that wish to live in anonymity? And how did they leave the stone sealed? How did they remain undetected by some many guards? And of what benefit would it be to them, if Christ didn’t resurrect?” All the exponents of the Bible rightly note, that all the endeavors by the Sanhedrin — to retain the Lord’s Pure Body in the tomb as secure as possible, was seemingly conceived and executed to purposely confirm the authenticity of the event, with all historical clarity, which the members of the Sanhedrin wanted to eclipse and present as a lie. After all, the stealing of bodies was completely unheard of among the Jews, fearing defilement through coming into contact with a corpse. (Num. 19:11-12).

How could it happen that the guards fell into a deep sleep at the precise time, when the actual theft was expected — the third day? Their sleep must have been extraordinarily deep, if they couldn’t hear the stone of the tomb being rolled open. Even if decided to fall asleep — which is totally unlike Roman soldiers — they would have done so in front of the entrance, so that it would have been impossible to roll the stone without crushing them. The most improbable thing about this is that the frightened and scattered disciples would decide on this senseless theft, from which they would have received no benefit, but an apparent enormous danger. Remarkable too is the fact that the soldiers would spread such reports about themselves, without arousing bafflement among their listeners as to why they weren’t punished for their breach of duty. Notwithstanding the obviousness of the hateful Jews’ fabrication, their stubborn unwillingness to believe in the authenticity of Christ’s resurrection only confirms this great Christian truth.