And as they went, behold, some of the watch went into the city, and brought word to the chief priests of all that had taken place.
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Setting
Matthew 28:11 stands at the hinge between heaven's proclamation and earth's conspiracy: while the women run with the news that Christ is risen, "some of the watch came into the city, and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done." The same event that produced worship in faithful hearts produced panic in the religious establishment, and the verse opens a window onto how unbelief responded to the most well-attested fact in history.
The Watch as Sole Witnesses of the Open Tomb
The Roman guard had been posted to keep the body in; instead they alone saw it leave. One commentator notes that when the women arrived "the stone was rolled away (Mark 16:4) — how, the guard only had been witnesses." Their report to the priests, therefore, was not hearsay but eyewitness testimony of an empty grave and an angel.
J. A. TrenchWhen they arrived the stone was rolled away (Mark 16:4) — how, the guard only had been witnesses. But the women, from their visit Saturday night, and now with all changed, the stone rolled away, and the tomb open and an angel to tell them He is risen, have the strongest testimony for the faith of their souls of the resurrection.
The Collapse of Imperial Power Before God
Pilate had said, "Make it as sure as ye can," and Jewish cunning had joined Roman authority to lock the tomb. The watch's flight into the city was the public confession that the combined power of the world had failed.
J T MawsonStone and seal and soldiers held the lonely sepulchre in the garden where the body of Jesus lay. The subtlety of Jewish priests and the authority of Rome combined to make the place secure. "Make it," said Pilate, "as sure as ye can." They did their utmost… What a moment was that when the earth trembled and rocked, and the imperial seal was torn asunder, and the stone was rolled away from the mouth of that tomb by angelic hands! Glittering spears and shining armour were useless to withstand this display of heavenly power: the courage of the coarse defenders of that tomb failed utterly and they fell down flat as dead men.
The same writer adds that the trembling guard "represented a world determined to be rid of Jesus… Now He was risen from the dead, and His resurrection was His triumph and their defeat. It was the declaration on the part of God that He had seen and disapproved their awful act at Calvary." J T Mawson
Two Companies, Two Reactions to the Same Christ
The chapter sets a sharp contrast: the women receive peace, joy and the sight of the risen Lord; the soldiers receive money, and the priests receive a lie they will spread. The dividing line is drawn at the empty tomb itself.
MagazinesThree things mark the inside company: (1) Love… (2) Joy… (3) Peace… In the other circle there were: (1) Hate; they hated Him without a cause. (2) Selfishness; the soldiers took the money. (3) Trouble and disturbance; for He whom they hated was risen. The devil was greatly disturbed when Christ rose from the dead and had to cover his blunder with the greatest lie ever invented.
The First Lie Against the Resurrection
The watch's honest report was almost immediately turned into the first organised denial of the resurrection — a denial that one writer treats as the seed of all later infidelity.
MagazinesAmid many notions both blasphemous and foolish from the first denial of the resurrection when the priests bribed the Roman soldiers to say, "His disciples came by night and stole Him while we slept," down to modern times, one uniform aim has ever been pursued… The person of Christ has ever been the point of Satan's attack, the sole aim of the devil to deny the truth of Him.
The same writer shows what is at stake doctrinally: "It was the person, no less than the truth, that was denied, when the priests bid the Roman guard say, 'His disciples stole Him while we slept.' It was the denial of His inherent power to break the bonds of death, of His Godhead; it was the denial that His shed blood was atonement for sin. Paul says, 'if Christ be not risen, ye are yet in your sins.'" Magazines
The Hardness of Religious Unbelief
The priests had Moses and the prophets, and now they had soldiers' eyewitness testimony — yet they used it only to plot a cover-up. Another commentator observes how this same body of men later treated apostolic miracles the same way: "They would have denied it if possible, even as they had shamelessly circulated lies concerning what happened at the Saviour's tomb." W. W. Fereday
Summary
- Eyewitnesses. The watch alone saw the stone rolled away, making their report to the priests the strongest possible testimony from hostile lips.
- Defeat of the world. Roman seal, Jewish cunning and armed soldiers were powerless against the angel; the guard's flight was the world's confession of failure.
- Two companies. The same risen Christ produced love, joy and peace in His own, and hatred, greed and panic in the religious world outside.
- First infidelity. The priests' bribe became "the greatest lie ever invented," the seed of every later denial of the resurrection, the Godhead of Christ and the atonement.
- Wilful unbelief. Hardened religion will use even an eyewitness report to manufacture a cover-up; resurrection truth is rejected not for lack of evidence but for love of self.