Burial

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Burial

Matt. 27:62-66

62 Now [de] the next day [epaurion] , that [hostis] followed [esti] [meta] the day of the preparation [paraskeue] , the chief priests [archiereus] and [kai] Pharisees [Pharisaios] came together [sunago] unto [pros] Pilate [Pilatos] ,
63 Saying [lego] , Sir [kurios] , we remember [mnaomai] that [hoti] that [ekeinos] deceiver [planos] said [epo] , while he was yet [eti] alive [zao] , After [meta] three [treis] days [hemera] I will rise again [egeiro] .
64 Command [keleuo] therefore [oun] that the sepulchre [taphos] be made sure [asphalizo] until [heos] the third [tritos] day [hemera] , lest [mepote] his [autos] disciples [mathetes] come [erchomai] by night [nux] , and steal [klepto] him [autos] away [klepto] , and [kai] say [epo] unto the people [laos] , He is risen [egeiro] from [apo] the dead [nekros] : so [kai] the last [eschatos] error [plane] shall be [esomai] worse than [cheiron] the first [protos] .
65 [de] Pilate [Pilatos] said [phemi] unto them [autos] , Ye have [echo] a watch [koustodia] : go your way [hupago] , make it as sure [asphalizo] as [hos] ye can [eido] .
66 So [de] they went [poreuomai] , and made [asphalizo] the sepulchre [taphos] sure [asphalizo] , sealing [sphragizo] the stone [lithos] , and setting [meta] a watch [koustodia] . KJV-Interlinear

62 Now on the next day, which is the one after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, 63 and said, 'Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I am to rise again.' 64 'Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, lest the disciples 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.' 65 Pilate said to them, 'You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.' 66 And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone. NASB

On several occasions, Jesus had taught His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, be condemned, die, and then rise again after the third day, Matt. 16:21, 17:23, 20:19. They never really understood what He was saying. Even when they stood in the opening of the empty tomb, we are told that they still did not understand what was going on.

Resurrection was commonly understood, and that was probably what they were thinking of. They had the Messiah standing right in front of them for several years and just could not conceive of His dying.

The chief priests, however, did understand what this was all about. On an earlier occasion, they asked Jesus to show them an extraordinary sign, something from heaven and Jesus answered them with the following.

Matt. 12:38-40
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered Him, saying, 'Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.' 39 But He answered and said to them, 'An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign shall be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; 40 for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. NASB

So now even though they did not believe all of the many thousands of miracles Jesus performed on a daily basis, the healing, the restored eyesight, restored hearing, repaired and restored damaged and missing limbs, even the raising of the dead back to life. All of these were not enough to convince the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the elders that He was the true Messiah. They still wanted more proof.

Yet Jesus, if He had given them even more proof, would not be believed, but would be suspected of even more magic. Now we all know that these medical miracles, even today with our tremendous technology, are not possible. No one can restore a missing leg nor even raise a dead person (after several days of decay) back to life.

But now these chief priests are going to get their chance to have their requested and the greatest miracle of them all, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not only will they have their miracle, but they are going to be active participants in it. How so?

Well we have a tomb that is unguarded. Anyone could come along and steal the body and then proclaim Jesus had risen. This is the very thing that the chief priests fear. So now they want a guard placed on the tomb, and more than that, they want a seal on its stone door, such that no one could open the door without breaking the seal. The seal probably bore a warning stating that any attempt to mess with this tomb would bring down the wrath of Rome on such persons.

So now these men want their guard and the tomb made secure. This will give even greater proof of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, in that no one could possibly have tampered with the tomb. Even their own claim later on after the resurrection, that someone had stolen the body will meet with skepticism since they themselves secured the tomb.

This is the last of our burial series of lessons. The stage is set for the resurrection of Christ. Three days must pass before that occurs sometime Saturday night or early Sunday morning. In the mean time all of the participants of these events are waiting and wondering what is to occur, after these holy feast days come to an end.

The enemies of Christ are trying to prevent further public impact by preventing the resurrection of Christ. One would think that it should occur to them that if this really was the Christ, then they should be taking a very different approach to Him. Perhaps going to the tomb and welcoming His return, but then they do not believe so obviously they will not go to the tomb.

The two Mary's remain nearby, probably in Bethany, as are Peter and John. The rest of the apostles have scattered and will not see Christ until various times over the next week, and Thomas being the last will have his doubts removed a week later. Most of the apostles have gone back to Galilee, to their former homes.

All is quiet. The days pass slowly. The first day, then the second, and then the third day must pass. We can only wonder what everyone was thinking during this three day time frame. The apostles and most of Jesus disciples were not even counting off the days to the resurrection, otherwise if they were, then there would have been a crowd on that early Sunday morning. But there was no crowd as we will see. Only Mary and Mary were preparing their oils and perfumes to go to the tomb for one last good by.