Challenging the Lie: Matthew 28:11-15

When looking at the details the gospel writers share about the resurrection, Matthew’s gospel includes a phrase that is very powerful, while also being very easy to overlook. The idea implied in Matthew’s gospel is the powerful truth that once a lie has been said or spoken, it is difficult, and sometimes even impossible, to break through that lie with the truth.

Even today, for years, and maybe even decades and/or centuries, myths that have been proven false have kept circulating because some lies are easier to believe than the truth. Some people might say that the Bible is one such myth, but time and time again, even though the ways the Bible has been vindicated are not widely popularized, the Bible contains way more truth than error, even with its flaws.

Within the resurrection account in Matthew’s gospel, we learn that the religious leaders start a lie about Jesus and His disciples, and in the details of this event, we discover how hard it can be to actually change some people’s minds. Our passage for this episode is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 28, and we will read it using the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 11, Matthew tells us that:

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. ¹² And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, ¹³ and said, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’ ¹⁴ And if this should come to the governor’s ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.” 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.

Did you catch that last part of this passage? “This story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.”

Matthew clearly states that the priests and religious leaders start this lie and in many ways, the lie is more believable than the miraculous resurrection that Jesus’ followers proclaimed.

However, if we look closer at this lie, I am amazed that the details of this lie are incredibly incriminating. In this lie, the religious leaders bribe the soldiers to say that they fell asleep while on the job, which is something you would only do if you wanted to lose your job, or in the case of the military at that time, you might lose more than your job if caught sleeping. The religious leaders bribe the soldiers to say that they “failed at their job”.

While believing in a resurrection is challenging on one hand, the lie these religious leaders bribe into existence is surprisingly ridiculous. It is ridiculous to think that some scared disciples could overpower a group of armed soldiers, and it is equally ridiculous to think that these scared civilian disciples could silently and secretly roll the large boulder away from the entrance of the tomb while every single guard slept. Even if some of the guards had been heavy sleepers, all it would take is one twig to break and one light sleeping soldier to foil a plan.

It is also worth pointing out that if every guard was sleeping, there is a logical challenge that said how the guards would know it was the disciples who stole Jesus’ body. If the guards woke up as the disciples were running away, it wouldn’t have been difficult for a soldier to catch someone carrying a heavy corpse, and there would have been a dead disciple, and multiple corpses placed back in the tomb.

All this to say that a guard who failed at his job was liable at the very least to lose his job, if not lose his life. A whole garrison of guards who failed because they fell asleep is the ultimate bad excuse that any sane governor would need to punish. Part of me wonders if word ever did make it to the governor’s ears, and if so, if the governor was actually satisfied with the excuses the priests and leaders gave. Another part of me wonders if the governor discovered the lie and learned that his soldiers actually were overpowered by an angel.

Another detail about this lie doesn’t make sense in my mind. This additional detail is why someone would promote a rumor about themselves failing at a task when their failure could cost them their life. People usually brag about successes, and what the soldiers share is a monumental failure. The soldiers’ failure is such a bad failure that it almost isn’t believable as well.

However, let’s take another step back. In this event, the priests and leaders had already convinced themselves that Jesus was not special or significant, and specifically that Jesus was not from God. The religious leaders repeatedly pushed back at Jesus while He was teaching, healing, and spreading good news about God. These religious leaders built their lie about Jesus long before crucifixion and resurrection weekend.

The lie the religious leaders believed about Jesus not being from God was behind them pushing for Jesus’ execution, and it is what led them to bribe the next lie about a stolen body into existence. In the minds of these religious leaders, Jesus could not have been raised from the dead because Jesus was clearly not from God. Instead, the only explanation left was that His disciples stole the body.

What happened that weekend surrounding the religious leaders bribing a lie into existence is fascinating for another reason. Because soldiers were present guarding the tomb, in an ironic turn of events, the priests and Jewish leaders were the first to learn about the resurrection. While the women were confused at an empty tomb and headed to share their confusion with Jesus’ disciples, the chief priests and religious leaders are receiving a report about the resurrection from the soldiers they posted at the tomb.

In a similar way that many people don’t think of, at the beginning of the gospel of Luke, the priest Zechariah is the first to learn about God paving the way for Jesus through His forerunner John the Baptist. Now at the point Jesus is resurrected following His crucifixion, the priests are again the first people to know about the resurrection – and these priests have enough witnesses among these guards to validate the story in a court.

While the disciples take the testimony of the women who visited the empty tomb as enough evidence to go check it out for themselves, the religious leaders get their testimony from men and dismiss it in favor of their lie. This isn’t meant to be a sexist statement; instead it is a statement focused on the first century culture and time.

Looking again at the lie the religious leaders bribe into existence, we discover that this lie is easily dismissible. The simple event that would need to happen to dismiss this lie is actually seeing the resurrected Jesus and then the lie would be exposed as a lie. Over the forty days between Jesus being resurrected and ascending to heaven, this is what we discover happened. Over that span of time, Jesus appeared to individuals and groups in a variety of ways leading up to His return to heaven.

However, how do we know which story is true? How can we know whether Jesus really was resurrected or whether His disciples stole the body? Only one of these records can be true.

Like we began this episode by saying, a lie is almost impossible to unstick once it has been spoken or written, and even decades after Jesus’ resurrection, when Matthew sat down to write out His gospel letter, he points out that this lie was still circulating. When faced with these two conflicting ideas, how should we judge the validity of each?

In my mind, the first thing to look at is the evidence of those who believed when they died. Hundreds of first century believers were executed for their belief in the resurrection, and they all died believing the resurrection was a historical fact. Every one of Jesus’ remaining eleven disciples was executed for their faith, and each one believed the resurrection was a historical fact.

To counter this narrative, Matthew’s gospel shares a private conversation between the priests and the guards, meaning that either Matthew made up a source for the lie, or one of the guards defected and told Matthew the truth. I suspect that Matthew would have had soldier friends from his time as a tax collector, so Matthew learning and including a detail in his gospel the other gospel writers didn’t is not surprising to me.

In closing, while in most cases, lies are easier to believe than the truth, the simple truth we should remember is that wherever lies are present, the truth will come to light eventually – and when it does, it is up to us to examine the evidence and choose the truth. In this case, our eternity depends on it!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and look for things that reveal His truth. While lies are often easier to believe in the short term than the truth, the truth is the only reality that will ultimately set you free.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself so you can accurately identify truth from error when you see it. The Bible has stood the test of time and has reliably helped people for thousands of years.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!