Flashback Episode — The Truth of an Empty Tomb: Matthew 28:1-15

As we come almost to the very end of Matthew’s gospel, we come to the climax of the gospel story. All four gospel writers focus in on it, and all the gospel writers share unique details about it. Matthew’s gospel is no exception. Since Matthew tells us about the guards who were posted by the tomb, Matthew includes what happens with them.

Let’s read Matthew’s gospel and discover what he tells us about the morning Jesus was resurrected. Our passage is found in Matthew, chapter 28, and we will read it from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 1, Matthew tells us:

¹ The day after the Sabbath day was the first day of the week. At dawn on the first day, Mary Magdalene and another woman named Mary went to look at the tomb.

² At that time there was a strong earthquake. An angel of the Lord came down from heaven, went to the tomb, and rolled the stone away from the entrance. Then he sat on the stone. ³ He was shining as bright as lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴ The soldiers guarding the tomb shook with fear because of the angel, and they became like dead men.

⁵ The angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus, who has been crucified. ⁶ He is not here. He has risen from the dead as he said he would. Come and see the place where his body was. ⁷ And go quickly and tell his followers, ‘Jesus has risen from the dead. He is going into Galilee ahead of you, and you will see him there.’” Then the angel said, “Now I have told you.”

⁸ The women left the tomb quickly. They were afraid, but they were also very happy. They ran to tell Jesus’ followers what had happened. ⁹ Suddenly, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings.” The women came up to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go and tell my followers to go on to Galilee, and they will see me there.”

¹¹ While the women went to tell Jesus’ followers, some of the soldiers who had been guarding the tomb went into the city to tell the leading priests everything that had happened. ¹² Then the priests met with the elders and made a plan. They paid the soldiers a large amount of money ¹³ and said to them, “Tell the people that Jesus’ followers came during the night and stole the body while you were asleep. ¹⁴ If the governor hears about this, we will satisfy him and save you from trouble.” ¹⁵ So the soldiers kept the money and did as they were told. And that story is still spread among the people even today.

In this event, lots of things are happening, and it is a very chaotic morning. However, one thing that is interesting in my mind when I read this is how Matthew would have known so much about what happened with the soldiers, with the religious leaders, and with what was said behind closed doors. As we have looked at in the past few episodes, Matthew is well aware of how Judas Iscariot plotted against Jesus and the conversations he had with the priests, and Matthew is also well aware of how the priests respond and try to stop and then silence the resurrection.

It is interesting that Matthew has all these details to share while the other gospel writers either didn’t know or chose to exclude these details from their records of Jesus.

In my mind, since Matthew had come from a background of tax collecting, which was a profession that needed Roman soldier protection, I think that Matthew had friends who were soldiers. While I don’t know if Matthew was personally friends with any of the guards who watched the tomb, it wouldn’t surprise me if Matthew’s guard friends had direct connection to the guards involved. I suspect that Matthew may have gotten some of the back-story that is included in his gospel through a network of friends from his tax collector days. If it isn’t for this, I suspect that Matthew probably knew how to interact with soldiers and he may have known how to get information. It is also possible that some of the soldiers present decided to come clean and become followers of Jesus after this event.

However, what is even more amazing in my mind than Matthew’s connections or how these events were discovered and shared is how Matthew describes the soldiers responding to one angel. Matthew describes the soldiers shaking in fear and becoming like dead men.

In my mind, I’ve always pictured the tomb being guarded by maybe a half-dozen soldiers, but knowing the religious leaders concern, and remembering what we talked about in the last episode about Pilate telling the religious leaders to make the tomb as secure as they know how, I suspect there were many more soldiers present. I wouldn’t be surprised if that Saturday night, the temple in Jerusalem was barely guarded, while Jesus’ tomb had dozens, maybe even a hundred or more soldiers, guarding it.

These soldiers would have slept in shifts, and there wouldn’t have been a single moment in time when all the soldiers would have been asleep. If this happened, the soldiers would likely have been killed or at least severely punished by the governor or their superiors.

Also, I find it interesting that nowhere do we read about any disciple of Jesus going near the tomb. Perhaps, the disciples knew it was clearly guarded and they didn’t want to be killed next. The only records of disciples going to the tomb happen after hearing the report of the women.

It is also interesting that the women come to the tomb, and they are not worried about guards present. It is possible that the women didn’t know that guards had been posted to guard the tomb.

However, the most interesting thing in this entire event in my mind is that the religious leaders’ fear of Jesus’ resurrection prompts them to place eyewitnesses at the tomb, and the only way that this story can stay quiet is for them to bribe the soldiers to tell a lie rather than the truth. The religious leaders cannot defend against a clearly empty tomb, so they default to what is likely the least believable story. The soldiers all fell asleep, and they slept through a seal being broken, a stone being rolled away, and a bunch of amateurs stealing a body that was weighed down with probably over 50 pounds of spices. There would then be the challenge of still hiding Jesus’ body after the fact, and then covering up this story in favor of a resurrection story which is almost as unbelievable.

Why should we believe the resurrection happened and not the soldiers’ story?

In my mind, here’s why: In all of Jesus’ ministry in the gospels, did Jesus ever tell a lie or describe something that didn’t happen the way He said it would? If we cannot find a lie Jesus spoke outside of the statements that are in question about His predicting His death, burial, and resurrection, then these predictions are more believable. If Jesus ever told a lie on any other occasion, then His prediction about His resurrection becomes suspect. However, the only lies Jesus is accused of sharing are lies that the religious leaders try to use to discredit Jesus, and these lies almost made the trial against Jesus fall apart.

Without another lie from Jesus to use as an example, what initially seems impossible, specifically that Jesus accurately predicted His own death, burial, and resurrection, actually becomes more believable than soldiers risking their lives and reputations by sleeping and letting a bunch of amateurs take the thing they were put in charge of protecting.

It is amazing to think that in both the soldiers lie and in the truth of the resurrection, no-one contested the clearly visible fact that Sunday morning, the tomb was empty. In this entire event, the one thing that is not debated is the empty tomb. While nothing could have stopped the resurrection from happening, there were much more believable lies that could have been spread, and better explanations for the tomb being empty.

However, the big truth for us to remember is that following Jesus crucifixion just days before, on that Sunday morning, Jesus’ tomb was empty. Jesus returned to life just like He said He would, and His resurrection is a promise, a gift, and a sign that all of God’s people will be resurrected when Jesus returns to take His people home.

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 place your hope, faith, trust, and belief in Jesus. Understand and believe that Jesus rose from the dead just like He predicted He would, and that His resurrection foreshadows our resurrection when He returns.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and strengthen your personal relationship with Jesus. Don’t let anyone trick you out of believing in the greatest promise and greatest truth of the gospel message!

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 simply leave where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!