OUR FATHER WHO GAVE HIS ONLY SON 

Matthew chapter 27 verses 62 - 66 captured the machinations of the religious leaders the morning after Jesusˋ death.

They wanted to take precautions to prevent the followers of Jesus from stealing Jesusˋ body and then claiming that He had risen from the dead as He had said would happen.  They were afraid that if this happened, the reverence of Jesus would be perpetuated to the detriment of the traditional religious establishment.

They went to Pilate and requested that he decree that the body of Jesus be secured by posting a guard over the tomb that Jesusˋ was placed in.

62 On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, 63 saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64 Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.”

65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

Pilate did not share the concerns of the religious leaders because he was not threatened by the possible theft of Jesusˋ body. He therefore refused to send his own guards to watch over the tomb but told the religious leaders to post their own guards and secure the tomb to their own satisfaction.

The prevention of the theft of Jesusˋ body was now in the purview of the chief priests and the pharisees.

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