Vain The Stone, The Watch, The Seal
VAIN THE STONE, THE WATCH, THE SEAL
MATTHEW 27:55-66
Best to make sure that grave is safe! Quite right, guards. Jesus is full of surprises, and it’s nice to know there’s no way the disciples could have stolen the body.
Of the three women mentioned in 27:56, only the mother of the sons of Zebedee has appeared earlier in this Gospel (20:20); for Mary of Magdala (west of the Lake of Galilee, between Capernaum and Tiberias) cf. Luke 8:2, and for “Mary the mother of James and Joseph” (called “the other Mary” in 27:61 and 28:1) cf. John 19:25, where she is said to have been the wife of Clopas (possibly a variant of Alphaeus), and Mark 15:40, where her son James is called “James the younger” (perhaps to distinguish him from James the Lord’s brother who figured so prominently in the Jerusalem church until his death in AD 62).
Once Pilate was satisfied that Jesus was really dead (cf. Mark 15:45), he had no objection to allowing Joseph of Arimathea to take away his body for burial. He had no further interest in Jesus, and was not impressed by the Jewish leaders’ anxiety to forestall further trouble. He knew his soldiers, and experience had taught him that if they certified that a man was dead, there was no question of his walking again. But the high priest and his companions could not get the words about rising “after three days” out of their minds—had Judas told them, or did they have some idea that this was the point of the saying about rebuilding the temple in three days (26:61)? If they wanted to secure the tomb, said Pilate, by all means let them do so; they could use their own temple police, for Roman soldiers could not be spared for such a frivolous exercise. “A guard of soldiers” (27:65) represents Latin custodia, “watch,” used as a loanword in Matthew’s Greek. Matthew is the only evangelist to mention the guarding of the tomb and its sequel (28:4,11-15). The “Preparation” (27:62) was Friday of Passover week; the tomb, by Matthew’s account, was left unguarded over Friday night.
Thought Joseph acted when, humanly speaking, it was too late. But he was stepping towards the resurrection. The antidote to despair is to do the duty which lies nearest.
Consider those features of the crucifixion and events leading up to it, as related by Matthew, which bring out the fact that our Lord remained in control of the situation throughout.