Read Matthew 27:62-66, 28:11-15 and Luke 23:56. Following the rapid burial on Friday, the women rested according to the Sabbath laws and traditions. Our Lord’s enemies, however, were still trying to ensure the success of their efforts.
1. What did the religious leaders request of Pilate and why?
They wanted Pilate to secure the grave so that no one would come to steal the body. While they, the religious leaders, did have their own guards, using Roman guards would make it very unlikely that anyone would try to break into the tomb, in addition to which, it was the Sabbath, and to get their guards to the grave could be a bit tricky considering the Sabbath laws and traditions.
2. What did Pilate give them?
Pilate gave them Roman soldiers to use as a guard and allowed them to use a seal to seal the tomb. Roman guards had the authority and skill to use deadly force to prevent anyone from entering the tomb. It would certainly deter any Jewish citizen from trying to break into it. The fact that it was sealed enforced this since it declared this site belonged to or was under Roman jurisdiction and could only be accessed by the owner of the seal. Again this was a further deterrent to anyone trying to sneak past the guards since they would realize the severe penalties for disregarding the seal placed upon the tomb. The tomb was made as secure as the Jewish and Roman authorities knew to make it.
3. Why did the religious leaders have to bribe the soldiers with a large sum of money and promise to talk to Pilate on their behalf?
The penalty for a Roman soldier falling asleep at his post and losing something or someone entrusted to his watch was very severe, usually death. If they reported the opening of the tomb as it indeed happened, their punishment would probably not have been death, but to say that the disciples came and took away the body of Jesus while they were asleep might easily have brought upon them this penalty. To get them to lie and give this version of the events would require a substantial bribe indeed.
4. Given the testimony first presented by the soldiers, who guarded the tomb to these religious leaders as to what had taken place, do you think their decision to bribe these soldiers into giving another version was strange? Why or why not?
One might reason and ask if indeed they realized that the tomb was not opened by the disciples, that they had not taken the body, and that it was not there, why then did these religious leaders not believe the truth of our Lord’s resurrection. The evidence now clearly implied something supernatural had taken place according to the testimony of these Roman guards. Yet human nature is such that we decide to believe something not so much because we realize it is true but because we wish it to be true. These leaders had decided Jesus was not the Messiah, and, at this point, no amount of evidence or testimony to the contrary was going to convince them. They probably were convinced the soldiers were making something up to protect themselves, and even if they were not, there was some other reasonable explanation other than this man had risen from the dead.
Read Matthew 28:2-10, Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24:1-12, 34 and John 20:1-18. The accounts of the resurrection are often played one against another by those who choose not to believe.
5. The synoptic gospels state that the women came to the tomb and entered it, while John states Mary Magdalene saw the tomb opened did not enter but ran to tell Peter and John. Is this a contradiction that discredits the Gospel accounts? Explain.
These seeming contradictions do not discredit the Gospel accounts; to the contrary, they make it more likely that they are true. If in a criminal trial, all the defendants give the same alibis, word for word, their testimony is suspect. The authorities will immediately consider that they have concocted a story and agreed upon the details to avoid prosecution. Eyewitness accounts of the same events will often appear contradictory, for each describes what they have seen. One witness might omit a detail others include because they did not see it, might not have considered it important or had forgotten it. So it is with these accounts. If the gospel account were a fiction created by the apostles to support their particular movement, one would expect the accounts to be more similar. But it is not. Each writer gives the account, choosing details each considers to be most significant from different witnesses.
The women did come to the tomb before dark. Upon seeing the stone removed, it appears Mary Magdalene left the others and ran to tell Peter and John (the other disciple). The others then entered the tomb, where they saw the angels. John is only giving Mary’s account; he is not contradicting the other accounts saying she came by herself.
6. After entering the tomb and hearing the announcement of the angels, Mark states they left and said nothing to anyone, but the other Gospels state they went and told the disciples. Who is correct?
Again both are correct. Mark’s account states they left the tomb and said nothing to anyone. That is how they started back. They were not going to tell the disciples or anyone else. But then something happened. Not only did they remember His words, that He would rise again (Luke 23:8), but then He appeared to them on the way (Matthew 28:8-10).
7. When Jesus told Mary, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father...” what was he telling her?
Mary had thought she had lost her Lord once, but now she had found Him again. She was not going to lose Him again. But the fact was, our Lord was going away again. He would soon ascend to His Father. Mary and the other disciples did not yet realize this. They instead thought He would remain and set up the Kingdom. Jesus is telling Mary not to get too attached to His physical presence. He soon would be leaving.
Read Luke 24:13-32. After appearing to the women, Jesus appears to two disciples who are traveling to the village of Emmaus, which was located about 8 to 9 miles northwest of Jerusalem. One of them was named Cleopas.
8. Why do you think Jesus singled these two men out from the rest of our Lord’s followers?
We are not told why He appeared to these two. He could have appeared that evening to the disciples without having these two go back to report that they had seen Him. Yet He did appear to them. Did they more than the others need the assurance of His personal presence? We do not know. Did the disciples need their testimony to nudge their faith just that little bit more? We do not know. What we do know is this, our Lord makes no mistakes. He appeared to those that needed His presence, to those who would take the word of His resurrection to others.
9. Cleopas and the other disciple report that the Lord had appeared to Peter. When did this appearance take place?
We do not know when the Lord appeared to Peter. This is the only reference to this in the Gospels. Paul apparently refers to it in 1 Corinthians 15:5. We might be tempted to believe that the record of this appearance would be important enough to record, considering that Peter was one of the leaders of the disciples. Yet the Spirit of God chose not to give us the details of that meeting while He did the appearance to Cleopas and another unknown follower.
10. Why do you think the text records that Jesus asked for something to eat when He appeared to the disciples?
One of the ideas that these disciples had in reference to the reported appearances of the Lord was that this was a ghost, the spirit of their dead Lord, an incorporeal being rather than His physically resurrected person. He did two things to alter this idea. First, He invited them to touch Him. A spirit or ghost would not have a physical body. Secondly, He asked them for something to eat because, according to the thinking of that day, an incorporeal being would not need to nor could eat real physical food.
The Applications:
What are the applications of these passages to our lives today? Identify as many as you are able.
1. The religious leaders and the Roman authorities took pains to not only kill our Lord but to make sure He stayed in the grave. Yet no matter how many guards they could have posted, no matter how tight they sealed the door, no matter by whose authority they declared it shut, our Lord would not only rise but come forth from the tomb victorious over death.
So too, in your life and mine, the power of the resurrection is available. No matter how strong the enemy may appear, no matter how difficult the problem posed or how hopeless the situation seems, this same power is there to be used by those who have placed their confidence and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul states in Philippians 3:10 one of his goals, “...that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”
2. The resurrection accounts as recorded in the Gospels are not contradictory but consistent with different witnesses who included different details and events. The fact that it would have been improbable that any of the disciples would or could have come and taken the body, plus the fact that all the Roman authorities or Jewish leaders needed to do was produce His body but did not do so, points to the fact that He did indeed rise from the dead. And if He did this, He is all that He claimed to be. His resurrection secures our hope. For as He was raised, so too will God raise us up when He comes to set up His Kingdom upon the earth.