The Impossible Guard Duty
The Impossible Guard Duty
Matthew 27:57-28:15
I learned a song many years ago - maybe you did, too - called “Nothing is Impossible.” It was introduced at a Billy Graham Crusade in 1966. The songwriter, Eugene Clark, was nearly blind and severely crippled with arthritis. He dictated the lyrics and score to an assistant who wrote them down and played them back to Clark. The first two lines go: “Nothing is impossible when you put your trust in God. Nothing is impossible when you’re trusting in His word.”
We grow up learning to overcome obstacles, and sometimes find ourselves up against something we think is impossible. Many of us heard, early in life, “Don’t say you can’t until you’ve tried.” There are many things that we think of as impossible. I’ve run up against a few of those in my life, as I’m sure you have. Sometimes, we just look at something and think, “that’s impossible.” I was keeping track, as we read through the Bible, of the barren women, some past child-bearing age, who had sons. Each one thought it was impossible for them to have children: Sarah, Samson’s mother, Hannah, and Elizabeth. Through them, though, God gave us Isaac, Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist. Then there’s young Mary, and when we tell people that she was a virgin, we are told – as if we didn’t already know – that it’s impossible for a virgin to give birth.
But that’s in the Bible, you say. What about “real life” (as if those weren’t real)? What about cancer or kidney failure? What about that thing the doctor said was incurable or impossible to treat? What about a debt we find impossible to pay? I think that was the point of Eugene Clark’s song. There are tons of things that are impossible for us. We look at it and just know we can’t do it. But nearly blind and severely crippled, Eugene Clark knew that nothing is impossible for God. Cancer has been cured, kidney failure reversed, diseases cured – not by medicine alone, but by the intervention of God. Nothing is impossible for him. God is still on the throne and he is still a miracle-working God.
Well, there are a couple things that are impossible, even for God. It is impossible for God to deny himself. It is impossible for God to act against his nature. And it is impossible for man to stop what God has planned. If we resist God’s plan, he will use someone else. But it is impossible to stop God or prevent his plan from succeeding. God’s will will be done whether we cooperate or not. God’s will will be done however hard we resist. Our text today proves that. But let’s get to in the right way.
Matthew has recounted for us that Jesus was arrested in the Garden, tried at Caiaphas’ house, sent to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who ordered Jesus to be crucified. Matthew told us where and how and when Jesus died. There were witnesses, whom Matthew names. We understand, also, that Roman executioners were experts in death. Once condemned and in their custody, no one survived. There can be no question that Jesus died. In fact, Mark relates that when Joseph of Arimathea asked for Jesus’ body, Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph (Mk 15:44-45). They got their man. They got the right person. Jesus was dead and his death certified by a Roman centurion who was an expert in killing people.
So Pilate released the body to Joseph, who wrapped the body in linen cloth and placed it in his own newly-hewn tomb. Then, to keep out body-snatchers, vandals, and wild animals, he rolled a large stone across the entrance of the tomb and went home. There were witnesses to that, also. Matthew names the two women, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, most likely Jesus’ mother, who naturally would want to know where her son was buried. Here’s the point: Jesus’ death and burial are certain, historical fact, and witnessed. None of this nonsense about the wrong body, the wrong tomb, or some foolishness about Jesus merely being unconscious.
Now, Matthew reports, the chief priests and Pharisees got nervous. Jesus claimed that he would rise. We know that can’t happen, but what if his disciples steal the body and then start peddling some tale about resurrection? We need to prevent any such pretense. So they went to Pilate and asked for a special guard, just until the three days are past. Put a seal on the tomb so nobody can meddle with it. Post a guard to keep any foolish followers away. He’s dead. Let’s just make sure he stays dead.
And so Pilate gives them a squad of soldiers to seal the tomb and post a temporary guard. Now, I don’t care how much faith you have. Some things are indeed impossible. Let’s suppose for a moment that those guards were Christians and thought they were doing God’s work. Let’s suppose they started singing, “Nothing is impossible when you put your trust in God.” Let’s suppose they’d even memorized Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Do you suppose that any of that would have mattered? Some things are impossible. It is impossible to stand in the way of God’s plan. It is impossible to prevent what God is doing. It doesn’t matter how much faith the guards had. It doesn’t matter how bid the stone is. It doesn’t matter how secure the seal is, or how severe the penalties for breaking the seal. And it doesn’t matter how many guards you put around the tomb. They were given an impossible job. No power on earth could have prevented what happened next.
I imagine the guards thought the whole thing was foolish anyway. The man was dead. His disciples were all in hiding, scared of their own shadow. The rock was too heavy for them to move, anyway. So they settled in for a boring duty. Now, let me put another accusation to rest here: the Romans had a severe penalty for sleeping on guard duty - death. And not just for the one who fell asleep. The whole squad had an interest in everybody staying awake and alert. Nobody was sleeping. Their lives depended on it, and there was no leniency. So, no matter how boring or pointless, they had to stay alert. Bring on the coffee!
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week ... there was a violent earthquake ... Matthew reports that an angel rolled back the stone and sat on it. Those poor Roman guards were prepared for everything – except this. The guards were so afraid of [the angel] that they shook and became like dead men. They fainted in fright. They passed out in panic.
So when the women arrived, they seen an angel sitting on the rock, Roman guards crumpled on the ground, and an empty grave. The dead man isn’t there. In fact, there is no dead man. Listen carefully to the angel’s message: “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.” I know why you’re hear and I know what you’re thinking. “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.” Remember what Jesus told you. He promised you that his death would not be the end of the story. “Come and see the place where he lay.” Step inside and examine the tomb for yourself. Take your time. Assure yourselves that you aren’t dreaming this. Touch the ledge where the body once lay. Feel the reality of the cold stone. “Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you.” Once you are satisfied, take a message to the others. Give them the good news. He’s waiting for you in Galilee. There, now, I’ve delivered the message I was sent with.
And now the gospels are consumed with the appearances of Jesus. Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20-21 are filled with accounts of the disciples and others seeing Jesus alive. Hundreds of people saw Jesus alive – after they had seen him dead – including Paul’s reference to 500 at one time. But those are the other guys, and we’re focused here on Matthew. It all began with this one: as the women hurried to take the angelic message to the others, they met Jesus on the way.
We need a quick Greek lesson. The Greek word for joy is carav (chara). The word rejoice is caivrw (chairo). Jesus greets them, “Cairete.” It is not just “greetings,” as most translations render it. Some translate it “hail”, and some “shalom.” It’s not “hello” or “peace.” It’s more like “Joy to you,” or “I’m so happy to see you.” It’s the sort of joyful greeting you give to someone you love and miss. “Rejoice!” Don’t be sad any longer. The darkness is over; the sun is up. It’s a beautiful morning, and all’s right with the world. And they knelt at his feet and, Matthew reports, worshiped him.
What happened to the guards? The other gospels completely ignore the guards; their story is only in Matthew’s account. And he has not left them passed out in the cemetery. Somehow they survived the ordeal, and while the women are running to share the good news with the other disciples, the soldiers are marching to their doom. I’m sure they felt that way, because they had failed to secure the grave. They had failed to keep Jesus inside and the rest of the world outside. And having failed in their assignment, they were not eager to report back to their superiors.
But they went first to the Jewish leaders, to Caiaphas, to report. And they gave a full report. Matthew says they told the chief priests everything that had happened. The earthquake, the angel, the stone rolled away, and the empty tomb. They had been overcome, not by sleep or boredom, but by an unearthly force they had never had to face before. We don’t really know all they saw, but we can wonder if they saw Jesus walk out of the tomb. Did they see Jesus? Whatever they saw, they told Caiaphas and the elders everything.
And the Jewish elders believed them. That’s the important part. There is no indication that they accused the guards of sleeping on the job; no indication that they thought the guards were just making up a story; no indication that they thought the guards were hallucinating. Matthew tells us rather that the chief priests met with the elders and devised a plan. They had to find a way to explain it away. Something real had happened; something supernatural. There had been a resurrection. They knew it, but they couldn’t let the story get away from them. They had to find a way to cover it up.
The priests bribed the guards, gave them money, and gave them the story they were to tell. “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’” By the way, as we’ve already noted, this is a very dangerous “excuse,” one that is certain to get them executed for dereliction of duty. Except for one thing. You see, the guards would have also had to report to their superiors, not just to the Jews. That means other soldiers would know, and that means the word would eventually get to the governor himself, since he was the one who authorized the guard. But Caiaphas promised the guards, “If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”
Do you understand what that means? Because it was certain that Pilate would find out. And to keep the guards out of trouble, the priests would have to go to Pilate before he got the report from the guards. They would have to explain the facts of the case. The guards were not at fault because they could not prevent the hand of God. They could not stop the angel rolling back the stone. They could not stop the earthquake. They could not stop Jesus from walking out of the tomb alive. And for Pilate to accept their report, he would have had to believe it himself.
There are a lot of objections to the resurrection of Jesus. We’ve already dealt with some of them – the swoon theory, that Jesus was just unconscious; the wrong victim, that it wasn’t Jesus who was crucified; the wrong grave, that the guards were guarding an already empty tomb and the women showed up at the wrong place. There is also the idea that this was just a spiritual resurrection. But then, where did the body go? If it were a spiritual resurrection, the body would still be there, the stone would still be there, and the guards would have had nothing to report. We can even dispense with the stolen body theory. The Romans would have arrested the disciples and tortured them until they confessed where they’d hidden the body.
No, the facts are clear. Jesus rose bodily from the dead. The guards witnessed it. The chief priests, elders, and Pharisees believed it – which is why they tried to cover it up. We can assume that Pilate believed it. In my mind, it’s not just the women seeing Jesus, or Thomas touching Jesus’ hands, or Peter’s encounter by the lake, or even Paul’s five hundred witnesses that prove the resurrection. It is the guards who provide the proof of Jesus’ physical resurrection.
He is risen!