The Sanhedrin Confirms the Resurrection May 1, 2011 Matthew 28:11-15

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1 I. Introduction The Sanhedrin Confirms the Resurrection May 1, 2011 Matthew 28:11-15 In Ephesians 6:12 Paul writes, Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. With the power of God, in particular the Holy Spirit who is inside each one of us, every Christian is in a battle with Satan for the souls of mankind. Satan knows that the most important knowledge or doctrine is centered on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15:1-6. Of first importance the resurrection of Jesus proves that Jesus is who He said He was. It is also the basis for salvation Romans 10:9 says that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For this reason, throughout the years, people have tried to explain away or concoct theories to disprove the resurrection of Jesus Christ. These theories include theories like: the swoon theory. The swoon theory says that Jesus didn t really die; He only went into a deep coma from the pain and trauma. The cool air of the tomb and the burial spices helped revive Him. This is too unbelievable to be true. Once revived, somehow after all He had been through, He was able to unwrap Himself, roll the stone away, and escape from the tomb and the soldiers. He then had to convince His followers that He had actually been dead and resurrected. Then there is the no-burial theory i.e. Jesus was never put in the tomb, His body was thrown into a mass grave for criminals. But then all the Jewish leaders had to do to disprove His resurrection was to retrieve the body and put it on display. There is the hallucination theory everyone who claimed to see Jesus was really experiencing an hallucination caused by their strong belief that Jesus would rise from the dead. But the disciples didn t expect Jesus resurrection. Besides, how could more than 500 people hallucinate at the same time in exactly the same way? Other theories include the telepathy theory, the séance theory, and the mistaken identity theory. All of these theories have their shortcomings. None of them can explain how the apostles and the early Christians, who were all afraid for their lives, were changed into heroes who were willing to go through persecution and horrific deaths for an illusion and a falsehood. They also fail to explain what happened to Jesus body and why the Jewish leaders didn t produce the dead body and put down the supposed lie of the resurrection. 1

2 In today s Scripture Matthew records the first theory to oppose Jesus Resurrection the theft theory which said that someone managed to steal Jesus body and hide it. Since this theory was still around when Matthew wrote his Gospel some 30 years after Jesus death and resurrection, Matthew had to set things straight. As he reveals the conspiracy and plan, he also exposes its shortcomings. II. The Conspiracy began when A. The guards reported to the chief priests. While the women went to tell the disciples what they had seen, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests. Since they hadn t been relieved of guard duty, some of the guard would have to stay at the tomb. Since it was still early on the third day after Jesus crucifixion, if they had all left, Pilate would immediately have had them arrested and executed for leaving their post. Because they were in temporary service to the Jewish religious leaders, the soldiers wisely reported to the chief priests everything that happened while they were guarding the tomb. They knew that the chief priests would be as anxious to cover up this miracle as they were. Their report would include everything that happened until they fainted away the earthquake, the stone being rolled back, the blazing angel sitting on the stone, the empty tomb. As elite soldiers, they wouldn t try to explain what they had seen, but reported it as best they could. This was irrefutable evidence from men with no ulterior motive. They knew that they had failed their orders to secure the tomb the tomb was empty and they were looking for a way out. It s possible that because of their report, the chief priests were the first ones to learn of Jesus resurrection. After the guards reported to the chief priests, we see... B. The chief priests and the elders come together. Despite the firsthand, unprejudiced testimony from the guards and the chief priests awareness of Jesus claim that He would rise from the dead after 3 days, the chief priests showed no interest in verifying the guards story. Who Jesus was and what He did didn t matter to them at all. As Abraham told the rich man in Jesus story in Luke 16:19-31, If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead. The chief priests were so evil, self-willed, and spiritually blind that they shut their eyes and hearts to all the evidence verifying Jesus claims. Instead, as soon as the chief priests heard the guards report they gathered together the elders for an immediate attempt at damage control. They didn t try to deny the resurrection itself. Their concern was to keep the news from their fellow Jews. They were afraid that many would accept Jesus 2

3 as the Messiah and they would lose their influence, power and wealth. They had to explain the missing body they needed a plan and they needed it soon. C. The Sanhedrin came up with a plan. I suspect that after much debate, the Sanhedrin came up with a plan but to make it work, they needed to use the eyewitnesses. The soldiers needed to be bribed to say that His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep. The guards would have demanded a large price for their participation they had the Sanhedrin over a barrel and, most likely, they took advantage of it. But there was another problem, their lives were at stake. If their superiors heard that they had failed, they could be executed. So the Sanhedrin agreed that if this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. Finally, after all the planning was done... D. The plan was carried out. The soldiers gladly took the money. Instead of being punished for dereliction of duty, they were being rewarded. They were more than willing to do the Sanhedrin s dirty work and did as they were instructed. Writing 30 years later, Matthew then comments that this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day. The tomb guards were the first ones to spread this lie, but the Sanhedrin would continue to spread it among the Jews by any other way they could. A hundred years later, the Sanhedrin s lie was still common among the Jews. A Christian leader named Justin Martyr who lived from 103 AD to 165 AD wrote about the theft theory in one of his books. This same false theory is still taught today by some people. The plan of the Sanhedrin was a bald-faced lie; instead of concealing the truth, their lie confirmed it. Let s consider some of the evidence for the resurrection or confirmation of the truth which is supplied by this story of the Sanhedrin. III. The Confirmation of the Truth A. Jesus disciples didn t steal the body. They had all left the scene and had gone into hiding. Turn to John 20:19. These were not men who were going to steal anything let alone a body. They hadn t believed Jesus predictions of His resurrection and, now that He was crucified, they were dejected and afraid. They didn t even believe those who had already seen the risen Christ. Turn to Mark 16:14. B. Jesus enemies didn t steal His body. The belief in Jesus resurrection was what His enemies were trying to prevent. They would have defeated their own purposes if they had taken His body. 3

4 C. This was not the scene of a grave robbery. If someone had stolen the body, they would have taken the body with the grave clothes. If, for some reason, they had left the clothes behind, they would have been tossed around, but John 20:7 says that the empty grave clothes were left in the tomb in an orderly manner the face cloth was folded neatly and left by itself. D. If someone had stolen the body, the Jewish leaders should have been able to find it. With all the manpower of the Roman government at their disposal, the Jewish leaders would have been able to turn Jerusalem and all Judea upside down. For 11 unlearned and unsophisticated men to have successfully eluded the search for any time at all doesn t seem possible. But no where is it recorded that there was ever any search for Jesus body the Jewish leaders knew the truth E. It s unlikely that the soldiers were all asleep. They knew that to be asleep during their watch would bring imprisonment or death. Because of this, in a 3-hour watch it would be very unlikely that they would allow themselves to be overcome by sleep. And if they did happen to fall asleep, to be asleep long enough for the disciples to move the stone or not to have the noise from moving the stone wake them up isn t very likely either. Finally... F. If the soldiers had all been asleep, how could they know who stole the body? If someone else had seen the disciples stealing the body, wouldn t they have alerted the soldiers so that they could have stopped the disciples or followed them and retrieved the body? IV. Conclusion Matthew s account shows that any explanation but the actual bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ contradicts the facts and insults any rational person. The truth of the resurrection is so absolute that even a lie against it helps prove it. Whether the testimony is from Jesus friends or His enemies, the same conclusion is inevitable He is not here; he has risen, just as he said (Matthew 28:6). The desperation of both the religious leaders and the guards resulted in a pathetic rumor that lasted until Matthew s day and beyond. If Matthew or anyone else had simply invented the story to perpetuate a myth about Jesus resurrection, all the religious leaders had to do was to produce Jesus body. And if they could have, they would have because the belief in Jesus resurrection was causing chaos throughout Palestine and the known world. But the empty tomb continued to be a thorn in their side. Their only hope was that some people would be foolish enough to believe their rumor over the truth of Jesus resurrection. In the Christian life there are some negotiable items like: What color should the carpeting be? Should the choir wear robes or not? What translation of the Bible should the pastor use? But there are 4

5 some non-negotiable things among which are the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This isn t a myth and much as some people try to belittle it, it is true. As demonstrated by learned men like C.S. Lewis and Lee Strobel, if a person considers the data with an open mind, there is only one response to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and what He said and did. Contrary to some arguments, even today, which ignore the obvious, believing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the sensible and rational thing to do with good results. As John 3:18 says, Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. He is risen. 5