Jerusalem Security Systems, LLC – Incident Report
The report of the guards had to be a shock to those that heard it first. Matthew tells us that “some of the guards went into the city and reported”. Not all went to break the news to the Jewish leaders. We need to understand that to fall asleep while on guard meant certain death to the soldier. No excuses, lights out cancel Hanukah. Ancient Roman and Jewish history gives many accounts of guards that were executed because of their inability to remain awake during their assigned shift. We read in Acts chapter 12, verses 18 & 19 about such an event;
Acts 12:18-19 (NKJV)
18 Then, as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter. 19 But when Herod had searched for him and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death.
A procedure that most security companies these days follow is making sure that there is proper documentation for any given shift that has been covered. I have had the opportunity to read some of these shift reports turned in by various guards. Most are very dull and boring. However, sometimes there are reports that would interest CNN or maybe even Jerry Springer. I can imagine the report that was given by these guards that had been charged with keeping the tomb of Jesus secure.
A Roman guard consisted of four to sixteen soldiers. There is no specific detail as to exactly how many soldiers made up this particular guard detail but our scriptures tell us there were several. After the day of the Passover, Ciaphas the chief priest and several other Pharisees went to Pilate to ensure that the tomb of Christ was protected. They were afraid that the disciples would come and steal the dead body of Jesus and make a preposterous claim that Jesus had risen from the dead. They realized that if the disciples were to steal the body and make such a claim of His resurrection that this deception would be worse than the first.
Let’s look at the mindset of the disciples. We can look at the actions of impulsive Peter to see what was going on in their minds. Peter had denied Christ three times. Not just Peter, but every one of the disciples had abandoned Jesus when He was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane. Do you think they would be in a state of mind to pull of the greatest body theft in all of history? I think not. They were all huddling together in fear just waiting to see what would happen next.
So now we follow the guards into the city. Jesus has already been discovered “missing” by the soldiers responsible for guarding the borrowed tomb. I don’t know about you, but I hate to be the one who brings bad news. I find it interesting that most children don’t tell their parents about broken dishes, vases, or toys that somehow “mysteriously” got broke because they fear the reaction of the parent. This fear of authority doesn’t leave when you get to adulthood. As a child growing up it didn’t matter who broke it, we were sworn to secrecy that we absolutely knew nothing about what got broken. Mom or dad would soon discover a favorite dish that lay in pieces in a corner and to us kids it this was a case could only be solved by Scooby Doo and the Mystery crew. Of course when questioned about the broken item, we would innocently look up with those child-like eyes and say “not me”. You know, “not me” somehow got all the blame around our house. It’s totally amazing that this same “not me” somehow has transcended another generation and now lives at our home with our two boys! Which soldiers were traveling into town to break the bad news? Was it those that were on duty when Jesus came out of the tomb? Probably not. I would suspect that it was those who didn’t want to be associated with this blunder that were leading the way to tattle on the ones who were responsible. Even though they were in the same guard unit together, when big trouble comes it was every man for himself.
What did the soldiers tell the chief priest and Pharisees? They could have made up a story about the disciples stealing the body on their own, but instead it was the chief priest and other Jewish leaders that are credited with concocting this amazing story of how the scared band of rag-tag fishermen overpowered the sixteen fully armed guards and stole the body of Jesus. The report made to the Jewish leaders was exactly how it happened. All they knew is what they saw. When the guards saw the angel sitting on the great stone, they literally fainted with fear.
I recall a time I wanted to faint with fear. When I was a young fellow I had many chores to do on our small family farm. One of the jobs was to feed the animals. My dad had just about every kind of animal you could imagine. Dad was particularly proud of his white Tom turkey. Everybody that visited dads chicken yard heard of this great white Tom turkey. The problem was that this Tom turkey was proud of his territory, in fact, too proud. When you came in the chicken pen, that turkey would fly up at you with his spurs going for the jugular. I got tired of that happening every afternoon after school and so this one day I picked up a two-by-four that was about 2 ½ ft. long and whirled it at that old Tom turkey. I was totally surprised when the 2x4 hit him broadside like a bowling ball knocking down 12 bowling pens. That turkey started flopping around on the ground flipping over and over, scratching the ground like they do on Thanksgiving morning.
I knew my goose was cooked. Dad would be furious with me because I had killed his prize white Tom turkey. I knew I wasn’t about to go and to mouth to beak resuscitation so I just continued with my chores as usual dreading the moment when dad would discover his prize turkey laid out like it was Thanksgiving.
I guess you could say this is one of the many times that God smiled on me. Right after I hit that old Tom turkey and saw him do his little dead turkey dance, I just mumbled a short little prayer and said “God please help me”. You know what? About 30 minutes later after feeding and watering all the animals I looked over at where the turkey stopped kicking around and he wasn’t there anymore! I looked around the chicken yard and much to my amazement, there he was, up and walking around like nothing had happened. Boy was I relieved! I was so afraid of my dad’s response when I had to tell him about his prize turkey getting whopped on the head by a 2x4 that mysteriously flew out of my hand. Can you can see why I don’t have a problem believing in the resurrection of Jesus?
Fear is something that if we aren’t careful, can have a very negative affect on our spiritual growth. The soldiers were struck with fear, so much that they had fainted. The Jewish leaders were so struck with fear that they concocted a wild story about a rag-tag group of semi-retired fisherman attacking an armed guard unit and stealing the body of Jesus. Not only did they make up this preposterous story, they paid off the guards with “a large sum of money”. This is what most would call “hush money”. They were paid to tell a lie, to keep quiet about the truth.
Fear causes us to react in some very interesting ways as a Christian. We need to understand what God teaches us about fear. Listen to 2nd Timothy chapter 1, verse six & seven;
2 Timothy 1:6-7 (NKJV)
6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
The soldiers and Jewish leaders had a right to be afraid. They didn’t have God on their side and they knew it. By now, the chief priest must have been at least considering that he just might be a knuckle-head by now. All the great things that the soldiers heard from Jesus’ followers must have been ringing in their heads. Have you ever come to a situation where you just knew you were wrong but were too proud to admit it? That is where I believe these folks were on this Sunday morning of the resurrection. They were afraid – very afraid and rightly so!
If you and I are believers then are we to be afraid? Nope; we heard God’s wise counsel in 2nd Timothy. What else does God have to say about unnecessary fear?
Philippians 1:27-28 (NKJV)
27 Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition (destruction, waste, ruin), but to you of salvation, and that from God.
When in life we find ourselves facing our adversaries, we are not to be fearful. If we show that there is no fear because of them, it will serve as proof that God is on our side and like the old Tom turkey, they are going to get a head whomping! Ever since that Turkey got laid out by that 2x4 he never did want to come at me again with those sharp spurs.
What are we afraid of today? Are we unsure about our future? You don’t have to be. The bible tells us that if we are His children then we have inherited eternal salvation by grace. Are you afraid that if you spend more time at church you wont have time to do those other things that are so very important? Spending time with God and other believers is where we develop into mature totally blessed Christians but we somehow are afraid that we will miss something on TV or at the movies or paperwork that just cant wait until tomorrow. We put off worshiping God because we are afraid that time spent in church doesn’t make good sense when your work is piling up around you like a mountain of fire ants on a picnic in July. We are afraid that our boss will think less of us if we were to say “no thank you” for that extra work that just might one day lead to a promotion. We are afraid that if we don’t get caught up that we will never find light at the end of the tunnel. Let us discover something together this morning church; there is light at the end of the tunnel. We just might be looking for the wrong light, the light that only brings temporary peace and happiness. If we are to live life “more abundantly” as stated in John 10:10, we need to redirect our search for the True Light. Jesus is the light of the world and if we don’t follow that light, we are in for some big time heartaches ahead.
God doesn’t want you to live in fear! Matthew 6:33 tells us exactly what we need to hear; “but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” Did you hear that, “seek first”, not second or third or fourth. God doesn’t want what is left over in our time banks or to bless us when it is convenient for us to worship or serve Him. We are to seek God first in all things!
We like to point our fingers at the Jewish leaders and the lying soldiers on that resurrection morning don’t we. They were trembling in their boots because of the egg on their faces. They began to tell lies and live deceitful lives because they were afraid to tell the truth about Jesus. Everyday their lives got worse and worse as the lies multiplied to cover their transgressions.
What do our lives say about the reality of Jesus? Is Jesus really real to us this morning or are our lives telling a different story? Show me action, not words to prove your dedication to Jesus. I can tell you that I love you but if I don’t show it, they are merely idle words that like the wind are here today and gone tomorrow. Do we find ourselves living a lie because we are afraid of what the world might think if aren’t conformed to the normal expectations? Romans 12:2 tells us;
2 … do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Scotty Jordan and I were talking yesterday about the little chicks that Mrs. Patricia brought to the Easter egg hunt. They were so cute and cuddly, not a child could resist holding one. I made the comment to Scotty that those baby rabbits need their mother for nourishment and I wondered why the baby chicks needed their mother since all they ate was chicken food from the day they were hatched from the egg.
Scotty told me a story that really opened my eyes as to why those little chicks needed their momma. One day Scotty and his family were burning off a field so that it could be cleared. Somehow a momma hen and her baby chicks got caught in the middle of that field with no way out. The next day as they were walking the field, they noticed what was left of the momma hen. When they moved her burnt body what they saw was a surprise. All her baby chicks were alive and well because she sacrificed her life for her little babies.
Jesus sacrificed His life for you and I. He died a gruesome death much more worse than fire. He took the heat from the fiery darts of sin so that you can I could not only survive, but to have life more abundantly. We don’t have to have a degree in theology to understand what God wants for us. It’s so very simple but somehow we muddle it up and turn it into a mess all too often.
The message is clear this morning; God loves us each and every one. He loves us so much that he gave His only son Jesus to die on a cross at Calvary. By the death of Jesus, we have eternal life. Just like that momma hen protecting her defenseless babies, we need Jesus to protect us. Without Jesus, we don’t stand a chance.
We too will be consumed by the fiery fields of life if we don’t reach out to Him right now! If you have never made that decision, right now is the perfect time. Let this be the Easter that made a difference in your life. Will you call out to Jesus this morning and ask Him to protect you from the fires of life or will you wait it out another day hoping somehow to escape the fire. Looking frantically from hill to hill, you will never find a way out of this world unless you call out to Jesus this morning. Don’t let it be too late, make that decision this morning.
Maybe you have already made the decision to accept Jesus as your protector but you realize that you have strayed away from His loving care and guidance. Just maybe your life is not telling the truth about Jesus even though you claim Him as your Savior. Life has been blowing hot air, smoke and fiery darts demanding more and more of your precious time. You struggle to make ends meet, to spend more time with your family and so you try harder and harder. The harder you try, the more it seems to get away from you. No matter how hard you try to do all the things that life demands of you, there is always something else that needs to be done, something that just can’t wait until tomorrow. So you put off worshiping with your church family or make another excuse not to serve your Protector.
Even though we might only be halfway committed to Jesus, He is always 100% committed to us. He stands ready this morning to bring you back under His protective wing. All you have to do is ask Him. Ask that He will forgive you and that He will help you stop living the defeated Christian life today. God loves you very much and He wants you to be victorious and live life in abundance, not struggling day to day trying to make things work out on your own. Are you tired of struggling to make things work out? Trying to meet that busy schedule? Maybe you are struggling this morning with a relationship issue that keeps on dragging you down. No matter how hard you try to fix things, it always turns back into a mess every time you turn around. That’s not the life Jesus wants for you this morning. Give it to Him, will you?
Maybe someone has hurt you so badly that you can’t seem to forgive them. The hurt still stings even though it has been months or even years since that terrible event happened. God knows your situation even better than you do. You don’t know how you can possibly find forgiveness but I tell you the truth, God knows. If only you will trust Him this morning and make that step towards Him, telling Him that you don’t know how to forgive and to please help you learn the way. He stands here this morning like that momma hen seeking her frantic crying babies ready to protect you with His amazing grace, will you come?
