Matthew 27:62-28:15 – God Still Moves Stones
Today we are continuing our series called He is Risen Indeed, based on the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What did His rising from the grave prove to us? What did it accomplish for us? Today we are looking at the story from the angle of the guards at the tomb and the stone that rolled away. Let’s read Matthew 27:62-28:15.
Now, we have to ask, who were these guys? Well, as our scripture says, the religious leaders remembered Jesus’ words about rising from the grave. I don’t think they thought He would actually do that, but they wanted to make sure that His disciples didn’t steal the body and then pretend that He rose.
So, they took precautions. They went to Pilate and explained their situation. Surely the governor would not want his decision to execute this criminal named Jesus to come back and haunt him. Surely he would do something.
Well, Pilate did. He put a seal on the tomb. That seal was 2 things: (1) an actual seal consisting of a cord set in wax around the stone where it was connected to the tomb, and (2) a Roman guard.
Who was this Roman guard? Matthew 27:65 says, "You have a guard: go, make it as secure as you know how." Some people have claimed that Pilate was refusing the request for a Roman guard and telling them to use their own temple guards. But the verb used can be an imperative, "take a guard, make it as sure as you know how." It can also mean he was giving them permission to have a Roman guard.
The word "guard" is the Greek word kustodia, from the Latin or Roman custodia. The use of this particular word would indicate a Roman guard and not the Jewish temple guard. This is further verified by the fact they ask Pilate for a guard. If they could have used their own guards why go to Pilate? Also, if only the temple guards were involved, the statements of verse 14 would have been unnecessary. No one would have to talk to the governor nor bribe anyone.
So the question is: Why was this important? I’ll tell you. Because the presence of Roman soldiers at the tomb and the Roman seal over the stone door made the arguments of the religious leaders sound ridiculous, if not impossible. The idea that these timid, fearful Galilean disciples could or would steal the body of Jesus out from under the noses of a guard of highly disciplined and skilled Roman soldiers is not only ridiculous, but impossible. Even had the soldiers been asleep, think of the noise the disciples would have made trying to removed the huge stone covering the entrance to the tomb!
The religious leaders wanted to pretend the whole thing didn’t happen, and so they made up a foolish excuse. The disciples stealing the body? The disciples? Well, at first thought this sounds rational. But it’s not. To know that Jesus was not alive, but did indeed die, would be party to a great lie. And all the disciples either died or suffered for their faith. Let me ask you: would you suffer or die for something that you knew were a lie? People die for lies every day. But, if they KNEW it were a lie, they likely wouldn’t. The disciples would not have died for what they knew was a conspiracy or lie.
Of course, the Romans wouldn’t have stolen the body. The case of the missing body was about to produce a great amount of unrest in the country. The Romans wanted peace at all costs, and they would not have done anything to rile up the people more.
And of course the priests wouldn’t have stolen the body. They didn’t want the disciples to steal the body – they wanted the body where it was, in a sealed tomb. They didn’t want to make Jesus a martyr AND a hero. If they had stolen the body, they would have produced it again soon, to shut all the Christians up. They had no idea where the body was.
The lie of a stolen body was pure foolishness. It was the best lie anyone could come up with at the time, but they didn’t know that the disciples would suffer and die for Jesus. So between the impossibility of stealing the body from under the noses of the Roman guard, and the future martyrdoms of the disciples, there is no other explanation. Jesus’ body was nowhere to be found because He indeed rose from the dead.
Cartoonist Joe McKeever has drawn a group of tourists looking at the Garden tomb in Jerusalem. It’s an open tomb where the stone door has been rolled away. Their guide says, "The angel moved the stone to reveal an empty tomb and a risen Christ. Ever since, man has been trying to roll that stone back!"
People today are the same. They’ll come up with any and every explanation to try and make sense of the resurrection without actually admitting that it really happened. People today are still trying to defeat God’s plans. But it didn’t happen then, and it won’t happen now.
I think of the book and movie The Da Vinci Code. It’s caused quite a stir because of what it says about Jesus: that He didn’t die, but rather ran off and married Mary Magdalene, fathering a family that still exists in the world today, and the church is trying to cover it all up. The book itself is fiction, but it tries to say that it’s based on facts. Many Christians are in an uproar about it all.
Maybe I’m naïve, but I say, it will pass. Lies have come and gone, and the church is still alive today. The church has survived oppression and depression. It’s survived not enough laws and too many laws. It’s survived being persecuted and being the persecutors. It’s survived foolish leaders and fool-hearty leaders. It’s survived wars from within and without. And it is still alive today.
An author once wrote, “Some time ago, while driving to Cambridge from London, a friend of mine took me to see the tomb of Lady Anne Grimstone. Once, when reminded of the Christian’s hope of resurrection from the dead, she is reported to have said, “It is no more likely that I should be raised from the dead than that a seed should grow out of my body.”
“Lady Anne Grimstone died in the year 1717 and was buried in an altar tomb. Soon after her death a crack developed in the tomb, and a seedling pushed its head up and through it. During its growth the tree split the tomb and twisted the railings so much that it has left them hanging in the air. Thus what seemed so unlikely to Lady Anne Grimstone actually happened.”
The church is the same. Life found a way to upset Lady Grimstone’s plans, and life found a way to get Jesus out of the grave. Despite its threats and challenges and taunts and name-calling and hostility, the church is still alive today. The religious leaders tried to stop God’s plans, but they couldn’t. The political leaders tried to stop God’s plans, but they couldn’t. Over the centuries, the church has been attacked, maligned, ignored, squashed, persecuted, beaten, torn apart, burned at the stake, eaten by wild animals, and hung on a cross. But let me tell you: There is absolutely nothing that any person can do to stop God’s plans. The Jews couldn’t, the Romans couldn’t, the pagans couldn’t, the foreign nations couldn’t, the emperors couldn’t, and the other religions couldn’t. God’s plans are unstoppable.
Which should give you great hope in your times of challenge. Some of you are facing serious obstacles. Some of you are having your faith challenged with questions about Jesus or the Bible. I tell you, look for the answers, because the truth is on our side. The church is far from perfect, and we have done things to be ashamed of, but we do not have to be ashamed of the gospel, of Jesus, or of the Bible.
Some of you are facing serious challenges in situations around you. Health, family, money, jobs, debt… these things are real, and they can throw a person for a loop. But let me tell you: hang in there. Friday till Sunday was a hard road for the disciples, and they didn’t know how long it would last, but Sunday finally came. I encourage you to hang on until God rolls your stones away.
We all face things from time to time that challenge us. Our faith is put to the test: Do I really trust You? Can I really trust You? Well, the stone that rolled away from the tomb of Jesus screams YES! Nobody or no thing can steal your faith, unless you let them. I tell you, don’t let them! No matter what guards anybody puts up to try to stop God working in your life – no matter what temptations or arguments or problems or whatever – remember that God still moves stones. He can work out your problems set your doubting mind at ease if you let Him.
Let me close off with lyrics from the song, well, I’ll let you guess the name of the song. “He said goodbye to the angels of heaven, and He came to earth as a common man. He taught us how we could love one another; there was healing in His hands. There were those who believed and followed Him, and there were those who wanted Him dead. They thought the grave would silence Him forever but they found out instead…
“You can close your eyes, you can say it’s a lie, you can stick your head in the sand. You can turn away, even try to explain: He was just another man. When they nailed Him to the cross by His hands and feet
and they put Him in the ground, three days later everybody found out that you can’t, No you can’t keep a good man down, no… No you can’t keep a good man down.
“I hear you say that it all sounds crazy, it’s a good story but it can’t be true. How could a man who was dead and buried mean a thing to me and you? Here we are two thousand years later and still the choice is just the same: You can say that you don’t believe it, but it doesn’t change a thing.
“I can take you to the hill where they hung Him on the cross; I can take you to the empty tomb. I can tell you He’s alive ’cause He lives in me, but the rest is up to you.
“You can close your eyes, you can say it’s a lie, you can stick your head in the sand. You can turn away, even try to explain: He was just another man. When they nailed Him to the cross by His hands and feet
and they put Him in the ground, three days later everybody found out that you can’t, No you can’t keep a good man down, no… No you can’t keep a good man down.”
Let me tell you, God’s plans will not be thwarted. What He wants to accomplish will happen. Let this serve as an encouragement when you face barriers in your walk of faith. God moved stones then, and He still moves them today. Will you let Him know the challenges you face, and let him move them for you?
