11/01/2017 FAKE NEWS
Matthew 28:11-15 As the women were on the way into the city, some of the Temple police who had been guarding the tomb went to the chief priests and told them what had happened. A meeting of all the Jewish leaders was called, and it was decided to bribe the police to say they had all been asleep when JESUS’ disciples came during the night and stole this body. “If the governor hears about it,” the Council promised, “we’ll stand up for you and everything will be all right.” So the police accepted the bribe and said what they were told to. [Living Bible translation]
Fake News: false reports of events… www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com
Summary
After JESUS was crucified HIS body was released to Joseph of Arimathea, one of JESUS’ disciples. Joseph begged Pontius Pilate, who was the governor of Judaea and the judge at JESUS’ Roman trial, for JESUS’ body for burial.
But, despite HIS crucifixion, the chief priests and Pharisees were still concerned about JESUS. So they went to Pilate and insisted that Pilate issue an order that JESUS’ tomb be sealed. Pilate agreed and posted a guard of soldiers.
It’s not clear exactly how many soldiers were sent. A Roman “watch guard” generally consisted of 4 soldiers because the Roman night was divided into 4 three-hour watches. The fourth watch would be the time right before dawn. [For example, in Matthew 24:14, it is noted that during the fourth watch of the night, JESUS went out in the night to HIS disciples walking on water.]
However many guards there were, these guards were present when a great earthquake occurred. They were present when an angel of the LORD came down from heaven and rolled away the stone from the tomb door. They were present when they angel said, “HE is risen.” These guards were present when the women were invited to see for themselves that HE was not there and when the women ran from the tomb to tell the other disciples the good news.
But when the guards gave their true report to the chief priests, the chief priests decided to bribe the guards and create some fake news. They tried to bury the good news, but the good new-- the Gospel-- prevailed.