Putting Jesus on Trial (Part 5)

Once the enormous, coin-shaped stone was settled in front of Jesus’ tomb entrance, a new phase to our story began to unfold. We moved from frenetic activity, beatings, trials, burdened treks, and crucifixions to a time of mandated stillness. The race to get Jesus’ body washed, spiced, wrapped, and into the tomb was driven by the impending Sabbath. Directly on the heels of chaos from a political execution, we have the silence and stillness of a religious Sabbath.

Sabbath Silence and Defilement

The Law of Moses forbade “work,” including mourning rituals and travel, from sunset to sunset. The Sabbath Law was one of the most strictly enforced for the religious elites, and one over which Jesus and the Pharisees butted heads, repeatedly. Remember the haste to get Jesus’ body down from the cross, washed, embalmed, and buried? There was an impending high Sabbath—μεγάλη ἡ ἡμέρα. This was beyond a standard Sabbath.

With Jesus gone, the disciples were confined to their dwellings. The final sound of the day was that of the golel, the enormous, disk-shaped stone that rolled down its sloped track till it hit the stopper at the end of the groove.

Joseph and Nicodemus, having handled the deceased body of Jesus,¹ were now in a state of ritual defilement and would remain unclean for seven days. As such, they were prevented from participating in any Passover activities. Under Jewish law, a corpse represented the highest level of impurity. For two members of the Sanhedrin to have intentionally exiled themselves in this way is a profound statement of their loyalty and devotion. They loudly and publicly declared their allegiance to a man who, from their current perspective, could do nothing for them.

Political Compromise

Let’s be clear, and set expectations regarding a specific reality. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were not religious leaders nearly so much as they were political operatives. Their concern was not holiness or righteousness, but power. They were every bit as corrupt and conniving as the politicians we know today, and they would violate every principle they ostensibly embraced in order to retain that power. Jesus was not a threat to their religion. He was a threat to their position and their power.

The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
– Matthew 27:62-66, ESV

While the disciples of Jesus were sidelined by Sabbath law, it is demonstrative of the truth stated above, that the chief priests and Pharisees remained active. It is easy to read past this brief account above, given the flow of the narrative, but we have to step back and read what’s in the whitespace. For the chief priests and Pharisees to engage in a high-stakes, political meeting with Pilate on a high Sabbath, because of some perceived emergency, is a self-indicting breach of the highest order, revealing, with certainty, that their concern was not with purity and observance of the Law but, rather, with the obsessive protection of their own political position and power. They would stop at nothing to be fully rid of this Jesus nuisance.

A common Jewish belief in Jesus’ day held that the soul of the deceased lingered near the body for three days, hoping to re-enter.² By the fourth day, decomposition had fully taken hold and the soul departed. This is why Jesus waiting four days before raising Lazarus from the dead was so significant.³ It removed all doubt but that Lazarus was truly, fully dead.

So, recalling Jesus’ “three days” statement,⁴ the chief priests and Pharisees held their noses and went back to the Roman state with a new request. They were looking to protect themselves, not against a prophecy and a literal resurrection, but against a potential grave robbery. If Jesus’ body were to disappear, the “last deception” (the rumor of a resurrection) would be far more difficult to manage and contain than the original “deception” (Jesus’ teachings and ministry). The religious leaders needed to persuade the Roman state to guarantee the finality of Jesus’ death.

In Part 4 of this series, we discussed the reluctance of Pilate to declare any guilt of Jesus, or to convict and sentence him. We know Pilate had deep fear⁵ and reservation where Jesus was concerned. All of this likely played into Pilate’s quick and uncharacteristic release of the body to Joseph. Now, Pilate is equally rapid in agreeing to the request of the Jewish guardians of orthodoxy, and there is some confusion regarding what, exactly, Pilate agreed to.

The Guards

Something the movie industry gets wrong in almost every movie ever made, is who came to arrest Jesus in the garden with Judas. It was not Roman soldiers, but Jewish Temple Guards. A similar quandary exists at Jesus’ tomb. Who was guarding the tomb, and what did Pilate mean by what he said? Scholarly opinions are divided on this one, but we have the same two options: 1) Roman soldiers, or 2) Temple Guard.

As with the arrest of Jesus, the film industry uniformly depicts the guards at the tomb as Roman legionaries. The biblical text and historical context can easily support this view. Matthew’s gospel account refers to the guards as κουστωδία (koustodia) rather than the more common στρατιῶται (stratiotai). Koustodia (think of the English term “custodian”) refers specifically to a Roman sentry or military unit that is deployed to give watch. This is strong evidence that Matthew knew a Roman guard stood watch at the tomb of Jesus.

Objective analysis, however, demands we consider that Matthew is quoting Pilate, rather than declaring the identity of the guard. Furthermore, we need to look at the rather ambiguous nature of Pilate’s terse response to the Jews. εχετε κουστωδιαν – “You have a guard.”⁶ Is Pilate saying “You have your wish. I’ll give you a guard,” or “You already have your own guards. Secure it yourselves”?

Most translations leave the language pretty much as it is, saying “You have a guard,” placing the interpretive burden on us as readers. The NIV and NLT both make the interpretive choice for us, saying, “Take a guard,” (NIV) or “Take guards,” (NLT). While I cringe at the loose, interpretive nature of this translation, I do tend to favor the view that Pilate was giving them a guard for the tomb.

If I am correct, that the guard was Roman, then the seal on the tomb would carry the authoritative weight of the Roman Empire. The seal, the “signaculum,” would be placed by Roman officials and protected by Roman authority. It was likely a type of cord stretched across the stone and attached to the face of the tomb with clay or wax, and imprinted with the official signet of the Roman Prefect, turning a private grave into a state-protected site. Tampering with a signaculum was considered an act of treason.

To muddy the waters a bit, let’s jump ahead, post resurrection, and consider how that played out. The guards at the tomb reported the empty tomb not to Pilate, but to the chief priests.⁷ We would expect a Roman guard to report to their centurion, not to Jewish religious leaders. However, the same account notes that the chief priests offered the guards a bribe if they would collaborate in a scandalous lie and that, if the lie became known to Pilate, chief priests “satisfy” him and keep the guards out of trouble.⁸ This, again, suggests Roman guards, as a Temple Guard would be of no concern to Pilate over a religious failure. For a Roman guard to fall asleep on duty was a capital offense.

My suspicion is that this was a Roman auxiliary guard unit, meaning, not the “first string.” These were non-citizen soldiers who served the Roman governor, which would explain them being more comfortable interacting with the local Jewish leaders while ultimately being responsible to the military law of Rome.

The New Tomb

Recall how, last week how we considered the necessity of Jesus burial being in a “new” tomb?⁹ This post-burial dust-up raised by the chief priests and Pharisees is precisely why a new tomb was so important.

Let’s hypothesize that two other bodies were already resting on shelves inside Joseph’s tomb. If the tomb were already in use, there is no doubt but that the religious elites would claim Jesus’ resurrection was just another fraudulent claim. “The bones are still there,” they would claim. But with a new, unused tomb, no such claim could be made. The seal was broken, the stone was rolled back, and the tomb was empty!

The Hopeless Scene

Jesus’ followers were terrified of Rome, hiding, and paralyzed by divine Sabbath law. Despite that Sabbath law, Jesus’ enemies, were busy, mobilized by their own lust for power. Both groups were interested in Jesus’ body staying exactly where it was, undisturbed. The “What now?” question had to be haunting both sides.

1. Matthew 27:57-60
2. Leviticus Rabbah 18:1, Jerusalem Talmud – Tractate Yevamot 16:3
3. John 11:17
4. Matthew 12:38–40, 16:21, 26:61, John 2:19
5. John 19:7-8
6. Matthew 27:65
7. Matthew 28:11-15
8. Matthew 28:14
9. Matthew 27:59-60