And the next day which followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees came together to Pilate, saying: Sir, we have remembered that that seducer said, while He was yet alive: After three days I will rise again. Command, therefore, the sepulchre to be guarded until the third day, lest His disciples come, and steal Him away, and say to the people: He is risen from the dead, so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said to them: You have a guard; go, guard it as you know. And they, departing, made the sepulchre sure with guards, sealing the stone. MATT, xxvii. 62-66.
1. Saint Augustine has a famous withering passage of the significance of this last act of "the chief priests and Pharisees." But perhaps he does not dwell as much as might be done on the terrible self-awakening confession that these words imply. They had accepted as evidence against Him His words that He would destroy the Temple. Though the witnesses had not agreed before Annas, yet they had raked the accusation up again when they flung their charges at Pilate. And now, in the most flagrant way, they acknowledge that from the beginning they had understood perfectly what He had meant. Apparently, even the Apostles had not; for Saint John tells us they clearly understood only after the Resurrection. But the chief priests and Pharisees were trained in such language; its interpretation was the study of their lives; and Our Lord spoke to them "in their own tongue" when He made that prophecy. No wonder, then, that all this time it had rankled most in their minds; no wonder, when He was yet alive, it was the source of their chief attack among themselves; and no wonder, now that He was dead, they were compelled to take notice of it.
2. But the folly of contending with Our Lord Jesus Christ! Above all, the folly of setting up our own judgment against the judgment of Our Lord, or of forcing His words to our own sense! These men understood, but they did not believe; or rather it should be said they would not let themselves believe. As on one occasion they had said: "This is a hard saying, and who shall hear it?" confessing that they understood and yet would not believe; as on another occasion they had said: "We have Abraham and the prophets," confessing that they understood and yet would not believe; as many other times they had made the same confession, and yet had chosen to refuse; so now, the habit had been formed, and they found it easy to accept the understanding of the words, yet refused to believe them, and therefore to believe in Him who uttered them.
3. But "God is not mocked." God is not called an "impostor," a "seducer," with impunity. He rules from end to end mightily; He puts down the mighty from their seat and exalts the lowly; and no one escapes from His rule. Men induce themselves to believe in themselves, where they cannot do so with any show of reason; there must follow the downfall at one time or another, for "the truth is great and will prevail." Something of this must have made that Sabbath-day an anxious one for the chief priests and Pharisees; and the same must have filled the mourners with firm hope, which must have increased with every moment. The sun goes down over the burial of our Lord with beauty and glory; and the Church has been unable to resist the anticipation of the coming triumph, as she sings her Alleluia the day before.
Summary
1. The self-conviction of the chief priests and Pharisees.
2. The self-delusion of their refusal to believe.
3. The inevitable issue.
- from The Crown of Sorrow, by Archbishop Alban Goodier