Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while He was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.
Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch; go your way, make it as sure as ye can.
So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.
Matthew 27:62-66
I am no Bible scholar, but are the chief priests not the same ones who condemned Jesus for healing on the Sabbath? Are they not the same ones who were critical of the disciples helping themselves to corn on the Sabbath when they were hungry? Are they not the same ones who threatened to put anyone out of the synagogue if they did work on the Sabbath?
How is it then that they are prepared - willing and eager - to go to Pilate and not only ask a favour of him (their enemy since he stood for Rome), but then to carry out the work required on the Sabbath? Would not sealing the tomb involve some form of labour - labour that was not permitted on the Sabbath according to their own rules?
Oh, the hypocrisy of the chief priests, and of us all, when we are faced with our own sin.
Had the chief priests not witnessed the supernatural happenings that occurred at the time of Jesus' death? They were blinded to Who they had crucified, but were they so totally unaware of the veil of the temple being rent in two (after all, the temple was supposedly their province), of the saints that had come out of their graves and into the city and appeared to many (Matthew 27:51-53)? Surely some whisper of these happenings must have reached their ears. Surely their own senses and minds would have told them that this was unusual, not an everyday occurrence, not even a before-in-history occurrence?
Oh, how true is the old adage that there are none so blind as those who refuse to see.
Even the centurion, who had witnessed the events of the previous hours, when he "and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God" (Matthew 27:54).
Yet the religious leaders chose to be blind ... to be ignorant of all that had happened ... to refuse to acknowledge what had taken place ... and, instead, broke their own laws to ensure that their power and ambitions and hatred would not be challenged. These leaders were there ... present at the Crucifixion, but unlike the African-American spiritual that suggests we should consider the crucifixion and resurrection with reverence and fear, the chief priests did not tremble. They may have acted in fear, because they could see the little kingdoms they had made themselves in danger of toppling, particularly if the people were to follow and believe this Jesus, but tremble for what they had done they did not do.
The crucifixion happened two thousand years ago. None of us were there. And yet, Christ suffered for our sins as if we were there. This song gives us pause to reflect on not just the events of that first Easter weekend, but the significance of those events for each one of us.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble! Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they nail'd him to the cross? Were you there when they nail'd him to the cross? O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble! Were you there when they nail'd him to the cross?
Were you there when they pierced him in the side? Were you there when they pierced him in the side? O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble! Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine? Were you there when the sun refused to shine? O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble! Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble! Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when the stone was rolled away? Were you there when the stone was rolled away? O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble! Were you there when the stone was rolled away?
O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!
