The Guard at the Tomb

⁶² The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. ⁶³ “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ ⁶⁴ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

⁶⁵ “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶ So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Matthew 27:62-66

Horsham: 25th March, 2026

This is the first of my reflections on the resurrection of Jesus. Before looking at the resurrection experiences, I found myself thinking about the burial of Christ. For the resurrection to be true, it’s critical that the body of Jesus was still inside the tomb by the time the grave was secured by the Roman soldiers. I think that this passage gives us confidence that this was the case.

This part of the story appears only in Matthew’s Gospel, but we’re going to see that it fits perfectly in stories of the death and burial of Christ in all the Gospels. As ever, we need to get into the context of the reading. The first three words are really important.  ‘The next day…’.

Let’s look at some context.

Jesus is Dead
Jesus died on Friday at around 3pm in the afternoon (Matthew 27:46) The Jewish day starts and ends not at midnight, but at 6pm. The sabbath starts at 6pm on Friday afternoon, by which time all of the Jewish characters in this story should be at home, observing the sabbath commandments. Lots of things happen between 3pm and 6pm.

At some point, after the first shock of witnessing the brutal death of Christ, after the long period of darkness and the last agonised cry (Matthew 27: 45-50),  after the earthquake, the torn curtain in the Temple, and extraordinary supernatural events (Matthew 27:51-53), Joseph of Arimathea goes to Pilate and asks for the body of Jesus.

Pilate will then have sent someone to check that Jesus was actually dead (Mark 15:44). We know that one of the soldiers pierced the side of Christ (John 19:34). These people knew about death. We should not be in any doubt: Jesus was dead. Pilate released the body. The distance between Golgotha and Pilate’s palace was not great, but nonetheless, this process, carrying of messages backwards and forwards, took some time. In this passage, time matters.

Jesus is Buried
We know from that Joseph goes with Nicodemus to Golgotha and takes possession of the body of Christ. They take Christ to the new tomb and prepared him for burial (John 19: 38-42) before rolling the stone across the mouth of the tomb (Mark 15:46) and heading home in time for the start of the sabbath. At 6pm, the disciples, the women, Joseph and Nicodemus, will be at home, observing the sabbath. Mary Magdalene watched as the tomb was closed (Matthew 27:61), and then herself headed home for the start of the sabbath.

Guarding the Tomb
Whatever we might think of the Jewish leaders, they were not stupid. We’ve already mentioned that Mary watched as a large rock was placed across the entrance. Now I’m speculating (by which I mean that this isn’t reported in the Gospels) when I say that it seems inconceivable that the Jewish leaders did not also have someone standing, watching what was going on. They would want to be in no doubt where the body had been placed, and would surely they  ensure that someone kept watch while they rushed off to Pilate to ask for military guard.

So, back to those first few words of this section. ‘The next day, that is after the day of preparation, the Chief Priests and Pharisees gathered before Pilate.’

Breaking the Sabbath
I want you to notice two things. First, the ‘day after the day of preparation’ can only mean that this happened after 6pm, on the Sabbath. Second, that means that the Jewish leaders were breaking critical rules of their own Law by visiting the gentile Roman Consul after 6pm on the Friday – because it is now the Sabbath. 

‘If they did that,it is clear to see how radically they broke the sabbath law.’  (Wm. Barclay, ‘Gospel of Matthew, Vol 2,  St Andrew Press, p437)

If they were sufficiently desperate to take that risk, it is once again inconceivable that they had not taken the precaution of sending someone to sit in the garden and keep an eye on the tomb.

Pilate authorises the guard, who are deployed to keep watch over the tomb. They return to the garden, with the guards. It could be as late as 7pm or 8pm on the Sabbath. It seems to me that they know that the body is still inside, because they have been watching. With full confidence that the body of Jesus is still within, they seal the tomb (Matthew 27:66).

End Piece
When the body was later found to be missing, the Jewish leaders bribed the soldiers to tell a story that the body had been stolen during the night. Importantly, they never allege that the body was stolen before the guard arrived. Surely this because they knew that the body was still there in the tomb when the guard arrived. They knew that Christ was inside that tomb when they, themselves, placed their seal on the tomb.

It is the Jews themselves who made sure that the tomb was secure. 

In their determination to prove that Jesus would not rise from the dead, the Jewish leaders inadvertently add weight to the supposition that he did.

Unpick this part of the story and we should be in no doubt. Christ was dead. Christ was buried. His body was secure in the grave, sealed and guarded by a squad of Roman soldiers.

‘They had not realised one thing.- that there was not a tomb in th eworld which could imprison the risen Christ. Not all the plans in the world could bind the risenn Lord. Anyone who seeks to put bonds on Jesus Christ is on a hopeless assignment.’ (Wm. Barclay, ‘Gospel of Matthew, Vol 2,  St Andrew Press, p438)

Richard Jackson: Horsham,West Sussex