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“The Lord Is Risen”
469
Caiaphas Urges Deceit
Caiaphas tried to speak. His lips moved, but they uttered no
sound. The soldiers were about to leave when Caiaphas at last found
speech. “Wait, wait,” he said. “Tell no one the things you have
seen.”
“Tell them,” said the priests, “His disciples came at night and
stole Him away while we slept.” Here the priests overdid their story.
If the soldiers were asleep, how could they know? And if the dis-
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ciples had been proved guilty of stealing Christ’s body, would not
the priests have been first to condemn them? Or if the sentinels had
slept, would not the priests have been the leaders in accusing them
to Pilate?
The soldiers were horrified. Sleeping at their post was an offense
punishable with death. Should they lie and place their own lives in
danger? How could they stand the trial, even for the sake of money,
if they perjured themselves?
The priests promised to secure the safety of the guard, saying
that Pilate would not want to have such a report circulated any more
than they did. The Roman soldiers sold their integrity for money.
They came to the priests burdened with a startling message of truth.
They went out with a burden of money and with a lying report on
their tongues.
Meanwhile the report of Christ’s resurrection had reached Pilate.
Though he had condemned the Savior unwillingly, he had felt no
real pangs of conscience until now. In terror he now shut himself
inside his house, determined to see no one. But the priests made
their way into his presence and urged him to overlook the sentinels’
neglect of duty. He himself questioned the guard privately. They did
not dare to conceal anything, and Pilate drew from them an account
of all that had happened. He did not take any further legal action,
but from then on there was no peace for him.
In putting Christ to death, the priests had made themselves the
tools of Satan. Now they were entirely in his power, entangled in
a trap from which they saw no escape but to continue their warfare
against Christ. The only hope for them was to prove Christ an
impostor by denying that He had risen. They bribed the soldiers and
arranged for Pilate’s silence.