Homilies on Matthew — Homily 89

St. John Chrysostom

1. 0. Greeting
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4

Matt. XXVII. 62-64.

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 and steal Him away, and say to the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error should be worse than the first.

Everywhere deceit recoils upon itself, and against its will supports the truth. And observe. It was necessary for it to be believed that He died, and that He rose again, and that He was buried, and all these things are brought to pass by His enemies. See, at any rate, these words bearing witness to every one of these facts. We remember, these are the words, that that deceiver said, when He was yet alive, (He was therefore now dead), After three days I rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be sealed, (He was therefore buried), lest His disciples come and steal Him away. So that if the sepulchre be sealed, there will be no unfair dealing. For there could not be. So then the proof of His resurrection has become incontrovertible by what you have put forward. For because it was sealed, there was no unfair dealing. But if there was no unfair dealing, and the sepulchre was found empty, it is manifest that He is risen, plainly and incontrovertibly. Do you see, how even against their will they contend for the proof of the truth?

But mark thou, I pray you, the disciples' love of truth, how they conceal from us none of the things that are said by His enemies, though they use opprobrious language. Behold, at any rate, they even call Him a deceiver, and these men are not silent about that.

But these things show also their savageness (that not even at His death did they let go their anger ), and these men's simple and truthful disposition.

But it were worth while to inquire concerning that point also, where He said, After three days I rise again? For one would not find this thus distinctly stated, but rather the example of Jonah. So that they understood His saying, and of their own will dealt unfairly.

What then says Pilate? You have a watch; make it as sure as you can. And they made it sure, sealing the sepulchre, and setting the watch. He suffers not the soldiers alone to seal, for as having learned the things concerning Christ, he was no longer willing to co-operate with them. But in order to be rid of them, he endures this also, and says, Do ye seal it as you will, that you may not have it in your power to blame others. For if the soldiers only had sealed, they might have said (although the saying would have been improbable and false, yet nevertheless as in the rest they cast aside shame, so in this too they might have been able to say), that the soldiers, having given up the body to be stolen, gave His disciples opportunity to feign the history concerning His resurrection, but now ha