An Ounce of Prevention – Matthew 27:57-66

Our proverb is, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” and it’s most famous statement comes from Benjamin Franklin, who wrote, “In the first Place, as an Ounce of Prevention is worth a Pound of Cure, I would advise ’em to take care how they suffer living Coals in a full Shovel, to be carried out of one Room into another, or up or down Stairs, unless in a Warmingpan shut; for Scraps of Fire may fall into Chinks and make no Appearance until Midnight; when your Stairs being in Flames, you may be forced, (as I once was) to leap out of your Windows, and hazard your Necks to avoid being oven-roasted.”

The chief priests and Pharisees subscribed to this way of thinking.

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard. (Matthew 27:57-66 ESV)

Jewish custom required that the bodies of those crucified should be removed before sundown.  Matthew doesn’t say why his family didn’t get the body for burial, nor does he mention that Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the Sanhedrin, the very judicial body that condemned Jesus (Luke tells us that he did not consent to this action, 23:50-51).  But as such a leader he could go to Pilate and make and be granted this request.  Whether it was public or not, he was a disciple of Jesus.  His own tomb had just recently been cut out of the rock so he buried Jesus there with honor unbefitting someone who was crucified.  A large stone was rolled in front of the entrance to prevent animals getting to the body. Some of the faithful women disciples sat there mourning.

But the chief priests and Pharisees uncharacteristically were united in wanting to prevent any more accolades coming to Jesus, especially some fiction about him rising from the dead, so to prevent his disciples from stealing the body they asked for and got a Roman guard to secure the tomb, or so they thought.  They actually gave an even greater evidence of Jesus’ resurrection because they sealed the stone and entrance and made it impossible for the disciples to steal the body.  When his body went “missing” the only explanation that then made sense was that he was resurrected and God’s own power made his release from the tomb possible.

It is fascinating that the chief priests and Pharisees were more in tune with Jesus’ prediction about being raised from the dead than the disciples were. The disciples were totally dejected, and like the women, in painful mourning. They had no expectation of resurrection. Why do we find it so hard to believe what Jesus tells us?