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Fear

Requesting Pilate for the permission to seal the tomb
had a vested interest. The Sadducees and the Pharisees were
theologically at odds with each other. They hated Jesus, as
evidenced here by the fact that they only refer to Him as “that
deceiver.” They wanted to make sure that there is no possibility
for Jesus’ disciples to come and steal Jesus’ body away and thus
begin a deceptive message that Jesus had been raised from the
dead as He had claimed. They were so intent on this that though
it is now the high Sabbath, they were unconcerned about the
risk of being defiled by meeting Pilate if it will accomplish their
goal.

The chief priest and Pharisees ruled over people by
keeping them in ignorance and superstitions. Hence, Jesus
had called them hypocrites. They had used their authority and
with lies, deceit and mob madness had engineered the death of
Christ.
They did not have anything to fear from the disciples
because they were still in hiding. It was strange that they had
failed to understand and believe what Jesus had told them in
plain language about His resurrection whereas the Sadducees
and Pharisees understood and remembered, though they were
told in figurative language. Pilate agreed to their request because
he recognized that if a deception could be pulled off that the King
of the Jews had conquered death and was therefore invincible,
he could end up with a serious rebellion on his hands. He tells
them to take a guard.

Failure

Failure to acknowledge the truth is yet another paradox.
The resurrection of Jesus had definitely made an impact on
the lives of those who guarded the tomb; they were the first to
witness the resurrection of Jesus along with the women who had
gathered at the tomb. Yet their witness was not considered to

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Lenten Meditations Re - Imaging People