Another event which occurred at the time of Jesus’ execution, related to others which followed afterwards, of which only Matthew records; is the one in which certain miraculous events surrounding Jesus’ death, and His resurrection, are provided for us; but which leave us with many questions. Matthew doesn’t provide those explanations to his readers, and it is left up to us to examine them more closely. I for one, am not of that school of students of the Scriptures who debunk the unexplained and miraculous as mythological accounts, but as real events written and preserved for us by those who saw and experienced them. If they had not happened and these people not seen and experienced it, they would not have included them in their historical accounts of them. Therefore, in examining these miraculous occurrences following Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, I provide the following from my own knowledge and understanding of why Matthew would include them in his Gospel Narrative without providing us with any other details of them by way of explanation.[1]
We are told that the veil of the Temple was split in two from top to bottom, the rocks were split – indicating an earthquake – since the narrative also mentions the earth shaking.[2] All of which occurred precisely at the moment cried out with a loud voice and gave up His spirit.[3] Another occurrence that Matthew records, apparently as an eyewitness to it or on the testimony of unimpeachable sources he personally knew whose testimony on the matter he considered beyond question; records that the bodies of godly people – we are not told how many, nor are their identities disclosed to us – these “saints’ rose from the dead, and three days later, at His resurrection; entered the holy city of Jerusalem, and were seen by many there.
Considering the religious and socio-political climate at the time, it is altogether logical that this occurrence be recorded, but not widely known. If these people – Jesus included - were to be seen by most of the populace, it would have caused a revolution; the people would have risen up against the political and religious authorities, and proclaim Jesus as their King Messiah.
It was not Jesus’ intent, nor the prophetic timing for this to happen at this time, but at a future date, since Jesus’ return would not occur in their lifetimes, but at a future date designated by God. Indeed, Jesus makes it quite clear that His follower’s mission to spread the good news would not be complete before His return and God sets His kingdom among the nations. This indicates that at the time of the Lord’s return, the message of the Gospel will still be preached among Israel and the nations; and the people still converted to it. In other words, the original believers, Envoys, and others from among the Nazarenes would long be gone, and their preaching having reached the limits of the lands of Jewish exile, and the Messiah’s coming – even His eminent return – would still be an event in the distant future.
Because of this, the socio-political climate, and the fallout a revolt against Rome and the established order would create; and the disastrous results from it; the already close-knit group of Jesus’ followers; kept this event and those surrounding it, a closely guarded secret, especially from their fellow countrymen. As mentioned earlier, it is not by chance, and significant, that of all of the four Gospels, only Matthew’s Gospel Narrative records it.
The Romans, who were only interested in any occurrence containing any potential for an insurrection to take place, do not have a recording of this which survives us. Considering that this event was kept from their knowledge, and only disseminated by Jesus’ followers among themselves by those who experienced it first hand, including possibly Matthew himself; it is not at all illogical for them not for the Romans to have heard of it. There is also the possibility which I have posited earlier that some reports of these things did make it to Pilate, and it is from these that Matthew drew his story, but I tend to believe the former. The reason for this is because, Jews were a close knit society, and they highly distrusted and disliked the Romans, and their own religious leadership in Jerusalem. What’s more, the Nazarenes were themselves a close-knit community within the Jewish community, who themselves were all hiding for fear of their lives at this time from both the Roman civil and Jewish religious authorities. Thus, a story like this would not have made it outside of their circle, because they would have done everything in their power to keep it from being know and to that end, it is my opinion; they applied themselves assiduously.
Those holy people who were raised from the dead at the time of Jesus’ execution, and who left their tombs, and entered the city proper at the time of Jesus’ resurrection would only immediately visit their loved ones, and acquaintances – not the general public, whom they would have shunned for fear it would be reported to the Romans. It is logical to assume that Jesus Himself would have charged them not to expose themselves to those outside the Nazarene community, due to the delicate nature of the prophetic timing of events to follow, and to avoid the possibility of any disorder or disturbance related to their appearances which would likely precipitate a violent revolt against the corrupt religious priesthood, and open war with Rome.
We are not told of the fate of these resurrected righteous, but it is highly likely that they lived out the remainder of their days in relative obscurity within the Nazarene communities around Jerusalem. Due to the report of Jesus’ resurrection by the eyewitnesses to these events, including those who guarded the tomb, in some cases numbering in the hundreds, and the possibility that this incident of many resurrections, including the false reports concocted by the corrupt Jewish religious authorities in Jerusalem in which they bribed the Romans who guarded the tomb to report that Jesus’ body had been stolen by His followers, the Romans issued an Imperial Inscription bearing the title Diatagma Kaisaros, acquired at the city of Nazareth in the Nineteenth Century. The archeological artifact contains twenty-one lines in Greek, and scholars date it approximately to the period between 50 B.C. and A.D. 50. The text attests to the sanctity of tombs, threatening capital punishment to anyone who would attempt to defile a tomb by removing its remains. Because this archeological discovery dates to between the years 50 B.C. and A.D. 50, it attests to the authenticity of the written records we have, and early dating of them from an independent and hostile source – in this case – the Romans. If these events – Jesus’ resurrection and the resurrection of righteous believers – had not occurred and been written about at least prior to A.D. 50, Rome would not have found it necessary to respond in such a manner. Therefore, it also attests to the genuine tradition of the resurrection as evidenced in a controversy so great between Jesus’ Jewish followers and the Jewish religious and civil authorities that a Roman response to them would be required to meet the challenge. It is said of these Jewish followers of Jesus that they were turning the world upside down. Yes, it would appear, as borne out by the records, with new ones being discovered and unearthed each day; that not only was the Roman world being turned upside down, but Jewish one as well.
It is also interesting that only Matthew records the Roman involvement and its details in guarding the tomb where Jesus’ body had lain,[4] though each Gospel Narrative provides us with other details of the negotiations between prominent members of the Sanhedrin and the Pilate.[5] Again, this is not coincidental. Because Matthew had been a “telones,” a term[6] referring to a custom official charged with keeping records on levies imposed upon Rome on its subjects at key border crossings – in Matthew’s case being Capernaum – possessing the experience and first had knowledge of these events, it is wholly consistent with his background that he have kept a shorthand record of the events we read in his Gospel Narrative, which he set to put into narrative form shortly after they occurred, some say in the Hebrew Language originally.
Therefore, because of Matthew's unique relationship with the Roman civil authorities, and John's unique relationship with the family of the High Priests in Jerusalem; we have from two independent sources within the Nazarenes, first hand accounts of the inside workings of the civil and religious authorities, and the negotiations between themselves, and Jesus' detractors plot to have Him executed. Adding to that, the testimonies drawn upon from eye-witnesses in order to accurately cross reference to their own accounts of some of these events in which they were not participants of. Matthew's special relationship with the Roman civil authorities cannot be overstressed. It is from this, and his experiences as a record keeper, an auditor and tax collector for them that he draws upon in safeguarding a faithful record of these events he and others had witnessed and been a part of, including the Romans and their involvement in them; resulting in the most complete and detailed of the Synoptic Gospels written just a few years within the time of their happening.
Thus, he it is who records uniquely for us, the details of the Roman involvement in guarding Jesus' burial place from any potential grave robbers. It would be left for his Gospel Narrative to provide for the historian the source to go to in order to obtain the legal ramifications under Roman Law of Jesus' resurrection, impacting as it did the lives and fate of the soldiers charged on pain of death with securing and guarding the remains of the Rabbi from Galilee. Thus, he put into his Gospel Account this small, but most significant detail along with all of the others, such as the resurrection of the godly departed following Jesus' own death and resurrection.
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[1] It is almost as though he intentionally wishes to reader to examine for himself/herself those things he writes about, and puts these extraordinary occurrences for us to look into ourselves. We do this here.
[2] Matthew 27:51-52.
[3] Matthew 27:50-51a.
[4] Mathew 27:62-66.
[5] Matthew provides his own details of this arrangement between the Sanhedrin members who were followers of Jesus and Pilate, see Matthew 27:57-61 and the women who witnessed these arrangements. See also Mark 15:42-47, Luke 23:50-56, John 19:38-42.
[6] In his excellent work on Papyrological evidences for the early dating of Matthew’s and Mark’s Gospels, and I would assume the Luke’s and John’s as well, Matthew D’Ancona writes from Dr. Carsten Peter Thiede’s findings, the following with regards to Matthew’s station, and unique role writing his Gospel account: “He was a telones, which in Greek could be used to refer to an official who was in charge of a customs station. In his case, he was in charge of a major border crossing. At Capernaum, two forms of levies were involved. One was the sea tax which fishermen had to pay in Roman times. The other was the land border tax levied on goods traveling along the Via Maris, the important trade route between Damascus (90 km/56 mi. inland) and the Mediterranean Sea. This road crossed the domain of Phillip the Tetrarch and touched the border with the Galilean territory of Herod Antipas adjacent to Capernaum, where there was also a junction leading toward Tyre and Chorazin. Recent research has been able to establish that Levi-Matthew was an influential customs official, perhaps even the leaseholder or tenant of the station, in accordance with the bureaucratic practice of the time." Matthew D’Ancona, writing for Dr. Carsten Peter Theide. Eyewitness to Jesus, Doubleday, New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Auckland, 1996, pg. 16 bottom paragraph to pg. 17 top. But see also pg. 16-18, third paragraph, which covers more entirely this aspect of Matthew, the Jew who was a Roman Official.
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