Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 28:12-15

"And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave much money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the governor`s ears, we will persuade him, and rid you of care. So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying was spread abroad among the Jews, [and continueth] until this day." — Matthew 28:12-15 (ASV)

Christ was betrayed for money, and for money the truth about His resurrection was suppressed as much as possible; they gave large sums of money to the soldiers. Money has had a hardening effect on some of the highest servants of God, and all who have to touch filthy lucre need to pray for grace to protect them from being harmed by contact with it.

The lie put into the soldiers’ mouths was so palpable that no one should have been deceived by it: “Say you, His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we slept.” A Roman soldier would have committed suicide sooner than confess to sleeping at his post. If they were asleep, how did they know what happened? The chief priests and elders were not afraid of Pilate hearing of their lie; even if he did, they knew that golden arguments would be as convincing with him as with the common soldiers: “If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him and secure you.”

The soldiers acted just as many people have continued to do from their day until now: they took the money and did as they were taught.

“What makes a doctrine straight and clear? About five hundred pounds a year,” is an old saying that can be ‘reset’ today. How much even of religious teaching can be accounted for by the fact that “they took the money”! There are many who make high professions of godliness who would soon give them up if they did not pay. May none of us ever be affected by considerations of profit and loss in matters of doctrine, matters of duty, and matters of right and wrong!

And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. This lie, which had not a leg to stand upon, lived on until Matthew wrote his Gospel and long afterward. Nothing lives as long as a lie, except the truth. We cannot kill either the truth or a lie; therefore, let us be careful never to start a falsehood on its terrible career. Let us never teach even the least error to a little child, for it may live on and become a great heresy long after we are dead.

The modern philosophy, which is thrust forward to cast a slur upon the great truths of revelation, is no more worthy of credence than this lie put into the mouths of the soldiers; yet common report gives it currency, and among a certain clique, it pays.