Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 27:62-64

"Now on the morrow, which is [the day] after the Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said while he was yet alive, After three days I rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest haply his disciples come and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: and the last error will be worse than the first." — Matthew 27:62-64 (ASV)

St. Jerome: It was not enough for the chief priests to have crucified the Lord and Savior, unless they also guarded the tomb and did their utmost to seize Him as He rose from the dead.

Rabanus Maurus: The word Parasceve means “preparation,” and they gave this name to the sixth day of the week, on which they prepared what was needed for the Sabbath, as was commanded concerning the manna: On the sixth day they gathered twice as much (Exodus 16:22). Because man was made on the sixth day and God rested on the seventh, Jesus therefore died for humanity on the sixth day, and on the Sabbath day He rested in the tomb.

Although the chief priests had committed a heinous crime in putting the Lord to death, they were not satisfied. Even after His death, they had to continue the venom of their malice, slandering His character and calling Him, whom they knew to be guileless, “a deceiver.”

But just as Caiaphas prophesied without knowing it that it is expedient that one man should die for the people (John 11:49), so now Christ was a “deceiver”ⁱ—not in leading people from truth into error, but in leading them from error to truth, from vice to virtue, and from death to life.

Remigius of Auxerre: They say that He had declared, After three days I will rise again, based on what He said earlier: As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly... (Matthew 12:40). But let us examine how He can be said to have risen after three days.

Some would interpret the three hours of darkness as one night and the light that followed as a day, but they do not understand the power of figurative language.

The sixth day of the week, on which He suffered, included the preceding night. Then follows the night of the Sabbath with its day, and the night of the Lord's day also includes its day. And so it is true that He rose again after three days.

St. Augustine of Hippo: He rose again after three days to signify the agreement of the whole Trinity in the passion of the Son. The three-day period is understood figuratively, because the Trinity that made man in the beginning is the same that restores man in the end through the passion of Christ.¹

Rabanus Maurus: Command therefore that the tomb be made secure until the third day. For Christ's disciples were spiritual thieves. Stealing the writings of the New and Old Testaments from the ungrateful Jews, they gave them to the Church to be used. And while the Jews slept—that is, while they were sunk in the lethargy of unbelief—the disciples carried off the promised Savior and gave Him to the Gentiles to be believed in.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Their fear that the body might be stolen, their placing a guard at the tomb, and their sealing it are all signs of foolishness and unbelief. How foolish, that they would seek to seal the tomb of One at whose command they had seen a dead man raised from his own tomb.

Rabanus Maurus: When they say, And the last error will be worse than the first, they unknowingly speak a truth, for their contempt for repentance was a worse error for them than their initial error of ignorance.

St. John Chrysostom: Observe how, against their will, they work together to demonstrate the truth. By their precautions, an irrefutable proof of the resurrection was achieved. The tomb was guarded, so no fraud could have been practiced; and if there was no collusion, it is certain that the Lord rose again.²

Rabanus Maurus: Pilate's answer to their request is essentially saying, “Let it be enough for you that you have conspired to kill an innocent man; from now on, let your error remain with you.”

St. John Chrysostom: Pilate would not allow the soldiers to seal it alone. As if he had learned the truth about Christ, he was no longer willing to be a partner in their actions and says, “Seal it as you will yourselves, so that you cannot accuse others.”

For if the soldiers alone had sealed it, they could have claimed that the soldiers had allowed the disciples to steal the body, thus giving the disciples an opportunity to invent a story about the resurrection. But they could not say this now, since they themselves had sealed the tomb.

1. in Serm., non occ.
2. Hom. lxxxix