While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “ Tell people, ‘ His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep. ’ And if this comes to the governor ‘s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.
Sometimes we have the false belief that if we could just articulate the Gospel in the right way, make it relevant, be catchy enough for people to pay attention, grab the right folks and say just the right words, then they will believe. The Bible never depicts the Gospel that way. People don’t reject the gospel because they don’t understand it enough, they reject the Gospel because they don’t believe it. The chief priests were presented with the absolute unshakable eye witness testimony that Jesus is Divine and His message really was true… their response was to keep power, not to repent. Let that sink in. Don’t be like them. Don’t try harder and harder to hold on to your own authority over your life. Think about what it means that Jesus IS Lord. Trust in Him today.
