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MATTHEW 28:12 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Matt 28:11Matt 28:13
“And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,”
When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan — the Sanhedrin that had paid Judas to betray Jesus now pays soldiers to lie about his resurrection. The same coin that purchased the betrayal now purchases the cover-up. A large sum of money was given to the soldiers: the precise amount is not specified, but the contrast with the thirty silver coins paid to Judas is implicit. The resurrection evidence — the empty tomb, the angel, the paralyzed guards — is not examined or investigated; the institution that executed Jesus for claiming divine authority immediately moves to suppress the news that his claims have been vindicated. The large sum communicates both the urgency of the suppression and the magnitude of what they are attempting to hide.

Church Fathers on Matthew 28:12

Of the signs which were shewn around Christ, some were common to the whole world, as the darkness; some peculiar to the watch, as the wonderful apparition of Angels, and the earthquake, which were wrought for the soldiers' sake, that they might be stunned with amazement, and bear testimony to the truth. For when truth is proclaimed by its adversaries, it adds to its brightness.

Chrysostom · 4th century · Hom. xc

Simple minds, and unlearned country-folk, often make manifest without guile the truth of a matter, as the thing is; but on the other hand, a crafty wickedness studies how to recommend falsehood by glosing words.

Rabanus Maurus · 9th century

Thus the Chief Priests, who ought to have been by this turned to penitence, and to seek Jesus risen, persevere in their wickedness, and convert the money which was given for the use of the Temple to the purchase of a lie, as before they had given thirty pieces of silver to the traitor Judas.

Jerome · 4th century
Read all 12 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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