So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this day — Matthew's aside confirms that the stolen-body narrative was still the standard Jewish counter-explanation for the empty tomb at the time of his writing, likely in the 70s or 80s. The persistence of the counter-narrative actually confirms the empty tomb: no one denied that the tomb was empty, only Jesus' followers claimed the reason why. The soldiers' obedience to the religious authorities mirrors Judas's earlier agreement: both men were paid to betray the truth about Jesus, and both accounts end with the simple notation that they did as they were paid to do. The money that purchased the betrayal and the money that purchased the suppression are bookends of human complicity in the attempt to stop what God was doing.

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