Show Don't Tell: Matthew 28:11-15

Instead of saying "The guards were bribed to lie," watch the cover-up begin. While the women are running to tell the disciples, some of the guards go into the city and report to the chief priests everything that had happened. The guards saw the angel. They felt the earthquake. They witnessed the empty tomb. What will the priests do with this testimony? They meet with the elders and devise a plan. They give the soldiers a large sum of money: "You are to say, 'His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.'" Think about that story: if they were asleep, how would they know who took the body? "If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." The soldiers take the money and do as instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day. The evidence for resurrection requires an expensive, illogical cover-up.