Matthew 27:62 Commentary and Bible Study

(Synoptics: Matthew 27:62-66)The chief priests and Pharisees have been talking together. They have done their best, they imagine, to rid themselves of the one they so hated, because he exposed their sin and took away their honour before the people. They have handled this situation and they believe they have finally won and Jesus is dead. But they are thinking about the crowds and what they will do next. They have manipulated the people to call for his crucifixion, but they know that the whole nation was persuaded by the miracles and teaching of the Lord, for they remember how hard they found it to work against popular opinions when they were scheming to bring Christ down. Will the people somehow be persuaded to return to him again even though he has been put to death? The leaders of the Jews are worried about this, so they go to Pilate with their request.Again, it is remarkable that these enemies of the Lord seem to have a clearer recollection of what Christ said than the disciples. They had listened carefully to his words, but always with unbelieving hearts, so that although they could recall his words, those words did them no good at all. They only listened to find fault with him and to try to obtain something they could use against him. They knew enough of his message to report that he had said he would rise from the dead on the third day. They didn’t believe this themselves, but they saw the people as easily carried away and they were worried what might come of it. They must take additional steps to choke off the possibility of any false rumours spreading. In all this thinking, they dismissed the miracles which they had seen with their own minds. Their unbelief had been able to reduce his words to nothing.Christ is called ‘that deceiver’, how much more his people. Did they really believe that? They were trying to convince themselves that he was a deceiver, for that would allow them to dismiss everything he said. But again, they knew about his miracles and they had been able to give no coherent explanation for them. Their claim that he did these things through the power of Satan was a desperate evasion, which as Christ pointed out, was non-sensical.