Matthew 28:11-15 Bribes
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: September 27, 2019 Matthew 28:11-15
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
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.
(Understanding the Text) “They” is the women who were going to tell the disciples that Jesus had risen. I think the angel was sitting on the stone keeping the guard stunned until the women could come and go without interference. Once the women had left, the angel no longer had to keep the guard under control, so he dimmed his radiance or something or left, and the guards aroused. Were they able to be aware of what was going on when they were immobile or were they totally unconscious? They would have been able to report the stone rolling away either by itself or by an angel depending on what the angel let them see. I think that they saw the angel actually doing it. They would have reported the angel sitting on the stone, I think. The Jewish leaders had plenty of proof that God was at work. They had signs to show them what was happening, and yet they still continued to maneuver and manipulate as if their opponent were a mere man.
The leaders did not think, “Oh no! We killed the Messiah. God will be angry with us! We must repent like Nineveh and seek forgiveness!” Instead, they thought, “When the people hear this, they are going to be angry with us and may mob us and kill us. We have to do some damage control. How can we spin this, so we save our own necks?” They went to their “go to” method. First, they bribed the soldiers and guaranteed their safety. Then they gave the soldiers the story to tell.
The soldiers knew that they had witnessed something supernatural, but they didn’t understand the significance of the event that they had witnessed. They only knew that if they went to Pilate with the story, they were liable to suffer terrible consequences, but if they went along with the priests’ story, they would be safe from punishment. They knew that if the priests were satisfied, they would be okay, since Pilate could care less about a missing body if he didn’t receive any flack from the priests about it. Thus, the soldiers officially told their lie, but some of them must have privately told the other story. The priest’s bogus story was not believable, but for many people it is easier to believe an obvious mundane fabrication than to believe a supernatural truth.
(Revelation of God) Matthew says that when he wrote his gospel in about 85 A.D. about 53 years after Jesus’ death, that this was the story still being circulated among the Jews proving that lies still live on long after the people who spread them are gone. However, in one way this story backfired since it confirmed that Jesus’ body was no longer in the tomb. The leaders never claimed that the disciples had the wrong tomb or that the disciples were simply lying and Jesus was still in the tomb. The leaders always confirmed that the body was not there. They just lied about how Jesus disappeared from a tomb covered with a heavy stone, sealed with a Roman seal, and guarded by Roman soldiers. In other words, the truth that Jesus died and entered the tomb and that three days later, He was no longer in the tomb was confirmed by the priests and the soldiers. The more that people try to work against God, the more they confirm His presence.
(Application) My application for myself is I need to always be ready to repent if I realize that my ways are leading away from God rather than to Him. I need to see the signs and not lie about them to myself or others. I need to remember that at the same time I may be carrying out God’s will, someone else may be getting their orders to carry out the devil’s will, and I shouldn’t get discouraged by that. It is not my job to regulate the forest. It is simply my job to deal with the tree that God has given me. In other words, I just need to take the message I have been given to the place that I was sent. I have to stop worrying about the effectiveness of the message (the disciples didn’t believe the women) or the counter-stories that people choose to believe (many believed the story, but many did not. 3,000 became followers of the Way at Pentecost).
(Prayer) Help me to understand the signs that You give me and always follow them to You. Keep me from being discouraged by other people’s behavior. Teach me to focus on the work that You have placed before me and to not worry about the results. Give me encouragement to continue following You.