Saying, Sir, we remember that this deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
All Commentaries on Matthew 27:63 Go To Matthew 27
John Chrysostom
AD 407
See, at any rate, these words bearing witness to every one of these facts.
So that if the sepulchre be sealed, there will be no unfair dealing. For there could not be. So then the proof of His resurrection has become incontrovertible by what you have put forward. For because it was sealed, there was no unfair dealing. But if there was no unfair dealing, and the sepulchre was found empty, it is manifest that He is risen, plainly and incontrovertibly. Do you see, how even against their will they contend for the proof of the truth?
But mark thou, I pray you, the disciples' love of truth, how they conceal from us none of the things that are said by His enemies, though they use opprobrious language. Behold, at any rate, they even call Him a deceiver, and these men are not silent about that.
But these things show also their savageness (that not even at His death did they let go their anger), and these men's simple and truthful disposition.
But it were worth while to inquire concerning that point also, where He said, After three days I rise again? For one would not find this thus distinctly stated, but rather the example of Jonah. So that they understood His saying, and of their own will dealt unfairly.
