Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.
All Commentaries on Matthew 27:64 Go To Matthew 27
John Chrysostom
AD 407
What then does Pilate reply? “You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.” Then what? “So they went and made the sepulcher secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.” Pilate takes every precaution to ensure the seal, so that even the soldiers could not commit fraud. His orders say, “Seal it as secure as you can, so that even you may not have it in your power to blame others.” For if the soldiers were not checked by their sealing, someone might have claimed that the soldiers themselves could have given up the body to be stolen. Although this would have been highly improbable, yet nevertheless, since they had earlier cast aside shame, so in this case they might have done so. Thus even this possibility was cut off, which might have otherwise given the disciples opportunity to feign the history concerning his resurrection. But now having themselves made it sure, they are not able to say so much as this. The Gospel of Matthew, Homily
