So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
All Commentaries on Matthew 28:15 Go To Matthew 28
John Chrysostom
AD 407
See how their own actions trap them everywhere in their own devices. For if they had not come to Pilate or asked for the guard, they would have been more able to act in this impudent fashion. But as it was, they did ask for a guard. Indeed, as though they were laboring to shut their own mouths, they took these precautions themselves. If the disciples did not even have the fortitude to watch with him for an hour while he prayed, even when he scolded them, how would they then have had the strength to venture upon such a desperate enterprise? Don’t be foolish. If the disciples had any thought of stealing his body, they would have done so before he was buried and sealed in the tomb. They would have acted before a guard was placed at the tomb on the first night, when it might have been done in greater security and with less danger …. But remember on that night none of the disciples were present at the tomb. They were scattered in hiding! The Gospel of Matthew, Homily
