Falsehoods

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

FALSEHOODS

Matt 28:11-15

11 While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, "You are to say, 'His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

NIV

Although Matthew states the story of Jesus being moved by his disciples has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day, which meant the day in which Matthew wrote his version of the gospel, it has not stopped being circulated at all. There are people today who are under the impression that Jesus was simply a great prophet which means they believe he was but a man. They refuse to accept the fact that Jesus was the Son of God in the sense that he was God. Even being the Son of God does not mean he was divine by their calculations. They can conceive of some sort of God like force the may or may not have created the earth and all that is on it. But they cannot believe in a God that came to earth as a man, died and rose from the dead and then ascended back to the place he was before everything was created. That is just way to far-fetched even for those who enjoy science fiction. We are told the Jews paid off the soldiers to make up the story that Jesus was not alive, but that his disciples took his body and hid it somewhere. It sure makes the point that the love of money is the root of all evil. Money overrides the truth here. Certainly we cannot fault the poor soldiers. They most likely did not make much money being a Roman soldier. Yet the elders devised this evil plan and tempted these soldiers, not with some, but a large sum of money. Surely the soldiers did not care one way or the other about what actually happened, except they were assured their ranking officer did not find out they fainted at the sight of an angel. However they were willing to say they did not keep watch as they were instructed, for they were to say they fell asleep. Lies are never the best method to live by, but money can produce some pretty good ones. However this passage is not about the soldiers and their willingness to lie for money. It is about men willing to do anything to keep the truth from being told. This bears true in so many ways even to this day. The truth of the gospel, many would devise plans to refute or keep from getting out. This whole evolution concept is just one plan devised to keep Jesus as just a man who died and whose body was never found. Certainly the Jews are making a hay day and large sums of money, hosting hordes of Christian tourists to a sight they claim was the tomb of Jesus, who they do not believe was the Messiah. There are so many non-truths being circulated about Jesus. We have to be the voice in the wilderness, proclaiming the coming of the Lord. We cannot allow men, with their devised plans to silence our voice. We cannot allow them to have a greater influence on people’s lives then the gospel. If we remain silent, not putting our voice in the conversation, we, by default, allow people we know to lose the opportunity of eternal life. If we merely associate with other believers, we then must make sure the truth is not perverted either by denominationalism or traditionalism. The truth must always prevail. Our voice must be the one who puts an end to falsehoods. Although it is true each could say they are the voice of truth, even if they are not, it is the Spirit who will lead men to the truth. He will be the voice which puts all falsehoods to rest. If we are listening we will hear his voice and we will not be a part of falsehoods, no matter the plan devised by men. If we listen to the voice of the Spirit, we will always know the truth. At least, if nothing else he will make sure we are not deceived by falsehoods.