Jesus and the scribes and the Pharisees were always at crossroads and the latter believed that Jesus was neither the son of God nor did he have that he had the capabilities he talked about when addressing the multitudes. One of the things that Jesus said when he was alive is that he would resurrect after three days, a thing that angered his detractors who did not believe in the resurrection. The Scribes and Pharisees were two different groups during the time of Jesus. Scribes were lawyers who knew and interpreted the law and used it to draft legal documents. There was at least one scribe per village and they ensured that people understood and followed the law. Pharisees belonged to a tribe that ascribed to the traditions of their ancestors and not the legal traditions illustrated in the bible. The Pharisees and the Scribes were the main accusers of Jesus Christ.
After Jesus died and was buried in Joseph’s tomb, the Scribes and the Pharisees went to Pilate on the following day. They told Pilate that they remember that when Jesus was alive, he had said that he would resurrect after three days. Why did the scribes and the Pharisees go to appeal to Pilate? To start with, they did not believe that it was possible for Jesus to resurrect. Secondly, the scribes and the Pharisees thought that his followers would steal the corpse from Joseph’s tomb and preach to the people that he had resurrected, to fulfill his prophecy. According to the Scribes and the Pharisees, the second deception from his disciples would be worse than the first one and they wanted the tomb to be guarded until the third day to keep away disciples of Jesus, whom they feared could steal the body to make people believe that Jesus had risen from the dead.
After making their appeal, Pilate answered them, allowing them to hire a guard and make the tomb as secure as possible (Lightly, 1217). After the audience with Pilate, the Scribes and Pharisees went and made his tomb secure. To start with, they sealed the stone at the entrance of the tomb before setting a strong guard to ensure that no one accessed the tomb to take away the body of Christ.
However, Jesus rose after three days and the guards went to report to the scribes what had happened. The Scribes and the Pharisees consulted with each other and came to a mutual decision. The Scribes and the Pharisees bribed the guards to stop them from telling the story of resurrection. They told the guards to tell anyone who asked to about Jesus that his disciples had stolen the body at night. Simply put, the Scribes and the Pharisees were being driven by their immense fear of Jesus. They feared that Jesus would influence the people against them. They feared that if Jesus resurrected as he claimed he would, he would confirm that that indeed he was the son of God, a fact that the Scribes and the Pharisees had objected to previously.
Work Cited
Lightly, Susan, ed. Good News Bible. Birmingham: Liturgical Publications, 1980.