It's early for this part of the Easter story. But it is Easter season and time to reflect and remember the good news:

GUARDS ARE POSTED AT THE TOMB

"The next day---at the close of the first day of the Passover ceremonies---the chief priests and Pharisees went to Pilate, and told him, 'Sire, that liar once said, 'After three days I will come back to life again.' So we request an order from you sealing the tomb until the third day, to prevent his disciples from coming and stealing his body and then telling everyone he came back to life! If that happens we'll be worse off than we were at first.

"'Use your own Temple police,' Pilate told them. 'They can guard it safely enough.

"So they sealed the stone and posted guards to protect it from intrusion."

~ Mark 27:62 - 66 LAB

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Bible Commentary: "The religious leaders took Jesus' resurrection claims more seriously than the disciples did. The disciples don't remember Jesus' teaching about his resurrection, but the religious leaders did. Because of his claims, they were almost as afraid of Jesus after his death as when he was alive. They tried to take every precaution that his body would remain in the tomb.

"Because the tomb was hewn out of rock in the side of a hill, there was only one entrance. The tomb was sealed by stringing a cord across the stone that was rolled over the entrance. The cord was sealed at each end with clay. But the religious leaders took a further precaution, asking the guards be placed at the tomb's entrance. With such precautions, the only way the tomb could be empty would be for Jesus to rise from the dead. The Pharisees failed to understand that no rock, seal, guard, or army could prevent the Son of God from rising again."

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