The Cairo Debate — Page 69
fore, order the sepulchre to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away, and tell the people, 'He has risen from the dead' and the last fraud will be worse than the first. " Pilate said to them, "You have a guard of Soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can. ” (Mt. 27: 63-65). . Besides Matthew no other editor has filed that incident. The silence of the other three narrators on this important issue is one of the. Gospel secrets. At any rate, Pilate looked down upon the Jews' demand and curtly answered, "Go, make it as secure as you can. " Pilate was laughing at the Jews' untoward activities, for they came on the second day after crucifixion, even after the sabbath, and Jesus' body was no longer there! (19) Who visited Jesus' tomb first? When and why?. The narratives of the Gospels vary considerably: "Now after the sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Mag'dalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulchre. " (Mt. 28: 1). "And when the sabbath was past, Mary. Mag'dalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salo'me, bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had (Mk. 161 - 2). risen. " 69