Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:
Matthew 28:11-15 NIV
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.
Believing that a man has risen from the grave is hard enough already! But knowing that people are actively trying to undercut the spread of the gospel makes faith even harder! But this passage is important for us. In it, we see that the real world, the world that we live in day to day might be actively working against God and His people. But remember, in this passage, the people trying to stop the good news of the resurrection from spreading are the same people that had Jesus killed, and we know how that turned out on Easter Sunday! What is keeping you from living with joy today? Or draining your patience? Maybe someone in your life seems to be actively working against you. Ask God to produce miraculous fruit in your life today so that you might share His Good News (Gal. 5:22-23).