How Rumors Start
Matthew 28:11-15 NKJV
11 Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. 12 When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13 saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to separate the truth from rumors and lies today. The rise of AI is not helping us in the truth department. As people believe everything that AI reports, we are opening ourselves up for deception. And deception is not new; our verses for today spell it out.
The guards, who were stationed at the tomb where Jesus lay buried, had just experienced a day. An angel had descended from heaven, rolled the stone away from the tomb, and sat on the stone. Scared these guards to the point where they passed out. These were Roman soldiers who fainted away, so this angel must have been intimidating. Now these guards had to go and report about the angel coming and the earthquake, and they were scared. And the Jewish leaders had an answer.
Their answer was complete denial of the facts and the fabrication of a plausible story that explained away the resurrection. But isn’t this how rumors start, and lies spread? Someone doesn’t like the facts, so they create their own narrative. Or the facts are slanted in such a way as to disguise the truth. And as Matthew wrote in verse fifteen, the Jews bought into the lie of the disciples coming and stealing the body of Jesus while the Roman guards slept. So eleven guys show up, and as the Roman guards are all sleeping, they roll a very large stone away and steal the body of Jesus. The penalty for sleeping on guard duty for a Roman soldier was death.
And all the guards were asleep at the same time. That’s quite a story. But when you are disposed towards a lie, any story will do.
Application
Today, there are people who are more disposed to believe in lies instead of objectively listening to truth. A man called me one time, mocking me because a friend of mine in ministry was found in a major corruption scheme in his church. Of course, the man was not quick to repent when the truth came out that the story was a clickbait YouTube lie. He wanted to believe the lie.
When it comes to the body of Christ, let’s be slow to believe the negatives and even slower to spread negatives. I don’t want to add my voice to the enemies of the Body of Christ and the cause of the gospel. Rumors and lies thrive in the dark, but we are children of light. Let’s live there.
Prayer
Lord, thank You for the Spirit of truth who lives in me and guides me into all truth. I need the Holy Spirit’s help in discerning what to believe in today’s media-soakedculture.