Matthew 28:15
“So they took the money and did as they were told. This saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continues until today.”
What does Matthew 28:15 mean?
After Jesus rose from the dead, the guards who witnessed it were paid off by religious leaders to claim his disciples had stolen the body. This verse tells us that this false story circulated widely among Jewish communities and apparently persisted for a long time, even into Matthew's own day when he was writing his gospel. What Matthew is doing here is being honest about a competing explanation for the resurrection that people were actually hearing and believing. Rather than pretend this rumor didn't exist, he acknowledges it head-on, which actually shows the early Christians took the skepticism seriously enough to address it directly. For anyone struggling with doubt or encountering objections to faith, this reminds us that wrestling with difficult questions has always been part of the story, not something new.