Matthew 27:63

Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said,.... Meaning Jesus; for no better name could they give him alive or dead, and they chose to continue it; and the rather to use it before Pilate, who

Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.

See Poole on "".

63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Ver. 63. Sir, we remember, &c.] They that had forgotten so many sweet and savoury sayings of our blessed Saviour, and written them all in the sand, could remember (but for no good purpose) that which his disciples could not so readily call to mind for their good and comfort; no, nor understand it when plainly told them, Mark 9:32. The soul should be as a holy ark, the memory as the pot of manna, preserving holy truths for holy uses. But most men have memories like nets, that let go the clear water, catch nothing but sticks and refuse stuff; or like sieves, that retain the chaff, let go the good corn; like the creature Cervarius, that if he but look back, forgets the food he was eating, though never so hungry, and seeks for new; or Sabinus in Seneca, who never in all his life could get by heart those three names of Homer, Ulysses, and Achilles. Old songs, old wrongs, &c., they can retain sufficiently; but in matters of God, their memories serve them not. This deceiver said] "Men muse as they use." Quis tulerit Gracchos? Who could have tolerated the Gracchi brothers. Who can endure to hear the devil taxing God of envy, as he did to our first parents? or these deceitful workers calling "the faithful and true witness," πλανος, a deceiver, a cheater, one who doth profess an art of cozening men to their faces? for so the Greek word signifieth. We must look to hear all that nought is, either while alive, or when dead. Melancthon mortuus, tantum non ut blasphemus in Deum, cruci affigitur, saith Zanchy; and all because he pleased not, in all points, the peevish Lutherans. In like manner many lewd opinions were fathered upon John Wycliffe, after he was dead; yea, some that were monstrous and diabolical, as that men ought, yea, that God himself ought to obey the devil. (Speed.) And this famous doctor dying of a palsy, hath this charitable eulogy or epitaph bestowed upon him by a monk, The devil’ s instrument, church’ s enemy, people’ s confusion, heretic’ s idol, hypocrite’ s mirror, schism’ s broacher, hatred’ s sower, lie’ s forger, flattery’ s sink; who at his death despaired like Cain, and stricken by the horrible judgment of God, breathed forth his wicked soul to the dark mansions of the black devil (Tho. Walsingham). The servant is not greater than his master. Him they called Beelzebub, Samaritan (that is, conjuror), traitor, and here deceiver. But what a mouth of blasphemy opened that pseudo-Christian, Emperor Frederick the Second, who was heard often to say that there had been three notorious impostors who had cheated the world, viz., Moses, Christ, and Mahomet! Oh base!

(63) We remember that that deceiver said . . .—It appears, then, that though they had deliberately stirred up the passions of the people by representing the mysterious words of Joh 2:14 as threatening a literal destruction of the Temple (Matthew 26:61; Matthew 27:40), they themselves had understood, wholly or in part, their true meaning. We are, perhaps, surprised that they should in this respect have been more clear-sighted than the disciples, but in such a matter sorrow and disappointment confuse, and suspicion sharpens the intellect. That deceiver.—They had used the cognate verb of Him before (John 7:12), and this was, perhaps, their usual way of speaking of Him.

Verse 63. Sir, we remember, c.] While these wicked men are fulfilling their own vicious counsels, they are subserving the great cause of Christianity. Every thing depended on the resurrection of Christ if it did not appear that he rose from the dead, then the whole system was false, and no atonement was made. It was necessary therefore that the chief priests, c., should make use of every precaution to prevent an imposture, that the resurrection of Christ might have the fullest evidence to support it. See Clarke on Matthew 27:60. The word Κυριε is here very properly translated sir, which, in many other places, is as improperly translated Lord. When a Roman is the speaker, or the person addressed, Κυριε should always be translated sir when strangers address our Lord, the word is a title of civil respect, and should, in general, be translated in the same way. After three days I will rise again.] This they probably took from his saying, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it up. If so, they destroyed, by their own words, the false accusation they brought against him to put him to death; then they perverted the meaning, now they declare it. Thus the wise are taken in their own craftiness. Neither the devil nor his servants ever speak truth, but when they expect to accomplish some bad purpose by it.

63. said … After three days I will rise] Literally in the Greek, I rise. For this present cp. ch. Matthew 24:41, Matthew 26:2. It appears from this that the priests and Pharisees understood the true import of Christ’s words, “Destroy this temple, and after three days I will raise it up,” which they wilfully misinterpreted to the people.

We remember - They had either heard him say this, or, more probably, had understood that this was one of his doctrines. That deceiver - One of the charges against him was that he deceived the people, John 7:12.

63. We remember — It seems strange that these men should remember a prophecy of our Lord which his own disciples seemed to forget. But the disciples did not forget that our Lord made this prophecy.