Joshua 7:1-26; Isaiah 3:1-4:6; Luke 22:31-53
And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. Matthew 28:12-13
The Roman soldiers were paid off to perpetuate a lie. The sum must have been great indeed. A soldier admitting to sleeping on the job could well have meant the death penalty. In the two millennia since, people of influence and means still perpetuate lies to lead people away from the truth of a risen Saviour. We must pray for them. There is forgiveness available even for agents of deception such as these; the sentence awaiting them is horrible and eternal. —Rick Morse
Wonderful grace of Jesus, reaching the most defiled;
By its transforming power, making him God’s dear child. —H. Lillenas