Matthew 27:65
Pilate saith to them: You have a guard; go, guard it as you know.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Ait illis Pilatus : Habetis custodiam, ite, custodite sicut scitis.
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- ἔφη αὐτοῖς ὁ Πιλᾶτος· Ἔχετε κουστωδίαν· ὑπάγετε ἀσφαλίσασθε ὡς οἴδατε.
Haydock's commentary
You have a guard; supposed to be a company of Roman soldiers, destined for the guard of the temple: (Bible de Vence) or, may take a guard; go, and make it secure; which they did, sealing the stone, and placing guards at the monument. Providence ordered this, to make Christ's resurrection more certain and evident. (Witham)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine The Harmony of the Gospels, Of the Absence of All Discrepancies in the Narratives Constructed by the Four Evangelists on the Subject of the Events Which Took Place About the Time of the Lord’s Resurrection
62. Matthew continues in these terms: “Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we have remembered that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch; go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.” This narrative is given only by Matthew. Nothing, however, is stated by any of the others which can have the appearance of contrariety.
St Cyril of Jerusalem On the Words, And Rose Again from the Dead on the Third Day, and Ascended into the Heavens, and Sat on the Right Hand of the Father
5. But wouldst thou know the place also? Again He saith in Canticles, I went down into the garden of nuts ; for it was a garden where He was crucified. For though it has now been most highly adorned with royal gifts, yet formerly it was a garden, and the signs and the remnants of this remain. A garden enclosed, a fountain sealed , by the Jews who said, We remember that that deceiver said while He was yet alive, After three days, I will rise: command, therefore, that the sepulchre be made sure; and further on, So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone with the guard . And aiming well at these, one saith, and in rest Thou shalt judge them . But who is the fountain that is sealed, or who is interpreted as being a well-spring of living water ? It is the Saviour Himself, concerning whom it is written, For with Thee is the fountain of life .
The Fathers are given as they wrote. Where a passage lays the Passion on the Jewish people, the Church teaches that it cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).