and they said, “Lord, we remembered that deceiver, while he was still alive, was saying, ‘After three days I will rise again.’”
This saying expresses the deep fear and blindness of the religious leaders: they call Jesus a “deceiver” and remember His words more clearly than His own disciples. Their memory becomes a testimony in favor of the truth of His words. Although they do not believe in the resurrection, by their fear they confirm that they know His prophetic word: “After three days I will rise again.” This contradictory moment shows that, though they remember Jesus’ words well, they do not understand their meaning, because they do not relate to memory with faith, but use it as a weapon to preserve a lie. The faithful, however, sometimes do not remember Jesus’ words literally, but grasp them in spirit. The religious leaders were trying to protect themselves from the word that no one could restrain. Moreover, this episode also shows that the word of God can work in the memory of opponents as a witness of judgment.