And they went and set a guard over the tomb. They sealed the stone and appointed a guard detachment.
With this episode the story of the guarding of the tomb comes to an end, showing the human attempt to shut, or to hinder, what God was about to open. The chief priests and the Pharisees went and placed the tomb under guard, sealing the stone and posting soldiers around it. The seal symbolized the limit of human authority, and the guard detachment, the fear-driven human attempt to control what is divine. They thought they had secured protection against “deception,” but by that very action, as we will see next, they will become witnesses of the resurrection. The stone that Joseph of Arimathea had rolled is now sealed by them, so that when it is opened afterward no one could say, “the body was taken by human hands.” This episode is a powerful testimony that neither fear, nor authority, nor a seal can hinder God’s plan: man closed the tomb, but God opened the door of eternal life (see Matthew 28).