Don't follow the money

Mass Readings: March 24

First:	Acts 2:14,22-33
Resp:	Psalm 16:1-2,5,7-11
Gospel:	Matthew 28:8-15

Matthew 28:15 The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present.

So which story are we most likely to believe? This man was raised from the dead, or the zealots over powered the guards and took his body? It is amazing what money can do and how the truth can be hidden and distorted. It is amazing that the guards could be convinced by the money to dismiss what they saw. I would be willing to bet that the tabloid journalists of the day would more likely report that the followers of this man were trying to create a lie by stealing the body. After all, if the guards can be bought, how true could the story a resurrection be?
Praise be to God that we are not dependent merely on the stories of men who fall into corruption. God continues to find ways to get the truth out to the people. The church grew in spite of the lies that were told be the so called eye witnesses, the guards. The truth can't be hidden. Jesus says that everything that is hidden will be made known.
We have many lies in the church today and many that fall to the temptation of money, fame and power, and we can be the victims of their sins. But the holy Spirit does not rest from revealing what is true to those who will believe.

Father, thank you for the resurrection, the sign of your grace and love for us and our hope. Help me, by your Holy Spirit to always seek truth and to resist the lure of money and to seek those who are willing to tell the truth because they believe it and not because they benefit from it.

Amen