Typically, my job ended with the prisoner's life.  But I wasn't quite ready to leave this story yet. Too many questions still floated around my mind.  The Jews convinced Pilate to take down the bodies before Sabbath.  One of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear before they brought him down from the cross.  As blood poured from his side, it seemed that any chance for a "miracle" had passed.

I stayed and watched the events.  A wealthy nearby man named Joseph came and was granted permission to bury the body.  Joseph carefully wrapped Jesus' body in linen with spices and took him to an unused tomb in a garden.  A large stone was rolled in front of the tomb, and everyone left.  Well, almost everyone left.  I saw two women stay back near the tomb, crying together.  I left the group and went back to Pilate's, where he had granted me another night's stay.

I woke up early the next day, not really knowing what I would be doing or what might happen.  I went in Governor Pilate's office and interviewed him about the previous day's events.  He seemed a bit distressed after all the strange occurrences.

After we had been talking a few minutes, some of the chief priests entered the room.  One of them said, "Sir, before that deceiver was killed, we recall that he said, 'After three days I will rise again.'"

I couldn't help but laugh.  I didn't think this story could get any stranger, yet now they were saying that this Jesus character claimed to be preparing to rise from the dead.

"Make sure the tomb is guarded, Governor," he continued, "or one of his followers might steal his body and say that he had risen."

Pilate didn't seem to share my amusement over these developments.  He sighed and said, "You have a guard, so go make the tomb as secure as you can."

I decided to stay with the action, so I followed the priests and the guards to the tomb.  They took a look around the tomb to make sure everything was in order and satisfactory.  I caught a quick glimpse of Jesus' wrapped body before the priests exited.  A strange feeling came over me, and I wondered if my story were finally complete.

The priests signaled for the guards to seal the stone, and then they left.  I decided to stay for a while to see if anything happened.  I spoke with the guards, but they seemed to feel that the mission was pretty routine.

"So you don't think anything is going to happen?" I asked.

"No, I really just think those Jews are a bit paranoid," he said.  "We'll just stand here for a day or two and this whole thing will be forgotten."

I accepted the guards analysis and started walking back for another night at the governor's house.  It didn't look like I was going to have much of a surprise ending to my story after all.