What does Matthew 28:14 mean?

The chief priests and elders want the temple guards, who are Roman soldiers, to lie about what happened to Jesus' body. In truth, the soldiers probably don't know exactly what happened to His body, yet. They knew it was in the sealed tomb. They knew a terrifying angel from heaven broke the seal and opened the tomb. They knew the body was gone. They probably never saw Jesus alive with their own eyes (Matthew 28:1–10).

As outrageous as the true story sounds, Jewish religious leaders want the soldiers to tell a tale which is even more dangerous, at least for the soldiers themselves. They want the soldiers to tell people that they fell asleep while on guard duty. They slept so deeply, in fact, that Jesus' followers were able to come in the middle of the night, roll a large stone away, and take Jesus' body. This story is dangerous because Roman soldiers could be executed for falling asleep while on duty, especially in foreign territory.

The chief priests have two answers for that. First, they will pay the guards to tell the lie. Bribery is an effective motivator (Matthew 26:14–16). Second, they promise to protect the guards from the governor, Pilate, if he hears the story about them sleeping. Specifically, they say they will satisfy Pilate and keep them from trouble. This likely means that the Jewish religious leaders plan to bribe Pilate, as well, to keep their plan intact.