3.2 What Happened Next?

What do you reckon it was like the days after Jesus had died? From what we do know it was Passover, a Jewish religious festival. The streets would have been packed with Jewish men, women and children. The Roman government and the Jewish authorities; they’re happy because they have gotten rid of Jesus. While Jerusalem celebrates however, there is this small group of heartbroken Jesus-followers who have lost their leader, their mentor and their friend. Though many refer to the 12 disciples, his following was much broader and included many women who played a large role in his ministry. The women who followed Jesus, they reacted by going out to Jesus’ tomb which many believe to be this very one and they went there on a Sunday morning. When they get there, however, they find something that they did not expect. The large stone that had once covered the tomb had been rolled away... and the tomb was empty. The women at the tomb claim that they met an angel who told them that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus’ followers, even claims to have met Jesus on that very day. When the disciples heard they ran to the tomb and they also found it empty. Now we can’t verify their claims or their experiences but we can wrestle with the empty tomb. What possible reasons could there be for it to be empty? The Romans had heard Jesus’ predictions that he would rise from the dead after three days and, though they didn’t take them too seriously, they did put some things in place. To prevent this, they covered the grave with a massive stone, sealed it and had it guarded by Roman soldiers. So, if someone could overcome the guards and move the stone, Who would want to? What about the Romans themselves? Maybe it was an inside Job! They were the ones that posted the extra guards so they were technically in control of the body and they could have done anything with it. But what would have been there main goal in tampering with Jesus’ Body? They had already proved their power in killing Jesus and they just wanted him to stay dead and buried. Maybe the Jewish Authorities took it? Possible but again it would be hard to understand why... They were more than happy to have the tomb heavily guarded by the Romans. Also their plan was to prove that Jesus was just a man and not the Son of God. Jesus remaining cold and dead was the only way that their involvement in Jesus’s crucifixion could be justified. And here’s the crux of it for me... If either of these two powerful groups had taken the body of Jesus for some unknown reason, they would have been quick to produce it as soon as Jesus’ followers had started claiming that He had risen from the dead! And Christianity would never have gotten off the ground. Or maybe it’s worth asking is the resurrection story just made up? maybe it was an afterthought by the disciples? Like what if we could get the Gospel Writer Matthew and interrogate him like this. How would his facts hold up? How would his story hold true? Of course we can never know but if Matthew is trying to mislead a group of people and pass off fiction as history, I suggest he makes two huge mistakes. Firstly, he says that Pontius Pilate, a well known figure at the time, gave permission for Jesus to be buried and instructed guards to watch over it. If the Resurrection narrative was just fiction, it would be incredibly easy for anyone to speak out against it. Yet no one ever argued with the details found in Matthew’s Gospel. He even goes on to say that this event happened in a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph or any of his surviving family could have easily have nipped this story in the bud if it was simply ‘made up’. Secondly, and sadly, the first century was a very different world, equal rights weren’t even on the horizon. A woman’s eyewitness testimony wasn’t even considered valid unless it was backed up by a man. Yet it's recorded that women were the first to meet the resurrected Jesus. If you are making up a story, you don’t choose legally unreliable witnesses as your primary source, unless that’s the way it actually happened.