Stone Rolled Away |
Who Rolled Away The Stone?
 Matthew 27:60 states that a "large stone" was rolled "against the door of the tomb". The large (1.5L) water bottle in the groove gives an idea of the massive size of the stone rolled along it to close the entrance to the tomb and the small window (above the area photographed but #9 in the Jesus tomb photo), and then rolled away to open them. Some cynics claim that a wounded but alive Jesus escaped from the tomb on his own. Others claim that his disciples rescued him. While it would have been a struggle to roll the stone by pushing it from behind, it would have been impossible to roll it away from inside the tomb with nothing to grip onto, especially by someone who had been mortally wounded. What about the possibility that Jesus' disciples came and rescued him? Precisely to eliminate that possibility, or more precisely the possibility of his disciples taking his body, the chief priests and Pharisees requested the Roman governor to "seal" the tomb and post guards, and Pilate granted them their request (Matthew 27:62-66). Even if his disciples had dared to come to the tomb, they would have been no match for armed Roman soldiers, who would have defended the tomb with their lives since the failure to defend the Roman seal would have meant their own execution. Any speculation of Jesus' escape also need to explain how someone whose back had been shredded by Roman flogging, whose wrists and feet had been crushed and punctured, whose shoulders had dislocated while on the cross, whose torso had been punctured by a spear strike, and who had been confirmed dead by multiple Roman soldiers - trained killers - returned to life in the first place.
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