Matthew 27:57-66

⁵⁷ When it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea came, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus.

⁵⁸ He went to Pilate and requested the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.

⁵⁹ And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud

⁶⁰ and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.

⁶¹ Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting outside the tomb.

⁶² The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees assembled in front of Pilate

⁶³ and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’

⁶⁴ So, order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, so that his disciples do not go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last hoax will be worse than the first.”

⁶⁵ Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” ⁶⁶ So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

the oldest alternative

Bloomberg calls the allegation that the disciples stole Jesus’ body “the oldest alternative to faith in the risen Christ.”[1] We are given to understand that the disciples, who fled the arrest of Jesus in fear, suddenly were emboldened afterward to risk their lives stealing his dead body from a tomb. Then, they hid the body somewhere else, so that it was never found again. Then, they continued preaching a gospel they knew was not true, most of them being hunted down and tortured and murdered themselves because of their commitment to a person they knew was dead. That does not sound like a reasonable alternative to me.

LORD, we put our faith in you, the risen Christ. The Christ we serve is alive, and coming again.

[1] Craig Bloomberg, New American Commentary, vol. 22. (Kindle location 10840).