Each year, during Holy Week, I reread the book ‘Who Moved the Stone’ which is an account of the historic facts of the resurrection of Christ Jesus. . The book begins with the events in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was arrested and reminds us that scripture says his disciples “forsook Him and fled. But two of the disciples – John and Peter – apparently entered the city with the arresting party and we are told that Peter denies the Christ three times that terrible night. After this denial “Peter went out and wept bitterly” while John is placed at the cross that day; the point being the disciples had no understanding of what was happening and they were terrified, confused, grief stricken and leaderless at the arrest and death of Christ Jesus. Just seven weeks later – at the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) there is a profound conviction of the same people who had not understood the events of the crucifixion that Christ Jesus had risen from the grave – not just one believed but the entire party. This heterogenous group had been transformed to be the driving force that changed the world. Most of these first believers perished violently for their beliefs but not one doubted – all believed.

Today we will consider the various hypotheses put forward to refute the resurrection.
1. The disciples stole the body. These men were terrified and leaderless and in hiding. And if there had been such a conspiracy someone would have talked – they would have not all been willing to die for a lie.
2. Joseph of Arimethia secretly moved the body. Removal would have been a perfectly legitimate operation but the only time of secret removal would have been between the close of the Sabbath and dawn at which time they would have run into the women when they visited the tomb at daybreak. A removal of the body would have easily refuted the claim that Christ had risen but it never happened.
3. The authorities moved the body. Pilate clearly had no further interest in this matter. He allowed the priests to post a guard to make sure the body was not moved. All the authorities had to do was produce the body to end the claim of resurrection of Christ Jesus.
4. Jesus was not really dead when put in the tomb. This is refuted by the claim of the Roman soldier present at the crucifixion who told Pilate Jesus was dead.
5. The women went to the wrong tomb at daybreak that first day after the Sabbath. The gospels tell us that a man – in some gospels two men – announce that Jesus “is risen”. It was daybreak and hardly likely that the seal had been broken and the stone removed and men were there to announce that “he is risen” if it was the wrong tomb. It was too early for workers to be there at the wrong tomb and none were ever produced.

There were no statements by the priests and ruling Jews saying that the tomb was empty – the empty tomb was just outside of Jerusalem and could easily be viewed by anyone. There was no body produced that would refute the claim of the resurrection of Christ. There was a guard posted at the tomb in an eventuality that the body would be stolen but this story, financed by the priests, never got traction. The rapid growth of Christianity would not have been possible if the body were produced.
So finally, WHO MOVED THE STONE?