Jesus died on the cross and was supposedly entombed only to appear alive three days later. As apparitions alone would not be enough to validate this, and the Christian doctrine that it is promise that God will save us body and soul too, Christians fear anybody suggesting that the body was stolen and that was why his tomb was found empty.
THERE WERE NO GUARDS
Only the Matthew Gospel states that Jesus’ tomb was protected from body snatchers. It says that the day after Jesus died the Jews implored Pilate to have the tomb guarded lest the disciples of Jesus come and steal the body. They said they feared they would claim Jesus had risen from the dead. The Jews remembered Jesus saying he would rise after three days - when the disciples supposedly didn't remember.
Pilate thought this was a good idea and seals were applied to the stone and the guard mounted. This guard is supposed to prove that nobody stole Jesus from the tomb and that Jesus did not revive and come out himself.
When Jesus was crucified he was taunted by them with, "Oh come off the cross if you have powers." Enraged friends of Jesus upon hearing that surely thought, "We will show them. We will have the last word. We will make them eat their words when we report Jesus as alive and hide the body."
Jesus said that God only works miracles if the person trusts and believes. He praised the centurion who he said had faith that surpassed that of anybody in Israel. So how did he rise then? Everybody abandoned him. We know the centurion story is about making the Jews even the ones who were following Jesus out to to be stupid cynics, but the coherence of the gospels is what we are concerned with for it is lacking.
The Jews did not close tombs properly for the first three days in case the person would revive (page 89, The Turin Shroud is Genuine). They would have done this especially in the case of Jesus if they thought he could raise the dead and heal or perhaps rise himself. The stone for the tomb of Jesus would have been in place well enough to keep animals out but Jesus could have got out.
Or maybe he called out to a passer-by through an opening. The passer-by, knowing that nobody would ever know, helped Jesus out of the tomb after moving the stone and gave him some clothes and maybe nursed him back to health.
But if everybody was sure there was no hope for Jesus the tomb might have been sealed completely. Surely if it was it would have been made thief-proof
Anyway the Christians use the alleged presence of the guards to offset such thoughts.
Why seal the tomb totally if the women were expected on Sunday morning? The guards, if they existed, had to have spoken to Joseph. Joseph would have known if the women were needed and if they would be coming. The guards surely could have guessed that.
It has been pointed out that the women went home before the guards came so they
knew nothing about them or the guards them. That is mere speculation.
If there were guards the women were bound to have known for after all Jesus says in Luke the
happenings were the gossip of the city. The women wondered on Sunday morning how the tomb would be opened for them
indicating that they knew
nothing about the guards. They had no men with them to move the stone and
if there were guards they could have opened it and let them in under
surveillance. If the women guessed the presence of guards, it is
interesting that men being allowed in under close security was not an option.
It makes no sense that women would go to the tomb with expensive spices and have no way in. And no men with them to at least ward off thieves. And the guards themselves were a risk to women for rapes were rife.
It is more likely there were no guards.
If there were guards maybe the tomb was not robbed or empty and Jesus was still there. Maybe if women went to the tomb, the real story is that they were turned away if there were guards there and made up the resurrection story for spite. The stone being in place would have meant nothing. On Sunday evening you can be sure that there was no sign the tomb was ever opened. The stone would have been rolled into position again. The story was not made up immediately so the body could have been removed after the guards duty was accomplished.
Hoare says that the bereaved occasionally employed people to watch the tomb for them in case the “deceased” would come round (page 89, The Turin Shroud is Genuine). But the Gospels imply that this was not done with Jesus when Matthew says guards were placed and when he and the rest say the women worried about getting the stone moved. The watchers might have helped Jesus out of the tomb. Perhaps the guards let them do the close watching while they just pranced about the area. By the way, the watchers would not have stayed inside the tomb to watch for the Jews thought that the tombs were religiously unclean. Ordinary Jews would have watched the tomb. Some think the guards were Romans and others think they were Jewish. The Romans would not have watched if the Jews did for the Jewish watchers were near enough to the city to summon them at the first sign of trouble. It is possible that if the Jews got a guard, that the guard was never intended to be very near the tomb all the time. This possibility refutes the view that if Matthew is telling the truth about the guards then Jesus could not have been stolen and shows that Matthew failed to be convincing.
The watchers would have probably been friends of Jesus and picked and paid by the filthy-rich Joseph of Arimathea and would have been happy to help Jesus to safety or steal his body and tell the Jews they fell asleep and some disciples stole Jesus.
Christians comment, “Even though the Jesus people were finished it was known that a return from the dead might restore Jesus to favour in the eyes of the people and create a huge revival. The Jews were taking no chances.” Then why did they have him killed before the eyes of the people? If he was privately killed at least they could say he never rose if he did rise for he was never dead. And there is no evidence that the Jews who caused Jesus’ death acknowledged Jesus’ miracle powers. They were convinced that the crucifixion was Jesus’ ultimate and final failure. They told him as much.
The Jews supposedly got the guards placed there according to Matthew. They went and told Pilate the guards were needed in case a fake resurrection scam was started and his friends would steal him to add credence. Pilate would have laughed at that and indeed sent a guard to the disciples not to the tomb. He knew there was a risk that the people would expect Jesus to rise for it would look like the guards were there to prevent him.
Suppose the Jews believed that Jesus had supernatural demonic powers even if he did cheat sometimes. It would seem that the Jews would not have wanted the guards there for if Jesus had been such a great worker of miracles they would have been terrified that the guards would see the resurrection and become converts. Maybe that would have been all the more reason why the guards had to be Romans and not Jews for it seems Jews would have been easier to convert. But you may say that the Jews knew that Jesus could show himself to everybody anyway if he rose. They had no reason to think that he would.
The Jews knew that even if Jesus was stolen and he planned to rise that wouldn’t stop him rising. There might have been guards only if theft was thought to be the only way Jesus could rise from the dead. Perhaps he was stolen so bones could be touched to him to raise him up. There was an Old Testament story that a man was raised with contact with the bones of Elisha. I still think that is too far-fetched and there were no guards.
Pilate would not have wanted guards there if he broke the law to allow Jesus a proper burial that made Jesus look like an innocent man when the dump was the place for criminals. They would know then what he did and so would the Jews. For the Jews to completely destroy Jesus’ hold over people by making a failure of him which was the alleged reason for their bringing the crucifixion about they had to ensure he had as degrading a burial as a common criminal.
The Womb and the Tomb (page 108) says it is terribly unlikely that the tomb was looked after by Jesus’ enemies and not his friends. Perfectly right. Maybe one independent guard needed to be there to make sure they behaved themselves. If there had been guards they would have been amateurs and we would be told this. We are not so there were no guards.
The places where the bodies of criminals were dumped were always under guard (Who Moved the Stone? page 152). But that was out of cruelty to stop them getting a decent burial. Jesus was already in his tomb and had no guards for several hours so no guards were needed.
John says that Jesus was buried in the tomb because it was so near (19:42). Not because it was Joseph of Arimathea’s so it was a stolen tomb. Romans would not protect a tomb to keep a body that did not belong there inside it. Perhaps the real owners pilfered and destroyed the body and were afraid to own up.
The Gospel never says that guards were witnessed at the tomb except by a man in white who was never asked about them. No evidence is given only hearsay.
We don’t know if the women saw the guards. So Matthew is as good as telling us that he is only assuming that there were guards there. What kind of evidence is that? It is rubbish like that that Christianity is dependent on. Matthew just says that the guards saw the angel at the tomb and fainted and then that the angel spoke to the women. The guards could have gone by then. The gospel does not tell us. If there had been guards there Peter and the disciple and the women would not have touched the tomb. The women would have been silenced and maybe even killed for seeing the guards lying comatose around the tomb for the guards would have checked if anybody had seen them or if anybody was talking.
The man or men in white would not have been noseying into the tomb if there had been guards posted. Who Moved the Stone? page 158, even admits that the white man was not supernormal. You don’t tamper with the scene of a crime especially when you are a stranger.
Luke wrote a gospel as an apologetic for Christianity (1:1-4) and mentions no guards showing that there were none there. He would not have omitted that unless he knew it was made up especially when he copied lots of stuff from Matthew. When Luke 24 itself is full of interpolations that are missing from some second century manuscripts Heaven knows what was going on with the rest of the gospels. The Virginal Conception and Bodily Resurrection of Jesus (page 98) says that verses 3, 6, 9, 12, 36, 40, 51 and 52 are of dubious authenticity. Significantly, verse 3 is the one that says the body of Jesus was found missing and verse 6 announces the resurrection and 9 says the women reported this to the apostles. And verse 10 shows this was an interpolation all right for there is no need for verse 9 with it. And verse 12 has Peter running to the tomb and marvelling after verse 11 says the apostles as good as laughed at the women showing 12 was indeed an interpolation. And verse 40 which says the Lord showed the apostles his hands and feet. Verses 51 and 52 describe the ascension but they can be dropped from the narrative without interrupting the flow. When the most magical bits may be interpolations we should drop them entirely for when in doubt we must follow what is non-magical.
There are lies in the story of the guards which shows we can trust no detail in it and question if there were guards there at all. You should believe a person unless they have lied to you in the past especially if there was no need for it. You need evidence from someone or somewhere else to back up anything a liar says. Nobody has the right to command us to believe Matthew about the guards been there. At most we have to be neither sure or unsure.
The guards are so important in Christian apologetics – they are the prime reason that the view that Jesus got out of the tomb alive is rejected - that we can safely say the Christians themselves cannot believe the resurrection without them. John’s gospel accepts the rule in the Law of Moses to have two independent and trusted witnesses before you believe anything important including claims of miracles – the rule which God gave to Moses. This forbids the dependence on the soldiers for only Matthew said they were there and listed no witnesses to that.
Perhaps the guards were telling the truth and they did sleep on duty. Matthew gives absolutely no evidence that they were lying. That is the foundation of the empty tomb miracle or mystery – gossip.
FINALLY
What if the women at the tomb on Sunday morning was made up for the Christians could not say the tomb was empty unless somebody discovered it and the women were the safest for they had an allegedly innocent reason to be there and saying it was somebody else maybe a disciple would suggest he robbed the body from the tomb?
If guards always watched the graves of criminals – or top criminals like Jesus - then the women would not have been asking how they were going to get the stone moved. When the women did not know about the guards for they would not have worried about shifting the stone if they had it suggests that there were no guards. It is probable that the women would have heard for they were at the tomb and went to the synagogue where women chatted.
The material about the guards is very unsatisfactory. The story tells us nothing about their reliability and indicates that they were scoundrels. In fact it would demand extreme unreliability not to mention insanity for them to take a bribe to slander Jesus' disciples as body snatchers after all the terrifying miracles they witnessed such as earthquakes and a scary angel. It is dishonest how desperate Christians try to use the guards as evidence that Jesus could not have been stolen.
As Jesus could have been stolen and still have risen again, one wonders why Matthew might have lied about the guards. Was it just to make the Jews look bad?
There were no guards. They were made up to stop gossips saying that Jesus was stolen by his disciples which would have meant that they could have invented the resurrection visions for they were bent on tricking the people.