Was Jesus’ tomb really empty?

The empty tomb is one of the defining symbols not only of Easter but of the entire Christian faith. It is the ultimate sign of Jesus’ claim to being God and his triumph over sin and death. The empty tomb also lies at the heart of Christian hope – the miracle to end all miracles. But is there actually any proof that the tomb in which Jesus was placed on ‘Good Friday’ was empty come the morning of ‘Easter Sunday’?

Although the cross is the most commonly identified motif of the Christian faith, it is at the same time a symbol of death – and a horrible death at that. It is the resurrection of Jesus that turned death into something else entirely, and the Bible states that this resurrection took place in a tomb belonging to an historical figure, Joseph of Arimathea. When some of Jesus’ female followers went to this burial place on the morning after the Sabbath, it was empty. Jesus had risen from the dead, just as he promised.

Critics of Christianity have various arguments against this account. One popular theory is that that Jewish or Roman authorities removed the body themselves from the empty tomb. Less easy to explain is why they did not reveal what they had done once the story of the resurrection took hold. Why did they not simply present Jesus’ body to prove they had it? After all, it was Christ’s resurrection that was underpinning a new sect (Christianity) that the authorities were trying to stamp out. If they had proof that the resurrection was a hoax, surely they would have come forward!

Another skeptic suggestion is that the disciples stole the body. This ignores the fact that the tomb was guarded by Roman soldiers. ‘They fell asleep’ say some. The penalty for falling asleep on duty was death, so this is unlikely. ‘There were no guards at all’ argue others. That would have been an easy excuse for the authorities but they never denied the presence of guards.

What about the differences in the Gospel accounts by Matthew, Mark and Luke on this subject? These actually offer further evidence for their reliability as eyewitness accounts – after all, if three of us were to independently write down a description of dramatic events that we were involved in years before, would we all remember or describe exactly the same thing? We have only two historical accounts of Hannibal crossing the Alps and they are wildly different – but we don’t doubt it happened!

The fact that the Gospels all agree that women found the empty tomb is perhaps the most convincing argument of all. Females were on a very low rung of 1^st century society in Palestine and not even allowed to testify in a court of law. If you wanted to make up a story to convince people Jesus was resurrected, whatever your reason, the last thing you would do 2000 years ago is have women as the primary witnesses. Peter or John, yes, but not Mary Magdalene. The fact is that Matthew, Mark and Luke were staying faithful to what actually happened… And the tomb really was empty.