Of the 38 miracles performed by Jesus the Christ recorded in the Gospels, we celebrate the greatest of these on Easter: It is the resurrection of Jesus from among the dead. All quotes in this Easter Chronicle are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Our narrative begins in the dead of night. Jesus retires with His 11 disciples into an olive grove called, the Garden of Gethsemane (the vat of oil). Guiding a “great multitude” of soldiers with torches and weapons, chief priests, and Pharisees, is the 12th disciple, Judas.
Judas knows where to find Jesus as it is His habit to stay the night with His disciples in this garden.
Now Christ, “knowing all the things that were coming upon him, went forth [to meet the throng] and saith unto them, 'Who seek ye?' They answered Him, 'Jesus of Nazareth.'” Then said Jesus, “I Am He.” Whereupon “they went backward, and fell to the ground.”
“I Am” is one of the names of God.
When the mob recovers Jesus says, “If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way.” Hearing this, the soldiers unknowingly obey, free the disciples who flee, and “seize Jesus and bound him.”
Then they lead Him away to the house of Caiaphas, the high priest, “where the scribes and the elders gathered together.” There they treat Him shamefully, spit in His face, beat Him, and conspire to have Him killed.
“And the whole company of them rose up and brought him before Pilate,” the Roman governor of Judea. “We found this man forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that He is Christ, a king.”
Pilate is merciless, cruel, and noted for his wanton brutality. Yet there is something about the figure before him that unnerves the tyrant. His voice is taut: “Art thou the King of the Jews?”
Jesus answers, “Thou sayest.” From that moment, Pilate seeks to free Him. “And Pilate said unto the chief priests and the multitudes, 'I find no fault in this man.'” Thrice Pilate appeals to the crowd, and thrice they demand his death.
Finally, in desperation, Pilate has Him scourged in the hope that partial punishment would save Him from crucifixion. Then Pilate brings the bloodied Christ before them: “Behold the man!” “But they cried out exceedingly, 'Crucify Him.'”
“If thou release this man, thou art not Caesar's friend,” they shouted. At this “Pilate gave the sentence that they asked for.”
Jesus is led to a hill that has an escarpment that resembles a human skull. The mound is called Golgotha, the place of a skull. (In 1968, the outlines of a skull were plainly visible to this writer.) It is here that He is crucified.
After six hours, suspended between heaven and earth and at the exact moment the high priest sacrifices the Passover lamb, “Jesus cried with a loud voice, 'Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.'”
Jesus did not die of asphyxiation, blood loss, shock, or the Roman spear that pierced His side. “No man taketh it from me” said Jesus earlier, “but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.”
Shortly after Jesus' death Joseph, an extremely wealthy and influencial man from Arimathea, asks Pilate for the body of Jesus. Joseph places the corpse in a large rock-hewn tomb he is preparing for himself: “And he [Jesus] made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death.”
The entrance to the vault leads into a spacious antechamber. To the right are rooms for two loculi. The loculus on the left has a few inches at the foot hurriedly chiseled out for a man taller than Joseph. The other loculus is unfinished.
When the chief priests and the Pharisees discover where Jesus is entombed, they go to Pilate. “Sir, we remember that the deceiver said, 'After three days I [will] rise again.' Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day.”
Pilate: “Ye have a guard make it as sure as ye can.” And so they do.
The word “guard” is ambiguous. But given the number of followers that Jesus had, 40 soldiers is cited as a conservative estimate by one authority. Surely efforts to steal the body and claim He rose would be impossible.
Moreover, the tomb had a “great stone” to seal the entrance. The Pharisees string a chain across this stone door anchoring it to the tomb wall. The chain is gone, but the iron anchors used to secure the chain remain. The distance between the anchors is 9' 8”. The width of the rock-cut channel for this rolling stone is 15”. More about these measurements in a moment.
Nevertheless, come the dawn, the tomb is empty. The chain is rent asunder. No remains of the “great stone” have ever been found. But interestingly, there is an ancient rolling stone that has the same composition, color, chisel markings, and precisely fits the unique dimensions of Joseph's “great stone” (9' 8” by 15”). This seven-ton stone door is on display at the Memorial to Moses on Mount Nebo 30 miles East of the tomb.
And the Roman guard?
“And when they [the Pharisees] had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, and said, You are to say, His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.”
As for all those who made the tomb “as sure as ye can,” they were successful only in transforming the tragedy of Jesus' death to proof of His triumphant resurrection on that first glorious Easter.
Sincerely,
Bob Scroggins
New Milford, PA