WERE THERE WOMEN AT THE TOMB OF JESUS?
The gospels say that a miracle man called Jesus Christ lived. They say he died
by crucifixion and three days later he rose again. The tomb he was placed in was
found wide open on Sunday morning, by women, with the stone that had been across
the entrance moved back and the tomb was mysteriously empty. His body was gone.
The gospels never say that anybody saw the body rising or coming out of the
tomb. No evidence is given that he wasn’t stolen. Women were the first that we
know of who were at the tomb.
The women at the tomb is a complete fiction. If there were no women at the tomb
then it is more likely that somebody could have opened the tomb and stole the
body of Jesus or let him out. For it would be untrue that the Marys saw an angel
open the tomb which was empty. Then it would be untrue that some of the apostles
went to the tomb because of the women. And the women certainly were not there to
anoint the body. The soldiers would be no argument against theft for Matthew
never says that his belief that they knew Jesus had supernaturally vanished was
verifiable and anyway it was unlikely to be. If there were no women then the
angels and the visions and the apostles’ arrival at the tomb were invented.
If the women had really found the tomb empty they would have been blamed for
taking the body and dealt with accordingly. And Mark and Luke state that they
were inside the tomb which would increase the danger of their getting into
trouble and being blackmailed by the bent authorities.
Female friends of Jesus would not have been near the tomb to anoint Jesus on
Sunday morning especially if there were soldiers there. They could have been
tortured to find out where the apostles were. The apostles were hiding in case
what would happen to Jesus would happen to them for he was accused of crimes
against the empire thus implicating them as well.
When the disciples had went into hiding would the women have been likely to
visit the tomb and risk being captured and forced to tell where they were
hiding?
The women supposedly went to the tomb on Sunday to put spices on the body of
Jesus. This unnecessary effort suggests that there was concern about Jesus
smelling. It is almost as if there were others about to use the tomb.
And if Jesus had rotted fast. The women carted expensive spices around at
unearthly hours alone and as if robbery was not a threat. Nothing about
the story makes sense. The women by trespassing on the tomb could have got
into grave trouble for they were not relations of Jesus. The women are
just a lie made up explain where the empty tomb tale came from and to explain
how the tomb was found to be empty.
The Luke Gospel has the women getting the spices on the day Jesus died before
the sun had set. But Mark places it on the next day. The lie is very
suspicious as is how the women were so sure they could put the spices on Jesus
and get to the tomb! It makes sense if they were getting the tomb robbed or
going to another one and going to pretend it was Jesus' and that the body had
vanished. It is too neat - the women must have been clairvoyants.
There was no need for the women to come and anoint the body for Joseph of
Arimathea had anointed and prepared the body for Jesus was buried according to
the Jewish custom (John 19:39,40) and would have told them that for they were
there. He would not have wanted anybody dragged back to the tomb when it was
dangerous. To bury a body without oils and spices would have been scandalous
(The Womb and the Tomb, page 115). Joseph could have had it done quickly for he
had helpers so saying it was omitted because the Sabbath was near is silly.
Would these followers of Jesus who detested Jewish scruples about the Sabbath
rest have paid heed to them? If it was not done right perhaps somebody came to
do it and discovered that Jesus was alive having survived the crucifixion and
took him away. But it could have been done rapidly and still done correctly and
several pairs of hands could have had it completed in five minutes. The bodies
of criminals were usually dumped so Jesus might have been removed from the tomb
to avoid this. Whoever did it could not admit it.
The gospel disagreement about the number of women at the tomb shows that they
could have been lying about the women being there at all. At best, this
observation commands us to be undecided and not to include the women in any
argument for supernaturalism.
Jesus would have understood if they could not get to the tomb to finish the
anointing. The women running to the apostles after what happened to the tomb
could have blown the apostles’ cover. The whole thing is incredible and shows
that much of the resurrection story is legendary. The fact that the stories
don’t try to resolve the absurdities shows that they were kept secret until they
were published and secrecy means embarrassment. Christians say that when the
women were at the burial there was no need for them to hide. There was when they
knew where the apostles were and the apostles believed themselves to be wanted
men.
The women are not mentioned in Paul’s list of witnesses to the resurrection
though the list was spelled out for those who accepted the testimony of women.
This implies that the women were either incoherent and useless witnesses or
their testimony was cooked up later for it would have been put in the list when
the list was made to close up those Christians who had come to deny the
resurrection of Jesus. Only the women could verify the reason for the tomb being
empty for the apostles only saw the tomb after the tomb had been left with
nobody about when anything could have happened. Had Paul believed in the empty
tomb he would have had to give us the testimony of the women.
FURTHER READING
Christianity for the Tough-Minded, Ed John Warwick Montgomery, Bethany
Fellowship Inc, Minneapolis, 1973
Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Vol 1, Josh McDowell, Alpha, Scripture Press
Foundation, Bucks, 1995
He Walked Among Us, Josh McDowell and Bill Wilson, Alpha, Cumbria, 2000
Jesus: The Evidence, Ian Wilson, Pan, London, 1985
The First Easter, What Really Happened? HJ Richards, Collins/Fount Glasgow, 1980
The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry
Lincoln, Corgi, London, 1982
The Jesus Event, Martin R Tripole SJ, Alba House, New York, 1980
The Jesus Inquest, Charles Foster, Monarch Books, Oxford, 2006
The Passover Plot, Hugh Schonfield, Element, Dorset, 1996
The Resurrection Factor, Josh McDowell, Alpha, Scripture Press Foundation,
Bucks, 1993
The Resurrection of Jesus, Pinchas Lapide, SPCK, London, 1984
The Unauthorised Version, Robin Lane Fox, Penguin, Middlesex, 1992
The Second Messiah, Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, Arrow, London, 1998
The Virginal Conception and Bodily Resurrection of Jesus, Raymond E Brown,
Paulist Press, New York, 1973
The Womb and the Tomb, Hugh Montifiore, Fount – HarperCollins, London, 1992
Verdict on the Empty Tomb, Val Grieve Falcon, London, 1976
Who Moved the Stone? Frank Morison, OM Publishing, Cumbria, 1997