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| The Stone at the Tomb |
The Stone at the Tomb
One of the powerful, but often neglected, pieces of evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is the stone at the tomb. The scriptures tell us quite a lot about the stone itself; "But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away." Mark 16v4 ""Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard." Matthew 27v65-66
Morrison who wrote "Who moved the Stone?" called the stone at Jesus' tomb, "The one silent and infallible witness in the whole episode - and there are certain facts about this stone which call for very careful study and investigation.......Let us begin by considering first its size and probably character...no doubt....the stone was large and consequently very heavy. This fact is asserted or implied by all the writers who refer to it. St Mark says it was "exceedingly great". St. Matthew speaks of it as a "great stone". Peter says, "for the stone was great". Additional testimony on this point is furnished by the reported anxiety of the women as to how they could move it. If the stone had not been of considerable weight the combined strength of three women should have been capable of moving it. We receive, therefore, a very definite impression that it was at least too weighty for the women to remove it unaided. All this has a very definite bearing on the case..."
Well, such a stone would not have been easily moved. Therefore, a) The idea that Jesus could remove the stone on His own, unaided from the inside of the tomb, is laughable. b) No one person could have taken Jesus body. If the disciples took it - there must have been a considerable number of them. c) The stone could not have been removed whilst the guards slept - it would certainly have woken them up. d) If grave robbers took the body there must have been a good few of them working together.
Someone removed that stone on Easter morning. Who was it?
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A fourth century manuscript of Mark 16v4 states, "a stone which twenty men could not roll away". This has been rightly removed from our scriptures as it receives very little textual support from early manuscripts. However, it is possible - if not likely - that this statement was an observation from an early scribe who in copying the early manuscripts added his own observations in the margin. These subsequently became copied into the main text. Dr Thornurn speculates that this could have been observation from an eye-witness to the stone. This is, of course, pure speculation. What we know for sure, however, is that the women going to the tomb could not using their combined strength contemplate removing the stone. Mark 16v 3 states 
Most Jewish tombs from the first century appear to have an entrance 4 to 5 feet high. A couple of engineers have recently calculated the weight of the stone given its height, diameter and width. It would had to have "had a minimum weight of 1-1/2 to 2 tons." 
So what?
