It is argued that the Roman or Jews moved Jesus’ body from the tomb. It is understandable that these two groups would want to end the controversy about Jesus and it is possible that they moved the body to stop his followers from faking a resurrection. The Jews and the Romans both hated Jesus and the new religion as it undermined their authority and caused political unrest so they had good reason to get the dead body. If they had a dead body they could say Jesus was no more God like than anyone else and extinguish any rumours that Jesus was the Messiah and subsequently kill the new religion of Christianity. However, it is unlikely that the Jewish authorities moved the body as they would have found it disgusting to touch a dead body and it would violate the laws of the Torah. Some would say that this means the disciples would not have moved the body either as they were Jewish themselves, but some believe that they would no longer have believed in the Laws of the Torah because Jesus’ teachings and wouldn’t have a problem with touching a dead body. In addition, some would say they would have gone to any lengths to ensure that Christianity survived. Despite this, I think it is safe to say the Disciples did not take the body of Jesus. They disciples believed Jesus would rise again with everyone else; therefore they didn’t think Jesus need to fake his resurrection. Also, in Mark 9:9-10, Jesus predicted his resurrection they did not know what he was talking about. Further evidence against this theory is that a Roman Soldiers were ordered by Pilate to guard the entrance to the tomb. It is unlikely that the disciples could have made their way past such a group of armed men.
Some people believe that Jesus wasn’t crucified, but someone else was who pretended to be Jesus. This is usually dismissed as it again would make Jesus a liar and in any case, someone would have noticed that the wrong man was one the cross. By the time Jesus was crucified, he had become well known by the Romans and the Sanhedrin. The Jewish authorities would certainly have noticed and wouldn’t miss such an opportunity to declare the uselessness of the Romans. Furthermore, Mary, Jesus’ mother and John were at the crucifixion and spoke to Jesus while he was on the cross and would have definitely known whether it was him or not.
Some say that the disciples imagined the resurrection of Jesus. It is not impossible that the disciples were hallucinating due to drugs that they might have been taking. However, all of the disciples not only saw Jesus, but touched him too. He definitely seemed to real, in the Gospels of Luke and John he even cooked breakfast for them. Magic Mushrooms did grow in Israel, but there is no evidence that they were on drugs. It is argued that the disciples made up the story about Jesus rising from the dead but this is unlikely as traditionally, if a troublemaker was executed, his followers were killed as well. They would have been too scared to even make up stories about Jesus and were concentrating more on lying low. Furthermore, some of the disciples were killed for being Christians; it is very unlikely that they would have been willing to die for something that never happened.
It is very hard to decide as to what happened to Jesus after he was crucified. A quote from the Greek philosopher helps with this decision, “A plausible impossibility is preferable to an unconvincing possibility.” We must look for the most likely option, and in my opinion this comes down to the Romans stealing the body or that Jesus did actually rise from the dead. I feel inclined to say that the Romans took the body as it seems like a more logical explanation than any of the others. On the other hand, people who are not religious cannot deny the existence of ‘otherworldly’ powers and we must take into consideration that there are things that exist that we have not seen. Therefore, even though I am not entirely happy with this decision, I have come to the conclusion that Jesus must have risen from the dead.
