Murder at Golgotha Read online

  *—"Joseph... rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb" (Mark 15:46). A reconstruction of Jesus' tomb as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus left it on the evening of the Friday of the crucifixion. The tomb was reportedly a new one "in which no one had yet been buried" (John 19:41), located "at the place where he [Jesus] had been crucified" (John 19:41) and "hewn out of the rock" [A] (Matthew 27:60). Mark 16:5 describes the tomb's interior as featuring a ledge on the right-hand side [B], for the laying out of the body. The Matthew, Mark, and Luke testimonies all describe Joseph as having procured a shroud (sindon in the original Greek) [C] to wrap Jesus' body. According to John 19:39, accompanying this was "a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds." Such spices may have been stored in bags or baskets [D]. According to later sources the nails of crucifixion and the notice of Jesus' crime [E] were retrieved, and therefore these may also have been among the tomb's contents. Behind these items can be seen two recesses [F], intended for the ossuaries, or bone boxes, in which the deceased's bones would eventually be gathered. Joseph and Nicodemus' final task was to roll a large stone [G] across the tomb's entrance (Mark 15:46). Though often very large, such stones could be moved relatively easily into position with the aid of a specially inclined track [H].

  Yet, as events were about to prove, someone or something within that next thirty-six hours would manage to roll that boulder back upward to reopen the tomb's entrance. And by whatever means, somehow that "dead" body would be found to have vanished into thin air.

  14

  Grave Disturbance

  Our investigation has noted that not a single male disciple is recorded to have been around to attend to Jesus' body—even to see how it would be looked after, or where it would be put. But the band of women who had accompanied Jesus from Galilee were apparently of sterner stuff. Of these women, who just like the disciples, had apparently also traveled around the country with Jesus during his preachings and healings, the Luke author earlier testified:

  [As] he made his way through towns and villages preaching . . . with him . . . went. . . certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments. Mary, surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out; Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza. Susanna, and several others who provided for them out of their own resources. (Luke 8:1-3)

  According to the Mark testimony, it had been this Mary, from the Galilean village of Magdala, together with Mary the mother of Joset (possibly a blood relative of Jesus), and a number of other women, who had watched "from a distance" as Jesus was being crucified (Mark 15:40). They had also watched Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus as they struggled to maneuver his dead body into the tomb (Mark 15:47).

  Why would they choose to keep Jesus' body under such close observation? Because they wanted to make sure they knew where it was being taken so that they could attend to it in their own special way after the Passover Sabbath. According to the testimony from Mark, they had been preparing aromatics of their own, and with these they wanted to carry out their own funerary rites on Jesus' body, obviously before the smell of death became too extreme.

  Now, at first light there were what would seem to have been at least three women hurrying through the gloom to perform this task. According to Mark the group was comprised of Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. In Luke's version the one difference was that Joanna—the wife of King Herod's steward— replaced Salome. Matthew mentioned only the two Marys, And John, maverick to the last, recorded only the presence of Mary of Magdala—except that, when he quoted her reporting her experience to two male disciples, he had her using the plural "we" (John 20:2), indicating that she had at least one companion.

  At this point in our investigation, trying to establish some firm facts is very similar to trying to work out what happened at a major traffic accident from the testimony of four different witnesses, each of whom can only describe how a series of confusing, perplexing, fast-moving events looked from their particular viewpoint. Adding to the difficulty is that we simply cannot be sure which of these witnesses may have been describing the events from a much more garbled, secondhand or thirdhand viewpoint than the others.

  Even so, certain commonly agreed-upon details can be gleaned. First, it was very early in the day. John speaks of: "very early, and still dark'' (John 20:1); Mark of "very early in the morning . . . when the sun had risen" (Mark 16:2). Despite such differences in the statements, both concur that the time of day was around very first light, immediately after the "enforced inertia" of the Passover Sabbath.

  Second, the first of Jesus' party to arrive on the scene were not Jesus' male followers, but a group of his women followers. The fact of these having set out very early with no male accompaniment is reinforced by the very question that the Mark testimony recorded the women as discussing between themselves along the way: "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" (Mark 16:3). Given that Mark named three women as being present on that early morning mission, this reaffirms that the task of rolling away this boulder to reopen the tomb was one beyond their combined strengths.

  Third, when the first women arrived at the tomb this very same boulder had somehow already been rolled away from the entrance. And fourth, with the tomb interior thereby accessible, it was the women who quickly determined that Jesus' body had most mysteriously disappeared from inside. According to Luke: "On entering [the tomb] they could not find the body of the Lord Jesus." According to John, Mary of Magdala, having established this, ran back to tell Jesus' male disciples: "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they have put him" (John 20:2).

  All of which might seem relatively straightforward, were it not for the Matthew testimony and some major discrepancies in this concerning point four. Of the events earlier associated with the crucifixion, Matthew, alone of the four testimony writers, described Jesus' death as accompanied by an earthquake, damage at the Temple, and dead people rising from their graves, extraordinary incidents that Mel Gibson duly dramatized in his Passion movie. All of these events would have been so newsworthy in their own right that if they really had happened we would have expected to hear of it from other historical sources. And we would of course have expected the other three testimony-writers to have spoken of them likewise.

  Thus, when we find the Matthew testimony recording, again uniquely, the chief priests posting a guard over Jesus' tomb throughout the Passover Sabbath—then describing at the moment of the women's arrival a second earthquake bursting the tomb open and sending the guards scattering in disarray—it is more than a little difficult to take this version seriously.

  Conversely, it is once again the John testimony that at this very point in the story provides more detail as from reliable, close-hand reporting. This describes Simon Peter and the very same disciple "known to the High Priest" through whose intermediary he had gained admission to Caiaphas's house, acting on Mary of Magdala's breathless alert about the tomb's emptiness by literally running to this to find out whatever they could:

  So Peter set out with the other disciple ["the one whom Jesus loved" (John 20:2)] to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linen clothes lying on the ground but did not go in. Simon Peter, following him, also came up, went into the tomb, saw the linen cloths lying on the ground and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed. Till this moment they had not understood the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. (John 20:3-9)

  For our investigative purposes, there is so much in those few words that is meaningful, yet there is also so much that remains tantalizingly elusive. Why, for instance, did this same "other disciple"—earlier described as known to the High Priest, and who was very likely the "John" writer himself—first outrun Peter, only to pause waiting for him to
catch up? Why did he not immediately go all the way into the tomb? Could he have been someone belonging to the Jewish priestly hierarchy—in which case he would have feared being defiled by the presence of a dead body. So, did he perhaps wait because he wanted Peter's assurance that, with the stone rolled back, there was no longer any dead body in the tomb before he could feel comfortable about going in? The stature of John as a witness becomes ever more advanced by such considerations.

  And whatever the answer, there has to have been something quite extraordinary about the scene that Peter and "John" witnessed inside—and in particular the presence and the arrangement of those "linen cloths"—which convinced them then and there that Jesus had to have risen from the dead. Frustratingly, and among the many uncertainties surrounding the cloth we know today as the Turin Shroud, "John," even at this key juncture, failed to make any mention of a sindon among the definitely plural "cloths" that he and Peter found in the tomb that Sunday morning. In the original Greek, he used the word soudar-ion for the cloth that had been over Jesus' head and which was now "rolled up in a place by itself." Many modern translators interpret this as just a face cloth, in which case the large sindon that Matthew, Mark, and Luke referred to most puzzlingly goes unmentioned. As soudarion simply means sweat cloth, could "John" have had in mind a sweat cloth of the whole body? This would certainly be readily reconcilable both with the Turin Shroud and the sindon spoken of by the other the testimony writers.

  Where had the body gone? All four testimonies agree that Jesus' burial wrappings had been removed from his body and had been left behind during whatever circumstances. Yet his body had disappeared from the tomb. Raising the question: had he revived, freed himself from these wrappings, then somehow—despite those open wounds seriously in need of major stitching—moved a huge boulder that had been designed only to be moved from the outside, not the inside? Not only does this seem inconceivable, even if he could have achieved such an extraordinary feat, surely he would have gathered the wrappings around him garment style, rather than venture out stark naked a mere stone's throw from Jerusalem's walls?

  *—"Mary of Magdala . . . saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb" (John 20:1). A reconstruction of Jesus' tomb as found early on Sunday morning. The first on the scene were up to three women, among them Mary of Magdala. They had been anticipating difficulty rolling the stone back from the entranceway (Mark 16:3), but found that persons unknown had already performed this task [A] sometime prior to their arrival. To hold the stone back would have required the lodging of a smaller stone in its path [B]. On entering the tomb the women found the body of Jesus to have inexplicably disappeared (Luke 24:3). According to the testimony of John, it was necessary to bend down to see inside (John 20:5). This strongly suggests the entranceway to have been low [C]. John describes othonia (very possibly the chin, wrist, and ankle bindings shown on page 140), lying on the floor [D] and visible from outside the tomb. Peter entered first, quickly followed by "John," and they saw "the cloth [soudarion] that had been over his head" lying "not with the othonia, but rolled up in a place by itself (John 20:7). This strongly suggests John to have been describing a large cloth, arguably the same sindon, or shroud, referred to in the Matthew, Mark, and Luke testimonies, and presumably in situ on the ledge on which Jesus' body had been laid [E].

  What if some unknown intruder or intruders came to the tomb from the outside, rolled back the boulder, and then, under cover of darkness, snatched his body away? Again, surely any such person or persons would have kept his body wrapped, rather than specially unwrapping it to transport it to wherever they had in mind? Furthermore, the impression that is conveyed by the gospel descriptions concerning the linen clothes is of neatness and good order, as if by whatever process the body had disappeared, its wrappings had been left largely undisturbed from how Joseph and Nicodemus had put them into place. Such a sight, of the body seeming to have passed through its wrapping, would indeed have been one to cause Peter and "John" actually to "believe" at this particular point that Jesus had "risen from the dead," just as he predicted he would.

  But the extraordinary happenings of that Passover Sunday morning were far from over. According to the Mark testimony, the two Marys and Salome, even before Mary of Magdala had rushed back to alert Peter and "John," had found the tomb empty of Jesus' body, though not without an occupant. That individual's presence they only became aware of when they ventured inside:

  On entering the tomb they saw a young man in a white robe seated on the right-hand side, and they were struck with amazement. But he said to them, "There is no need to be so amazed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See, here is the place where they laid him." (Mark 16:5-6)

  Luke's testimony was very similar, except that he noted that the women initially could not find the body of the Lord Jesus. [Then] as they stood there puzzled about this, two men in brilliant clothes suddenly appeared at their side. Terrified, the women bowed their heads to the ground. But the two said to them: "Why look among the dead for someone who is alive? He is not here. He has risen." (Luke 24:3—6)

  At which point, however objective and CSI-like we have tried to be throughout the investigation thus far, consideration of some form of supernatural involvement now becomes increasingly difficult to avoid. First, every testimony describes the presence of one or more mysterious "men in white" at the tomb. Though gospel translations often use the word "angel" for these mystery intruders, it's important to realize that just as the word sindon meant "cloth" rather than specifically a "shroud," so "angel," in Greek angelos, meant "messenger," rather than specifically one of the sent-from-heaven variety.

  Of all the four accounts of these mystery occupants of the tomb, it is John's that carries some additional detail that makes his testimony so particularly compelling. According to John, Mary of Magdala, after having run to alert Peter and "John" of what she and her companions had come across, accompanied this pair back to the tomb. Indeed, she almost certainly needed to lead them to it, as it was the women, not the men, who would have known where to find it. (For while the Matthew, Mark, and Luke gospels all emphatically mention Mary of Magdala and her female companions taking a careful note of where Jesus was buried [Matthew 27:61; Mark 15:47; Luke 23:55], nothing of the same kind is recorded of the men.) Then, while Peter and "John," having gone inside, marveled at the arrangement of the linen wrappings, but found the tomb otherwise empty, then went off "back home" again, Mary lingered on alone outside, filled with tears.

  Then, as she wept, she stooped to look inside. (John 20:11) This particular piece of information from John's testimony immediately clarifies why "other disciple" John had not immediately seen the full arrangement of the burial wrappings while hesitating at the tomb's entrance. Even for a woman, the entrance was apparently sufficiently low that it required some stooping to be able to see inside, particularly necessary to view any person or object sitting or resting on the seat-height tomb ledge. For according to John, despite no one having been seen to enter or leave the tomb since Peter and his departure, Mary now saw within:

  Two messengers in white . . . sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, the other at the feet. They said, "Woman, why are you weeping?" "They have taken my Lord away," she replied, "and I don't know where they have put him." (John 20:11-13)

  There is an obvious discrepancy here with the Matthew, Mark, and Luke accounts. All three of these described the women, including Mary of Magdala, as seeing one or more of such messengers when they had first looked into the tomb. But that is not what John conveys. However, what happened next is attested to in some form in every version except Luke's, and it is nothing less than mind-blowing. John's version, though not without its perplexities, is by far the fullest. As Mary—evidently still crouched outside the tomb while she was in conversation with its two occupants seated on the tomb slab within— "turned round" she saw Jesus standing there, though she did not realize it was Jesus. Jesus said to
her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him." Jesus said "Mary!" She turned round then and said to him in Hebrew "Rabbuni," which means "Master." (John 20:14-16)

  Can we reconstruct what was quite obviously one of the most extraordinary encounters in all human history? Mel Gibson's Passion movie did not include this scene because he followed the Matthew version. And if at first its impact might seem dulled because of Mary's failure immediately to recognize Jesus, this in actuality becomes readily explicable. The key lies in the double mention of Mary turning around, first in verse 14, and again in verse 16. This only makes sense when we properly picture her crouched at the low tomb entrance talking to the astonishing individuals who were seated on the ledge inside on which Jesus' body had been laid before its disappearance. First, while she was still preoccupied with these two individuals, she turned only half around on her becoming aware of someone standing beside her. Hence when she was speaking to this newcomer she may well have been still half turned away from him, thereby without ever properly looking up to see who he was.

  Then suddenly she heard him address her by name: "Mary!" At this point the effect was electric. She immediately turned fully to encounter the unbelievable. This man whose horribly tortured body she had seen in stark-staringly obvious death just thirty-six hours before was now standing before her large as life. Just as he had predicted he would, Jesus of Nazareth had risen from the dead.