Daily Study Mat 28:11-15
These verses provide the origin of the stolen body theory, one of a handful of theories offered to explain away the resurrection of Jesus. The swoon theory suggests that Jesus did not die on the cross; He merely passed out to be revived later. The wrong-tomb theory states that the disciples indeed found an empty tomb because it was the wrong one; Jesus was still dead in another tomb. The hallucination theory holds that the resurrection appearances were just hallucinations. The holes in each of these theories are not hard to find.
If the disciples had conspired to steal Jesus’ body and claimed He rose again, would they have continued to lie even when most were tortured and executed for this claim? Could a severely beaten and crucified Jesus really have survived? Why didn’t the Jewish leaders present Jesus’ body to stop the resurrection claims? And is it possible for so many people to have the same hallucination, even large groups at the same time? Each resurrection theory falls down on itself, but there is something we can learn from them: the hardness of the human heart. These theories remind us of how far people will go to deny and reject Christ Jesus. Absurd theories are preferred over the obvious truth: Jesus rose from the dead.
Question
What are some ways you have seen people try to dismiss the gospel? How can you respond in a compelling way to each?