Mrs. Clark’s 7th Grade Bible Class Discusses:

Blind Man’s Bluff: The Wrong Tomb Myth

The Resurrection of Jesus is the central point of the Christian faith. Those who do not believe in Christ often argue that the resurrection never happened. What if the women on Easter Sunday found the tomb empty, only because they stumbled on the wrong tomb?

Even if Jesus’ tomb hadn’t been surrounded by a Roman guard, would they really have forgotten the location so soon after they saw Him buried?

Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock.

He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. 

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

…

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

Matthew 27:59-61, 28:1

Study Sessions

Read Matthew 27:57-28:15.

What individuals or groups of people would have know the correct location of the tomb?

Many people will tell you that Jesus never really rose from the dead, the women simply went to the wrong tomb. However, this cannot be true.

When the women left to see the tomb on Sunday morning, it was not their first time. They were there two nights before. Don’t you think one of them would have noticed?

If they went to the wrong tomb, then do you think just any tomb would have angels around it?
Let’s suppose that the women did go to the wrong tomb. After they were there, they rushed to the disciples and they took Peter and John to the tomb. If they saw Jesus buried like described Matthew, don’t you think they could tell if it was the wrong tomb?
The tomb was also sealed by a Roman seal. Not every tomb has one of those. Even if they all went to some other tomb, then couldn’t the chief priests and the Romans go to the tomb, and show them they were wrong?

You see, Jesus’s tomb was well distinguished so nobody could be so careless as to mistake His for another.

Mitchell, age 12

Many people believed and some still believe today that the women who had reported the missing body in the tomb actually went to the wrong tomb, but that’s a myth.
They absolutely went to the right tomb and to think they went to the wrong one is just crazy.
Matthew 27:57-28:15 is filled with verses that list the many people who had known for a fact that they knew the exact and correct location of the tomb.

Also, in Matthew, Mark and Luke they all have recorded information about specifically the women who saw Jesus’ burial and who clearly would have known where the location of his tomb was.

In this chapter of Don’t Check Your Brains at the Door, it says that a girl, Elizabeth, questions Mary, her friend, about actually seeing the empty tomb. She questions her about the fact that it was empty and says maybe you just went to the wrong tomb, but Mary makes it very clear to her that she knows what tomb she went to and that it wasn’t the wrong one.

Izzy, age 13

In the Wrong Tomb Myth, people believe the women went to the wrong tomb because there was no body in that location.

They are correct about the fact that there was no physical body still in the tomb but incorrect about it being the wrong place.

The women were in the right place, but they couldn’t comprehend that Jesus died and rose again. That is exactly why He “wasn’t there.”
There were actually many people who knew the correct location of the tomb including Joseph of Arimathea, Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, the Roman guard, the angels, etc.
While at the empty tomb, the angels told those there not to be afraid because Jesus had risen from the dead just as He had said.

All of these people and more knew the place of the tomb Jesus had been in, so how could have they gone to the wrong tomb if many had known the very place he had been set to rest?

Camden, age 13

In chapter 16 we learn about The Wrong Tomb Myth. The wrong Tomb myth is pretty self explanatory in its title but this myth is about all the myths people have brought up saying that Jesus never really resurrected he just was put in the wrong tomb.
Obviously as Followers of Christ we know for a fact the he died AND resurrected for our sins, but some people think otherwise.

If Jesus was put into the wrong tomb then our sins would have not been paid for which would be a problem.

On Jesus burial day they put him in a tomb and sealed it shut with a big rock.

They also put guards out there to watch the tomb so no one would steal his body and say he resurrected, so the guards would have known where his tomb was and knew that he didn’t get put in the wrong tomb.

Another example would be that Jesus was wrapped in fine white linens and when they opened up his tomb they saw that the linens were neatly folded and that he in fact had resurrected.
Even though not everybody  believes this, we do and what matters is that we help the people who don’t believe and continue to thank God for all he has done.

Madyson, age 12

The wrong tomb myth states that maybe when they saw the empty tomb Jesus once laid dead was actually not his. This is wrong.

There was a number of over 9 people who knew where Jesus’s tomb was. And the priests were gonna make sure that they ordered guards to stand in front of the right tomb.

Jesus was the man who claimed to be the Messiah. It is so slim a chance that they would lose the Son of God.

But even if they had the angel that God sent down to the tomb would not have gotten lost!

So no matter how hard you try, you can only come to one conclusion.. Jesus’s tomb was really empty on that Easter Sunday.

Birdie, age 12