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

Hide ‘n Seek?

The Stolen Body Myth

This myth is about people saying Jesus’s body supposedly got stolen.

But how could Jesus’ body get stolen – with the 16 guards, 4 on duty and the other 12 sleeping?

They say the disciples played hide’n’seek with his body but stories say that’s impossible.

The stone that sealed the tomb made it so no one could get in it. The stone was approximately 5 ½ foot tall, circular, and it weighed 2 tons.

That’s why the 2 girls wondered “who would roll the stone away…?”- Mark 16:3 They said that only the guards can.
But it wasn’t the guards, it was the angels who did.

Trinton, age 13

This myth is about people believing that Jesus’ body was stolen. That the disciples or someone else stole his body. This is false. Jesus’ body couldn’t have been stolen.
First, there were heavily armed and trained Roman soldiers. The disciples couldn’t have snuck past them or they would have been killed.

Also if the Roman soldiers slept on the job then they would be executed. They do not want this to happen so they would take their job very seriously.

Next, no one could move the big stone that was in front of the tomb. If they did manage to move it though, it would still make a lot of noise. It would have to wake the soldiers up if they were asleep.
Lastly, if someone did manage to sneak past the soldiers and roll the stone quietly away, the myth still wouldn’t work.

If they were in the tomb and hurrying before the soldiers notice then they wouldn’t take the time to neatly set the linen clothes down. They would have grabbed his body and took the linen off and left it on the floor.

In the Bible though it says that they were neatly set down.

No one could have stolen Jesus’ body.

Daniel, age 13

This myth is about people believing that Jesus’ body was “stolen” and that is why it was “missing.” This is false, Jesus’ body was not stolen.
Because if someone stole the body they would have to get past the Roman guards and roll the stone away.
This would be almost impossible, because if the soldiers weren’t doing their job they would be punished maybe even killed. So they would guard the tomb with their life to save their life.

IF you got past the guards you would then need to roll that huge heavy stone away, which would be very hard to do and would take a lot of men.

If you tried to do it while the guards were asleep that wouldn’t work because you would be making noise trying to move the rock and they would most likely wake up and kill you.
So, clearly, this would be a hard task to do because there would be multiple things you would have to get past in order to reach Jesus’ body.

This IS a myth.

Abbi, age 13

“Today the sincere seeker of truth can have complete confidence, as did the first Christians, that the Christian faith is based not on myth or legend but on the solid historical fact of the empty tomb and the risen Christ.”

(Don’t Check Your Brains at the Door, p. 78)

Know what you believe…and why you believe it.

• Does it really matter what you believe, as long as you have faith?
• Are there errors in the Bible?
• Was Jesus just a good teacher?
• Can anyone prove His resurrection?
• What does that have to do with me?

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