What happened to the body of Jesus after he died on the cross? We know that two previously secret believers, Joseph of Arimathea and the Pharisee Nicodemus, both members of the Jewish ruling council, hastily embalmed the body and placed it in a stone tomb on the day that Jesus died. For 3 days — Friday, Saturday and Sunday — the body would lie lifeless in the tomb.
Was Jesus truly dead? Physically, he certainly was. The soldiers at the cross made sure of it.
On Friday
Three men including Jesus were crucified on Good Friday. As the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath (the next day), they asked the Roman governor Pilate to have the legs of the men broken. (Breaking the legs would hurry their deaths, as they would not be able to push their bodies up to breathe.) The soldiers broke the legs of the two men who were crucified next to Jesus. But they did not break the legs of Jesus because they found him already dead. To make sure he was dead, one of the soldiers pierced the side of Jesus with a spear. The only reaction from Jesus’ body to this piercing was an immediate flow of blood and water from the wound (John 19:31–34).
Why did Jesus die ahead of the other two men? It must have been because Jesus was already severely weakened before the crucifixion. He had been beaten by the Jews who arrested him the night before, deprived of sleep, scourged with Roman whips, pierced in his head with a crown of thorns and struck with a staff on the head again and again. He had been made to carry his own cross to the place of execution, but on the way there, the soldiers forced a man called Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross because it seemed to them Jesus would not have been able to carry it all the way up the hill (Matthew 26:67, 27:29–30, 32, Mark 14:65, 15:15–21, Luke 22:63–64, 23:22, 26, John 18:22, 19:1–3, 17).
On Saturday
The tomb in which the body of Jesus was buried was sealed with an insignia, and guards were posted to protect it from intrusion. What the guards did not expect however was egression!
On Sunday
At dawn on the Sunday, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary along with some other women went to the tomb. They had brought with them spices to anoint the body of Jesus. (This shows that the women did not believe he was going to be come back to life on the third day.) As they made their way there, they had not figured out how they would be able to enter the tomb with the large stone blocking the entrance, asking each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
When they arrived, they saw no guards. The women saw that the large stone had been rolled away, revealing an empty tomb. Thinking that someone had removed the body of Jesus, they ran to the apostles Peter and John and reported that someone had taken the body. The disciples ran to the tomb and discovered it empty as the women had said. They then went back to where they were staying.
What had happened to the guards? They had all vacated their posts and run away. Some of the guards went to the city to report to the chief priests everything that had happened: There had been a violent earthquake, in which an angel of the Lord had come down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone; his appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow — the guards had been so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The chief priests and the elders then plotted to suppress this story with a lie. They gave the soldiers a large sum of money and instructed them to say that Jesus’ disciples had come during the night and stole his body while they were asleep (Matthew 28:2–4, 11–15).
Meanwhile, at the tomb, the angel that rolled the stone away and another angel appeared to the women. Being in the presence of angels was terrifying to the women, and they bowed down with their faces to the ground (Matthew 28:5–7, Mark 6:5–7, Luke 24:4–7, John 20:11–13). To the women, the angels said:
“Don’t be alarmed, you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” (Mark 16:6–7)
“Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” (Matthew 28:5–7)
“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” (Luke 20:5–7)
When told, the disciples did not believe the women — their words seemed to them like nonsense. Nevertheless, Peter made some back and forth to and from the tomb, as he wondered what had happened (Luke 24:11–12).
Mary would spend time to grieve at the tomb after the other women left. With her vision blurred by tears, she spoke with the two angels in the tomb. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” to which she said, “They have taken my Lord away, and I don’t know where they have put him.” Somehow, the angels’ message to the women that Jesus had risen from the dead did not register with Mary. Her words to the angels betrayed her unbelief in what the angels had said.
What would it take to convince believers in Jesus that he would come back to life as he had told them before and as the angels had just announced?
As Mary talked to the angels, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. But she did not realise it was Jesus. Jesus asked Mary, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Mary thought the man was the gardener, and said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” When she heard Jesus call her name, she cried out, “Teacher!”
Jesus then said to her, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” With gloom now turned to joy, Mary Magdalene went back to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” and told them that what he had said to her (John 20:11–18).
Jesus then appeared to his disciples and showed himself alive to them. He showed them that he was not a ghost but had flesh and bones. The disciples too had not believed that Jesus would rise from the dead! Jesus explained to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:36–48).
And so, we see in this very unique story concerning Jesus Christ that he did not “rest in peace”. He did not stay dead, but rose from the dead as prophesied in the scriptures and just as he had said before. His enemies remembered what he had said (that was why they posted the guard at the tomb), and his own disciples and friends who should have known better did not believe what he had said. The resurrection of Jesus and his bodily appearances to his disciples brought faith where there had been no faith.
News of Jesus’ resurrection would turn the world upside down. Jesus has been declared to be the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead. By his resurrection, people everywhere could believe in his promise of eternal life for those who would believe in him.
The resurrection of Jesus is the most important event in the history of the world, for by it alone humanity has the hope of a Saviour. The gospel is preached so that we may believe in Jesus. By believing, we enter into an eternal relationship with a Saviour who forgives us our sins and saves us from a futile way of living. Jesus, who rose from the dead on Easter Sunday two millennia ago, is alive and active in this world, and calls all who would to follow him and to receive from him the gift of eternal life.