The fabricated story — his disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep — is the first recorded counter-narrative to the resurrection. Its logical problems are immediately apparent: sleeping guards cannot testify to what happened while they slept; soldiers who slept on duty faced severe Roman punishment; and Matthew's entire narrative has made clear that the disciples were in hiding, not planning a tomb raid. But the story is not designed to be logically airtight — it is designed to be emotionally satisfying to those who want an alternative to the resurrection. The stolen-body hypothesis has recurred in various forms throughout church history precisely because it provides a naturalistic explanation for the empty tomb without requiring the resurrection. Matthew includes it to show that the empty tomb was never disputed — only explained differently.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

Publish a note on this verse