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     Regarding whether Jesus rose from the dead, some have asserted that Jesus’ body was stolen by the disciples.  In fact the Jews maintained the stolen body story for at least twenty years after the resurrection even at the time of the writing of Matthew (Mt 28:15).  Justin Martyr wrote in “Dialog with Trypho” (AD165) that this story still circulated 130 years after Jesus’ death.  Thus, the presence of a guard at Jesus’ tomb in Matthew’s gospel is relevant to proving that Jesus body was not stolen, but that He rose from the dead.
     Since Jesus’ tomb had a guard, the dialog between the Jews and first century Christians would have been something like this:

Christians:  Jesus rose.
Jews:  Not so!  His loyal followers stole His body.
Christians:  But Jewish leadership insisted on the guards at the tomb, who would have prevented its theft.
Jews:  True, but the guards fell asleep.
Christians:  The Jewish leaders bribed the guards to say they fell asleep.

     Now if in fact there had been no guards at the tomb, the dialog would have been different:

Christians:  Jesus rose.
Jews:  Not so!  His followers stole his body.
Christians:  The guards would have prevented the theft of Jesus body.
Jews:  There were no guards.

     The Jewish leaders, acknowledged that a guard existed and yet spread the rumor that the disciples stole Jesus’ body.  This would have at least caused some doubt that Jesus rose from the dead.  But the scriptures clearly state that it was the Jewish leadership who (1) personally sealed the tomb, thus certifying that Jesus’ body was in the tomb (Mt 27:66), (2) insisted upon a guard being posted at the tomb (Mt 27:62-66), (3) bribed the guards to say the body was stolen while they slept (Mt 28:11-15).  (4) There is no record of the guards being put to death for dereliction of duty, thus reflecting the collaboration between the Jewish leaders and guards — an attempted cover-up of the resurrection (Matthew 28:11-15).
     The Jewish leadership’s direct involvement in the security of the tomb implicitly prohibit a believable claim that Jesus’ body was stolen.  Is there still more testimony pointing to the credibility of the claim of Jesus’ resurrection of the dead — that we can know for certain?  Did anyone actually see Jesus rise?

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