What a curious scripture! Imbedded here in Matthew's account of the resurrection of our Lord is a devilish rumor which the writer says was still making the rounds some 50 years after it was told. In the midst of a beautiful account of the splendor of the resurrection of Jesus we come upon this black blot: the denial of the resurrection of Jesus. Yet on the resurrection of Jesus hangs all the other doctrines of the Christian religion; if it falls, all else we believe tumbles, too. In I Corinthians 15 Paul deals with the possibility or the rumor that Jesus was not raised from the grave, and marches the bitter consequences of such a thought before us: If Christ be not raised, our preaching is empty (14), your faith is misled and empty (14), we are guilty of being false witnesses of God, for we said He did something He didn't do (15), we are all still in our sins, which will destroy us (17), our Christian dead have perished (18), and of all men on earth, we Christians are the most deluded and foolish (19) if Christ is not risen!

Now, this lie, the chief priests' story that the disciples stole the body of Jesus from Joseph of Arimathea's tomb -- is the only alternative to the resurrection put forth at the time by any of Jesus' enemies. Is it true? Was the body stolen from the grave? Would the disciples do such a thing? Would the chief priests -- honorable men -- tell such a lie? Would professional soldiers of Caesar's army take a bribe and tell such a lie? Let us see for ourselves. Let some of those involved tell their story. Listen to Joseph of Arimathea

Joseph of Arimathea: "Looking back these 20 years since that day, I shudder to realize how close I came to letting the Kingdom of God pass me by, as it did so many of my fellow Pharisees. My situation then was quite different than it is now! I am still, as you would say, wealthy, but back then I was a man to be envied; a member of the 70, the Sanhedrin. But when I was asked to serve on the committee to investigate this young teacher named Jesus, my life was changed.

I was there at the start of our investigation, on that day when they tore up the roof of the house in Capernaum and lowered the man down to be healed -- and forgiven. I was there when he fed the multitudes, opened blind eyes, straightened crippled limbs. I thought, back then, that it was simply that I had the time and freedom to devote to the investigation, to follow this man around ... now I know that God was dealing with me. In those days I was still sorting through just who Jesus was. His death forced me to take a public stand for Him. I did not attend the midnight trial of Jesus where they all voted to condemn him; but I spoke against it the next morning when we met at sunrise and voted to take Him to Pilate. I was filled with outrage and shame as I watched Him die, and decided that I should at least be man enough to see that He got a decent burial. I have always felt uneasy when the Brethren praise me for giving my tomb to Jesus. I did it more out of guilt and frustration than for any other reason. So I prepared myself for the insults of the Sanhedrin, and went to Pilate and begged for the body. To put Him in my recently finished tomb was the least I could do.