Pilate: "You want his body? Why? Never mind -- you're sure he's dead? Didn't even have to break his legs, eh? Well, give the body of this King of the Jews to his subject here! Maybe we'll hear no more of this whole business!"

Joseph of Arimathea: "I gathered up a few tools, a ladder and a hammer, and went to take Jesus down from the cross. The women and the disciple John were still there. One of my fellow Sanhedrin members came, too, a man named Nicodemus; he and I had often talked quietly about the depth of the teaching and magnetic personality of Jesus, and I sent a message to him to join me in this task if he were bold enough. He came bringing about a hundred pounds of spices to wrap within the linen burial strips. My new tomb was only a couple hundred yards away, but it was still a lonely, sorrowful business as we carried the limp body of Jesus to the grave, the women trailing after us. We hurriedly wrapped the body with the spices, laid it on the limestone slab, and managed to roll the heavy wheel of rock in its trench over in front of the door. Then we left. It was all we could do.

The Chief Priests: "Your highness. We dislike very much to disturb you but a matter has come to our attention which demands your wisdom. You will remember the rabble-rouser who was crucified yesterday? Yes, Jesus of Nazareth. What's that? Joseph of Arimathea, you say? No matter. He claimed, while He was yet alive, that He would rise from the grave after three days -- ridiculous, we know -- but could you, would you assign a guard to the grave until the third day is past, just to be sure that this imposter's followers do not steal his body? Surely, to have the city believe he rose from the dead would be a bigger mess than the delusion that he was the Messiah! Thank you, sir, thank you! You'll not regret this!"

And so it was that on Saturday a troop of soldiers came marching into Joseph's garden. They first "sealed" the tomb by stretching a rope across the stone blocking the entrance, then they fastened each end of the rope to the rock wall with clay, and stamped on the moist clay the seal of the procurator of Judea. Tampering would be obvious. Then they sat down to watch, and wait. It was on the next day, the first day of the week, early in the morning, that the chief priests were told a group of soldiers begged to have an audience with them.

Guards: "We are sorry to barge in unexpectedly like this, sir, but somebody needs to know what has happened at the tomb we are guarding -- the tomb of the man crucified three days ago!"

Caiaphas: "Well, speak up, man! What are you talking about? What are you doing here at this hour? Where is the rest of the guard? What happened?"

Guards: "By all the gods of Rome, I never saw anything like it, sir. And I shall tell you everything -- everything just as it happened. About an hour and a half ago, just before dawn, there was the earthquake -- surely you felt it here? Then an angel appeared; it was as if we were not there -- he paid us no attention. Rolling the stone away was but a moment's task, and then he sat down on it -- as if waiting for something to happen! But sir -- and I swear I speak the truth -- my senses left me, and I lay there as one dead, as did the others. When we awoke, we saw no angel but the tomb was empty. We looked inside, and there were only the graveclothes, neatly folded and laid aside. I speak the truth, by all the gods! That man left that tomb!"