We can be certain of NO resurrection - A Response

[Aractus]

Here are the problems. Firstly we know nothing about the man who took the body in the first place and who owned the tomb: Joseph of Arimathea.

Actually, we do know a few things:

1. 1. he was a wealthy man (cf. Mt 27:57)
   
2. 2. he was a member of the Jewish ruling council (Mk 15:43)
   
3. 3. he was a secret disciple of Jesus (cf. Mt 27:57, Jn 19:38)
   
4. 4. he asked Pilate for the body of Jesus (cf. Mt 27:58)
   
5. 5. he buried Jesus by wrapping Jesus’ body in a linen cloth, placing it in his own tomb (caved out of rock) and rolling a stone over the entrance. (Mt 27:59-60)
   

Randy, we don't know anything about him. He may not have been wealthy at all - all we know is that he owned or possessed a wealthy man's tomb. And that according to the gospels the body of Jesus was put in his tomb. As far as we know, none of the four gospel writers knew him personally so the information they provide about him is hearsay - that is we can't take it very seriously without external corroborating evidence, which we don't have. James, Jude, Paul all say nothing about him.

It could simply be that Joseph had the body taken out of his tomb and put elsewhere – in an ossuary, or in a grave, or maybe he had the body embalmed, or perhaps even cremated.

Since Pilate knew that JoA had asked for the body, doesn’t it seem likely that once the disciples began to claim that Jesus was raised from the dead, Joseph, a member of the ruling council, would have been the FIRST person that the Jews and the Romans would have wanted to interrogate? Joseph was a disciple, but what reason would he have had to hide the body from the authorities or to lie about how he disposed of it? The Jews believed in the coming of a messiah—but not one that would be hanged on a tree.

The gospels say that he was a secret follower of Jesus, as you pointed out. He never has any interaction with the disciples - so we can presume they don't know about him. We can also assume they may have asked the family of Jesus where he was laid instead, and been given inaccurate, incomplete, or incompetent information about the location of the tomb.

No one's saying that Joseph "hid" the body - it could have been taken out and laid elsewhere by the family. Depending on the size of Jesus's family (we know about Mary, Joseph, James, Judas, Simeon, and Joseph jr) the disciples may have asked the wrong family member for the location, and that person may not have known that the body was to be moved first thing on Sunday evening (immediately after the sun has set on the Sabbath).

But since you mentioned it maybe the family didn't want the disciples to know where the body went after that and kept it secret from them intentionally. After all Jesus had just been killed by the Romans as a result of his preachings.

I presume you meant Saturday evening (after the Sabbath had ended). If Joseph did give the body to Jesus’ family or hide the body from the authorities, then there is the question of whether a conspiracy of such magnitude could be maintained. This is unlikely.

The Hebrew day begins with the evening. Even in Genesis 1 this is the case "... and there was evening and there was morning, the Nth day". Evening always comes first. Even in your next sentence you acknowledge this by saying the Sabbath begins at sunset ...

There is no account of “jewellery (sic) or other valuables” being placed in the tomb. Jesus was buried in haste because the Sabbath was approaching quickly at sunset.

That doesn't mean there wasn't any valuables. All it means is we don't know.

But assuming that the grave robber was unaware of this, how would the robber have slipped past this Roman guard, moved the stone without waking any of them (assuming they were caught napping), and robbed the grave undetected?

I don't know, but perhaps there wasn't a Roman guard and that's just a detail that was embellished into the tale by the time it got written down in the gospels.

Further, if the robber was aware of the fact that someone had been buried in the “wealthy person’s tomb”, would they not also have known that the body belonged to a man crucified that very day? And how much wealth would be expected from a crucified criminal?

Well we don't know how wealthy Jesus's family was. Jesus lead a modest life when he was preaching - however that tells us nothing about his family's potential wealth. He was of David's lineage and Joseph was a builder in a location that at the time was experiencing growth - there would have been plenty of work, he would have been well paid. Assuming that James, Joseph (jr), Simeon, and Judas were also builders the family could be very well off.

The fact that Jesus has detailed knowledge of the scripture and has studied it suggests that he was taught and mentored by a Rabbi, and that was not cheap. The fact that the family could afford this tuition for Jesus also suggests they were quite well off.