Richard Carrier

[Undeceived]

Someone coming back from the fucking dead would have been BIG NEWS in a superstitious world such as the first century Roman Empire. The idea that a criminal executed by a Roman magistrate came back to life would have been seen as a repudiation of the emperor and there is no way that could have been hushed up.

Matthew 28:

11 While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

The Roman punishment for letting a prisoner escape was death. It would have been very much in the guards' and the chief priests' interests to "hush up" the resurrection of Jesus. If a man walking around looks and talks exactly like a dead guy you killed, what are you going to do? Deny that it's him. The magistrate will pretend he's witnessed a clever trick, nothing more. If he attempts to arrest Jesus again, he will have admitted that Jesus rose from the dead, thus inviting a Jewish revolt.