The answers here seem too complicated. A much simpler answer, one that fits all the "facts" and leaves none left over or left out, is this:
1. Jesus was arrested during the night of the Passover, a holy day. The complainants included the officials of the Temple and the aggrieved merchants damaged by Jesus' attacks.
2. Tried speedily by the Romans and condemned, he was crucified the next morning, during the holy day.
3. After he was dead Jewish law required removal from the cross, lest the "hanged" one be accursed by remaining overnight. And the Sabbath was approaching.
4. His body was requested by a member of the Jewish community, or perhaps removal and interment was common practice for low-level criminals.
5. If required, the request was granted. This means the crime was not sedition, for which removal would not have been permitted: examples needed to be set, the body was to be food for the crows.
6. The day before having been a day of preparation for the Passover (getting rid of leavened stuff, etc.), no graves would have been dug. The holy day, no graves would have been dug. It's plausible that no vacant grave was available, since the execution would not have been on the calendar.
7. The body was placed temporarily in an empty tomb to get past the Sabbath and comply with Jewish law on burial.
8. Very early Sunday morning, after both the Sabbath and the holy day, the body was removed and buried in a fresh-dug grave. If anyone were to have come to the tomb, it would have been empty, and the whereabouts of the corpse (of an indigent executed as a low criminal) perhaps not easily learned.
9. The mourning followers needed an explanation of how their beloved leader could have ended this way, and a cover story was begun.
1. Jesus was arrested during the night of the Passover, a holy day. The complainants included the officials of the Temple and the aggrieved merchants damaged by Jesus' attacks.
2. Tried speedily by the Romans and condemned, he was crucified the next morning, during the holy day.
3. After he was dead Jewish law required removal from the cross, lest the "hanged" one be accursed by remaining overnight. And the Sabbath was approaching.
4. His body was requested by a member of the Jewish community, or perhaps removal and interment was common practice for low-level criminals.
5. If required, the request was granted. This means the crime was not sedition, for which removal would not have been permitted: examples needed to be set, the body was to be food for the crows.
6. The day before having been a day of preparation for the Passover (getting rid of leavened stuff, etc.), no graves would have been dug. The holy day, no graves would have been dug. It's plausible that no vacant grave was available, since the execution would not have been on the calendar.
7. The body was placed temporarily in an empty tomb to get past the Sabbath and comply with Jewish law on burial.
8. Very early Sunday morning, after both the Sabbath and the holy day, the body was removed and buried in a fresh-dug grave. If anyone were to have come to the tomb, it would have been empty, and the whereabouts of the corpse (of an indigent executed as a low criminal) perhaps not easily learned.
9. The mourning followers needed an explanation of how their beloved leader could have ended this way, and a cover story was begun.
