The tomb shone with a strange, bright light! Standing by were two powerful angels, dressed in shimmering white! Their faces were beaming with radiant smiles, as they waited to serve the risen Christ!

Finishing His simple task, Jesus looked at them, nodded, and stepped through solid rock into the Sabbath afternoon of Jerusalem.

Jesus had stepped back into eternity! He had dematerialized!

Probably, Michael and Gabriel themselves had come to His Resurrection—as the only known archangels besides the fallen Lucifer, now Satan.

Jesus would have instantly begun asking their help in seeing to it the events of the next 50 days took place according to divine plan! First, Jesus would wait until precisely the appropriate instant, and then ask His Father for another shocking earthquake, like an "aftershock" following that of His death, three days and three nights earlier, and roll back that huge stone to let the world look in!

But it had to be done at just the right moment—when there could be no question in anyone's mind about the miraculous nature of the event!

Now, Jesus was back in "that other dimension" again; the spirit world of spiritual essence! Jesus had once again become a Spirit Being with all the divine powers of the universe at His disposal, with a determined smile on His face, which still showed the livid bruises and tears of the terrible beating that He had taken, but now glowed with a translucent hue.

In an instant, from a battered, bruised, torn body, smelling heavily of the mixed spices and ointments that had been used to dress and to wrap His wounds, Jesus became, in the flickering of an eyelash, in an instant, spirit! He and the two angels whisked themselves outside the tomb in their dematerialized state and took a place in the garden nearby, talking animatedly.

Jesus prayed to His Father in Heaven, communicating directly with Him, as He waited for some of the most vitally important events in the fabulously exciting human drama that would he taking place within the next few hours. Instantly, possessing the mind of God Himself, Jesus could transport Himself into the home where the women labored over the spices, back to Herod’s palace, to the high priest's residence, up to Galilee, and anywhere else He wished. Now, He was able once again to overcome the physical laws of gravity, as well as overcome the very elements themselves, not being constrained by any material substance, not even solid stone!

About twelve or thirteen hours passed, during which time Jesus carefully put certain thoughts into the appropriate minds so that all the preparation would be made for collecting His disciples once again in Galilee. All the while Jesus was waiting for those moments in the predawn darkness before that Sunday morning when He would miraculously allow the world to look inside His empty tomb! While the women were toiling their way up the gentle slope, they once again heard a rumbling in the earth, and quickly dropping to all fours, held on to the grasses until the rolling of the earth had subsided. They wound their way along the path, dropping down into the garden, and saw the strangest sight in the world!

Jesus had prayed to His Father, a great angel had come down directly from the throne of God, and accompanied by a great earthquake, the wooden and stone wedges seemed to split and crumble; and with a roar, the great stone had rolled straight back up the hill and toppled over!

The tremendous radiance of the angel was like flashing lightning, like a million strobe lights blindingly exploding all at once. The Roman soldiers were so frightened that their spears fell with a clatter to the stones, and with eyes glazed, they toppled forward on their faces in a dead faint.

It was still very dark when the two women and the others with them got to the garden and looked in amazement mouths open in shock, as they saw the stone rolled back! Frightened, wondering what had happened, they looked into the tomb.

No one!

But looking to the right they saw in a niche in the stone what appeared to be a young man sitting on the right side dressed in a white robe. "How did he get in here?" they wondered, "and who is he?" When he said, "Don't be startled—I know you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He is not here! He has risen, exactly as He said he would!

"Take a look. Here's the place where they laid Him! And now go and tell His disciples and especially Peter that Jesus will go before you into Galilee.

"Remember how when He was still in Galilee with you He told you that the Son of man must be delivered up into the hands of sinners and be crucified, and the third day rise again?

"Well, it is exactly as He said—and He will be in Galilee alive to see you there."

The women fled from the tomb, shaking terribly with astonishment. Not even stooping to check on the Roman soldiers, they hurried out of the garden, up the slight incline, turned to their left, and wound their way along the gentle slope back to the gate of the city of Jerusalem until they found where Peter and some of the other disciples had been hiding.

Mary got to Peter and John and said, "Someone has taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where in the world they have laid the body!" Mary Magdalene was nodding assent. But most of the disciples, having been huddled in great fear, discussing what they were going to do from now on, and waiting for everything to quiet down so they could filter out of town—knowing they probably could not do so until the completion of the eight-day feast, and fervently hoping they would not be discovered in the interim—sim ply refused to believe the words.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Peter started out the door. No matter the risk, he simply had to know!

John, who had already taken a risk in remaining near the brutal scene of the crucifixion itself and having been there at a distance with the mother of Jesus to watch the murder, said, "Hold it, I'm coming, too!"

They hurried to the burial site, with both of them stopping just short of the tomb to look about in amazement at the gaping blackness of the hewn sepulchre, the big stone lying on the ground, and the guards still lying where they had fallen. Peter hesitated, and John ran the few steps, stooped and looked in, seeing the stained and ointment-soaked graveclothes lying on the rock sepulchre. He hesitated, afraid to enter.

Peter brushed by and stepped inside the tomb.

He looked around, seeing the linen clothes and the napkin that had been on Jesus' head rolled up in a place by itself—and, hearing the shuffling of John's feet, looked over his shoulder to see John also enter the tomb.

Suddenly, they believed the women had been right! Someone had come and taken the body away! Who in the world had done it?

Frightened thoughts raced through Peter's mind as he mumbled to John that they had better get out of here: it was bad enough venturing out in public, but surely now the Pharisees and chief priests were going to claim that Peter and the disciples had contrived to "steal the body away" and they themselves would end up crucified on that same hill within a few hours if they didn't hurry!

Peter and John had outdistanced Mary, who, after delivering the story to the frightened disciples, decided to go back to the tomb and see if any of the Romans or anyone else could give her a clue as to where Jesus had been taken.

By the time she got there, Peter and John were nowhere to be seen. A small crowd had gathered, including a man who appeared to be the keeper of the graves, for he was so disfigured.

Mary Magdalene looked into the tomb while she was by herself, and saw, shockingly, two angels in brilliant white, one sitting at the head of the sepulchre and the other at the feet right where Jesus’ body had lain. Amazed, she saw the grave clothes between them and noticed the napkin that had been used to cover His face rolled up and laid on a nearby rock shelf. Tears streaking her face and her sobs quieted by the shocking sight she saw, she heard one of the men say, "Woman, why are you crying?" she answered, with a voice that was shaking with fear and grief, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don't have any idea where they have laid Him."

She backed out of the tomb, turned towards the pleasant garden place where a few other people seemed to be gathering, and found her way partially barred by a terribly disfigured man whom she supposed had to be the keeper of the garden. She knew it was commonplace that hunchbacks, wounded war veterans, those whose faces had been terribly disfigured in battle or through injury would oftentimes be employed as gravediggers, the keepers of tombs and their accompanying gardens, so she was not startled. Thinking he had to be the gardener, she didn't think it strange that he said, "Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?" She looked at him and said, "Sir, if you are the one who has carried him away, please tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."

Jesus said to her, "Mary!"

What was that tone? That familiar timbre of voice? There was something about that one eye—the other seemed to be almost closed with terrible bruises and livid wounds, the lips torn and blue, and the skin pallid.

It was Jesus! Stunned almost to the point of fainting, she said, "Master!"; reaching out a hand, incredulously, thinking, "It can't be! But it is!" She tried to take His hand. Jesus withdrew His hand and said, "No, don't touch me! I have not yet ascended unto my Father—but I want you to go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and to your God."

With that He disappeared. The words were still ringing in Mary's ears as she looked around in dumbfounded amazement and could not see anywhere the figure she had supposed had been the gardener. She noticed several additional Roman soldiers arriving, helping the guards to their feet, taking up positions to guard the entry to the tomb, and a runner being sent back to Pilate's residence.

She hurried up the pathway, went back into the city, and came to the disciples' hideout. She related every word that had been told her—but the disciples looked at her as if she were crazy.

Thomas, especially, shook his head, clicking his tongue, and muttered something about the stress of the last few days being entirely too much for the womenfolk to take. Expressions mixed with sympathy and pity, "There, there, Mary" from Thaddeus and Bartholomew, an embrace and a pat on the head by Simon the Canaanite, but Mary continued to insist that what she had seen and heard was true, while the disciples continued to disbelieve.

About the same time Peter and John were running hurriedly back to where the rest of the disciples were hiding. Also about the same time, some of the Roman guards managed to finally fight their way through the throngs into the city, and arriving at the place where the chief priests could be reached, after a great deal of delay, much clamor, arguments, dust in the air, and explaining over and over again above the hubbub that there was an absolute essential message they had to deliver, a hasty convening of the Sanhedrin was called.

The soldiers were fretting worriedly outside, and after the noises had subsided, the timorous servants said, "'The honorable Sanhedrin is seated, you may come in." The delegation of soldiers removed their metal helmets, held them under their arms, strode forward in cadence, stopped before the assembled group and looked upon them with a combination of fear and disdain.

The leader—the same brawny man who had so raucously gambled over Jesus' clothes, and then thought up the cute trick of grabbing a sponge from a passing housewife's shopping bag, dipping it in vinegar from her purchases, and sprinkling some hyssop from her cleansing materials into it and then pressing it against Jesus' lips; the same one who had jammed his spear into Jesus’ lower side—began relating the entire series of events, heavily colored from his own prejudicial point of view.

He had already forgotten some of his earlier fright. After all, hadn't the sun come out again? Hadn't the world seemingly returned to normal? Wasn't he once again among his own companions, trotting along at double time with his sword clattering against his thigh, his spear at trail, and the familiar weight of his military uniform on his flesh?

It was absolutely essential, he knew, based upon the earlier sealed order he had been given, that he report to this hated, pretentious group of theological puppets, if he were to avoid incurring the immediate displeasure of his highest senior office, Pilate. Therefore, swallowing to keep the bile from rising in his mouth, fighting down a combination of fear over the events of the last several hours and his innate distrust and hostility toward these conniving religious leaders, he tried to relate from his own point of view, the events of the past few hours.

He told his tale of the enormous earthquake, the opening of the sealed order from Herod, suspiciously following Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus and their house servants and the weeping women down to the tomb, seeing to it that the body was thoroughly wrapped and prepared for burial and even to the sealing of the tomb, and his own standing by for a portion of the first watch after the giant stone was sledged into place with heavy mauls, stone and wooden wedges. When he had finished, his voice grew surprisingly contrite.

Had not he been called upon for extra duty? Had not he and his cohorts obeyed every order given them from Pilate, which was to say directly from the Caesar himself? Had they not gone without sleep, presiding over the changing of each guard, personally questioning the outgoing coterie of soldiers, and personally admonishing the incoming group to keep a specially watchful eye because of the huge mob of people in Jerusalem? Hadn't they been especially careful following the massive earthquake which had thrown such terror into the citizens all over the area?

Hadn't he, the officer, rebuked one of his own soldiers who had said that perhaps this was a "son of the gods"?

From that late Wednesday through all of Thursday, Friday and the following Jewish Sabbath these men had stood faithfully, until two or three of them had even fainted in the blazing sun. Requiring resuscitation, they had to be dragged unceremoniously away, their breastplates and helmets banging along the stones, to repose under one of the olive trees in the shade.

Hadn't they gone to every length to call out extra guardsmen?

And still, in spite of all of this—the brawny man now wondering how he would ever explain it rationally—it appeared that these clever followers of Jesus had pulled some strange trick.

The last guard of about the noon-to-four watch of the preceding few hours, in their unsound condition (probably resulting directly from their earlier fright over the grossly exaggerated tales of the extent of the earlier earthquake, and the blackness across the land), upon hearing the faint tremor of the "after-shock" which seemed to rumble across the country on this late Sabbath afternoon, had simply fainted away!

"I cannot excuse them," he may have said, "but I hope you will all understand that these men are not accustomed to living in an earthquake area, and most assuredly have never seen anything so strange as the events of the last several days!"

Having made his speech, he came to the final moments, to the critical words he would have to relate.

Shifting his tasseled Roman helmet from his right elbow to his left, he gulped, straightened his sword, thrust his left leg slightly forward as if in belligerent stance, and began.

"Nevertheless, we have done our duty. Exactly as the great governor Pilate has commanded, we stood watch as best we possibly could. Though I have already given orders to severely discipline the men who so frightfully failed in their task, I can only relate that it was beyond their power to stop the events of the past few hours, and it now appears that the large stone at the entrance of the sepulchre has been rolled away and the body of the one you call Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the 'King of the Jews,' is gone!"

"Oh, no!" the religious leaders thought. "This blithering illiterate Roman jackal is telling us he and his armed men couldn't guard the tomb of a dead man!"

Their minds refused to believe it could have been a "miracle"! They, we're too committed now, too involved. The events of the past three days had so seared their minds they could only take each shocking setback with fierce, determined resolve to "see this thing through" to the bitter end, no matter what the consequences.

Some of them thought the Roman was lying, and accused him of it.

"No sir!" said the officer, "Its no lie! I can provide dozens of witnesses! No force of many, many could have removed that stone!"

Minds working quickly, the leaders wondered how to turn this alarming bit, of news into an advantage. No doubt, His bothersome disciples, especially that blustering swaggering fellow, Peter, who had hacked off big old Malchus’ ear (they conveniently refused to admit into their minds that his ear was pinkly shining from beneath his thick, black hair at this very moment, right over there at the doorway behind the Roman delegation), would come out into the open, probably even claiming Jesus had risen again!

Smart! What a coup! They would have to counteract right now!

Another hurried caucus.

Crowding together, one of their number came forward to the soldier, and calling him slightly aside, told him, "Look! You take these four bags, the larger one is for yourself; the other three are for the two soldiers who were standing the last watch, and the other for your companion here. As you will see, they are heavy with gold, and they represent a very large sum!

"Now we all know that very likely this was a silly trick by some of his own cohorts.

"No doubt the soldiers were unaware when these men snuck up behind them and probably used some magic trick that this strange person from Galilee had taught them in order to overcome them.

"Even though you may not have been there to see it, we all know that what truly has happened is that some of his disciples must have come in some secret manner, stole the body of the man away, and probably hid it somewhere, intending to claim that the, man has been actually resurrected!

"Look, here's the money; let's be consistent with the story. You tell it as I'm telling you to tell it!"

"But, that's not what really happened—" the soldier began. "And besides, I have no authority—"

"Silence!

"Look! Don't worry about getting in trouble with the centurion, or with Pilate himself! We'll take care of that, and get you off the hook.

"You see in the last three days, because of Herod's deference to your Roman governor, arraying this Jesus in robes in showing him that he was willing to patch up his difference, we honestly believe that there will be no difficulty whatsoever if we speak to Pilate ourselves! He is obviously nervous over his own involvement.

"Therefore, take the money. If any of this strange tale of the alleged escape, the way you tell it, reaches Pilate's ears, we will tell him the truth, and you might as well figure how many years you can stay alive aboard a galley!" (Compare with Matthew 28:11-15.)

The Romans bobbed their heads, tucked the money away in their inner garments, and went out and did precisely as they had been told. Their own lives now depended on it!

In the hours and days that followed, these soldiers continued in the bivouacs and the wine shops, along the streets, in the public bazaars, and the court of the temple itself, to repeat the tale as often and as loudly as they possibly could. It was true, they claimed, that a strange magical "trick" had been performed by the disciples of Jesus who had contrived to come and steal the body away—and Jesus had never been "resurrected."

Nevertheless, the Romans continued to affirm that not only had they seen him die, but the one brawny man, displaying the dried blood on the tip of his own spearhead, affirmed that this was "the very spear which took the life of the so-called Jesus of Nazareth who was called the King of the Jews!"

The tale spread quickly enough, and became the stuff of which mythology is born, traveling down through history so that it has survived to this day.