WHO MOVED THE STONE
or who ROLLED away the stone? (Mark 16.3) is a question which has worried theologians for
the past two thousand years. Mr Frank Morison, a prominent Bible scholar, tried to nail
down this ghost(s) in a book bearing the same title as this tract. Between 1930 and 1975
his book has gone through ELEVEN editions. Through all his 192 pages of conjectures he
failed to answer ,"WHO MOVED THE STONE?" (Faber and Faber, London).
On page 89 of his book, he writes, "We are left, therefore, with the problem of the
vacant tomb unsolved" and proceeds to advance SIX hypotheses, very nearly knocking
the proverbial
nail on the head with his FIRST supposition, i.e. "THAT JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA SECRETLY
REMOVED THE BODY TO A MORE SUITABLE RESTING PLACE". After confessing that this
Joseph "might himself have removed it for private reasons to another place, is
one which seems to carry considerable weight" (italics mine), he hurriedly
disposes this hypothesis on
the flimsiest ground.
As you read on, dear reader, I trust that you as well as Mr. Morison will have a
satisfactory answer to this problem.
Let us begin at the beginning of this problem. It was Sunday morning, according to the
Bible, the first day of the week, when Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus (John
20:1). The first
question that bedevils the mind is:-
01: WHY DID SHE GO TO THE TOMB?
Ans: The Gospel writers say that she went to "anoint"
him. The Hebrew word for anoint is "masaha", which means - 'to rub', 'to
massage', 'to anoint'. The word and its meaning are the same in the Arabic language also.
From this root word "masaha" we get the Arabic word "MASEEH" and the
Hebrew "MESSIAH" both meaning the same thing - "the anointed one"
which is translated into Greek as "Christos" from which we derive the word
Christ.
02: DO JEWS MASSAGE DEAD BODIES AFTER THREE DAYS?
Ans: "No!"
03: DO MUSLIMS MASSAGE DEAD BODIES AFTER THREE DAYS?
Ans: "No!"
04: DO CHRISTIANS MASSAGE DEAD BODIES AFTER THREE DAYS?
Ans: "No!"
It is common knowledge that within three hours after death, rigor moitis sets in - the
breaking up of the body cells - the hardening of the body. In three days the corpse starts
rotting from within. If we massage such a rotting body, it will fall to pieces.
05: DOES IT MAKE SENSE THAT MARY MAGDALENE WANTS TO MASSAGE A ROTTING DEAD BODY
AFTER THREE DAYS?
Ans: It makes no sense, unless we confess that she was looking for a
L-I-V-E Jesus, not a dead one. You will recognise this fact for yourself on analysing her
reactions towards Jesus when she eventually saw through his disguise. You see, she had
seen signs of life in that limp body when it was taken down from the cross. She was about
the only woman beside Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus who had given the final (?) rites
to
the body of Jesus. This man NICODEMUS somehow, has been deliberately blotted out by the
synoptists. The Gospel writers of Matthew Mark and Luke are totally ignorant of this
devoted and self-sacrificing disciple of Jesus. His name is NOT even mentioned in the
first three Gospels in ANY context. "It is difficult to avoid concluding that the
omission in the synoptic tradition of the mysterious disciple was intentional", says
Dr Hugh J Schonfield, one of the world's leading Biblical scholars.
When Mary of Magdala reached the tomb, she found that the stone had already been rolled
away, and the winding sheets bundled on the ledge within the sepulchre. The question now
arises:
06: WHY WAS THE STONE REMOVED, AND WHY WERE THE WINDING SHEETS
FOUND UNWOUND?
Ans: Because it would be impossible for any tangible material body to
come out with the stone blocking the opening, and the same physical body could not walk
out with the winding sheets encasing the body. For a resurrected body, it would have been
unnecessary to remove the stone or to unwind the winding sheets. Probably having the
resurrected, immortalised body, or the spirit of man in mind, a poet said: "STONE
WALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE, NOR IRON BARS A CAGE".
While the poor, dejected Mary was investigating the sepulchre, Jesus was watching her from
the vicinity. Not from heaven, but from terra firma, from mother earth. We must remember
that this tomb was a privately owned property belonging to his "secret disciple"
Joseph of Ad mathea - who was a very rich, influential Jew, and one who could afford to
have carved a big roomy chamber, out of a rock which according to Jim Bishop (a Christian
scholar of note) was 5 feet wide by 7 feet high by 15 feet deep with a ledge or ledges
inside Around this tomb was this "secret disciple's" own vegetable garden. It is
hardly expected of any Jew or Gentile to grow vegetables 5 miles out of town for
other peoples' sheep and goats to graze upon' Surely, this husbandman must have provided
his labourers with the gardeners' quarters to protect his own interests, and perhaps he
also had his
'country home' around the place where he could relax with his family during the weekends.
Jesus was watching his lady disciple out of whom
he had cast out seven devils. He comes up to her. He finds her crying. He questions her
"Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest
thou?" (John 20:15).
07: DOSEN'T HE KNOW? WHY DOES HE ASK SUCH A SEEMINGLY SILLY
QUESTION?
Ans: He knew why she was crying, and he knew who she was looking for and
he was not asking any silly questions. Actually, he was pulling her leg, figuratively of
course! He knew that she was looking for him in the tomb, and not finding him there, was
crying in her disappointment. He also knew that she would not be able to see through his
disguise. Though he had been through an
ordeal, he still had that sense of humour to ask her, "Woman, why weepest thou? Whom
seekest thou? "SHE SUPPOSING HIM TO BE THE GARDENER, SAITH UNTO HIM" (John
20:15).
08: WHY DID SHE THINK THAT HE (JESUS) WAS A GARDENER? DO
RESURRECTED BODIES LOOK LIKE GARDENERS?
Ans: Can you imagine the scene on the RESURRECTION DAY, that you, dear reader, will be
made to look like a "gardener" and your father-in-law will also be transformed
into a"gardener" and your son-in-law will also be made to look like
a"gardener" and your beloved wife will be left in confusion to find her husband!
Does this make sense? No! The resurrected body will be you.
yourself! Everyone will readily recognise you. It will be the REAL you and not your
camouflage. Never mind at what age or under what condition one dies, everyone will know
one another. Then
why did Mary think that Jesus was a "gardener"?
Ans: Because Jesus was DISGUISED as a gardener.
09: WHY WAS HE DISGUISED AS A GARDENER?
Ans: Because he was AFRAID of the Jews.
010: WHY WAS HE AFRAID OF THE JEWS?
Ans: Because he had not DIED and was not RESURRECTED. If he had DIED and
if he was RESURRECTED, he would not have any reason to be AFRAID. Why? Because the
resurrected body can't DIE twice. Who says so? The Bible says so:"... it is ordained
unto all men ONCE to die, and after that the judgement." -(Hebrew 9:27). The idea
that the resurrected per-
son cannot die TWICE is further supported by what Jesus Christ had most authoritatively
pronounced regarding the resurrection.
The learned men of the Jews came to Jesus with a poser, a riddle. They said that
there was a woman who had seven husbands in turn. "In the resurrection therefore
whose wife shall she be of the seven? For they all had her." (Matthew 22:28). Jesus
could have brushed off the Jews with some curt retort because here was another of their
tricks to catch him out. Instead, he has enshrined for us the clearest statement in the
Bi-
ble regarding the resurrected soul. He said, "Neither shall they die any more, for
they are equal unto the angels, and the children of God, for such are the children of the
resurrection" (Luke 20:36).
"NEITHER SHALL THEY DIE ANYMORE" - that they will be
immortalised (For further enlightenment on this aspect please
read RESURRECTlON OR RESUSCITATION?). They will not be subjected to death a
SECOND time. No more hunger and thirst. No more fatigue or physical
dangers. Because the resurrected body will be angelised' - spiritualised - they will
become like spirit creatures, they will become SPIRITS.
Mary Magdalene was not looking for a spirit. She, taking the disguised Jesus to be a
gardener, says, "Sir, if you have taken HIM hence, tell me where have you LAID
him..." (John 20:15). Note, she is searching for HIM and not IT - a dead body.
Further, she wants to know as to where they had LAID him, not as to
where they had BURIED him? So that, "I might take HIM away." (John 20:15).
011: WHAT DOES SHE WANT TO DO WITH A DECOMPOSING CORPSE?
Ans: She wants to put it under her bed? Absurd! She wants to embalm him?
Nonsense! She wants to bury him? If so, who dug the grave? No! No! 'she wants to take him
away'.
012: HOW CAN SHE ALONE CARRY A DEAD BODY?
Ans: She is not thinking of a dead, rotting corpse. She is looking for the L-I-V-E Jesus.
She is not a "super-woman" of the American comics, who could with ease carry a
corpse of at least a hundred and sixty pounds, wrapped with another 'hundred pounds weight
of aloes and myrrh' (John 19:39) making a neat bundle of 260 pounds. This frail Jewess was
not expected to
carry this decaying parcel like a bundle of straws. Even if she could carry it, how was
she to bury it ALONE? She might have had to dump it in some hole like a heap of rubbish.
But dumping
and burying are poles apart. She was looking for a Jesus who was very much alive, a Jesus
she could hold by the hand
and take him home for rest, relaxation and recuperation, "so that, I might take him
away".
The joke that Jesus was playing on this woman had gone too far. During the whole course of
the dialogue between Mary and Jesus,
she did not suspect in the least that she was actually talking to her Master. She had
failed to see through the gardener's DISGUISE. Jesus must have been laughing under his
breath. He could suppress it no longer. "M.A.R.Y!" he uttered. Only one word,
but it was enough. This one word "Mary!" did, all that the exchange of words
failed to do. It enabled Mary to recognise Jesus. Everyone has his own unique' and
peculiar way
of calling his or her near one or dear one. It was not the mere sound of the name, but the
way he must have deliberately intoned it that made Mary to respond - "Master!,
Master!" She lunged forward to grab her spiritual master, to pay her respects and to
give reverence.
The Muslims, when they meet their learned men,
or respected elders or saintly people, hold such person's right hand in the palm of their
own hands and fondly kiss the back of the respected one's hand. The Frenchman kisses the
cheeks to show respect and the Arab kisses the neck. Mary the Jewess would have done what
any Muslim might have done under similar circumstances.
When Mary makes the effort, Jesus shies back a step or two, saying, "TOUCH me
not," (John 20:17).
013:1 SAY - WHY NOT?
Is he a current of electricity or a dynamo, that if she touches him, she will get
electrocuted?
Ans: No! Don't touch me, because it will hurt.
Though he had given no indication of any
physical pain or injury he might have suffered, it would be excruciatingly painful if he
now allowed her to touch him with love and affection. Can another reason be advanced for
this "Touch me not"? Jesus continues, "For I am not yet ASCENDED unto my
Father:" (John 20:17).
014: IS SHE BLIND?
Could she not see that the man she was talking to all the time was standing before
her? Does it make any sense when he (Jesus) says that -'HE IS NOT GONE UP', when he is
DOWN right here.
Ans: What Jesus is telling Mary in so many different words is that 'HE
IS NOT RESURRECTED FROM THE DEAD', for in the colloquial language and idiom of the Jew,
the expression, "For I am not yet ASCENDED unto my Father" means - "I AM
NOT DEAD YET'.
It is a sad fact of history that though the Christian Bible is an Eastern Book,
full of eastern metaphors and similes, like - "Let the dead bury their dead"
(Matthew 8:22) or "Seeing they
see not and hearing they hear not" (Matthew 13:13), all the commentators of the Bible
have come from the West. The Western World is made to see a Jewish Book, written by the
Jews for a Jewish audience, through Greek and Western glasses. An Eastern book ought to be
read as an Easterner would read and understand it. All the problems would then be solved.
The difficulty lies not only in apprehending the correct meaning of the Jewish
expressions, but Christendom is so programmed that Christians of every race and language
group are made to understand the passages differently or opposite to their literal
connotations. I will give examples of this anomaly in Lesson No. 3 under the heading
"RESURRECTION OR RESUSCITATION?" In that booklet, I will also endeavour to
answer the problem as to why one woman - Mary Magdalene - was not AFRAID when she
recognised the DISGUISED Jesus yet ten brave men (the Disciples of Jesus) were PETRIFIED
on recognising their Master in that 'upper.room', after his alleged passion.
SIMPLE ANSWER
As to the original question of this pamphlet - "WHO MOVED THE STONE?" the
answer is so simple and so natural that one is at a loss to understand how this problem
has eluded Christian scholars of the highest eminence.
The answer to the question, "WHO ROLLED THE STONE INTO PLACE?" is the answer to
the title of this tract. and HE (Joseph of Arimathea) rolled a stone against the door of
the tomb" (Mark 15:46). St. Mark is here supported word by word by St. Matthew who in
Chapter 27 and verses 60 states that HE (Joseph of Arimathea) rolled a great stone to the
door of the tomb and departed". If this ONE man alone could move the stone into place
as witnessed by Matthew and Mark, then let me be more generous in adding the name of the
other faithful 'secret disciple' - NICODEMUS. It was JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA and NICODEMUS,
the two stalwarts who did not leave the Master in the lurch when he was most in need.
These two had given to Jesus a Jewish burial (?) bath, and wound the sheets with the
"aloes and myrrh", and temporarily moved the stone into place, if at all; they
were the same two real friends who REMOVED THE STONE, and took their shocked Master soon
after dark, that same Friday night to a more congenial place in the immediate vicinity for
treatment. Reasoning even on the Biblical narration, Jesus was A-L-I-V-E! He had escaped
death by the skin of his teeth, as he himself had fortold. Write for your FREE copy of
"WHAT WAS THE SIGN OF JONAH?", as well as for a
detailed account of the alleged "crucifixon", under the heading, "CHRIST
CRUCIFIED -Hoax or History?" Those of you who have
already mastered Lesson No.1 from the booklet "WHAT WAS THE SLGN OF JONAH?" will
now do well to memorise the following verses for your Lesson No.2.
"Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him
to be the gardener, saith unto him. Sir, if thou hast taken him hence, tell me where thou
hast
laid him, and I will take him away.
"Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him. Rabboni,
which is to say, Master.
"Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my father:
..." John 20:15-17
APPENDIX
The Muslim reader of this and other allied tracts may be tempted to ask, "Do
we Muslims need to use the Bible to get at the Truth of God?"
The answer is an emphatic NO! The Muslim position is very clear:
1) Sin is not inherited.
2) The "Trinity" is a fabrication.
3) Jesus is not God.
4) God does not beget sons or daughters.
5) Christ was neither killed nor crucified.
These doctrines are expounded in the most
unambigious terms in the Holy Qur'an. Why, then, must the Muslim adduce the Christian
Scriptures to prove his point of view? This is because we are dealing with a mind which
has been programmed from childhood to accept dogmas without reasoning. Today, the
Christian is groping for the Truth. He is asking questions which he did not dare to ask a
few centuries ago. Questions like:-
a) IS JESUS GOD?
b) WHAT WAS THE SIGN OF JONAH?
c) IS THE BIBLE GOD'S WORD?
d) WHO MOVED THE STONE?
e) WAS JESUS CHRIST AN IMPOSTER? (A Christian
Magazine "Plain Truth" - April '77),
etc., etc.
It is the duty of the Muslim to help his Christian brethren, "The AhIe-Kitab",
i.e. "THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK" - as they are respectfully addressed in the pages
of the Holy Qur'an, in freeing them from the shackles that bind their thinking for the
past two thousand years. It instructs us:
110. Ye are the best Of Peoples, evolved For mankind, Enjoining what is
right, Forbidding what is wrong, And believing in God, If only the People of the Book Had
faith, it were best For them: among them Are some who have faith, But most of them
Are perverted transgressors. Holy Quran 3:110
In this treatise and others, we have used the Christians' own book of authority, the BIBLE
and his own logic, to refute his claims. This is the system which AIIah (Allah: The
proper noun for God Almighty in the Semitic languages.) Subha nahu Wa
Ta'aala uses when reasoning with His creatures. The Holy Our'an commands the Muslim to
demand from the Jews and the Christians their
authority for their fanciful claims that "SALVATION" is exclusively their right
It says: "Produce your proof if ye are truthful." Holy Our'an 2:111
The Christian has already reproduced the Bible in over a thousand languages and broadcasts
it to the four corners of the globe, terrifying the nations of the world to accept the
"BLOOD OF
THE LAMB", that Christ died for the sins of mankind, that he (Jesus) is the only
saviour. All this is against the clear evidence of his own Holy Book.
We must free him (the Christian) from his illusions, and there is no better way than to
use his own evidence, his own logic, to refute his claims. |
