Where Did Jesus Die? — Page 42
? 42 alive when buried he must soon have been suffocated; it must be pointed out that the sepulchre was a rock-hewn chamber of considerable size, the entrance closed by a circular slab of stone, like a huge grind-stone, rolling in a grove in front of the opening, and not likely to hermeti- cally seal the chamber. But it is quite consistent with the accounts that he revived under the treatment of Joseph and Nicodemus the first night… (p. 21) Dr. Sparrow Simpson goes too far when he says (p. 47) [in The Resurrection and Modern Thought ]: ‘Believing, as we do, that all the evidence concurs in declaring that the grave was vacant, the interpretation of the fact must be ultimately one of two things: either this was a human work, or else it was the work of God. Either human hands removed the corpse or the Almighty raised the dead. That is exactly the question. ’ I venture to sub- mit that is not the question. What if the supposed corpse was not really dead, and revived? I confidently submit that this interpretation of the vacant grave is ample and satis- factory. It postulates neither fraud nor miracle. (p. 25) Going back to the discovery of returning animation, as suggested above, what might we reasonably conjecture would be the course of events? Before the revived Jesus could be removed from the tomb some clothing must be procured. If the gardener was assisting in the burial arrangements would it not be natural for him to run to his cottage, probably situated in the garden or near at hand, for his holiday garment to supply the need? If he was not of the party, still the gardener’s cottage would be the most