“We knew it! I told John to hasten to Bethany, to the house of Martha and Mary, for I was certain the others were hiding there and would be overjoyed with the news that our precious Lord had done that which he had prophesied. I also told John to warn the others to say nothing to any man for fear that the authorities would claim that we had removed the body and cause us more trouble. Then I returned to my sister’s house.”

“Peter, when you first entered the tomb did you notice a great supply of spices and herbs on the floor of the tomb?”

“No, only their odor filled the place.”

I turned to Joseph, who was scowling at me as if my last question had offended him. “You and Nicodemus prepared the body for burial. You used the prescribed amount of myrrh and aloe?”

“Of course we did, Matthias,” the old man replied testily. “More than the prescribed amount, all placed with care between the folds of the long sheet as we wrapped the body.”

“You were not hurried because of the approaching Sabbath, commencing at sundown?”

“We were hurried, but there was sufficient time to prepare the body according to the Law. Why do you ask?”

“I was wondering why, if anyone stole the body of Jesus from the tomb, they would go to all the trouble of unwinding the yards of linen from his body, carefully remove all the spices that were packed between each layer so that they did not fall to the floor, remove the napkin from his face, and carry a naked body from the tomb? Then, having done all that, why would they carefully rewind the sheet, replace it on the shelf after inserting all the spices in its folds again, put the napkin back where his head had rested, and leave without rolling the stone back across the opening to hide their crime? Why didn’t they just roll the stone away, take his body—grave cloth, spices, and all—roll the stone back to conceal their theft, and be gone? Seems much more logical, doesn’t it? As you describe the scene at the tomb, Peter, it’s exactly as one would leave it in order to fool the public into believing that Jesus had risen from the dead.”

Peter fell back in his chair as if I had struck him. He stared at me glassy-eyed, looking more betrayed and disappointed than angry, “I have told you nothing but the truth—and you respond with rumors that still will not die because they are fed constantly by the vipers of this city! Historian of great integrity and talent you may be, Matthias, but you remain blind to the truth where it concerns Jesus!”