“Jesus didn’t die on the cross. He only passed out because of the severity of His wounds, but a combination of the spices and tomb He was buried in revived Him. He escaped the tomb and then presented Himself to His disciples as having risen from the dead.”

This argument – or a version of it – is often used to explain away the physical resurrection of Jesus but it simply doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. Before granting Jesus’ body to Joseph, Pilate seeks confirmation from the centurion that Jesus is dead.

Pilate did this for a very good reason. We know Jesus was crucified at 9am and by 3pm, He is dead. On average, it took 36 hours for crucified criminals to die. Because Jesus was crucified on a Friday leading into their Sabbath, the Jewish leaders requested that the victims’ legs be broken to speed up the deaths. When they came to break Jesus’ legs, He was already dead.

Hearing of this unusually quick death, Pilate asks the centurion present at the cross to verify the fact. Roman soldiers were witnesses to many crucifixions, and they knew a dead body when they saw one. The centurion confirms Jesus’ death, and Pilate releases the body to Joseph.

And think about this. How could a man suffering from the wounds Jesus had – pierced hands and feet, a gaping hole from the spear thrust in His side – possibly roll away a stone weighing one to two tonnes and then overpower the Roman soldiers guarding the tomb?

It makes no logical sense at all.

Michael Licona, a world leading scholar who studied the death and resurrection of Jesus thoroughly has stated that when it comes to agreement on Jesus being dead, “the scholarly consensus – even among those who are skeptical toward the resurrection – is absolutely overwhelming. To deny the death of Jesus would be to take a marginal position that would get you laughed out of the academic world.”

Jesus was dead – but that would change very soon!

Today’s Bible reading: Mark 15:40-41