There have been many theories floating around about the resurrection of our Lord. One was the swoon theory that Jesus just fainted on the Cross and was mistakenly placed in the tomb, then revived and was snuck away. The most common theory at the time of the crucifixion was the conspiracy theory. The Jews spread the rumor that Christ’s disciples stole his body and made up the story of the resurrection. e read of that in Matthew 28:11–15 (ESV),
“11 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.”
John’s Gospel seems to be seeking to refute the impossibility of that. Our Scripture text is
