Murals (2008) by PHANTAST - Graffiti - Cultural Music & Art Association inc. - 98 Milne St. Benleigh
Q : Was Jesus' body really absent from his tomb?
A : The enduring symbol of Easter - the vacant tomb of Jesus - was a historical reality.
The empty grave is reported of implied in extremely sources - Mark's gospel and the 1 Chorintians 15 creed - which date so close to the event that they could not possibly have been products of legend.
The fact that the gospels report that women discovered the empty tomb bolsters the story's authenticity.
The site of Jesus' tomb was known to both Christians and Jew alike, so it could have been checked by skeptics.
In fact, nobody, not even the Roman authorities or Jewish leaders, ever claimed that the tomb still contained Jesus' body..
Instead they were forced to invent the absurd story that the disciples, despite having no motive or opportunity, had stolen the body - a theory that not even the most skeptical critics believes today. ( Lee Strobel).