I think the account in Matthew implies this answer. The angel seems to roll away the stone as part of a demonstration that the body is gone.Diogenes the Cynic wrote:The only apologetic answer I've seen for this is that the stone was removed not to let Jesus out, but to reveal to the visitors that the tomb was empty. Kind of lame, but there it is.julianmontague wrote:silly question my first ....can someone explain to me why the Pilate sealed stone was moved ? if the biblical account is correct the risen lord would have had no problem walking through stone walls, i believe it states some where in the gospel of john that the risen Jesus entered a locked and sealed room. discounting angelic intervention which is more to do with belief than actual fact one has to assume that the stone was rolled away from out side of the tomb, on whose authority was this allowed? The only logical person to order such a thing would be the roman commander and yet to what purpose, has anyone out there deduced a relationship between this roman and Mary M ? or am i just out of my depth here...
Andrew Criddle