Jews and other critics of Christianity in AD 30 Jerusalem never visually demonstrated that Jesus's body was still in its tomb.
• The belief that “he's alive” flourished in Jerusalem.
• They publicly granted that the body was gone.
• They weren't arguing “we showed the corpse.”
But so what? Couldn't it simply be that…
• …they didn't/wouldn't try to show it?”1
• …they couldn't locate Jesus's grave?”2
• …they couldn't prove the (decomposed) corpse was Jesus's?3
Mary visited Jesus's tomb and found that it was empty.
• The Apostles etc. said she did
• The Gospel of Mark's author said she did
• The originator of the “Mary saw it” report wasn't lying
The AD 30 Jerusalem Church's official position was “Yes, Jesus's body is gone from its tomb.
• They agreed with Peter
• Mk 15's “buried” anticipated “body gone!”
• The reported accurately
• Jews countered empty tomb apologetics
“But so what? Plausibly…
• …they were intentionally lying?” (for example, to say “this proves He rose!”)
• …they were accidentally perpetuating a lie that they had fallen for?”
• …they were accidentally perpetuating Mary's wrong-tomb blunder?”
In AD 30, the public stance of the Jerusalem Jews was that, “Yes, Jesus's body is gone from its tomb”, crying “theft!”.
• Matthew 28 says they did
• Those Jews were saying it in AD 70
But so what? Plausibly…
• …it was a lie, to counter claims that “Jesus's empty tomb proves He rose”?2
• …they erroneously believed Jesus's body was gone?3
Whoever started the claim that “Jesus's body is gone from it's tomb” was not telling a apologetics-motivated lie.
• …“missing body” evidence wasn't appealing
• …the lie was overtly falsifiable
• …clearly better lies were available
But so what? Perhaps it was Mary; she mistook an empty tomb for Jesus's?
Jesus's body was gone from wherever it was originally placed. [Full article.] This is relevant because Jesus's body was placed _in a tomb, and together these facts entail that Jesus's body was gone from its tomb.
Christians in AD 30 [were not saying that Jesus's body was gone from its tomb. [Full article.] This is relevant because Christians would have known if Jesus's tomb was empty, and they would have reported it.
After being crucified, Jesus's body was in fact not transferred to a tomb. [Full article.]
• …Jesus's corpse was left on the cross
• …Jesus's corpse was placed in a trench.
• …Jesus corpse was thrown into a communal pit.