the resurrection was made deliberately hard to believe in order to separate the goats from the sheep
Why would he want to separate the ‘goats from the sheep’? I thought he loved all of mankind. WHy not make it easy to believe and convert more people?
i have to respectfully disagree. the stone was rolled away, not so that Jesus could get out of the tomb but so that all could go in and see that he was no longer there. Jesus appeared to the women at the tomb, and then to other followers, then to the disciples, and then to more than 500 people at one time to prove that He was and is indeed risen. the sheep and the goats will ultimately be separated by their lack of faith and the lack of any fruit of that faith -- not because the resurrection was so hard to believe but simply because they rejected the free gift of Grace from God.