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Mark 16:3
ESV And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?"
NIV and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?"
NASB They were saying to one another, 'Who will roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb for us?'
CSB They were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us?"
NLT On the way they were asking each other, 'Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?'
KJV And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?
NKJV And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?”

What does Mark 16:3 mean?

After Joseph placed the stone at the entrance to the tomb, the chief priests and Pharisees went to Pilate to ask him to seal the entrance (Matthew 27:62–66). They remembered that Jesus had said He would rise again, and they didn't want the disciples to steal His body and claim He had resurrected. Interestingly, the Sadducees, who don't believe in the resurrection of the dead, didn't come along. They apparently didn't think it was an issue.

A cord would have been placed where the stone meets the rockface, and wax poured over the seam. No one would have been able to move the stone without breaking the wax. Pilate also ordered that the tomb be guarded. It's unclear if the women know Pilate took this extra precaution. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses had watched Joseph place the stone (Mark 15:46–47), but Pilate didn't secure it until the next day. Still, they prepare the spices (Luke 23:56) and return to the tomb in a mixture of faith and doubt. This is the calling of Christ-followers. We do what we are called to do, even if we're not sure how we will get it done.

It was custom in Israel to bury the dead in a stone cave for one year. Spices were tucked into the linen cloths wrapping the body to mitigate the smell. After a year, the bones would be removed and placed somewhere more permanent, often a stone box, called an ossuary, in a family crypt.

In 1980, construction workers discovered a family tomb three miles south of the Old City in East Jerusalem. Among the ossuaries was one that possibly reads "Joshua, son of Joseph." The names Joshua and Jesus are the same in original Hebrew: Yeshua. Another discovered box was attributed to "Mary." Makers of the documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus insist Jesus, His mother, and Mary Magdalene's remains are in the ossuaries. Experts point out that Josephus alone speaks of at least twenty-one men named "Yeshua" and 20–25% of all women were named "Mary." None of those names were rare, so there is no reason to think this was the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth.
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