And on the first [day] of the week Mary of Magdala comes in early morn to the tomb, while it was still dark, and sees the stone taken away from the tomb.
John opens his resurrection account with one woman walking to a grave before sunrise. She finds the stone moved. Three questions follow: why John names Mary alone, what the darkness means, and why he marks out this day.
Other women came to the tomb that morning, yet John names Mary Magdalene alone. One writer ties her prominence to what the Lord values most.
In the past, demon possession had held Mary in its power. But the Lord set her free from this terrible condition. Her heart was attached to the One who had freed her. So she went with the Lord, along with some other women, waiting on Him in devoted service. Yet it seems her love went beyond theirs, and that is what brings her into prominence in this beautiful scene. We learn from this that Christ values affection for Himself above everything else. In His esteem love comes before service.
Love, not understanding, carried her out before dawn.
Mary had no thought of the Lord's resurrection, for it seems that not one of the disciples looked for His rising again. Love drew her irresistibly to the spot where she had seen the body of the Lord laid in the tomb. She found no rest in a world from which Christ was absent.
The darkness here is more than a note about the hour.
The light of the new day shines on us, and we walk in it. But for Mary Magdalene "it was still dark." Sight controlled her, as it did all the disciples, not faith. Nothing lifted the darkness in which they mourned and wept. She concluded that someone had been there before her — and who could it be but an enemy? It was not an enemy, it was the Father.
An open tomb proved nothing to her. She read it as robbery.
No one can point to spiritual understanding in Mary of Magdala. But she clung in deep affection to the Lord's Person, and He did not forget it. She was the first, as we shall see, to have joy in Him, and He puts honour on her. Yet what could be less worthy of Christ than her hasty conclusion from the empty tomb! She can think of Him only as under the power of death. His assurance of resurrection had left no trace, as if written on barren sand… Still, her heart was true to Him.
Her instinct about whom to tell is worth noticing, since Peter had recently denied the Lord.
"Then she runs, and comes to Simon Peter." Love made her feet swift that day. And to whom does she run? Simon Peter. Why? … She knew the emptiness in her own heart, and she knew also what had happened with Peter, and it made her feel — here is one at least who will understand, if the rest do not.
John names the day before anything else happens. Commentators tie it to what the empty grave began.
Christ lay in the grave that Sabbath. But now He is risen — risen the first day of the week, the firstfruits of those who slept… So we do not celebrate the rest of the old creation, since we were completely lost as part of it. We celebrate the resurrection of our blessed Lord. It is the foundation and beginning of the new creation, when redemption is accomplished… We learn that the disciples came together the first day of the week to break bread.
Commentators differ on how this visit fits with the other Gospels. Some hold that Matthew records an earlier visit, at the close of the Sabbath.
She had been there before, though not alone, after the Sabbath had closed. It was growing dark toward the first day of the week — not "dawning," though the word can mean either. This is the true meaning of Matthew 28.
Others see no need to split the visits. They read the rolled-back stone as a public announcement, not an exit.
Some would separate an evening visit of the women to the tomb from a morning one, when the angel speaks to them. The words themselves do not require this, and it does not fit the account as a whole. The stone had already been rolled away by the time they got near enough to see. So the resurrection had already taken place… He was risen. The opening of the tomb announced to everyone that the grave was empty.
- Love — she came with no expectation and no understanding. Affection, not knowledge, brought her there first, and Christ values that above service.
- Dark — the hour matched the heart. Sight ruled Mary and the disciples, not faith, so the empty tomb looked to her like theft.
- Stone — the rolled-away stone did not let Him out. It announced to everyone that the grave was already empty.
- Day — the seventh day held His body; the first day begins the new creation, and became the day His people gather.
- Honour — the woman He had freed from demons is the first to have joy in Him, and He puts honour on her.
She runs therefore and comes to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, to whom Jesus was attached, and says to them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we know not where they have laid him.
Mary comes to the tomb while it is still dark and finds the stone moved. She runs back — not with news of a risen Lord, but with the worst thing she can imagine. Her words show a heart that has lost its one object. They also raise two questions. Why these two men? And why did an empty tomb mean theft to her, not resurrection?
She could have gone to any of the disciples. She ran to Simon Peter, and one writer sees sympathy behind that choice.
Scripture says, "So she ran and went to Simon Peter." Love made her feet fast that day. And who does she run to? Simon Peter. Why? There is a saying: "A fellow-feeling makes us wonderfully kind." She knew the emptiness in her own heart, and she also knew what had happened to Peter. It made her feel: here is one person at least who will understand, if the rest do not.
The second man never names himself in this Gospel. He describes himself only by what he knew.
This is how he speaks of himself all through his Gospel. Did the Lord have a special love for John? I have no doubt that John's ways pleased Him. But the point for you and me to learn is this: he speaks of himself not by his name, but as the one who knew that the Lord loved him. Can you tell me the disciple today whom Jesus loves? ... If you do not have the sense in your heart of being "the disciple whom Jesus loves," you have not touched the heart of Christianity yet.
She assumes the worst: someone has carried the body away. One writer explains why that thought came so naturally.
Mary had no thought that the Lord would rise, for it seems not one of the disciples expected it. Love drew her, and she could not resist, to the place where she had seen the Lord's body laid in the tomb. She found no rest in a world with no Christ in it... Clearly the empty tomb was no proof to Mary that the Lord had risen. All she can imagine is the unworthy thought that men of the world have been allowed to carry His body away.
She says "we," though John mentions no one with her. Commentators differ on what that means. One reads it as a trace of other women:
Had someone robbed the tomb? That could not have happened. Had the disciples slipped past the watching soldiers and stolen the body? She knew they had not. Had the authorities quietly removed it? That, she might think, was possible. In her excitement she ran for Peter and John... "We do not know," she said. We believe this points to other women being with her, as the other Gospels suggest.
Another treats the plural as loose speech and keeps the spotlight on her alone:
Mary of Magdala seems to be alone on the first day. Certainly, even if other women were with her or near her... (and the plural form here, "we do not know," may be only a general way of speaking), she alone draws the notice of the Spirit of God. He shows us a heart drawn, first, to a scene so overwhelming and yet so sacred — drawn by her love for Him whose body had been laid in the tomb. Then at last the Lord met her and blessed her, when the best resources among the saints had failed.
The report does something to Peter and John that their own sorrow had not done.
Bewildered, what could she do but run to Simon Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved? Her grief was too great for one heart to bear, and when they heard her report they ran too. Her words shook them out of their sullen sorrow and put a surprising energy into them.
She got the facts wrong. Yet she ended up nearer to Christ than the two apostles, because she wanted a Person and not an explanation.
Mary Magdalene was herself living proof of the love of Christ, who had freed her from the seven demons. She loved the Lord with an affection that sprang from the greatness of His love, and that went far beyond her understanding. A happy woman after all. The understanding of Peter and John could be busy and satisfied with a work; Mary's affection could not. She needed more. She wanted the Person she loved.
- Love runs. Mary is at the tomb before daylight, drawn by love to the last place she saw her Lord — then running to find the disciples.
- Love chooses well. She runs to Peter, knowing what had happened to him, and to the man who knew Jesus loved him. Her own empty heart made her feel for his.
- Love can be mistaken. The empty tomb proved nothing to her. She assumed a stolen body, because no disciple expected the resurrection.
- Love spreads. Her few words shook Peter and John out of their sorrow and sent them running to see for themselves.
- Love wants a Person. What they saw satisfied the two apostles. Mary needed the Person, and the Lord met her when every other resource had failed.
Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple, and came to the tomb.
Mary Magdalene has just run from the garden with news she cannot explain. Her words send Peter and John — the other disciple — running to the tomb. John records small details: who set out, who arrived first, who went in. Each one tells us something about the heart behind the feet.
Two of them were sitting in sorrow. Then Mary's news reached them:
What could she do in her bewilderment but run to Simon Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved? Her grief was too great for one heart to bear, and on hearing her report they also ran. Her words shook them out of their sullen sorrow and put a surprising energy into them.
Peter had denied his Master. What made him run now?
Love, stirred by words that sounded strange to their ears, led Peter to run along with John. His desire was no less, even if his pace was slower. He had slept when he ought to have watched and prayed. Then, when the crisis came, he denied his Master — and that after His solemn warning. But he was not a Judas — very far from it. He loved the Lord, and the Lord Himself knew that he loved Him. So, despite his deep and shameful sin, news he could not explain stirred his heart: the body was gone from the tomb.
The two set out together, and John pulls ahead. One writer explains Peter's slower pace by the load on his conscience:
Now I think that, if I had been asked which of these two was the stronger, I would have said Peter. I would have expected him to be the faster of the two. Surely he would outrun John. No, he is outpaced this time. Do you know why? Peter carried an awful load that day. There is nothing that puts such a drag on the feet as a bad conscience. Peter was not happy, and if you are not happy, you are not going very fast, dear fellow-Christian. Are you rejoicing in the Lord's love? If not, you may be sure your pace is not very rapid.
The order reverses at the tomb itself. John stops at the entrance and looks in; Peter walks straight inside. The very ache that slowed him down also drove him deeper:
But he did not enter first. A need in Peter's heart carried him further at that moment than even the affection of John. John came first to the tomb. He stooped down, looked in, and saw the linen cloths lying there. But he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.
They came looking for a body and found the grave clothes instead:
Peter and his companion run to the tomb. Their bodily strength alone carried them there, not the intelligence of faith. And there they see, not the One they were looking for, but the trophies of His victory over the power of death. There they see the gates of bronze and the bars of iron cut through. The linen cloths were there. So was the face cloth that had been wrapped around the Lord's head, as though He were death's prisoner. They lay like the spoils of the defeated, under the hand of death's conqueror.
For all their speed, neither man expected a risen Lord. Seeing the empty tomb did not make them believers:
Peter and John were slow to believe. The fact of the resurrection was plain when they entered the empty tomb. The folded face cloth and the careful order of the linen cloths showed that no one had stolen the body of Jesus. He had risen by His own power. No doubt they were amazed, but they went to their own home — there was no response on their part matching the immense fact of the resurrection. Why? Because as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise from the dead. Scripture is now the resting place for faith. Whatever the outward evidence, there is no true faith apart from the written word.
- News moves. Mary's report shook two grieving men out of their sorrow and put surprising energy into them. The first response to the empty tomb was to run.
- Love runs. Peter had denied his Master days earlier, yet love still stirred him to run. He was not a Judas; the Lord knew he loved Him.
- Guilt drags. A bad conscience puts a drag on the feet. If you are not rejoicing in the Lord's love, your pace will not be rapid.
- Need enters. The man who arrived last went in first. The need in Peter's heart carried him further than even John's affection.
- Scripture settles. They saw the folded cloths — the spoils of death's conqueror — and still went home unchanged. They did not yet know the Scripture that He must rise. Evidence alone is not faith; the written word is where faith rests.
And the two ran together, and the other disciple ran forward faster than Peter, and came first to the tomb,
Mary's report of an empty tomb sent two men running through the early morning. The Spirit of God took care to record which of them arrived first. Why did one man run faster than the other?
The news moved more than one heart. Peter had denied the Lord, and he still ran.
It was not John only who went out at the news from Mary. Love, stirred by words that sounded strange to their ears, led Peter to run along with John, with no less desire, even if not so fast. He had slept when he ought to have watched and prayed. When the crisis came, he had denied his Master. The Lord's solemn warning beforehand made that denial far worse. But he was not a Judas: very far from it. He loved the Lord, and the Lord Himself knew that he loved Him. So, despite his deep and shameful sin, his heart was moved by news he could not explain: the body had gone from the tomb. The two disciples then raced to see which of them would reach the spot first. No hope of what had really happened had yet crossed their minds. Yet they were anything but indifferent to any small detail that concerned even His body.
Age is the obvious answer: John was the younger man. But one writer sees a second reason behind it.
They ran with eager haste and John outran Peter. The natural explanation was no doubt that he was the younger man; but there was also a spiritual explanation. John was more deeply impressed by the Lord's love for him, as he showed by the way he spoke of himself. Peter was under a cloud. He had trusted in his own love for the Lord, and that love broke down in a scandalous and public way when it was tested. The one who is most drawn by the love of Christ runs the fastest. It was a case of, "Draw me after you; let us run" (Song of Solomon 1:4).
You would expect the stronger man to win the race. One writer asks why Peter did not.
It is very striking the way the Spirit gives us all these details… Now, if I had been asked which of these two was the strongest, I think I would have said Peter. I would have expected him to be the faster of the two. Surely he would outrun John. No, he is outpaced this time. Do you know why? Peter carried an awful load that day. There is nothing that puts such a drag on the feet as a bad conscience. Peter was not happy, and if you are not happy, you are not going very fast, dear fellow Christian. Are you rejoicing in the Lord's love? If not, you may be sure your pace is not very rapid.
John describes himself in his Gospel by the love the Lord had for him. That is the man who arrives first.
The two disciples run to the tomb at once. But the Spirit of God has taken special care to record this: though Peter appears to take the lead, the disciple who on five occasions describes himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved outruns the disciple who had boasted in his love to Jesus. This apparently small incident is surely recorded for our instruction. May it not remind us that the one who rests in Christ's love will outstrip in Christian progress those who are making too much of their love to Christ? This is all the more striking in a passage that highlights Mary's devoted love to Christ. We may well covet Mary's love to Christ, but let us always rest on Christ's love to us.
The word John chooses for that love is not a mild one.
John uses the very strongest word to express Christ's love for him: the disciple whom Jesus "dearly loved." And it was John who outran Peter and reached the tomb first, where their beloved Lord had lain. Does this not show that a sense of Christ's love in our hearts will make us run well in the ways that please God?
The race is only half the story. Watch what each man does when he arrives.
But he did not enter first. There was a need in Peter's heart which at that moment carried him farther than even the affection of John. John came first to the tomb. He stooped down, looked in, and saw the linen cloths lying there. But he did not go in.
- Both ran. A failing disciple still loved his Lord. The empty tomb moved Peter's heart as much as John's — with no less desire, only less speed.
- Love sets the pace. The one most drawn by the love of Christ runs the fastest; "Draw me after you; let us run."
- A bad conscience drags. Nothing drags on the feet like a bad conscience. If you are not rejoicing in the Lord's love, your pace will show it.
- Rest, don't boast. The disciple who rested in Christ's love for him outran the disciple who had boasted of his love for Christ. Covet Mary's devotion, but rest on His love.
- Need presses further. Arriving first is not the same as going furthest. A need in Peter's heart carried him farther than even John's affection.
and stooping down he sees the linen cloths lying; he did not however go in.
John reaches the tomb ahead of Peter, stoops at the entrance, and sees the burial cloths inside. He goes no further — and commentators ask why he arrived first, what the cloths proved, and why he stopped at the door.
Both men ran, but John arrived first. One writer reads the difference as a matter of the heart, not of the legs.
"The other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first." Why was this? Nothing quickens the steps like love, and nothing weighs them down like a heavy heart. The man who had rested close to Jesus was bound to travel faster than his friend who had drifted from the Lord.
Another writer turns the same detail into a question for the reader.
If someone had asked me which of these two was the stronger man, I would have said Peter... But John outruns him this time. Do you know why? Peter carried an awful load that day. Nothing drags on the feet like a bad conscience. Peter was not happy, and if you are not happy, you are not going very fast, dear fellow-Christian. Are you rejoicing in the Lord's love? If not, you can be sure your pace is not fast.
The word behind "stooping down" describes the angle of his body.
"Stooping down" — that is, sideways. Had he not done so, he would have stood in his own light.
He saw the grave clothes still lying there. The way they lay was an argument in itself.
What clear evidence this is that neither enemies nor friends had taken the body away! Why would either of them leave the linen wrappings behind? Who but a man rising from sleep would arrange the wrappings in this calm and orderly way? This must have been His own doing. He rose from among the dead and laid aside what did not suit His new condition and what He no longer needed. Compare how differently Lazarus looked when the Lord raised him from the dead. That difference shows the different character of the Resurrection.
Another writer looks at the cloths themselves, still lying as they had been wrapped.
There were the linen clothes lying in position, but Jesus was gone! The head cloth was not unfolded, yet the head it had wrapped was gone. It was the same at His resurrection. Jesus in His spiritual body entered the room where the disciples met, though the doors were shut fast. In the same way, He did not need to remove the clothes, unfold the head cloth or disturb the shroud. He rose calmly, leaving them just as they were.
Commentators differ on the reason he held back at the entrance. Some read it as respect for the place.
Peter's steps faltered, and we know why. He was not free to run to the tomb of the Master he had so recently denied. John had no such hindrance, so he could run faster. But out of reverence he did not enter the tomb. Peter wanted to see his Master, so he went in and found the tomb empty. Then John entered too.
Another writer points to a Jewish fear of becoming unclean at a grave. What drove Peter inside was something else.
You may say, Why did not John go in? He was a Jew, and no doubt he had a Jewish feeling that if he went in he would make himself unclean. So this spiritual man, John, stops for the moment... Old impressions fill his mind and hold him back. "Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb." He goes in, without a thought for the consequences. The remembrance of his ways and words in the high priest's palace, and his denial of his Lord, spurred him to enter.
The empty tomb was strong evidence. One writer asks what evidence like that can do for a soul.
Here were two outstanding, godly people. Yet the aim of the inspired record is to show what feeds and builds up a soul. It is not evidence, however convincing. It is the truth revealed in the Scriptures, and God believed in them. Both Peter and John "saw and believed," "for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead."
- Love runs. The disciple who rested in Jesus' love outran the one with a guilty conscience. Joy in the Lord's love sets a believer's pace.
- Love looks. He stooped sideways, not straight down, so that he would not stand in his own light.
- Love sees. The grave clothes left behind rule out theft. No friend or enemy would carry off a body and leave its wrappings.
- Love hesitates. Commentators differ on why he stayed outside: reverence, or an old fear of becoming unclean at a grave. Peter went straight in.
- Love must learn. Sight showed them an empty tomb, but they still did not know the Scripture that He must rise. Evidence is not what feeds faith.
Simon Peter therefore comes, following him, and entered into the tomb, and sees the linen cloths lying,
News that the body was gone sent two men running to the tomb. John arrived first and stopped at the entrance; Peter walked straight in, and what he found was not a body but grave clothes.
John stopped at the entrance; Peter did not. One writer puts John's pause down to a Jewish fear of being made unclean by a grave, and Peter's rush inside down to the memory of his own denial.
You may ask, why did John not go in? He was a Jew, and no doubt he had a Jewish feeling that if he went in, he would make himself unclean... "Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb." He goes in, with no thought for the consequences. The memory of his ways and words in the high priest's palace, and his denial of his Lord, drove him to enter. It led him to risk everything, and lose sight of everything.
Commentators differ over why John stayed outside. One rejects that first reading, and looks instead at Peter — a man who had failed badly, but was no Judas.
He had slept when he should have watched and prayed. When the crisis came, he denied his Master — and that after His solemn warning, which made it far worse. But he was not a Judas: very far from it. He loved the Lord, and the Lord Himself knew that he loved Him. So, despite his deep and shameful sin, the news that the body had gone from the tomb stirred his heart... I reject the idea that John shrank from going in for fear of being made unclean. That would have kept him out later too, and Peter as well. Peter's eagerness burned more now, not less, because of his recent wrong. It drove him not just to glance in, but to enter and look at everything more closely.
Peter did not just look in. He fixed his eyes on one detail, and that detail rules out the obvious explanations.
John describes not only his own twofold look, but a further detail: Peter's intent gaze, noting how odd it was that the head cloth lay wrapped up by itself. What clear evidence that the body had not been taken away, by enemies or by friends! Why would either leave the linen wrappings behind? Who but a man rising from sleep would lay the clothes aside in this calm and orderly way?
The grave clothes also answer a rumour that circulated afterwards — that the disciples had stolen the body by night.
John saw this and has recorded what he saw; and his record gives the lie to the report that was circulated among the Jews, that His disciples had come by night and stolen His body. If they had done that, or if anyone else had done it, would they not have taken the clothes with the body?
The word for the way the cloth lay is exact, and commentators differ over what it shows. One reads the wrappings as left untouched:
The word used for "wrapped up" speaks volumes. It means "folded inwards" — turban-shaped, or twirled. What was so striking was the way the various parts still lay in relation to each other. The Lord had detached Himself from the head cloth and the shroud without disturbing them, let alone handling them. Only a miracle could explain it. Some say He simply folded the cloth up again and laid it in a new place, to show there had been no haste and no removal of the body by friend or foe. That idea is weak beside the full reality.
Another man had come out of a tomb alive. The difference between the two exits is the point.
Stronger still is the witness to the mighty power of this glorious Person. Having risen from the sleep of death, He can lay the grave clothes aside in a calm and orderly way. Lazarus came out of the tomb with the grave clothes bound on him, but the Lord left His behind.
Peter and John reached a right conclusion from what lay in front of them. But a conclusion drawn from evidence is not yet faith resting on God's word.
They believed the fact, but they did not know the Scripture. It was not a truth to them, bound up with God's character and God's word. It was a fact. They saw that the Lord was risen. But the link between His resurrection and God's glory, and their own deliverance, had not yet crossed their minds.
The folded cloth is not just tidiness. It is a man laying down clothing he will never need again.
It is like a man who has spent the night in peaceful sleep, then got up in the morning and laid his clothes aside. Here the Lord lays aside the death-clothes. What is the lesson? He has done with death. He has set aside everything that relates to death, the fruit and wages of sin. The head cloth folded and laid aside tells of the reign of death being over for ever.
- Love ran. Peter had denied his Lord, yet love, not innocence, drove him to the grave and straight inside it.
- Love looked. The word describes a searching gaze, not a glance — he stood and studied the linen and the head cloth.
- Love found order. No thief takes the body and leaves the wrappings. The calm arrangement rules out enemies and friends alike.
- Love saw power. Lazarus walked out still bound. The Lord left His grave clothes behind, and He has done with death for ever.
- Love still had to learn. Peter and John saw He was gone, but they did not yet know the Scripture. Sight can convince before God's word teaches.
and the handkerchief which was upon his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up in a distinct place by itself.
The tomb of Jesus was empty, yet the wrappings that had held His body were still there — and one detail in particular caught the eye of the disciple who wrote it down. The head cloth was not lying flat with the rest, and commentators have long asked what that separation was meant to tell us.
The Greek word behind "folded up" is unusually specific, and one writer argues it rules out any tidying by human hands.
The word ἐντετυλιγμένον speaks volumes. It means "folded inwards" — that is, turban-shaped, or twirled. What was it that captivated him? The remarkable appearance the wrappings presented in how the various parts lay in relation to each other. The Lord had detached Himself from the cloth and the shroud without disturbing them, let alone handling them. Only a miracle could explain what they saw. "A place apart" refers to the different position, consistent with the whole arrangement, which had not been disturbed.
A story went around that the disciples had stolen the body. The state of the tomb answers it with a simple question.
John saw this and has written down what he saw. His record proves false the report spread among the Jews that His disciples had come by night and stolen His body. If they had done that, or if anyone else had done it, would they not have taken the clothes with the body?
Commentators differ here. The first reading takes the head cloth as laid aside on purpose, a sign of calm.
There is no evidence of disorder, untimely haste, or hurry. Matthew tells us of an earthquake, as the angel rolled away the stone. Do you suppose that act was to let the Saviour out? God forbid the thought. What was it rolled away for, then? To let you and me look in. He had risen, in calm majesty, long before that stone was rolled away. He rose from the dead a triumphant, victorious Saviour. He left behind Him the silent but powerful proofs of the victory He had won over sin, and Satan, and death.
The second reading finds that answer too small. It points instead to how odd the scene was.
The usual meaning attached to this is that it shows the calmness and orderliness of the resurrection. But surely there must be some other explanation. It hardly seems a worthy idea that the Lord or some attending angel carefully folded the cloth and laid it apart. The real point of the incident is how unusual it is. Ordinarily, when a person undresses he puts his clothes together. Here it is the opposite. They are left exactly as they were. You would expect someone to unwind the cloth and put it with the other garments. But here it lies just as it had been, wrapped together — no doubt in the place where His sacred head had been.
Jesus had once called Lazarus out of his grave. The difference between the two scenes is the point.
When Lazarus came out of his tomb at the command of the Lord, he was bound hand and foot with grave clothes. That was a witness that he would have to return to that grave again. He needed friendly hands to loose him and let him go. But the body of Jesus did not need such service. It did not rise from the dead wrapped in the garments of death. He left them behind Him, undisturbed by His rising. Neither they nor the stone that closed the tomb had held back His triumphant rising. He left behind everything that spoke of chains and prison.
The empty wrappings did more than prove a fact. They settled what the cross had achieved.
What did the tomb contain? What had death done with the Saviour? Or rather, what had the Saviour done with death? If the grave had held Him, His work was in vain, and not one of those for whom He had given Himself would stand acquitted or justified. The marks of death were there. Their very presence testified that death could not hold its prey, and that the victory over it came peacefully, without struggle or conflict. The "It is finished" was proved.
One writer looks from that scene forward to the day when Christ comes for His own.
There were the linen clothes lying in position, but Jesus was gone! The cloth was not unfolded, yet the head it had enclosed was not there. In His resurrection body Jesus entered the room where the disciples met, though the doors were shut fast. In the same way, at His resurrection He did not need to remove the clothes, unfold the head-band or disturb the shroud. He rose calmly, leaving them as they were. And so, fellow-believer, it will be with you if you are alive at the Lord's coming.
- Left, not loosed. No one untied or carried off anything in the tomb. The cloths stayed where they were, and He was gone.
- Left as proof. Thieves take a body with its wrappings. The cloths still lying there answer the theft story.
- Left in calm. No haste, no struggle, no disorder: the arrangement testifies that death could not hold its prey.
- Left forever. Lazarus came out still bound and would return to the grave; Christ left the garments of death behind for good.
- Left as a promise. The empty wrappings of the Head foreshadow what will happen to His own when He comes.
Then entered in therefore the other disciple also who came first to the tomb, and he saw and believed;
The tomb was empty, the grave clothes were still there, and one disciple looked at that scene and believed. Two questions follow. What convinced him? And what was the faith that sight produced?
The clothes left behind in the tomb tell us two things at once.
Clearly the body had not been taken away from the tomb, for why in that case should the grave clothes be left behind? Stronger still is the witness to the mighty power of this glorious Person. He rose from the sleep of death, and He could lay the grave clothes aside in a calm and orderly way. Lazarus came out of the tomb with the grave clothes bound on him, while the Lord left them behind.
The disciple who "saw and believed" later wrote down what he had seen in the tomb. His record still answers a rumour.
Going into the tomb they saw the linen cloths lying there, and the cloth that had been around His head lying apart from them, folded up in a place by itself. John saw this and has recorded what he saw. His record disproves the report that spread among the Jews, that His disciples had come by night and stolen His body. If they had done that, or if anyone else had done it, would they not have taken the clothes with the body?
But what did he believe at that moment? One writer keeps the answer narrow.
That Christ was risen, only. He believed what he saw, but he had no knowledge of the Scriptures that Christ must rise (v. 9). So he saw, and he believed that He had risen. They did not know this by faith in the word of God, but they believed when they saw.
The next verse says the disciples did not yet know the Scripture about His rising. Some read that as the reason this disciple needed the sight of the tomb. One writer disagrees.
The words about not yet knowing the Scripture could be taken as the reason for this disciple's faith in the resurrection when he saw the empty tomb — that until then they had not known the Scripture which foretold it. We do not accept that view, and for two reasons. First, the verse states plainly that this disciple saw and believed. He believed when he saw, on the testimony of the empty tomb. Then it adds, as an explanation, that as yet they did not know the Scripture on the subject. Secondly, verse 8 speaks only of that disciple — it is "he saw and believed" — while verse 9 says they all did not know the Scripture. That shows the statement is about the common ignorance of the disciples.
So the disciple was right. But one writer warns that being right is not the same as believing God.
It was faith, but founded on evidence, not on the written word… Theirs was a sound conclusion, a reasonable judgment of the facts they saw. But in itself that is only a human deduction, however right it may be, and not the heart submitting to the testimony of God. And it is John himself who, here as elsewhere, teaches us to draw this most important distinction.
The Scriptures had already said He would rise. One writer pictures the morning these men could have had.
If they had known the Scriptures, they would have needed no sight to convince them that the grave was empty. They would have been sure, triumphant and full of joy, waiting in that garden to greet their risen Lord. How great are the Scriptures! What assurance, what confidence they give to those who know them. Sight and sense may deceive us, but the Scriptures are the very word of the God who cannot lie.
- Evidence — The cloths stayed in the tomb, and the head cloth lay folded by itself. No thief leaves the wrappings behind. The One who rose laid them aside Himself.
- Contrast — Lazarus came out of the tomb still bound in his grave clothes. The Lord left His behind. The calm order of that scene shows His power.
- Belief — This disciple believed that Christ was risen. He believed what he saw, not yet what the Scriptures said.
- Distinction — Verse 8 speaks of one man who believed. Verse 9 speaks of them all, who still did not know the Scripture. Commentators differ over how the two verses fit.
- Rest — A conclusion drawn from facts can be right and still fall short of faith in God's word. Sight and sense may deceive us. The Scriptures never do.
for they had not yet known the scripture, that he must rise from among [the] dead.
Two men stand inside an empty tomb, and one of them sees the grave clothes and believes. John then adds that they still did not know the Scripture — so what did John believe that morning, and why had God's own word about rising not yet reached them?
Commentators differ over what verse 9 explains. One writer settles it by the wording of the two verses.
First, the text plainly states that this disciple saw and believed — that is, he believed when he saw. He believed on the evidence the empty tomb gave him. Then, as an explanation, it adds that they did not yet know the Scripture on the subject. Second, notice that verse 8 speaks only of that disciple: "he saw and believed." Verse 9 says "they did not understand the Scripture." This shows the statement is about the ignorance shared by all the disciples.
Another writer sees even less in that faith.
Believed what? I do not think he exactly believed in Christ's resurrection. He certainly believed that the Lord was gone. He believed the report Mary brought, that the Lord was gone.
Believing what you can see is not the same act as believing what God has said.
It was evidence, and there is no moral value in believing because of evidence. Believing the word of God has moral value, because it gives God credit for truth. A man gives himself up to trust God. So believing the Scriptures is something completely different from a conclusion worked out from the facts.
The tomb held the signs of a victory, and the two men went home.
There they see, not the One they were looking for, but the trophies of His victory over the power of death... The linen cloths, and the cloth that had been wrapped around the Lord's head as though He were death's prisoner, lay there like the spoils of a beaten enemy, under the hand of death's conqueror... But despite all this, the disciples do not understand. They still do not know the Scripture, that He must rise from the dead, and they go away again to their own home.
The verse does not say He would rise, but that He must. Everything hangs on that word.
They did not know that it was absolutely necessary for Him to rise from the dead. If His body had stayed in the tomb, what assurance could we have had that He had redeemed us? More than that, if death had held Him, we would have had no Saviour and no salvation. The resurrection of Christ is therefore the basic truth of the gospel. To take away the truth of the Lord's resurrection is to remove all hope — to leave the soul without hope.
The Scripture they had not known was already there, in a psalm of David.
David clearly foretold the resurrection of Christ in Psalm 16. Peter quoted that psalm on the day of Pentecost, and Paul quoted it at Antioch, to prove that Scripture was fulfilled when He rose from the dead. They argued that David was not speaking of himself. Though he was a prophet, he was buried and his body decayed. But the One whom God raised again saw no corruption.
In the ESV, that psalm reads, "you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption." Older translations render it "hell."
Jesus had told them plainly, more than once, and it still had not settled in them.
Up to that moment, the great and glorious truth that He must rise from the dead never seemed to have got into their souls. He had pressed it on them again and again during His life and ministry. There is nothing we are slower to reach than resurrection ground.
Two things stood in the way of their understanding.
The Spirit of God had not yet come; and, as many of us know from experience, until He opens up God's Word to us, we may hear and read it often without the slightest understanding of what it really means or how it applies. Remember too that "rising from among the dead" was a totally new thing to them, a new revelation, and so something they were completely unprepared for.
Had they held the written word, the morning would have looked completely different.
If they had known the Scriptures, they would have needed no sight to convince them that the grave was empty. They would have been sure, triumphant, rejoicing men, waiting in that garden to greet their risen Lord... Sight and sense may deceive us, but the Scriptures are the very word of the God who cannot lie.
- Must — the verse says He must rise. God made it necessary. Without it there is no Saviour, no salvation, no hope.
- Written — the "must" was already in Psalm 16. Peter and Paul later quoted it to prove that God's Holy One would not see corruption.
- Missed — Jesus said it again and again, yet it never got into them. The Spirit had not yet come to open the Word to them.
- Sight — John believed what he saw, not what God had said. Accepting evidence has no moral value. Trusting God's word does, because it gives Him credit for truth.
- Home — the two men stood among the spoils of death's conqueror and then went home. Those who knew the Scripture would have waited in that garden to greet Him.