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.
The disciples therefore went away again to their own home.
Peter and John have just seen the empty tomb and the linen cloths, and their response is to go home. Why did two men who had seen the proof of the resurrection go back to ordinary life, while a weeping woman stayed?
The tomb held them only while their Master's body lay in it.
Peter ran to the tomb, with John going along with him (John 20:2-10). Peter, always impulsive, went into the tomb first. When he and John saw the linen cloths wrapped up in an orderly way, but no dead body, they went away to their own home. If their Lord was not there, the tomb had no further interest for them.
John "saw and believed." Commentators point out that such belief, however genuine, has limits. It settles a fact without changing the heart.
To "see and believe" therefore falls far short of what the working of God gives. Traditional faith, or faith based on evidence, is its equivalent in the Christian world today. It is human, and leaves the conscience unpurged and the heart without communion. It may be found in someone who is in no way born of God (compare John 2:23-25), but also in a believer, as here. If so, it is not what the Spirit seals, and it in no way delivers from present things... Faith founded on evidence may strengthen a person against Deism, Pantheism, or Atheism. But it never gave forgiveness of sins. It never led anyone to cry "Abba, Father." It never filled the heart with the grace and glory of the One who is the object of God's everlasting satisfaction and delight.
The text itself gives the reason: they did not yet know the Scripture about His rising.
This we do know: they "as yet did not know the Scripture, that He must rise from the dead." 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. 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. We give thanks for every experience of the truth of them, but we would not rely even on our experience — it may fail us. The Word of God is the unshakeable rock on which faith rests without fear; it never fails.
Going home is not a small detail. It measures how little the fact had done to them.
Here we also have a further and marked testimony to its powerlessness. Verse 10 tells us, "Then the disciples went back to their homes." They knew the fact on grounds they could not question. But they did not yet value it as God's word reveals it. So they return to their old, unbroken associations.
The next verse turns on a single word: "But." Two of them had somewhere to go back to; one of them did not.
And why did they go back to their homes? Because they had a home. They had spheres of interest, and to those spheres they go back. "But" — that is a wonderful little word — "But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping." Why didn't she go home? I don't think I am wrong when I say she had none. She may have had a house, but not a home. Where Christ had been was really the home of her heart... The fact was this: her world was gone, everything was gone, because He was gone. And oh, what a blessing it would be for each of us if Christ were everything to our hearts.
Mary may have understood no more than they did. What she had was love that would not settle for a world without Christ.
The disciples lack the divine understanding that the word gives. They also lack the wholehearted affection for Christ that makes Him the supreme Object of the soul. With Mary it is far otherwise. She too may lack understanding, but her love for Christ is an absorbing love that thinks only of Christ... But notice this: in that outside place she finds Christ, and Christ leads her into new and heavenly relationships. Her love for Christ detaches her from this world, and His company leads her into another world.
- Sight convinces. The linen cloths lay in order and the body was gone; once their Lord was not there, the tomb held no further interest for Peter and John.
- Sight does not transform. Faith resting on evidence leaves the conscience unpurged. It never gave forgiveness of sins, and never led anyone to cry "Abba, Father."
- Scripture was the gap. They did not yet know the written word that He must rise. Had they known it, they would have waited in that garden as rejoicing men.
- So they went home. Going back "to their homes" is the measure of it. The fact was certain to their minds, but they returned unchanged to their old associations.
- Love stayed. Mary had no home in a world without Christ. She stayed outside weeping, and there she found Him, and Christ led her into new and heavenly relationships.