With Dale Ratzlaff
John 20:1-10
All the Gospel accounts testify to the empty tomb. However, to harmonize these accounts is not easy. John mentions events and people that the Synoptics do not. Likewise, the Synoptics refer to activities and individuals not recorded in John’s Gospel. These differences are not contradictions. Instead, they reflect eye-witness accounts of people who were in different places at dissimilar times seeing things from their perspectives. The timeline of events connected with the resurrection is not as important as the resurrection itself; nevertheless, some may stumble over the apparent conflicts in the Gospel accounts. Therefore, before we get to the text in John, Ed Vasicek has suggested timeline which is listed here (http://www.highlandpc.com/studies/fojc/rezafter.php.)
- Christ rises from the dead very early Sunday morning. A violent earthquake and an angel rolling away the stone and sitting upon it accompany this event. The guards are traumatized because they have seen this angel, and they freeze (Mt. 28:2-4).
- Mary Magdalene and another Mary either walk to the tomb together, or they had planned to meet there. When she (or they) arrives, the stone has been rolled away. (The guards are gone by now.) She returns to find Peter and John and tells them that someone has moved Jesus’ body (Jn. 20:1-2; Mt. 28:1).
- Another group of women was scheduled to meet the two Marys at the tomb. They have acquired spices to complete the burial process, which had been hurried on Friday. They are concerned about finding some men to help roll the stone away since it was large and needed to be rolled against gravity. To their surprise, these women see two angels, only one of which speaks, telling them that Jesus has been raised. The women are scared to death and leave (Mk 16:2-8; Lk 24:1-8; Mt. 28:5-8).
- Peter and John arrive after being summoned by Mary Magdalene, who apparently follows them there. John looks into the tomb, but Peter goes inside. All he finds are the burial clothes. They leave, confused, but Mary Magdalene apparently stays at the tomb to grieve that someone has removed Jesus’ body (Lk. 24:12; Jn. 20:3-10).
- Jesus makes His first appearance to Mary Magdalene after Peter and John have left. At first she supposes Him to be the gardener, but she is then overjoyed to realize that it is the Lord (Jn. 20:11-17; Mk. 16:9).
- Jesus then appears to these other women who had left before Peter and John had arrived. These are the women who saw the angels. Jesus tells them to communicate to the disciples that they were to prepare to travel to Galilee (Mt. 28:9-10).
- The women, joined by Mary Magdalene, report their meeting with Jesus to the disciples, but they write it off as nonsense (Mk. 16:10-11; Lk. 24:9-11; Jn. 20:18).
- The Roman guards report what they had witnessed to the chief priests. They were bribed into saying that someone stole the body of Jesus while they were asleep. The priests promised the soldiers protection from military discipline through their clout (Mt. 28:11-15).
We now come to the text itself in John.
Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the grave.
When Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus brought linen and spices to prepare the body of Jesus for burial, it was very near sundown on Friday night. As both of them were obedient Jews, we might surmise that the preparation for the burial of Jesus was not fully completed. Therefore, these women came to the tomb early Sunday morning to complete the job. They were worried about how they would roll away the stone. Mary, apparently just glanced at the front of the tomb noticing that the stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty.
2 So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”
These eyewitnesses who had been with Jesus from time to time throughout His ministry did not at this time even think that Jesus could have risen from the dead. Even though Peter had denied Jesus the day before, Mary seems to think that Peter is still the go-to disciple when in need.
3 So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. 4 The two were running together, and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first.
Some wonder why John inserts that he outran Peter on the way to the tomb. This is typical of an eyewitness who remembers the details of important emotional events. This reaction is similar to the way we remember where we were on the morning of 9-11 or, for those of us who are older, we remember where we were when we received the news that President Kennedy had been shot.
5 and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. 6 And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.
This account is the eyewitness account showing that the tomb is empty on Resurrection Sunday morning. Some think that John’s repetition of “linen wrappings” is a detail with additional symbolic meaning. If we compare the linen wrappings from the ancient Day of Atonement with the linen wrappings left behind by the Risen Christ, we find what may have been in John’s mind. Before the high priest went into the Most Holy Place we have these instructions:
Aaron shall enter the holy place with this: with a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. “He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body, and he shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban (these are holy garments). Then he shall bathe his body in water and put them on (Lev. 16:3-4).
Then after the High Priest had made atonement for the sins of Israel, he came out of the sanctuary. We again note the emphasis upon linen.
Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there (Lev. 16:23).
A few verses later in Leviticus, we find that this practice was to be a perpetual statute.
This shall be a permanent statute for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and not do any work, whether the native, or the alien who sojourns among you; for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD. It is to be a sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls; it is a permanent statute. So the priest who is anointed and ordained to serve as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement: he shall thus put on the linen garments, the holy garments (Lev. 16:29-32).
Could it be that Jesus did these things, and John insightfully recorded them for the purpose of our contemplation? By these details we may understand more fully that the true Atonement for sin was complete.
8 So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed (Jn. 20:8 NAU).
Indeed, at this time John had not made a comparison to the Old Testament Day of Atonement. What was it about the linen wrappings that caused him to instantly believe? The Risen Christ could enter a room with the doors closed. He could instantly disappear at will ( See Lk. 24:31). Considering these recorded facts, it leads to the idea that at the resurrection, Jesus was raised through the linen wrappings without unwinding them. We remember what Jesus said at the resurrection of Lazarus, “Unbind him and let him go” (Jn. 11:44). Dr, Lenski makes this observation.
No human being wrapped round and round with bands like this could possibly slip out of them without greatly disturbing them. They would have to be unwound, or cut through, or cut and stripped off. They would thus, if removed, lie strewn around in disorder or helped in a pile. Or folded up in some way. If the body had been desecrated in the tomb by hostile hands, this kind of evidence would appear. But hostile hands would have carried off the body as it was, wrapping and all, to get it away as soon as possible and to abuse it later and elsewhere. But here the linen bands were. Both their presence and their undisturbed condition spoke volumes. Here, indeed, was a sign to behold ( R.C.H. Lenski, Commentary of the New Testament, John, p. 1342.)
Regarding the difference between the way the linen wrappings were just lying there and the head cloth was neatly folded up, we find this comment:
The difference between the way in which the linen bands were simply “lying” and the way in which the headcloth was folded up and laid “apart in a place by itself” is too marked, too intentional, to warrant conclusion that the bands were also folded up after having been stripped off…the very opposite is indicated. If both the headcloth and the bands had been folded up, neither would indicate the miracle of the resurrection. Then Peter and John could only conclude that friendly, human hands had for some strange reason unclothed the dead body and taken it away. What these disciples saw was vastly more…One may ask why Jesus had not left the cloth as he did the bands, simply passing out of it and leaving its fastenings undisturbed; for that, too, would have been an eloquent sign. One answer is that then both the cloth and the bands would have uttered the same testimony; then Jesus would have left but one witness. He left two.
We remember the legal witness rule of the Jews.
A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed (Deut. 19:15).
9 For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.
What John is saying is that his initial belief in the resurrection of Jesus was the empty tomb and the way the linen wrappings and headcloth were found. However, true faith is to rest on Scripture. This is evident on numerous occasions. In Luke 24 Jesus was walking with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. Rather than overpower them with his resurrected glory,
He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day” (Lk. 24:45-46).
Paul carefully defined the gospel not only in terms of the resurrection, but also resurrection on the third day “according to the Scripture.”
Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:1-4).
Here are some of the Scriptures that pointed forward to the resurrection of Jesus.
Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him (Hos. 6:1-2).
For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay (Ps. 16:10).
10 So the disciples went away again to their own homes.
They did not touch the linen wrappings. The information that they beheld was enough to fill their thoughts.
Application
- These verses give us evidence of the resurrection. These eyewitnesses describe the empty tomb.
- The way the linen wrappings were found give us a firm foundation for our faith. They point to the supernatural resurrection of Jesus through the wrappings.
- The arrangement of the wrappings also declares that no human hand: friend or foe, had touched them. This shows that no one came and stole away the body of Jesus, for they would have taken Jesus’ body while it was still wrapped.
- We find again the principle that faith should be built on Scripture.
Prayer
Father, thank you for the evidence in the Gospel of John for me to believe you indeed rose from the dead. Strengthen my faith that I may never doubt this saving event. Keep my faith firmly based on the accurate interpretation of Scripture.
In Jesus name. †
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Thank you, Dale, for this clear presentation of the biblical narrative surrounding the resurrection of our Lord. If I may, however, I would like to take exception to the identification of Peter’s fellow disciple (when they went to the tomb) as the apostle John. The notion that the “beloved disciple” was the apostle John and that John is the author of the fourth Gospel rests entirely on tradition, not explicit or implicit biblical data.
This is not the place to discuss this issue in detail, but I will briefly refer to what I think are very pertinent internal markers in the Gospel itself that reveal the true identity of the beloved disciple:
“Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. […] So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick'” (John 11:1-3).
“Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (John 11:5).
“Then the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!'” (John 11:36).
If I am not mistaken, only once, elsewhere, do we read about an individual being singled out as being loved by Jesus earlier in his ministry:
“As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No-one is good– except God alone. You know the commandments: `Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honour your father and mother.” ‘Teacher,’ he declared, ‘all these I have kept since I was a boy.’ Jesus looked at him and loved him” (Mark 10:17-21). It is usually interpreted that this anonymous rich man went away from Jesus never to return, but my particular view is that, later on, he was closely associated with the Saviour, although he was never one of the twelve apostles.