College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

John 20:1-10

THE EMPTY TOMB

Now on the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, while it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and seeth the stone taken away from the tomb.

She runneth therefore, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we know not where they have laid him.

Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb.

And they ran both together: and the other disciple outran Peter, and came first to the tomb;

and stooping and looking in, he seeth the linen cloths lying; yet entered he not in.

Simon Peter therefore also cometh, following him, and entered into the tomb; and he beholdeth the linen cloths lying,

and the napkin, that was upon his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself.

Then entered in therefore the other disciple also, who came first to the tomb, and he saw, and believed.

For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.

So the disciples went away again unto their own home.

Queries

Why did Mary think someone had taken the body of Jesus?

What did the disciple believe (John 20:8)?

Why did the disciples go to their own home?

Paraphrase (Harmony)

Now late on the sabbath day, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early while it was yet dark, on the first day of the week, they come to the tomb when the sun was risen, bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they were saying among themselves, who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the tomb?
And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled away the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was as lightning and his raiment white as snow: and for fear of him the watchers did quake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye; for I know that ye seek Jesus, who hath been crucified. He is not here; for he is risen, even as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And looking up, they see that the stone is rolled back: for it was exceeding great. And they entered in and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, while they were perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel: and as they were affrighted and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
And he saith, Be not amazed: ye seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who hath been crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold, the place where they laid him! He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying that the Son of man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, He goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you. And they went out, and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them: and they said nothing to anyone; for they were afraid.
Now when he was risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She runneth therefore and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. And they ran both together: and the other disciple outran Peter, and came first to the tomb; and stooping and looking in, he seeth the linen clothes lying; yet entered he not in. Simon Peter therefore also cometh, following him, and entered into the tomb; and he beholdeth the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, that was upon his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but rolled up in a place by itself. Then entered in therefore the other disciple also, who came first to the tomb, and he saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. So the disciples went away again unto their own home.

Summary

Several of the devout women followers of Jesus come to anoint His body with spices, They witness the rolling away of the stone by the angel and enter the tomb to find the body of Jesus gone. They all flee in fear and trembling and only Mary Magdalene has the presence of mind to go and tell Peter and John who in turn run to the tomb and find the burial cloths but the body of Jesus gone. Although perplexed and unable to fathom the meaning of the empty tomb there seems to be a spark of faith ignited in the breast of John.

Comment

On the sabbath day following the crucifixion of Jesus and after the burial of His body by Joseph and Nicodemus, the Pharisees and chief priests petition Pilate to make sure that nothing shall happen to cause the disappearance of the body of Jesus. They remembered His teaching that He would rise from the dead. Pilate commanded the official seal of the Roman government to be put across the stone door of the tomb and a guard of Roman soldiers to be placed before the tomb and to watch until after the third day at least, (cf. Matthew 27:62-66). In spite of all the miracles Jesus had performed, including raising the dead Lazarus from the tomb, of which these Pharisees and priests had knowledge still they thought they had at last defeated the Nazarene. If, as the text in Matthew seems to indicate, these rulers went to Pilate on Saturday morning they violated the sanctity of the Sabbathone of the very charges they brought against Jesus!

The followers of Jesus would not desecrate the Sabbath and waited therefore until early in the morning of the third day to come to the tomb. The women began their journey to the tomb in the first hours of the morning of the first day of the week just when the midnight darkness of night is beginning to fade away and the dawn is beginning to breakeven before the sun is visible (S. J. Andrews places the time at about 4:45-5:00 a.m.).
Whether the women were present when the angel rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb is not certain. They were concerned as they made their journey toward the tomb as to how they were going to gain entrance to anoint His body since the stone door was far too heavy for them to roll away.
The women then entered the tomb and seeing the body gone they were puzzled and distraught. The angel gave them the first glad tidings; He is not here; for he is risen, even as he said. go tell his disciples and Peter, He goeth before you into Galilee.
Mary Magdalene either did not hear the angel's message or she did not even stay to enter the tomb with the other women but ran to tell Peter and John immediately upon seeing the stone rolled away. She was there with the other women for she uses the pronoun we when telling the news to Peter and John (John 20:2). Mary sobs out the dreadful picture as she has surmised it from just seeing the tomb's entrance violatedThey have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter and John do not wait for another word but bolt out of the house on a dead run for the garden and the tomb. Meanwhile, wild with joy and awesome fear the other women flee the tomb to tell the disciples the message of the angels. Why they do not meet Peter and John we are not told. McGarvey harmonizes: They have scarcely left the spot, when the swift-footed John bounds up to the open door, stoops down and looks with eagerness into the vacant tomb. The impetuous Peter follows hard after, rushes past his companion into the sepulchre, and gazes around. They both for a moment look thoughtfully at the napkin lying here and the linen clothes lying yonder, then they solemnly walk away.

Mary evidently did not hear what the other women heard from the angels. Considering the hateful viciousness of the enemies of Jesus she may have surmised that these enemies had stolen the body in order to desecrate it even more or to use it to capture His followers.
Peter, an older and larger man than John was not able to run as fast as the younger John, so John outran him to the tomb. But John hesitated at the entrance to the tomb while Peter rushed on into the tomb. The fact that the grave clothes were so orderly laid aside was a sign of lack of haste. The very fact that the linen bandages were there at all infers that the body was not taken by grave robbers in haste for they would have little need to lay aside the cloths in such a manner.

What did the disciple John believe after entering the tomb and observing the neatly placed grave cloths. Did what he saw there satisfy him entirely? Was he so credulous a person that in this moment he wanted so desperately to believe he was able from the empty tomb and the linen cloths to come to a resurrection faith without any further evidence? We know this is not so for the disciples were incredulousthey would not believe at first. They were hard-headed men who refused to believe that He was raised from the dead, except on more evidence than the report of the women (cf. Luke 24:11; Luke 24:41). Thomas was more stubborn than all the rest requiring to see the nail prints in the Master's hands before believing. There does seem, however, to be a spark of faith ignited in the heart of John here. Westcott puts it this way, The use of the word (believed). points to the calm patient acceptance of a mystery as yet in part inexplicable with full confidence in the divine love. indicating something still to be more fully shown, and the apostle waited in trustful expectation for the interpretation.

Whatever the faint glimmer of hope within the apostle's breast it was not built upon any knowledge of the Old Testament prophecies and promises concerning the resurrection of the Messiah (John 20:9) or any evidence other than the empty tomb. It seems strange that the disciples did not remember all the many prophecies Jesus Himself had made concerning His resurrection! The women believed on this basis (cf. Luke 24:1-11). Perhaps the disciples were too busy with seeking places in the kingdom when Jesus made His prophecies to remember them or their Jewish prejudices as to the nature of the Messiah caused them to misunderstand or count His prophecies of no significance.

There may have been hope (cf. Luke 24:19-21) but they would not believe until they had actual concrete evidence. The talk of the women seemed to them an idle tale (Luke 24:11). So, with the body of the Master gone they could hope but they could do little else by remaining at the empty tomb so they returned to their dwelling in Jerusalem.

While we are thinking about the empty tomb let us consider some of the attempts of the skeptics to supply an answer to the fact of the empty tomb. One thing is certain, the tomb was empty. The record states that even the enemies of Jesus testified to His certain death and the empty tomb. As Wilbur Smith puts it, Something happened to the body of Jesus when it was taken down from the cross. The New Testament testifies that it was placed in a tomb. On Sunday morning, for one reason or another, that tomb was empty, as everyone admitsChristian, unbeliever, disciple, scoffer, Jew and Gentile, conservative, and modernist. Notice here what the historical record witnesses as to the empty tomb: (a) The women testify to it being empty; (b) Peter and John found the tomb empty; (c) The guards appointed to watch the tomb came and reported the tomb was empty; (d) The Sanhedrin did not even so much as question the story of the soldiers or go and see for themselves but concocted a lie that the soldiers were to repeat in order to offer an explanation for the empty tomb!
Consider this first attempt by the enemies of Christ to explain the absence of His body from the tomb: (a) It was a story spread by bribery; (b) It was ridiculoushow could the soldiers know what happened to the body if they were asleep! (c) The disciples would not steal the bodythey would not want to risk further antagonism of the Roman soldiers and other authorities and they had absolutely no reason for stealing the body and furthermore their subsequent lives makes such an allegedly diabolical plot unthinkable!

In considering the other attempts to explain the empty tomb we have borrowed from both A. Dale Crain's essay and Therefore Stand, by Wilbur Smith. There is a theory that the body of Jesus was stolen by His friends (Joseph, Nicodemus and the disciples). There is positively no evidence that this was done. If His friends did remove the body, why did the Sanhedrin have to bribe the soldiers to tell it. Another skeptical theory is that the enemies of Jesus stole the body. But what is the motive for this?! Certainly there could be no greater help to the cause of His enemies than to keep the body in the tomb! Furthermore, if they had removed it and hidden it, why did they not produce His body when the apostles began to preach His resurrection in the very courts of the temple?! That would have stopped Christianity for good!

There is a theory that the women went to the wrong tomb. Could anyone forget within a few short hours where a precious loved one had been buried? If the women went to the wrong tomb then the angels were in the wrong tomb and Peter and John went to the wrong tomb! Furthermore, this was not one tomb among many in a public burial ground but was in a garden, belonging to a rich man, hewn out of solid rock, near the place of His crucifixion, with guards and a Roman seal upon it! And the women didn-'t know which one it wasor forgot?? This is so ridiculous a theory that even many skeptics ridicule it! Another theory is called the Swoon Theory. According to this theory Jesus did not actually die, but merely fainted away and was revived by the coolness of the damp tomb and rose up and rolled away the stone Himself. How could anyone who had endured physically what Jesus had endured revive Himself in some seventy-two hours enough to roll away a stone which possibly five women could not move?! He had been beaten to the point of fainting with the Roman scourge; He had not had rest for two nights; He had been crucified and left to hang for six hours; His side had been pierced and a great amount of His blood had flowed from the gaping wound; He had been wrapped and bound in grave cloths. This theory makes the record a complete and deliberate contradiction and lie for the record says that even Pilate was satisfied that Jesus was dead. If Christ did merely swoon then the apostles are liars and Christ is the greatest fraud the world has ever known. There is a theory called the Vision Theory which explains the resurrection as a supernatural but ephemeral vision given to the apostles and women and others. If the appearances of Christ were not bodily appearances why do the gospel writers make it so plain that Christ showed the nail prints in His hands and the wound in His sidewhy did He eat with the disciples?! There is the Optical Illusion theory which says that a ghost-like appearance of Jesus was produced in some natural way. This would not explain the empty tomb at all. Furthermore, Jesus made enough appearances, both night and day, to enough people, in such close proximity to the subjects that it would be impossible to defraud all those to whom He appeared! Finally, there is the Hallucination theory which relegates the claimed appearances to the realm of subjective apparitions of the imagination. Still, we have the record of the empty tombwas that a hallucination too!? St. Paul claims that He appeared to over five hundred people at onceare we then to suppose over five hundred identical, individual, subjective hallucinations? Besides the Lord made varied appearances over a period of forty days in many widely separated places to all types of people (even to one of His enemies, Saul of Tarsus). The empty tomb makes the hallucination theory an absurdity.
The factual and historical evidence for the empty tomb is so over-whelming that skeptical scholars are baffled as to how to explain this phenomenon. One skeptic has said, The empty tomb must be thought out on doctrinal, not historical or critical grounds. The relevance of the resurrection and its meaning may be theological, but the facts surrounding the resurrection such as the empty tomb and the appearances of Jesus are strictly historical matters. The people are real people; the places are geographically definite, the enemies were not mythical beings.

Quiz

What happened after the burial of the body of Jesus by Joseph and Nicodemus?

When did the women come to the tomb? Day and time?

Why, when the angel told the women Christ had risen, did Mary Magdalene say to the disciples, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb?

What did John believe (John 20:8)? What is the meaning of John 20:9?

Refute the story explaining the empty tomb spread by the soldiers.

Give five other theories of the skeptics and refute them.

The meaning of the resurrection is theological but what of the facts surrounding the account of the resurrection?

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