Luke 24:12

JOHN AND PETER RUN TO THE SEPULCHER

Luke 24:12. “ And Peter, rising, ran to the sepulcher, and sees the grave-clothes lying alone, and departed, wondering to himself over that which has taken place.” John 20:3-10 : “ Then Peter and the other disciple went out, and were coming to the sepulcher. And the two were running together; and the other disciple was running before more rapidly than Peter, and came first to the sepulcher, and looking down, he sees the grave-clothes lying; indeed he did not go in. Then Simon Peter comes, following him, and went into the sepulcher, and sees the grave-clothes lying, and the napkin, which was upon His head, not lying with the grave- clothes, but rolled up separate in one place. Then when he went in, and the other disciple, the one having come first to the sepulcher, he both saw and believed; for they did not yet understand the Scripture, that it behooved Him to rise from the dead. Then they departed again to their lodging.” When the women, who had gone at the early dawn to finish the embalmment of the body, came with the thrilling news of His resurrection, being literally wild with enthusiasm and excitement, the apostles signally recoiled from the reception of a message so wonderful and paradoxical, and at the same time so infinitely go, inspiring, and electrifying, that their faith swooned away into a delectable rhapsody, culminating in the impression that as it was too good to be true, it was certainly a dream, flitting by in their waking moments, the grasping of which would but prove like the fugitive vision of an ambrosial night. They were afraid to venture out and exercise appropriative faith. Peter and John, however, who seem as a rule to have been blessed with deeper spiritual insight than their comrades, credited the paradoxical report of the women enough to set out at once for the sepulcher, running with all their might, hopeful to arrive on the spot before the delectable scenes described by the women should all have evanesced. John, the youngest of the twelve, in perfect health, and naturally superlatively nimble and active, outran Peter, arriving some time before the senior apostle. Looking into the sepulcher, he sees it vacant, the grave-clothes lying, but does not venture in. Meanwhile, bold old Peter, two hundred yards behind, rushed on, arrived at the sepulcher, looked in, and, unhesitatingly entering it, searched everything diligently, and coming out, certified that He was not there. Consequently these two were constrained to credit the wonderful report of the women.