John 20:1-9

¹Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. ²So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put Him!" ³So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. ⁴Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. ⁶Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, ⁷as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. ⁸Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. ⁹(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

John records Mary’s visit to the tomb, but notice that she speaks in the plural in v2. As the other gospels report, there were at least two other women along with Mary Magdalene; Salome was one, and Mary the mother of James was another. Luke’s gospel tells us that the women came and told all the disciples, but John mentions only himself and Peter. Perhaps the two disciples most close to Jesus were the only ones willing to investigate her claim that “they” have taken Jesus’ body. Who is the “they” that Mary refers to? Perhaps she thinks the Jews or the Romans have stolen His body. Why would she think that? Upon hearing this disturbing news, John outruns Peter to the tomb and saw the strips of linen. Peter got there and went in. John joined him, and they saw and believed. They believed not Mary’s speculation but that Jesus had risen. Mary Magdalene made her way to that tomb “while it was still dark” (consider John’s double-meanings), and in her mind it looked as though the darkness had won, and her dear Lord and Savior was buried, lying dead in the tomb. But it would become obvious to her, and to the rest of the disciples, that in actual fact, the light has conquered the darkness. As the sun rose on that Sunday morning, the magnitude of the redemptive event that Jesus had accomplished would boggle their minds. John understands that darkness cannot master the One who is light. Remember his prologue and chapter 3. Jesus has risen. This is not resuscitation. Lazarus came forth with the grave clothes still bound around him. Lazarus came forth to die again. John tells us in v9 that they still didn’t understand the Old Testament. Perhaps in John’s mind, however, some of the words of Jesus are coming back to him. He would be handed over to be crucified and on the third day rise again. I have power to lay down My life and I have power to take it up again.

Throughout his gospel, John has been emphasizing two things, which come to the forefront again at the account of the resurrection: the first is the effect that Jesus’ great miracles were designed to have on those who observed, namely, true faith. And the second is the abundance of reliable testimony to Jesus’ mighty works on earth. Jesus was not just raised from the dead; He was also seen, after having been raised, by over five hundred eyewitnesses (1 Corinthians 15:3-6). Certainly, this well-testified event should bring us to faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God who has power over death and the grave! Calvin says, “The doctrine of Scripture is so full and complete in every respect that whatever is defective in our faith ought justly to be attributed to ignorance of the Scriptures.”

Of course, all of Jesus’ previous sign-miracles should have taught that much, and the fact that He would be raised from the dead should have been understood from the Scriptures (see, for example, Psalm 16:8-11); but the truth is, even Jesus’ disciples and followers were still blind to these things. Mary Magdalene thought that someone had stolen Jesus’ body; and even John, the beloved disciple, confessed that he did not yet know the Scriptures that proclaimed that Christ must rise from the dead. But He did rise indeed – and this resurrection was the last and greatest of all of His sign-miracles. It was a sign and more than a sign, for it did not just point to Jesus’ ability to give eternal life, but it was the winning of that life itself; and so, it was greater than all the signs before it and the fullest display of His divine power. And finally, this last and greatest act was sufficient to bring Jesus’ disciples to the full knowledge and faith that they had not had until this time. When John saw the empty tomb, “he believed.” This is still the case today: people will resist and doubt and misunderstand no matter how they are confronted with scriptures; but when the Spirit of God takes them by the hand and leads them to the empty tomb of Jesus, when they see the Savior risen from the dead and highly exalted, then the veil falls from their heart, and they see Christ in all His glory, and believe in God who raised Him from the dead.