The Race to the Tomb (John 20:1-10)

Sometimes we wonder how we would respond in a crisis if something unexpected happened. The female followers of Jesus were facing a crisis brought about by his arrest and death, and they had made plans for what they would do for his buried body once the Sabbath was over. Obviously the preparation made by Nicodemus and Joseph was temporary. Yet the female followers were to discover that their plans could not be fulfilled because his body had disappeared.

The response of Mary

We know from the other Gospel accounts that other women accompanied Mary Magdalene to the tomb. They had observed his hurried burial and had decided to complete the usual tasks connected to a burial.

Why did Mary run to tell Peter and John? We are not told why she did so; therefore all we can do is suggest two possible reasons. One might be that Mary had gone ahead of the other women and reached the tomb by herself. They had been concerned about who would move the stone and perhaps she had gone ahead to see if there was anyone around who would move it. When she saw that the tomb was empty, she then ran to tell Peter and John.

The other possible reason is that after the women had reached the empty tomb, they decided that Mary should go and tell Peter and John. Perhaps she did so because Mary the mother of Jesus was with John. This possibility is more likely because Mary uses the plural pronoun ‘we’ when telling Peter and John why she has come to see them. She knew that none of the women had any idea as to where the body of Jesus was.

We can make two comments at this stage about the response of Mary. First, the obvious feature of Mary’s response, and probably that of all the women, to the empty tomb is that she assumes a group, probably the civil authorities, have moved the body of Jesus somewhere else. Initially she and the other women did not see the empty tomb as evidence that Jesus was alive.

Second, if Mary had remained at the empty tomb with the other women, she would have been given the assurance that the other women received from the angels that the reason why the tomb was empty was that Jesus was now alive. This observation allows us to make a couple of applications.

First, we should see that we should not turn to human help immediately. Her going for Peter and John indicates that it was expected that they could help with the situation. But John makes clear from his account that they were of no help in explaining where the body of Jesus had gone.

Second, the subsequent explanation given by the angels suggests that Mary should have waited for heavenly guidance before embarking on her mission. The other women also went to tell the disciples, but they had a far better message than Mary had for Peter and John initially. Imagine what it would have been like for Peter and John if Mary had waited a few minutes.

It is important to say that we are not pointing a finger at Mary here. The account here, as well as other references to her, makes it very clear that Mary loved Jesus deeply. Yet in a sense her problem was that her love was controlled by her experiences and not by the words of Jesus. For Mary, her response was based on what Jesus had done for her and not on what Jesus had said to her. He had helped her in the past by delivering her from demonic possession and she loved him deeply because of her release from that bondage. She would do anything for him, but because she had not believed what he had said she found herself doing things for him that were unnecessary. He had told his disciples that he would rise from the dead on the third day, and Mary and the other women, as well as the male disciples, should have focussed on his prediction.

Peter and John

There is something striking about the fact that Peter who had fallen so badly when denying Jesus was in the company of John who had remained faithful to Jesus to the end. Is there not a challenge here to those who do not fall about how they regard those who do?

The last mention we had of Peter was when he went out of the high priest’s house weeping bitterly after his very strong denial that he had any personal awareness of or contact with Jesus. We are not told where he went on Thursday evening after his denial, but we know where he was on Saturday evening. Perhaps he had made his way to John’s house by himself or maybe John had gone looking for him after he had taken Mary home. No one can say.

Yet surely the heart of John wanted to help his fellow disciple. John may not have heard the sin of Peter because we don’t know if they were near each other in the high priest’s house. It may only have been after they met up that John discovered how badly Peter had sinned. Whenever it was that John discovered Peter’s fall, it did not become a reason for separation.

As with Mary, both Peter and John loved Jesus. And as with Mary they had personal experiences to share. Peter could tell John about the loving look that Jesus had given him in the high priest’s house and how that look had melted his self-confident heart. John could recount the various things that Jesus said on the cross Perhaps they could have comforted one another that the spirit of Jesus was now in heaven. Yet they assumed as they talked that the mission of Jesus had failed because of the power of the enemy. Jesus had suffered the same fate as the prophets God had sent in the past.

Their time together, and what they shared together, was affected also by the fact that, like Mary, their response to Jesus was based on what they had experienced and not on what he had said. They had been told many times by Jesus that he would rise from the dead but since they had not accepted what he had said they now could not enjoy spiritual comfort. That Saturday should have been a day of anticipation, but instead it was a day of gloom for them.

I suppose we might wonder what they would do when Mary came knocking at the door indicating that the officials had removed the body of Jesus. Perhaps we would expect them to keep clear of any contact with the tomb in case they were arrested. The disciples were afraid of being found by the Jews (v. 19), so we would not be surprised if their response was to remain hidden. Instead they ran out into the open.

The different responses

Peter reached the tomb second. As one would expect from Peter, he was prepared to enter the tomb and look more closely. And he did see things that John had not noticed when he looked in. Peter saw the napkin that had been on Jesus’ face in addition to the linen cloths that had been wrapped round the body of Jesus.

What they saw was very unusual. If someone had taken the body, they would not have removed the cloths. The ointment would have made the cloths stick together, so they would be formed in the shape of a human, yet without a human within them. Jesus must have gone through the cloths and the napkin without disturbing them.

Peter saw those details, but did not grasp their significance – Luke 24:12 tells us that Peter left the tomb with questions going through his mind because he had not fully grasped the details. The word used for ‘see’ in verse 6 suggests looking and trying to assess what he is seeing.

In contrast, John tells us that he himself did see the significance, because he informs us that he believed that Jesus was alive. The word used for ‘see’ in verse 5 about John’s first look at the tomb means ‘to glance’. But the word used for ‘see’ in verse 8 means ‘to see with the understanding’. John knew now that a resurrection had taken place.

We can ask ourselves what John would have deduced from the grave cloths and the napkin. Obviously, he would recognise that Jesus had not been prevented from rising from the dead. Second, he would have recognised from the way those items were left in the tomb that Jesus had not left it in haste. The impression is given that the tomb was tidy.

Yet he adds something important, which is that faith needs more than evidence. In addition to compelling evidence, there has to be knowledge of what the word of God says. If they had known what the Old Testament said, perhaps they would have decided to sing Psalm 16 rather than go home. It is not enough to know that Jesus was resurrected, they also had to know why he had been resurrected and the only place to discover that information is in the Bible. Later, John would agree with Paul’s emphasis in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 that Jesus was raised according to the scriptures.

Peter and John went home different than what they were like when they left there to go to the tomb. We can imagine John saying to Mary, ‘Jesus is alive and we don’t know what this means.’ Maybe he asked Peter to voice his opinion, but all he would say would be that he was still thinking about what he saw. I a short time his questions would be answered by Jesus himself (Luke 24:34).

Some lessons

The first lesson I would stress is to remember that what seems damaging may turn out to be delightful. No doubt Mary initially thought things had gone from bad to worse when she saw the empty tomb. Yet a few hours later she was delighted that the tomb was empty.

A second lesson is that Jesus rewards love for him even when it is uninformed. The three individuals expressed their love for Jesus in various ways before they saw him alive and risen from the dead.

The third lesson is that the experiences of Peter and John is a reminder that two people can be at the same place, see the same things, and yet have two widely different responses. For one, his faith was clarified, yet for the other he did not see the truth clearly. Yet both were making progress in the life of faith.

Fourth, we should note that Jesus has time for dealing with little things. Would we expect him to leave the tomb tidy when he left it? I think we should say that we would, because he will always do what is right. There is something beautiful about Jesus doing little things well.

Fifth, the incident tells us that we always need the Word of God. John had been at Calvary and the empty tomb, but he did not realise their full significance until he understood what the Old Testament had to say about them.