John 20:1-8
1 Early 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. 2 So 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!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8 Finally 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 along with the other three writers of the other gospels all concur that it was the first day of the week when Jesus resurrected from the dead. This is the same day as our calendar of today, Sunday. John knew this, not because he was told by someone but because he was there.
The account of the resurrection of Jesus from John’s gospel is the most personal than the other three because John writes about how he personally was involved in the events of that day that Jesus resurrected from the dead.
John referrers to himself in verse 2, as “the other disciple, the one Jesus loved”. In verses 3, and 4 he refers to himself as “the other disciple”.
Even though John does not state that he was younger than Peter, we see in verses three and four that both Peter and John ran to the tomb at the same time, “3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.” For this reason, most Bible commentators believe that John was possibly younger, and not just in better physical condition. Only John who was there would know these details, but at the same time in humility he did not refer to himself by using his name. John referrers to himself two more times, in verse six “Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived” and verse eight he says “Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside.”.
John gives us a very detailed description of what Mary Magdalene saw and what she told them what happened early that morning, and also what he and Peter saw and did.
It is important to note that this and the other accounts given in the other gospels concerning what happened early on the morning of Jesus’ resurrection, Mary Magdalene was not the only woman who first went to the tomb. In the second half of verse two we read that Mary was not alone when she went to the tomb. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”, John 20:2b.
Matthew only mentions Mary Magdalen by name but he also mentions “the other Mary”, Matthew 28:1.
Mark tells us that, “When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome…” (Mark 16:1) who went to the tomb.
Luke gives us more names of those women who “very early in the morning”, (Luke 24:1) went to the tomb. Luke 24:9-11, 9 “When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.” Luke gives us three names but also mentions that there were other women.
Was and empty tomb that all these women along with Peter and John saw that day, enough evidence of Christ Jesus’ resurrection?
There is an important point that needs to be considered. First, Matthew 28:11-15 tells us that the chief priests instructed and paid the guards who were supposed to be guarding the tomb but ran away to say, “…His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.” (Matthew 28:13). If Jesus’ body was stolen by whoever, John would not have found “the strips of linen lying there” (verse 5) in the tomb which were used to completely wrap the body of Jesus. In verse seven John goes into further detail telling us what Peter saw. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.
These important details concerning what John and Peter saw in the empty tomb was enough evidence for many others to believe in the resurrection in that day. But is that all the evidence we have today?
In John’s account of that morning and what he wrote about of what he and others saw, we see his honesty and humility. John writing about himself says; 8 Finally 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.) What John “believed” was that Jesus was no longer in the tomb. But including the others and himself, he admits they did not make the connection with what they saw with what Jesus had told them many times prior to His death.
Matthew in his gospel recorded at least four times that Jesus said He was going to die and rise again. The following verses are just two examples.
Matthew 16:2, From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Matthew 20:18-19, 18 “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”
John knowing that others would be reading his gospel who were not witness of the empty tomb that day, tells us at the end of his gospel. “This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.” John 21:24. Much (but not exclusively) of the faith that John and all the other witness had to have a personal relationship with Jesus was based on the evidence they saw. Some saw the empty tomb and there were hundreds after them who saw the resurrected Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
What convincing proof is there today of the resurrected Jesus? What evidence have you placed your faith in that Jesus actually resurrected from the dead?
Wiersbe in his commentary says this. “It is good to have faith that is based on solid evidence, but the evidence should lead us to the Word, and the Word should lead us to the Savior. It is one thing to accept a doctrine and defend it; it is something else to have a personal relationship to the living Lord.”
It is our personal, intimate and constant relationship with Jesus, which produces the evidence in our lives to others of the resurrected Jesus. This is our changed lives and the character (the fruit of the Spirit) of Jesus in us the evidence to others that Jesus is alive because He is alive in us.
John 15:4-5
4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
Galatians 5:22-23a
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.
Pastor John
