John 20:1 - Meaning and Application

The apostles were deeply concerned to give solid proof of their Master’s resurrection. First, Jesus had pointed to it as the final and strongest proof that he was the Messiah. Those who would not believe the other signs were directed to the sign of Jonah, and his enemies were eager to hide this fact. If Jesus had risen, then they were not only murderers, but murderers of the Messiah.

Second, Christ’s whole work of redemption depended on it. If he gave his life as a ransom and never took it up again, then it would not appear that his sacrifice was accepted. If he was held in the prison of death for our debt and stayed there, then we are lost (1 Corinthians 15:17). Third, he did not show himself alive after his resurrection to all the people (Acts 10:40-41). We might have expected his shameful death to be private and his glorious resurrection to be public, but God’s ways were different.

God allowed his death to happen openly, in broad daylight, and even the sun hid its face at that moment. Yet the signs of his resurrection were kept for his close friends, and through them the news was carried to the world. In this way, those who have not seen can still be blessed if they believe. This kind of proof fully satisfies people who are willing to receive Christ’s teaching, while it still leaves room for stubborn unbelief. It is a fair test for those who are being tried.

In these verses, we see the first step in the proof of Christ’s resurrection, the tomb was found empty. He is not here, and if that is so, then his enemies must explain where he is, or we must conclude that he has risen.

Mary Magdalene, a devoted follower of Jesus, came to the tomb and found the stone rolled away. John mentions only her here, not the other women, because she seems to have been the most eager and active in this visit, and her love for Jesus was especially strong. That love came from gratitude, because he had done great things for her. Much had been forgiven her, so she loved much. While Jesus was alive, she had followed his teaching and helped support him from her own means (Luke 8:2-3).

She had no other reason to be in Jerusalem, but she wanted to wait on him. Women were not required to go up for the feast, and she likely stayed close to Jesus because she knew his departure was near, like Elisha staying close to Elijah when his master was about to be taken away (2 Kings 2:1-6). Her continued respect for Jesus, both before and after his death, shows that her love was real. Love for Christ, if it is sincere, will stay constant.

Her love was strong enough to stand by the cross, and strong enough to visit the grave. She came to the tomb to weep there and to anoint his body with the spices she had prepared. A grave is not a place people like to visit, especially for the more fearful. The Jewish law also discouraged people from dealing with graves and dead bodies more than necessary.

By going to Jesus’ tomb, she also risked suspicion, as if she had come to help steal the body. And in practical terms, what could she really do for him there? Yet her love answered every objection. We should seek to honor Christ even in things where we cannot be useful to him. Love for Christ also takes away much of the fear of death and the grave. If we must come to Christ through that dark valley, we will fear no evil if we love him.

She came as soon as she could. It was the first day of the week, as soon as the Sabbath was over. She was not eager to get back to buying and selling, but eager to be at the tomb. Those who love Christ will take the first chance they get to show their respect. This was the first Christian Sabbath, and she began it by looking for Christ. She had spent the previous day remembering creation and resting, but now she turns to redemption and goes to Christ, and to Christ crucified.

She came early, while it was still dark. Those who want to seek Christ and find him must seek him early. That means they should seek him earnestly, with a concern strong enough to keep them from sleep. It also means they should seek him diligently, willing to deny themselves and their comfort for his sake. And it means seeking him early in life, and early each day. “My voice you shall hear in the morning.” A day that begins this way is likely to end well. Those who carefully seek Christ while it is still dark will receive light that grows brighter and brighter.

When she found the stone taken away, the sight surprised her, because she did not expect it. Christ crucified is the fountain of life. His grave is one of the wells of salvation, and if we come to it in faith, we will find the stone rolled away, like a spring no longer sealed (Genesis 29:10). Then we have open access to its comfort. Early seekers are often surprised by comfort.

This was also the beginning of a glorious discovery. The Lord had risen, though she did not yet understand it that way. Those who stay closest to Christ and keep seeking him diligently often receive the earliest and sweetest signs of God’s grace. Mary Magdalene, who followed Christ to the end of his humiliation, was among the first to meet him in his glory. God usually reveals himself and his comfort little by little, to stir up our hopes and keep us searching.

When Mary saw the stone moved, she quickly returned to Peter and John, who likely stayed together not far away, and told them what she had seen. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,” she said, as if people had stolen from him even the honor of a proper burial place. “We do not know where they have laid him, or where to find him, so that we may give him our last respects.”

Here we see how Mary understood things at that moment. She saw the stone gone, looked into the tomb, and found it empty.

Now one might expect her first thought to be, “Surely the Lord has risen,” because whenever Jesus had said he would be crucified, he also said he would rise again on the third day. She had just seen that promise fulfilled in the crucifixion, and she was now near the tomb, or on her way there, when the earthquake happened. Yet the thought of the resurrection does not seem to have entered her mind at all.

Her strange explanation for the moved stone shows how far her mind was from that hope. When we look back on our own conduct in a dark and troubled time, we often wonder how we could miss truths that later seem so plain. Things that should have been obvious can feel hidden from us when we need them most.

Mary Magdalene thought, “They have taken away the Lord.” She may have meant that the chief priests had removed Jesus to bury him in a worse place, or that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who had cared for Jesus’ body, had taken it away to avoid the Jews’ anger. Whatever she imagined, the empty tomb deeply upset her. Yet if she had understood what was happening, nothing could have been more joyful.

Weak believers often treat as a loss what is really a cause for hope. We cry out when some earthly comfort is taken from us, and we do not know how we will recover it. Yet the removal of temporal comforts, the things of this life, may be making room for the rising of spiritual comforts, which we should welcome with joy.

Mary did not sit alone in her grief. She went and told Peter and John what she had seen. That is one good use of the fellowship believers share with one another, bringing sorrows into the light. Peter, though he had denied his Master, had not broken away from Christ’s friends. His keeping company with the disciple whom Jesus loved, John, showed that his repentance was real. And the others’ continued friendship with Peter teaches us to restore those who have failed with gentleness. If God has received them when they repent, why should we refuse them?

Peter and John then hurried to the tomb to see for themselves whether the report was true and to learn more if they could (John 20:3-4). Some think the other disciples were with them when the news came, since the women told these things to the eleven (Luke 24:9). Others think Mary Magdalene told her story only to Peter and John, while the other women told theirs to the rest. In any case, only Peter and John went to the tomb, and both were among the first three disciples Jesus had especially honored. It is a good sign when those who have received more privilege in discipleship are also more active in duty, more ready to labor and even to risk themselves for a good cause.

We should learn from the experience of others. When Mary told them what she had seen, they did not simply accept her word in that sense, but went to see for themselves. If others tell us of the comfort and blessing found in God’s commands and gifts, we should be stirred up to try them for ourselves. Come and see how good it is to draw near to God.

We should also be ready to share our friends’ fears and burdens. Peter and John hurried to the tomb so they could give Mary a clear answer and ease her fears. We should not begrudge any effort spent in helping and comforting weak or fearful followers of Christ. And when we are on a good errand, we should make haste. Peter and John did not stop to consider their comfort or dignity. They ran to the tomb, showing zeal and affection and wasting no time. If we are walking in God’s commands, we should run in that path.

It is also a good thing to have company in a good work. Perhaps neither disciple would have gone alone, but together they were willing. There is value in holy companionship (Ecclesiastes 4:9). There is also a worthy kind of striving among disciples, each seeking to excel in what is good. John, though younger, outran Peter, and that was no breach of courtesy. We should do our best, without envying those who do better or looking down on those who come after us.

John was the one who reached the tomb first, the disciple whom Jesus loved in a special way, and who therefore loved Jesus in a special way too. The sense of Christ’s love for us, when it awakens our love back to him, will help us grow strong in virtue. Christ’s love presses us onward more than anything else to do our duty. Peter, who came in behind, was the one who had denied his Master and was still weighed down with sorrow and shame. Guilt can slow us down and make us less free in God’s service. When conscience is troubled, we lose ground.

When they reached the tomb, they kept investigating, but at first they learned little. John only went as far as Mary Magdalene had gone. He stooped and looked in and saw that the tomb was empty. Anyone who wants to know Christ must stoop down and look carefully, with a humble heart submitting to God’s truth in Scripture. But John did not go into the tomb. Warm feelings are not always joined to bold courage. Many are quick to run the race of religion, but not strong enough to fight its battles.

Peter, though he arrived later, went in first and found more than John had seen (John 20:6-7). John outran him, but Peter did not turn back or stop. He followed as fast as he could, and while John was still looking in cautiously, Peter came and entered the tomb boldly. This shows Peter’s courage, and it also shows how God gives gifts in different ways. John could outrun Peter, but Peter could out-brave John. It is not often true of the same people, as the poet says of Saul and Jonathan, that they are both swifter than eagles and stronger than lions (2 Samuel 1:23). Some disciples are quick, and they help stir up those who are slow. Others are bold, and they help strengthen those who are timid. The gifts differ, but the Spirit is one.

Peter’s going into the tomb may teach us several things. First, those who truly seek Christ must not scare themselves with made-up fears and foolish guesses, like, “There is a lion in the way,” or “There is a ghost in the grave.” Second, faithful Christians do not need to fear the grave, because Christ lay in it. For them, it is not a place of terror, not a pit of destruction, and its worms are not never-ending worms. So we should not give in to the fear that often comes when we see a dead body or stand alone among graves. Since we will soon be dead and buried ourselves, we should get used to death and the grave as close neighbors, as Job 17:14 says.

Third, we must be willing to go through the grave to Christ. That was the road he took to glory, and it is the road we must take too. If we cannot see God’s face and remain alive, it is better to die than never see him. See Job 19:25 and following.

Notice also what Peter found in the tomb. Christ had left his grave clothes behind. We are not told what clothes he wore when he appeared to his disciples, but he never appeared in grave clothes, as ghosts are sometimes imagined to do. He laid them aside for several reasons. First, he rose to die no more, so death would no longer rule over him (Romans 6:9). Lazarus came out still wrapped in grave clothes, because he would need them again, but Christ rose into immortal life and left those burdens behind. Second, he was going to be clothed with robes of glory, so he left behind these lowly rags. In heaven, there will be no more need for clothes than there was in Eden. Third, when we rise from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, we must leave our old grave clothes behind too, meaning our sins and corrupt ways. Fourth, Christ left them there for our use. If the grave is a bed for saints, he had already made that bed ready for them. The napkin, lying by itself, also serves the mourners, as they wipe away their tears.

The grave clothes were also found neatly arranged, which strongly shows that Christ’s body was not stolen while the guards slept. Tomb robbers have sometimes taken the clothes and left the body, but no one would likely take the body and leave the clothes, especially when they were fine new linen (Mark 15:46). Even if thieves had wanted to leave the grave clothes behind, it is hard to believe they would have taken time to fold the linen.

Peter’s boldness then encouraged John, the disciple whom Jesus loved. John now took courage and went in too (John 20:8), and he “saw and believed.” He did not merely believe Mary’s report that the body was gone, which was plain enough to see. He began to believe that Jesus had truly risen, though his faith was still weak and uncertain.

John followed Peter’s lead in daring to enter. It seems he would not have gone in if Peter had not gone first. It is good when the courage of one believer strengthens another. Seeing someone else face danger for a good cause can take away some of our own fear. Perhaps John’s quickness had made Peter run faster, and now Peter’s boldness made John go farther than either would have gone alone. Peter had recently fallen by denying Christ, and John had been honored by being entrusted with Jesus’ mother, yet John did not think it beneath him to follow Peter.

Still, John appears to have believed before Peter did. Peter saw and wondered (Luke 24:12), but John saw and believed. A mind made for quiet thought may sometimes grasp divine truth sooner than a mind always ready for action. Why were they so slow to believe? Because, as John says, they did not yet understand the Scripture, meaning they had not properly thought through and applied what they knew about it, that Christ must rise from the dead (John 20:9). The Old Testament spoke of the Messiah’s resurrection. They believed Jesus was the Messiah, and he had often told them that he would rise according to the Scriptures. Yet they were not prepared to connect those truths with what they were seeing.

This slow belief actually strengthens their later witness. It shows the disciples were not eager to believe the resurrection. They were not the kind of people who accept anything easily. If they had wanted to invent the story for gain, they would have seized on the first sign of it and built it up at once. Instead, their hopes were disappointed, and the resurrection was far from their minds. Peter and John were so cautious at first that only the clearest proof could make them later testify with such confidence. That shows they were honest men who would not deceive others, and careful men who would not let themselves be fooled.

The reason for their slowness was that they did not yet understand the Scripture. This also seems to admit the evangelist’s own former weakness along with theirs. He does not say that Jesus had not yet appeared to them or shown them his hands and side. Rather, he says they had not yet understood the Scripture, because Jesus had not yet opened their minds to grasp it (Luke 24:44-45). Scripture is the surest word of prophecy.

Peter and John did not press the matter any further. They stopped there, still wavering between faith and unbelief (John 20:10). They went back to their own home, that is, to their own company and lodging with the other disciples, since they had no permanent home in Jerusalem. They left for two reasons. First, they feared being arrested on suspicion that they had stolen the body, or being blamed now that it was gone. Instead of growing in faith, they turned to their own safety. In hard and dangerous times, even good people struggle to keep going with full courage. Second, they did not know what to make of what they had seen, or what they should do next. Since they lacked the courage to stay at the tomb, they went home and waited for God to make the matter clear, which shows their weakness at that point.

The rest of the disciples were likely together, and the two went back to them to report what they had found and to decide what to do next. They probably arranged to meet again that evening, when Christ came to them.

It is worth noticing that before Peter and John reached the tomb, an angel had already appeared there, rolled away the stone, frightened the guards, and comforted the women. After Peter and John left, Mary Magdalene saw two angels in the tomb (John 20:12). Yet when Peter and John came to the tomb and went inside, they saw no angels at all. What should we make of that?

Angels appear and disappear as God commands them. They may be truly present even when they are not seen, and they may even be seen by one person and not another at the same time (Numbers 22:23; 2 Kings 6:17). We should not try to explain exactly how they became visible, then invisible, and then visible again. The story clearly shows that this did happen.

This favor seems to have been given to those who kept seeking Christ early and steadily. It was a reward for those who came first and stayed longest, but it was withheld from those who only made a short visit. The apostles were not meant to get their instructions from angels, but from the Spirit of grace. See Hebrews 2:5.