The Empty Tomb (Jn 20:2-18)

Introduction

Rarely have I been embarrassed by my mom. I recall one such occasion with great clarity. The story begins in the small gym of my high school in which most home wrestling matches took place. I was a junior. The team we wrestled against that evening did not have an opponent for me in my weight category. I wrestled at 171. However, they did have a heavy weight that weighed in at 270. Prior to each match, each wrestler would walk out to the middle of the mat and shake hands with his opponent. My faithful mother and greatest fan sat close to the mats edge on the small bleachers that lined the wrestling mat. As I began to walk out and shake hands with my much larger opponent, from the sidelines, my mom yelled, “don’t let my boy wrestle him!” Her appeal held such urgency and love while at the same time immense embarrassment for me and great humor for the rest of the fans. I must admit I was intimidated by this behemoth of a man who not only exceeded my weight by 100 pounds but also exceeded my height by about 6 inches. [Oddly enough, someone was able to capture an image of the actual match 😊] If you need an image to connect to this brute of a man, consider Ivan Drago, the intimidating Russian boxer in Rocky IV. Ever since that moment, I have never questioned my mother’s love for me.

Now, if I were to stop the story at that point, you may have a few questions, the most pressing may likely involve how the match went. But, if my purpose is to display a mother’s love, the results of the match are irrelevant.

However, let me briefly finish the story. As the match began, I quickly realized speed was my advantage. This Russian farm hand was big but slow. For 6 minutes I simply avoided being taken down and won the match by points – three to two.

My point? In telling the story, I chose the details which made my point. If I were to tell that story again, the details I include would be determined by the point I was trying to make. I included my mother’s interaction because I desired to unfold a story that showed my mother’s intense and even embarrassing love. However, if I wanted to show my wrestling prowess, I would probably not include her cries from the sidelines. Those might undermine the grandeur of the wrestling moment.

Consider a general writing principle. In any story, the author includes, or should only, include the details that are pertinent to his point. Other details exist, but often the author chooses to exclude the details that may detract from his overall purpose.

Each gospel author writes in similar fashion. Each of them chose to include or not include specific information which would best enhance the purpose of their gospel narrative. Before, we jump into the gospel accounts of the resurrection and how this principle of exclusion impacts their resurrection accounts, let us first acknowledge a potential danger. Any reader must be extremely careful as they potentially draw conclusions about what an author did not include.

For instance, assume you know all the details of my wrestling story. If I were to tell the story again and leave out some details, you would know what details were excluded. However, you would not know, with certainty, why I excluded those details. You may intelligently guess my reasons, but any conclusion would only be a guess.

In applying that to the gospel accounts, we need to be extremely careful in drawing conclusions as to why one gospel author did not include certain material.

John does not include. Now let us cautiously apply this principle to John’s account of the resurrection. Let me offer a few details of which John does not include. (1) John does not include the other women who accompanied Mary Magdalene. The other gospel authors include a group of women, yet John reveals Mary Magdalene alone as the woman who took spices to the tomb.[1] John leaves the reader with a natural question. Why does John only discuss Mary Magdalene? Maybe because, John appears to shine a bright light on Mary Magdalene’s interaction with Jesus, and a discussion about the other women would detract from that emphasis. (2) John does not include the interaction between the group of women and two angelic beings.[2] Why? We cannot draw any certain conclusions, but once again, John desires to emphasize the interaction with Mary Magdalene and potentially the interaction between this group of women and two angels would have taken away from his purpose. (3) John does not include the women’s declaration to the disciples concerning the empty tomb. Two of the gospel accounts reveal that upon hearing of the empty tomb, the disciples did not believe (Mk 16:11; Lk 24:11). They considered it an “idle tale” (Lk 24:11). John, however, chooses to not include this material in his gospel account.

John does include. First, John alone reveals that both he and Peter run back to the tomb and see the empty grave (Jn 20:3-8).[3] Second, John alone reveals Mary’s interaction with two angelic beings and with Jesus (Jn 20:11-18).

So then, let us draw some cautious conclusions (maybe theories) as to John’s purpose in this text. (1) We know John desires to share stories and testimonies throughout his gospel that will advance his purpose. He desires to reveal Jesus in such a way as to have others believe in him and have life (John 20:31). Therefore, John chooses his stories with this purpose in mind. (2) John’s purpose throughout his gospel and his specific approach in this story indicate that John desires to emphasize Mary’s interaction with Jesus leading to her belief. Including the other women would have detracted from this purpose. (3) Additionally, telling the story about the disciples’ lack of belief would not have helped his purpose, so he does not include it. (4) Finally, John emphasizes his own experience at the tomb because, in so doing, he offers one more firsthand account of belief. John saw and believed.

With all that said, John emphasizes two interactions, John’s own firsthand testimony of seeing the empty tomb leading to belief and Mary’s interaction with hearing Jesus leading to belief.

John sees and believes.

Per John’s story, Mary has already arrived at the tomb and seen it empty. Although John does not include the details, Mary had been with a group of women who had come to the tomb together. After talking with two angelic beings the group ran back to the disciples and told them of the empty tomb. The disciples considered the women’s declaration to be an “idle tale” and they do not believe. However, back in John’s gospel, Mary Magdalene had told Peter and John (here termed, “the disciple whom Jesus loved”) of the empty tomb, and these two disciples run to the empty tomb.

John 20:4–8 ESV

Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;

John seems to unfold a growing awareness and understanding as Peter and John come to the tomb. Three times John writes, “he saw” (Jn 20:5, 6, 8). In the first instance, John arrives to the tomb first and looking in, “he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Next Simon Peter catches up to John and runs past him in to the tomb and “saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.” Finally, John went in and “he saw and believed.”

In each of the three instances, John uses a different word for “he saw.” The first term (βλέπω) connotes the simple ability to see in contrast to being blind.[4] John arrived at the empty tomb, and he was simply aware of the tomb being empty. The second term (θεωρέω) communicates the idea of a spectator watching or “observing something with sustained attention.”[5] Peter rushed past John and began processing the information. He saw the linen cloths lying there. He saw that the face cloth was folded and not lying where Jesus head had been. The third and final term (εἶδον) carries a meaning of “taking note by observation” or “experientially coming to know or realize something.”[6] John put together the significance of the empty cloths. Jesus had risen. John truly saw and believed.

Mary hears and believes.

John and Peter leave the scene and “went back to their homes (Jn 20:10). But, “Mary stood weeping outside the tomb” (Jn 20:11). Over the next six verses, John unfolds what is either my second or third favorite interaction with Jesus in John’s gospel. My favorite interaction with Jesus in John’s gospel unfolds in chapter 21 between Peter and Jesus. Additionally, I love the story of the Samaritan woman and Jesus in John 4. However, this brief interaction between Jesus and Mary Magdalene grips my heart.

John 20:11–16 ESV

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

The emotional connection I sense with Mary in this moment rests in a certain level of subjectivity. I cannot know what she was feeling. I do know she loved Jesus. I know she bore immense grief at his loss. I know she wanted to be close to him. She does not appear to have the physical strength to remove herself from the site of the tomb or simply does not know where to go because all she wanted was to be by Jesus.

She peers into the empty tomb and sees two angelic beings who inquire, “Woman, why are you weeping?” We do not know how she processed these angelic beings, but we do know she simply wanted them to direct her to Jesus’ body.

Jesus, still unknown to Mary, approaches and says to Mary, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Somehow, Mary sees Jesus and does not piece together to whom she speaks. Maybe the sun had not yet fully come up. Maybe the shade of the location blurred a clear view. Maybe her eyes were cloudy due to her weeping.

Presumably because she had been weeping and searching for His body in the darkness before the dawn, she does not realize who He is (John 20:14–15), and recognizes Jesus only when He speaks her name (John 20:16).[7]

Regardless, when Jesus calls Mary by name, Mary hears and believes. I’m hard pressed to not see a parallel to Jesus’ declaration, “my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me (Jn 10:27). Unlike John who saw and believed, Mary heard and believed.

Conclusion

Jesus calls all types of people in different ways. Mary and John are just two of many examples throughout John’s gospel of people seeing and/or hearing Jesus and believing. For John, he saw and pieced together the significance of the resurrection and believed. Apparently, John did not need to see Jesus’ resurrected body. He knew and believed what had happened. Mary, on the other hand, not only saw angelic beings – potentially with the other group of women and then again on her own – but also saw Jesus. But, it was not until she heard Jesus’ voice that she pulled all the pieces together and believed.

John’s Gospel features 10 primary characters—five men and five women—whose encounters with Jesus illuminate matters of faith. John depicts Nathanael, Nicodemus, the man born blind, Thomas, and Peter in significant conversations with Jesus (John 1:44–51; 3:1–21; 9:1–41; 20:24–29; 21:1–23). Their discussions result in statements of belief and commitment (John 1:49; 9:38; 20:28; 21:15–17) or, in the case of Nicodemus, questions (John 3:4, 9). Likewise, the Samaritan woman, Mary and Martha of Bethany, and Mary Magdalene enter into extended, revelatory interactions with Jesus (John 4:4–42; 11:1–44; 12:1–8; 20:1–18). He later commissions Mary Magdalene to tell the apostles that He is ascending to His Father (John 20:17). John also assigns a unique role to Jesus’ mother, who appears in two significant scenes: in Cana, where Jesus performs His first sign (John 2:1–11), and again at Golgotha as He dies (John 19:25–27).[8]

That women were the first witnesses to the empty tomb is important. It affirms their value to God. But more importantly shows that this story was not made up. In ancient cultures, a woman could not be a courtroom witness, so if one were to make up such a story, one would not use women as the first witnesses. The women are recorded as having this role because they had this role in real history.[9]

Is Mary’s heart reflective of your own? I fear we read this story in a clinical fashion with no awareness to the gravity of emotion Mary would have felt. She passionately desired to be near Jesus. Is there something within you that longs to see Jesus, something that longs to be by Jesus? If you were to hear Jesus call your name, would you experience that which your soul longs for and cries out to experience?

[1] Matthew includes “the other Mary” (Matt 28:1). Mark includes “Mary the mother of James, and Salome” (Mk 16:1). And Luke on a few occasions mentions a group of “women who had come with him from Galilee” (23:27, 49, 55), and in chapter 24, Luke relays that “they went to the tomb” (Lk 24:1).

[2] The synoptics all include an interaction between these women and an angel (Matt 28:5-7; Mk 16:5-7; Lk 24:4-7).

[3] Luke acknowledges Peter went back to the grave, but he does not include John.

[4] Timothy Friberg, Barbara Friberg, and Neva F. Miller, eds., Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2000), 92; William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd edition (Chicago: University of Chicago, 2000), 179. (Friberg) “see, look at; (1) of sense perception see…in contrast to being blind” (BDAG) “To have the faculty of sight…To take in the sight of something…to notice something…to develop awareness of something.”

[5] Friberg, Friberg, and Miller, Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, 197; Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 445. (Friberg) through sense perception watch, look on (as a spectator) (MT 27:55); (2) through mental perception understand, perceive, notice” (BDAG) “to observe someth. with sustained attention…to come to the understanding of something”

[6] Friberg, Friberg, and Miller, Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, 130.

[7] Jocelyn McWhirter, “The Role of Women in John’s Gospel,” in Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016).

[8] Jocelyn McWhirter, “The Role of Women in John’s Gospel,” 2016).

[9] Steve W. Lemke, “The Academic Use of Gospel Harmonies,” in Holman Christian Standard Bible: Harmony of the Gospels (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2007), 218.