Sermon Tone Analysis

The Almost Empty Tomb

John 20:1-10

The Almost Empty Tomb

Read John 20:1–10 (ESV)

“Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb.

4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.

6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb.

He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.

8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.”

This morning I want to talk about the almost empty tomb.

And before I explain further what I mean by the almost empty tomb let’s look quickly at the situation John has written about.

John focuses our attention on what happens when Peter and John arrive at the tomb.

And Peter and John are at the tomb because of Mary.

As it says in John 20:1-2 Mary and others had already been there.

And, when they saw the stone had been rolled away they ran back to the disciples to tell them what happened.

This is an urgent issue.

Just a few days before Jesus was crucified and buried.

His followers are reeling from his death.

On the morning of Jesus’ resurrection the disciples still did not fully understand what Jesus’ teaching on the resurrection.

Mary and those with her didn’t understand.

Peter and John didn’t understand… but after they saw the almost empty tomb it all begins to be clear.

Jesus taught them that the Messiah must suffer and be crucified.

Jesus taught them that the Messiah would be resurrected.

But, they didn’t catch it all and understand it all.

I am not sure why they didn’t get it, but I know that after this moment in John 20 they get it.

Maybe they thought Jesus was talking figuratively.

You know maybe they thought he was only referring to a spiritual death and then maybe a spiritual resurrection.

Maybe they thought he was talking about death but really meant hardship.

Maybe even a hardship that felt like death but wasn’t really death.

The whole scene it tense, rushed, and urgent.

Mary runs to the disciples.

Then Peter and John run to the tomb.

Peter and John take off running.

Just like you or I would.

Imagine getting the phone call at 6:30am.

The grave has been disturbed; the person you just buried is not where you left him.

John, who makes a big deal about his love for Christ, outran Peter and got the tomb first.

This is so real… John is reminiscing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

It’s been over 50 years since Christ died and was resurrected when John writes down these words.

And he still remembers who got there first.

John 20:5

“5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.”

When John got there he looks in the tomb and the tomb isn’t completely empty.

If someone told me that Jesus’ body had been stolen, I would not expect to see the strips of cloths used in His burial still sitting where His body has been placed 3 days before.

The process for burial most likely included wrapping the body with strips of linen cloths and then inserting a mixture of spices and gum that when mixed together was inserted under the cloths.

All in all it was probably about 75lbs of spices that were used.

Based on what we know about burial practices in this region at that time the linen cloths would not have covered Jesus face, neck, or upper shoulders.

There would have been a separate piece of cloth wrapped like a turban around the upper part of Jesus’ head.

When John looks into the tomb and sees the cloths and the spice still sitting where Jesus has been laid, he did not go in.

John 20:6-7

“6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb.

He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.”

Peter arrives, John is standing outside the tomb, and the Peter went into the tomb.

The more you read the Bible you notice this is characteristic of Peter.

He was an act first think about it later kind of person.

Peter notices the linen cloths.

But, at this point John uses a different word when he writes that Peter “saw the linen cloths lying there.”

In verse 5 John uses a word “βλέπω” for “ saw.

This word means he noticed or simply saw.

But, in verse 6 he uses a different word for Peter.

Where John noticed the linen cloths, Peter, θεωρέω “theorei,” the cloths.

This means that he saw them, but that he did so with understanding.

This is the same word that we get the English word theorize.

John paints the picture that when Peter went in he examined, scrutinized, and then theorized about the linen cloths.

John and Peter both recognized that the linen cloths were laying where they had been placed.

What I mean is this, the cloths were laying in the same place that Jesus’ body had been.

John uses the same word to describe the linen cloths as “lying there” in verses 5 and 6.

The reason he uses the Greek word “keimenon” is to communicate that the cloths were lying in a particular place.

The head cloth was laying where Jesus head had been laid, and the cloth wrapped around his body was laying where Jesus body had been laid.

The image John is painting for us is that the cloths were undisturbed.

These cloths had not been taken off of Jesus body and left there.

They had not been unwrapped and placed.

These cloths were laying there like Jesus body had miraculously disappeared from inside them.

John 20:8-9

“8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.”

When John went into the tomb and looked the second time he believed.

But what did he believe and why?

When we look at what John saw this time, the Greek word is εἶδον “eidon,” and it means to perceive or to understand.

I get the picture that John ran, saw the cloths in the tomb, and instead of going in his mind began to race.

For John this scene doesn’t make sense.

Why would anyone take the body but not take the cloths?

Then as Peter is examining the tomb and the cloths, John is thinking about all the promises that Jesus made.

Remembering all the times He heard Him teach.

In addition John is running all that He knows from the Old Testament about the messiah and the potential for His resurrection.

Then, when he goes into the tomb, sees the cloths lying as if the body of Christ just disappeared from within them, it all makes sense!

Jesus is alive!

That is only conclusion that makes sense in light of the almost empty tomb.

It’s just like he said it would be!

He has been resurrected.

Jesus wasn’t resuscitated; he wasn’t brought back to life like we see with Lazarus or any other boy or girl Jesus raised from the dead in the Gospels.

Jesus is alive… with a resurrected body.

I can’t help but think of the moment Jesus was transfigured on the mountain before John’s eyes in Matthew 17.

In that moment it says in verse 2 that “He was transfigured before them.

His face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as the light.”

John now believes that Jesus’ body wasn’t stolen.

Jesus didn’t wake up from a deep sleep.

This is the same Jesus who was transfigured before them on the mountain.