When the Apostle John wrote this account on the resurrection of Christ,
it had already taken place some fifty years earlier. Yet as we read this
account, it seems just as fresh and as vivid as when it first occurred. The
resurrection took place on the first day of the week. And according to accounts
given in the other Gospels, other women besides Mary came to the tomb early
that morning. The time should be around five to five thirty in the morning when
the sun was just about to rise.
At the tomb they saw the huge stone, weighing roughly a ton, that covered
the tomb rolled back leaving it opened. Taken aback by what she saw, Mary left
the other women standing and hurriedly ran to Peter and John to announce that the
tomb of Jesus had been ransacked, the guard was no longer there, and the body
of Jesus had disappeared. The synoptic accounts also said that the rest of the
women who stayed behind met with two angels and were told that Jesus had risen.
But Mary did not receive that news for her first response was to hurry to the
disciples to tell them of the disappearance of the body of Jesus.
The Easter news should have been good news, but it turned out to be a shocking
news. Just imagine Peter and John already numbed and shocked, and whirling from
the unexpected death of the Lord, now greeted by Mary’s frenetic announcement. She
could have cried hysterically saying, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where
they have laid Him.” What Mary said had Peter and John
bee-lined straight for the empty tomb. John, the younger of the two, ran faster
and outran Peter to the tomb. But he stopped short of going inside. Staying at
the entrance, he stooped down and looked into the tomb and saw the linen wrappings of Jesus lying there. Why John did not go in is known only
to himself. Anything we suggest would be delving into speculations at best. When
Peter arrived, the first thing he did was to go right into the tomb. He also saw the burial cloths that John saw. They were lying there neatly folded
up.
It was only
on Peter’s arrival and was inside the tomb that John followed. And now
according to his own account, he saw and believed. What did he believe? Over
the years many had said that John at this point believed that Christ had risen.
Looking at it in the context of verse 9, suggests that they only believed in what
Mary had said. In other words, they concurred that the body was stolen. That’s
why John’s own confession in verse 9 was, “For as yet they did not
understand the Scripture that He must rise
again from the dead.” At this point they still did not understand that Christ had risen
from the dead, so they went away again to their own homes.
What’s the point? Faith must always precede understanding. The pre-requisite
to understanding the things of God is faith. Even today people are still disputing
spiritual things, including the truth of His resurrection. We need to take the
stance that what God has clearly revealed we must believe and obey right away.
What He has not, we must hold it gently. For in due time He will make clear to
us so that we will fully understand. Many spiritual experiences will baffle us if
we seek only to rationalize with our mind. To clearly understand them we must
begin the journey with faith. For faith is the starting point. It is by faith and
through faith that we will fully understand. There is no other way.
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