John 20:1-16

Amplified Bible

The Empty Tomb

20 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw the stone [already] removed from the [groove across the entrance of the] tomb.^(A) ²So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the ^[a]other disciple (John), whom Jesus loved (esteemed), and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and ^[b]we do not know where they have laid Him!” ³So Peter and the other disciple left, and they were going to the tomb.^(B) ⁴And the two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and arrived at the tomb first. ⁵Stooping down and looking in, he saw the linen ^[c]wrappings [neatly] lying there; but he did not go in. ⁶Then Simon Peter came up, following him, and went into the tomb and saw the linen wrappings [neatly] lying there; ⁷and the [burial] ^[d]face-cloth which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the [other] linen wrappings, but ^[e]rolled up in a place by itself. ⁸So the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, went in too; and he saw [the wrappings and the face-cloth] and ^[f]believed [without any doubt that Jesus had risen from the dead]. ⁹For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise from the dead.^(C) ¹⁰Then the disciples went back again to their own homes.

¹¹But Mary [who had returned] was standing outside the tomb sobbing; and so, as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb; ¹²and she saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. ¹³And they said to her, “Woman, why are you crying?” She told them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” ¹⁴After saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you crying? For whom are you looking?” Supposing that He was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you are the one who has carried Him away from here, tell me where you have put Him, and I will take Him away.” ¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in ^[g]Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher).

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Footnotes

John 20:2 See note 19:26.
John 20:2 This indicates others were also present.
John 20:5 Removing the burial wrappings and spices from a dead, decaying body would have been not only extremely difficult (if not impossible), but overwhelmingly nauseating. If a tomb robber had even attempted such a thing, the tomb would have been left in shambles. It would make no sense for a tomb robber to remove a dead body from the wrappings before stealing it.
John 20:7 The word used here, soudarion, is taken from Latin (sudarium), where it refers to a linen handkerchief (cf Acts 19:12) or large linen napkin. This suggests something of the dimensions of the cloth, which was probably a new, unused piece of material.
John 20:7 Jesus either caused the tight linen wrappings to fall from His body miraculously or His resurrected body miraculously passed through the linen wrappings, leaving them just as they were where He was lying (except for the face-cloth), unlike Lazarus who emerged from the tomb and had to be released from the wrappings. In either case, the grave wrappings would collapse on themselves on the flat surface of the slab where His body had been placed. The text also indicates that Jesus may have removed the face-cloth Himself once His hands were free, and neatly placed it apart from the other wrappings.
John 20:8 John, the “other disciple,” knew immediately that no one could have fabricated the sight before him: (1) no one could have surreptitiously removed the stone covering the entrance (cf Matt 28:2), even if the guards assigned to the tomb had fallen asleep, as they were later paid to say by the chief priests (Matt 28:13); (2) removing the grave clothes from a dead body in a dark tomb in the middle of the night made no sense (cf note v 5); (3) stealing Jesus’ body would have accomplished nothing. The disciples’ reaction of disbelief when told of His resurrection implies they were neither expecting nor prepared for this miraculous event (cf Matt 28:16, 17; Mark 16:8-14; Luke 24:6-11). The actual resurrection of a living, flesh-and-bone Jesus gave the disciples the courage to begin proclaiming anew the message of salvation, and provided the strength for them to face both great personal suffering and martyrdom for their faith.
John 20:16 I.e. Jewish Aramaic.