The Tomb Is Empty

Mary arrives at the tomb and sees the massive stone is gone. She does not think, 'Jesus has risen from the dead.' That thought never crosses her mind. Her immediate, logical conclusion is grave robbery. The body is missing, so someone must have taken it.

She runs to Simon Peter and the 'other disciple' (widely understood to be John, the author of this Gospel). She tells them, 'They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him.' She assumes human malice. Notice her plural 'we'. The other Gospels mention other women going with her, though John focuses entirely on Mary's perspective here.

In the ancient world, grave robbing was common. A tomb belonging to a wealthy man like Joseph of Arimathea would be a prime target for thieves looking for burial goods. Mary expects the worst because, based on all available data, the worst is the only logical explanation. The world has already proven its cruelty on Friday; Sunday morning simply looks like an extension of it.

Peter and John sprint to the tomb. John wins the race but stops at the entrance. He looks in and sees the linen cloths lying there. Peter arrives, blows right past John, and goes straight inside. Peter is a man of action, unbothered by the ritual impurity of entering a tomb. What Peter sees immediately destroys Mary's grave robbery theory.

Grave robbers steal valuables. They work fast in the dark. They do not take the time to unwrap a corpse, leave the expensive linen cloths neatly behind, and steal a naked, decaying body. Furthermore, the text specifies the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head is not with the rest of the linens. It is rolled up or folded in a place by itself. The scene is orderly. It is deliberate.

The Greek phrasing implies the linens were lying exactly as they had been when the body was in them, just collapsed. It looks as if the body has simply vanished from inside the wrappings. John finally walks in. He sees this and 'believed'. He believed Mary was right that the tomb was empty, but looking at the forensic evidence, he realizes this was no robbery. Something unprecedented has happened. Yet John admits a raw fact: 'For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.' They have physical evidence, but they lack the theological framework to process it.

Peter and John go home. They leave Mary behind. She stays at the tomb, weeping. She finally looks into the tomb herself and sees two angels sitting where the body had been. Interestingly, she is not terrified. She is too consumed by grief to register the supernatural shock. When they ask why she is crying, she repeats her grave robbery theory: someone has moved the body.

Then she turns and sees a man standing there. She does not recognise him. She assumes he is the gardener, the estate worker responsible for the tomb area. She thinks he might have moved the body for administrative reasons. 'Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.'

Look at her fierce loyalty. She is offering to carry a dead, bloody, heavy male corpse all by herself. She is not looking for a resurrected king. She is looking for a dead teacher to honour. Her grief has completely blinded her to the reality standing right in front of her. She is staring at the resurrection, but all she sees is landscaping staff.

Jesus says one word: 'Mary.' He does not give a theological speech. He does not quote Scripture. He does not explain the mechanics of a glorified body. He simply calls her by her name. The recognition is instant. She replies in Aramaic, 'Rabboni!' which means 'Teacher' or 'My Master'. It is an intensely personal title.

Then Jesus issues a strange command: 'Don't hold me, for I haven't yet ascended to my Father.' He is not saying he cannot be touched. He will literally invite Thomas to touch his wounds later in this exact chapter. The Greek tense here implies stopping an action already in progress. Mary has likely thrown herself at his feet and is clinging to him.

She is trying to hold onto the past. Jesus is telling her that things are fundamentally different now. He is not just back from the dead to resume their old earthly ministry. He is moving forward to his ascension. He gives her a job: go tell the brothers. She becomes the apostle to the apostles, carrying the most important message in human history.