The empty tomb
John 20 v 2 Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."
These references would indicate that the "other disciple" was almost certainly John:
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John 20 v. 2 |
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He did not name himself in his gospel. John and Peter usually seem to be together and he identified ‘the disciple whom Jesus loves’ as himself in John 21 v 20 and 24.
Mary at this stage only knew that the body of her Lord had gone. She assumed he was still dead and had been "laid" somewhere else. The thought that he might have risen from the dead didn’t occur to her.
24 v 4 And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.
The Genesis and Acts references tell us that angels sometimes appeared as men. The Matthew references confirm that these "men" were angels:
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Luke 24 v. 4 |
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In verses 5 to 7, the angels told the women that Jesus was not there – you don't find living men in graves! They reminded the women of the times that Jesus had told them that he would die and rise again.
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge cross-references from verse 6 lead us to some of those occasions:
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Luke 24 v. 6 |
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But the disciples were expecting Jesus to become King in fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies. They were not mistaken to expect it, but they were wrong in expecting it at that time. They would have been eager to see Jesus as King, but not so keen on the thought of his suffering and death.
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It is typical of all of us. We conveniently ignore things which are unpleasant and act as though we don't know them. |
Mark 16 v 7 "But go, tell His disciples - and Peter - that he is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as he said to you."
The angels told the women to tell the disciples to go to Galilee where Jesus would see them. Peter was specifically mentioned. Possibly after his threefold denial, Peter was wondering if Jesus would ever regard him as a disciple again. Peter's weeping indicates his repentance and so he was forgiven, but he needed reassuring. Jesus was here applying his own words in Luke 12 v 10.
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Jesus will forgive all sin against him if we repent. |
