Christianity hangs on the truth of the resurrection of Jesus. If he was raised, then his words are validated and everything is different.
We often use the shorthand of “the empty tomb” to refer to the resurrection. But characters in the Gospels didn’t speak this way. Instead we read, “He is not here, for he has risen” (Matt 28:6). We can find similar statements in Mark 16:6 and Luke 24:6.
Why didn’t these angelic beings talk about an empty tomb? The main reason is that the tomb wasn’t empty. Close observation will reveal what remained in the tomb and how it provided evidence of Jesus’s resurrection.
“See Where He Lay”
After Jesus was crucified, he was brought off the cross and prepared for burial. This involved what we might call “grave clothes”—a linen shroud and other pieces of cloth for his body (Luke 23:53).
Scripture also records that some of the women disciples “saw the tomb and how his body was laid” (Luke 23:55). These women were going to prepare the ointments and spices for Jesus’s body (Luke 23:56). However, the Sabbath was upon them, so this work would have to wait until Sunday morning. They would return for the anointing then.
When visitors approached the tomb on Sunday morning, they saw the heavy stone rolled away. Angelic beings told the disciples that Jesus was risen and invited them to “see the place where he lay” (Matt 28:6). Luke is clearer: “Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened” (Luke 24:12).
But John connects the dots with the boldest and most colorful lines.
Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. (John 20:4–9)
Jesus was not in the tomb but his grave clothes were. Since he was no longer dead, he had no need for them any longer!
Evidence That Leads to Belief
The linen cloths and the face cloth were still present in the tomb, which told the disciples that Jesus had been there but that he was not there any more.
If Jesus’s dead body had been moved—either by the disciples wishing to steal his body and perpetuate a fraud (Matt 27:62–66) or by the Roman or Jewish authorities—it hardly would have been stripped of its grave clothes first. He likely would have been carried off as a bundle.
We can see the immediate effect the grave clothes had on John: “he saw and believed” (John 20:8). John spells out exactly what he believed: “for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead” (John 20:9).
A Careful Reading
I’m not advocating that we never speak of an empty tomb when referring to Jesus’s resurrection. My daughter and I were talking this morning about how our garage was empty—we meant that the expected item (our car) was not in the garage, not that the garage was completely cleaned out. (It most definitely was not!) Jesus’s tomb was certainly empty in this sense; a tomb is meant to hold a dead body, and this tomb was lacking that essential item.
However, the details in Scripture matter! And they often come to us through close observation and repeated study. There were items that remained in Jesus’s tomb. Rather than casting doubt on his resurrection, the grave clothes convinced at least one disciple that Jesus had risen from the dead.
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