John 20:3-9 - Peter reached the tomb first

20:3-7

Peter and John (assuming he is the other disciple) ran to the tomb, with John getting there first. John looks into the tomb and sees the grave clothes lying there. This is a marked difference to the case of Lazarus, who came out wrapped in his grave clothes. Peter showed no reticence and went right into the tomb. It seems that the grave clothes had been left in a very near and orderly manner. The empty tomb was not made much of in the early preaching of the gospel, this was because the emphasis was more directly on the risen Christ Himself. We too should focus on the risen Christ. However, the empty tomb is important. All the gospel writers refer to it, and it is one of the most powerful apologetic arguments for the resurrection. The Jews and the Romans could easily have squashed all the talk of the resurrection by producing the body, or pointing to where Jesus was buried. But there was not body to produce, and no tomb, save an empty one, to point to.

20:8,9

John eventually follows Peter and he “believed”. “For as yet they did not understand the Scripture” at first glance doesn’t seem to quite fit with “he believed”. Perhaps what John is saying is that if they had understood the Scriptures properly they would have known that Jesus would rise from the dead. And Jesus had told them beforehand that He would rise again. However, at this stage they did not understand the Scriptures, and it was the evidence of the empty tomb that convinced them.