John's Gospel begins the resurrection accounts with the discovery of the empty tomb in the wee hours of "the first day of the week" by Mary Magdalene. She discovers that the tomb has been opened and so goes back to Simon and the "other disciple" and reports it. In turn, both Simon Peter and the other disciple ("the one Jesus loved") went to the tomb and saw -- one after the other -- that the linen cloths (the one for the body and the one for the head) were lying in place, but the body was no longer there. The disciple whom Jesus loved "saw it and believed"; nothing is said about Simon Peter. The narrator explains that "they still did not understand from Scriptures that Jesus had to rise from the dead" (v.9)
Mary Magdalene will be the object of the appearance of Jesus later on (Jn. 20:11 ff). When Simon Peter and the other disciple leaves, she will remain outside the tomb weeping. It will be then when the Lord call her name and show himself to her. In the account of Mark (Mark 16:1-8), three women are involved: Mary Magdalene, Mary, mother of James, and Salome). After these saw a vision of a young man in white commanding them to tell Peter and the rest of the disciples the news, they ran off, trembling. In Matthew 28:1-10, the women are met by Jesus as they were hurrying off and he told them to instruct the disciples to go to Galilee where the Lord will be preceding them. In Luke 24:1-12, it was an angel at the tomb who reminded the women that the Son of Man "must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be cruscified and on the third day be raised again" (Luke 24:7). These women (Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James and Joanna) reported what they saw to the disciples, but these latter would not believe them. Peter goes to the tomb but after seeing the linen cloths wondered what had happened (Luke 24:12).
This partial survey of the accounts of the discovery of the empty tomb illustrate how the evangelists did not make an attempt to come up with uniform details about the discovery. In Matthew's gospel alone are we given the detail that there were guards who "experienced" something that Easter morn and were paid to spread the news that the followers of Jesus had taken the body away. Clearly this detail in Matthew has a polemical character or at the least, is motivated to explain the origins of a rumor about the stolen body of the crucified for converts who have heard it. These accounts of the discovery of the empty tomb were written for those who already believed in the resurrection of the Lord and are in no way designed for argumentation with the incredulous. For the incredulous, the testimony "I saw him" would be the best argument, and this is the object of the Appearance Stories.
In the Gospel of John, this first account of the discovery of the empty tomb highlights the "disciple whom Jesus loved" This disciple appears in four important scenes in the Gospel
- At the Last Supper (John 13:23)
- This disciple is the one whom Peter instructs to ask the Lord who the betrayer is. He was the one reclining next to Jesus and had his head against his chest, thereby looking as if "he had his head next to his (Jesus') heart".
- At the Foot of the Cross (John 19:26)
- The Lord entrusted Mary his mother to him with the words "Son, this is your mother." The narration goes "And from that day on, he took her to his own," that is, among those that he valued most.
- At the Tomb (Our present text)
- "He saw and believed"
- At Peter's Commisioning (John 21:7.20)
- He was the first one to see the Risen Lord on the shore and points him out to Peter. After the commissioning of Peter as the one "who will feed the sheep" and indicating to him how he will die, Peter asks the Lord what will happen to this disciple. The reply of the Lord to the question is simply: "It is none of your business." In verse 24 we find this tantalizing report: "This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know his testimony to be true." Whoever wrote these sentences may be alluding to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved or he may be referring to one whose written testimony he has incorporated to his work, or he may be a later redactor acknoledging that the complete work is built around the earlier work of the disciple whom Jesus loved.
The disciple whom Jesus loved saw and believed. This is the striking thing in the passage. While all the others will still have to see the Lord in the flesh, this disciple saw the sign of the resurrection and believed. It is clear from the narrative that he didn't have to be reminded from Scriptures that the Crucified will rise again; that is for the other disciples. He saw the pieces of linen in their place and believed. Was it because love has made his faith ready?
In John 14:21.23, we hear the Lord say something about the love that makes him manifest to the one who loves
The one who has my commandments and keeps them
is the one who loves me.
The one who loves me is loved by my Father
and even I will love him and show myself to him...
whoever loves me keeps my word
and my Father will love him
and to him, we shall come
and we will make a dwelling in him.
He who truly loves the Lord will have the faith that will allow him to see truly. Tradition has identified the disciple whom Jesus loved with John. But John the evangelist wants us to see ourselves in that disciple that we too may experience what it is to love the Lord and be loved by Him.
Happy Easter!
