After being informed by Mary Magdalene on Resurrection Sunday that Jesus’ body was gone from the grave in which it had been placed, Peter raced off to the tomb, perhaps with a tiny glimmer of hope that what seemed impossible to him might somehow be true, but mostly to salvage what he could of his commitment to Him by doing what he could for His dead body. John followed, but ran ahead faster and arrived at the tomb first. Perhaps from a greater concern for ritual purity, or perhaps because of the seal the religious authorities had placed on the tomb, he stooped to look in and could see the linen cloths in which the corpse had been wrapped lying there, but paused and did not enter. Although Luke, writing while Peter was still alive recorded only that Peter stooped to look in (Luk 24:12), perhaps to protect him from a capital charge by the Jewish leaders of violating the seal, what did John record writing much later after Peter had died and the Jewish nation had been destroyed? See Joh 20:6. Because of the low entrance to the tomb that required one to stoop to see into it, what is clear that Peter had to do to enter it? Is our devotion to the Lord, especially after a season of contemplation such as Peter had just gone through over the previous few days, such that we are willing to lay aside any religious squeamishness or fear of men we might have and bow ourselves to enter into Christ’s death, even when we may have only a tiny glimmer of hope that it might actually accomplish something? How does this help us to understand what the Lord saw in Peter upon which He would build His Church, and that set him apart from the other apostles?
The Synoptic gospels record that Joseph wrapped Jesus’ body “in a linen cloth” (Mat 27:59, Mar 15:46, Luk 23:53). Was this just a single cloth, perhaps like the Shroud of Turin, in which Jesus’ body had been bound? See Joh 20:5,6,7 and note the plural wrappings in each case; note too that in all of the Synoptic accounts the indefinite article supplied in our English translations is ambiguous, meaning that it could as well, and in light of John’s later description better, be translated as “in linen cloth”, referring not to a single cloth, but to the collection of wrappings made from the linen cloth he had purchased.
From the example of how Lazarus was bound, how should we understand Jesus’ body was also bound by the linen wrappings? See Joh 11:44. If Lazarus’ hands and feet were bound by the grave wrappings, like a mummy, how would he have been able to come out from the grave at the hearing of Jesus’ voice? However he was bound and as to how much freedom of motion he may have had, notice Jesus’ words in Joh 11:44 that he had to be unbound so as to permit him to depart, as the Greek words used indicate but our English translations don’t make as clear. Although we tend to imply that the linen wrappings Peter and John saw lying in the tomb were neatly organized as if Jesus’ body had vanished leaving them in place, does the text actually say that? See Joh 20:6-7. On the other hand, how might John’s words in Joh 20:12 support this conclusion? Think: how would Mary have known where the head and feet of Jesus’ body had been lying except for the position of the linen wrappings lying there? Recall that while the two Mary’s were looking on from opposite the grave as Joseph and Nicodemus laid Jesus’ body in the grave (Mat 27:61, Mar 15:47), because of the declining day and low entrance to the tomb they likely would not have been able to see inside it at that time to observe the exact position of the body.
Although John does not specify how exactly the linen wrappings were lying in the tomb, what does he note about the face-cloth that was used to wrap the head of Jesus’ corpse? See Joh 20:7. What exactly was this facecloth, and what is the significance that it was not lying with the other wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself? See Joh 11:44 where the term is used similarly for the cloth that was wrapped around the face of Lazarus after he had died, as well as Luk 19:20 and Act 19:12 where Luke uses the same term for a handkerchief. The word used is actually a Latin loan-word that referred to a piece of cloth for wiping perspiration from the brow, that by extension could be used to refer to any personal cloth related to the face such as a handkerchief or the cloth used for swathing the head of a corpse, perhaps to bind shut the jaws. Interestingly, John uses a different word for face (ὄψις) in Joh 11:44 than the one used almost every other time in the New Testament (πρόσωπον). Rather than one’s physical face, this word seems to refer more to one’s outward visage or appearance (see Joh 7:24), which is perhaps significant considering the different outward appearance Jesus had after His resurrection. See also Rev 1:16 for the only other occurrence of this word in the NT where the word is used of Christ’s visage shining like the sun in its strength, which perhaps explains how the image on the Shroud of Turin came to be if it is genuine, or where the idea for it came from if it is a hoax. Note: the Shroud of Turin measures 14.5 ft by 3.5 ft and the image upon it indicates that it would have been wrapped lengthwise around the corpse so as to create it; does that seem consistent with the Biblical description of how the body was bound with wrappings and the separate facecloth used to bind the head? See here for additional information casting doubt on the Shroud’s authenticity, followed by a lengthy rebuttal arguing it is genuine.