The Empty Tomb
He bent down and looked in at the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. John 20:5 · Berean Standard Bible
John bends down and peers inside. He can see the linen wrappings lying there, but he doesn't go in yet. What he sees doesn't make sense for a robbery.
If someone stole the body, why would they leave the wrappings? The evidence doesn't fit grave robbery. Something else entirely happened here.
John describes his first look into the empty tomb.
John peers into the dim tomb and sees the linen cloths. His mind is racing. This doesn't look like theft. The wrappings are just... lying there. Empty.
The beloved disciple arrives first, bends down to look in, sees the linen cloths lying there, but does not enter the tomb.
The word 'parakupsas' (bent down to look in) indicates peering into the low entrance. The linen cloths (othonia) lying there—without a body—present the first physical evidence of something beyond grave robbery. A thief would not unwrap the body.
The narrator describes John's initial observation.
The beloved disciple's first glimpse reveals a puzzling detail: the burial cloths remain but the body is gone. A grave robber would take the body wrapped, not unwrap it and leave the linens.
3Then Peter and the other disciple set out for the tomb.
4The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
5He bent down and looked in at the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.
6Simon Peter arrived just after him. He entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there.
7The cloth that had been around Jesus’ head was rolled up, lying separate from the linen cloths.
Read all of John 20 — Mary weeping in a garden hears her name spoken by a voice she thought she'd lost forever. Then Jesus walks into a locked room: peace.
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