John 20:3-7, The Race Is On

3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 

Tradition holds that John is younger than Peter partially based upon the fact that he beat Peter in their race to the empty tomb. Arriving first, he waited and deferred to Peter to enter the tomb first. Meanwhile, John peers in and sees one thing, the linen cloths used to wrap the body of Jesus.

Unlike the more reflective John, Peter heads straight in, seeing the same linen cloths. Then we get an interesting detail. The face cloth, which had covered Jesus’ face, is by itself folded up. Apparently the cloths, or at least the face cloth, are placed in an orderly way in the tomb, not as they would have been if a grave robber or the authorities had disturbed Jesus’ body.

What Peter and John saw was important to them as evidence that Jesus was actually resurrected from the dead. He would present himself to them in a couple of hours, but for the time being they could ponder the evidence. John Milne writes that what they appear “to have seen were the clothes which had been wrapped around Jesus’ body lying as if still enfolding it, with the spices adhering to them, and the head turban a little distance away. They appear undisturbed, as though Jesus’ body had simply passed through them, ‘in much the same way that he later appeared in a locked room.’”

When Jesus called Lazarus out of his tomb, whom he restored to physical life, he commanded people to take the grave clothes off of him. In the case of Jesus, who was resurrected from the dead, he simply left his clothes behind.

Christ is risen: The world below lies desolate.

Christ is risen: The spirits of evil are fallen.

Christ is risen: The angels of God are rejoicing.

Christ is risen: The tombs of the dead are empty.

Christ is risen indeed from the dead; The first of the sleepers.

Glory and power are his forever and ever.

Hippolytus of Rome, c. 190-236 AD