Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
John 20:8-9 (ESV)
The gospel of John records that Mary Magdalene came to Jesus’ tomb early on Sunday morning and found it empty. So she ran and reported it to Peter and John. The two disciples then ran to the tomb, and they also found it empty.
Then John, the disciple Jesus loved, records that he saw and believed. But what was it that he believed? He goes on to share that they still did not understand what the Scripture had to say about his resurrection. So, it seems clear that he did not yet have the understanding he might have had later in the day after Jesus had appeared to them.
John records some interesting details concerning the tomb. The cloths that Jesus had been wrapped in were still in place, but the face cloth was folded up and lying separately. We were also told earlier that a large quantity of spices had been included in the wrapping (Jn. 19:39).
So, what John saw likely eliminated two possible explanations for the empty tomb. The body had not been moved to another tomb. If it had, the grave clothes would have gone with the body. And grave robbers were likely not involved. They would have taken the burial cloths with all the spices. And they would not have bothered to fold up the face cloth and set it aside.
What John Believed
So, what did John believe? In John 14:28-29, Jesus told his disciples he would soon be going to the Father. And his reason for telling them then, was so that they would believe when it happened.
It may well be that John remembered what Jesus had said and believed that he had returned to the Father. This falls short of believing all that Jesus had told them. But all that changed later in the day when he actually encountered the resurrected Jesus and his sorrow was turned to joy (Jn. 16:20, 20:19-20).
