Peter and John entering the tomb. Photo: An Orthodox icon.
‘The verbs tell it all.’
At a glance: Elaine Miles reads from the Gospel of John
There is no more touching and intimate story than that found in chapter twenty of John’s Gospel. It could only have been told by someone who was there, and the different shades of meaning of the verbs used (blepo, theoreo, horaw) tell it all.
The day after the Saturday of the Passover, Mary Magdalene got up early and went to the tomb. She immediately spotted that the stone had been removed, so she did not linger but ran back to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus was fond of. She told them: ‘They have taken the Master from the tomb and we do not know where they have taken him.’ We know that one quick look at the tomb was enough for her, and that she did not stop, because of the verb blepo, which describes a brief glance.
The disciples were staying at John Mark’s house, and Peter was the leader of the disciples. So when Mary got to the house it was these two whom she met first. Peter and John Mark (‘the other disciple’) came out of the house and started to make their way (note the imperfect tense) to the tomb. ‘Started’ suggests that it was uphill. They began running together, but ‘the other disciple’ could run faster than Peter (he was perhaps ten years younger or more) and he reached the tomb first. He put his head round (parakupsas) the side of the tomb, and had a quick look (blepo again). It was a quick look, I think, because he did not want to go right in – it was a bit spooky. But it was long enough for him to see the linen wrappings.
Then Simon Peter gets there. He goes right into the tomb and scans it thoroughly (theorei), being older and more experienced. He sees the wrappings too but also that ‘the napkin which had been over his head’ was not lying with the rest, but ‘rolled together in a place by itself’. This was hardly likely to have happened by accident.
Then the disciple who had first reached the tomb also goes in. He accepted Peter’s word for it (episteusen). This word does not mean ‘believed’ but ‘trusted’ because the verb is on its own, without the addition of ‘on God’.
So the verbs tell it all. The contrast here is between John Mark, who does not want to look right in – just peep in to show willing – and Peter, who feels a responsibility to make a thorough search (theoreo). And yes, John did see the wrappings (the word here is eide, from horaw).
Writing some sixty years later, John could remember every moment. How could it be otherwise? He had last seen the Master, head lolling, breathing out his final breath. He had not yet recovered from the shock of it, and the trial before that, and the hostility of the crowds. He could only blindly follow Peter’s lead…
