“This first term refers to simple seeing. He looked inside the opening and saw cloths. I learned something that has changed the way I imagine this scene. I typically imagine a door-sized opening to a cave-sized tomb. I imagine the stone being taller than me – a huge, thick, pizza of rock.
But did you notice how it said, “Stooping down, he saw?” Remember how I said archaeologists have excavated over 1,000 of these tombs? In most cases, the entrance was about 3 feet high. An adult would have to practically crawl in.
Seeing the empty cloths would’ve not only been confusing but upsetting. Remember – in the moment they still haven’t understood Jesus was risen from the dead. So that leaves only a couple options. Either the body was stolen, or the body was moved elsewhere. If stolen, they might have cut open the cloths to get to valuables that were sometimes buried with the dead. But grave robbers would’ve left the corpse. If the body had been moved, they wouldn’t have unwrapped it.
Jesus had been anointed with more than 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes. So if He was being placed somewhere else, they’d want to keep the package together.
But bloodied cloths on their own? That’s a mystery that made no sense. It didn’t fit the normal expectations.”
