John 20:6-8
When presented with a nice swimming pool on a hot summer day most people will dip their toes in the water to see how comfortable – warm or cool – the water is. Others are a bit more daring and are willing to simply dive into the water, taking what comes. In either case, both types of people usually end up in the water at some point.
In the story of the empty tomb we see two approaches to faith. Peter and John have arrived at the empty tomb. What did Peter do? What did he see? What did John do?
Like the passage in Mark 14:52 this portion of John seems to have a unique detail that may make us wonder. Why are we presented with the details of the linen and burial cloth?
A simple explanation is that this is evidence that the body was not stolen. If someone had taken the body of Jesus they would have taken the burial cloths with it. Since the linens and head-cloth are still in the tomb it is an indication that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead and was alive again.
We also have two approaches to the tomb. Peter, always impetuous and eager, rushed inside to discover the abandoned linen. John on the other hand was a bit more tentative. In both cases, however, these two disciples entered the tomb, saw and believed.
We may be like Peter. We may hear the stories of Jesus and hear about the love of God and immediately trust and believe in God’s grace and His kingdom.
We may be like John. We may need time to understand what faith is all about and in time come to have the deep faith and belief that we need.
As we come to Easter and the celebration of the resurrection of Christ we need to find our faith and belief in God’s love. We need to see and believe in the eternal presence of the living Christ. Then we need to carry that faith with us and go beyond the tomb to live our faith in the world.
DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you live out your faith in Christ?
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