John 24:1-18 (cont.)
This is a narrative we can see ourselves in.
What do you mean his body isn't there?? And off they go, with the presumably younger John outpacing Peter. Even given the latter's denial of Jesus, John still defers to him with regard to entering the tomb. (How odd that the RSV refers to the cloth covering his head as "the napkin.")
It occurs to me that John's statement that he saw and believed does not speak at all to whether Peter believed. Perhaps John didn't feel qualified to speak about what Peter believed in that moment, because he didn't experience what Peter thought and felt as he did his own thoughts and feelings. As for the disciples returning "home," or "to their homes," I'm pretty sure this is whatever was passing for home in Jerusalem, rather than returning to their homes in Galilee.
Did they return there in order to bear tidings of what they had seen to the other disciples? Or were they still uncertain what to share, even though at least one of them believed?
I wonder what it is like for those who receive miracles in modern times? If it is something like our friends' daughter whose hearing was restored, there isn't too much to doubt: she couldn't hear before, and now she can. But some healings are not so obvious, even to the recipient, right? And even if you're certain, knowing how to share would take wisdom.
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