The Other Disciple

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.  So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put Him!”

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.  Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.  He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.  Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.  Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside.  He saw and believed. - John 20:1-8

This is one of the oddest written portions of John to me.  Why does he write while not naming "the other disciple".  It seems strange but purposefully done.  The key verse is the last verse, "He saw and believed."  I want to immediately think that he then believed in who Jesus was as God at that moment, but he could have equally just believed that someone had taken Him.  However, the reason I don't believe he was thinking that someone had just taken Jesus is the way it is written.  The description of how the linen and head cloth are lying there describe more than He was just taken.  It describes that the body had disappeared. 

I find the story is a great analogy of someone as they are coming into a belief in Christ.  This may be why the text is written without naming the other disciple, as this other disciple could be any one of us.  I get the sense that "the other disciple" looked in, saw the linen deflated and it was too much to the senses to enter.  As when a person first realizes that Jesus could be God.  The mind is opened up and thoughts start racing and it is too much for the senses at first.  This person then has to decide whether to "enter" into the belief or to stay outside.  Do they dare to go "in"? 

Here, once Peter had entered, the other disciple then had the courage to go in and confirming the absence of the body, the resurrection, he believed.  Most often, a person will follow a disciple who believes into their own belief.  Peter knew who Jesus was and had already confirmed it (Matthew 16:16).  Peter had gone in and this disciple decides to go in also and he believes because of it.  Similarly, an unbeliever at that point of decision may see us living without doubt in the belief of the resurrection and decide to believe themselves. 

An important aspect, not be overlooked, is that the other disciple was with Peter.  If we want to influence others, we have to be with them.  We can't live on our believer's island and hope to influence someone on the mainland.  We need to walk (in this case run) with them to their point of decision and walk them into the fact of the resurrection of Christ.

On a more personal level, what aspects of our lives still live outside the tomb?  What part of me have I not allowed to enter into the tomb and believe wholly upon His resurrection?  What part of me does not depend upon and trust in the power of God?