💫WEB · John 20:9
What does John 20:9 mean?
"For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead."
— John 20:9 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Then Simon Peter came, following him, and entered into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying,
and the cloth that had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself.
So then the other disciple who came first to the tomb also entered in, and he saw and believed.
For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
So the disciples went away again to their own homes.
But Mary was standing outside at the tomb weeping. So, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb,
and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
Explanation
John 20:9 comes at a pivotal moment in the resurrection narrative. Simon Peter and "the other disciple" (traditionally understood to be John himself) have just raced to the tomb after Mary Magdalene reported that Jesus's body was missing. They enter the tomb and see the linen wrappings lying there, with the cloth that had covered Jesus's head folded separately. The text tells us that the beloved disciple "saw and believed" — but then immediately adds this explanatory note: they still didn't understand the Scripture that said Jesus must rise from the dead. It's a small verse, almost a parenthetical aside, but it carries real theological weight.
To understand the context, remember that John's Gospel was written by one of Jesus's closest followers, likely toward the end of the first century, for an audience of both Jewish and Gentile believers who needed to understand who Jesus truly was. The disciples had spent three years with Jesus, hearing him predict his death and resurrection multiple times (see John 2:19-22, for example), yet at this moment, standing in the empty tomb, the pieces still hadn't clicked into place. Their belief in that instant seems to have been based on the physical evidence in front of them — the empty grave clothes arranged in an orderly way, not the frantic disarray of grave robbers — rather than a prior understanding of Old Testament prophecy pointing to a rising Messiah.
Theologically, this verse highlights something important: the resurrection was not fully anticipated even by those who loved Jesus most, despite it being foret
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