What Does John 20:2 Mean?

(2) **To Simon Peter, and to the other disciple.**—St. Matthew has, “to His disciples;” St. Luke has, “to the Eleven, and to all the rest.” St. John relates only that announcement of which he had special personal knowledge. For “the other disciple” comp. *Introduction,* p. 375. For the connection between St. John and St. Peter, comp. *Introduction,* p. 371. **Whom Jesus loved.**—Comp. Note on John 11:3; John 21:15. The word here used of St. John is that which is used of Lazarus in John 11:3. It is not the word which occurs in John 19:26; John 21:7; John 21:20. **We know not where they have laid him.**—The plural has frequently been pressed to prove that Mary included the other women with herself in what she says—*i.e.,* that St. John’s narrative here implies that of the earlier Gospels. This certainly may be so, but we cannot say more than this. It certainly may be that, in her feeling of despair, she speaks generally of the utter hopelessness of human effort, whether her own or that of others. It is the passionate cry of her woman’s heart. They have not only crucified the Lord, but have robbed the body of the resting-place which love had provided for it, and of the tender care with which love was seeking to surround it—“They have taken away the Lord; and we know not to what fresh indignity their hatred, against which even the grave is not proof, has subjected the body of Him whom we have loved. We know not where they have laid Him.”