"20 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going towards the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 Having said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her."
John 20:1-18
To grasp the significance of the facts this is the real issue, and this is why doctrine and theology are so important in John's gospel. It is the interpretation of the facts that constitutes them a gospel. It is for this reason that it has been so important to go into the doctrine and theology John has been presenting to us in his record. As he says in 20:31, 'These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name'. It is an understanding of the things written about Christ that leads to faith and salvation. This is the importance of seeing aright. We may recall how Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians 4:3, 4: 'If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not...'. Until the scales are taken off the eyes of men, until their inward eyes have been opened, they cannot see the gospel, they cannot understand, they cannot be saved. This emphasis is not peculiar to John, for it is present in the other gospels also. John does not record Peter's confession at Caesarea Philippi, but the others do, and it is in this incident that we see the same emphasis made. Everything depended on the disciples' reaction to Jesus' question, 'Whom do ye say that I am?' He had wrought His mighty works, and now He was asking them, 'What do you see in all this? Have you seen what you were supposed to have seen, have you 'got the message?'' And Peter's magnificent burst of faith, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God' was met with the rejoinder, 'Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee...' - i.e. 'You have not seen this with the eyes of the flesh; your inward eyes have been opened to understand'. This is the point John makes here.