Lukas 24:9-12

24:9 and when they returned from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven ¹  and to all the rest. 24:10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, ²  Joanna, ³  Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. 24:11 But these words seemed like pure nonsense ⁴  to them, and they did not believe them. 24:12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. ⁵  He bent down ⁶  and saw only the strips of linen cloth; ⁷  then he went home, ⁸  wondering ⁹  what had happened. ¹⁰ 

[24:9]  ¹ sn Judas is now absent and “the twelve” have now become “the eleven.” Other disciples are also gathered with the remaining eleven.

[24:10]  ² sn Mary Magdalene is always noted first in the appearance lists in the gospels. It is unusual that the first appearance would involve women as in this culture their role as witnesses would not be well accepted. It is a sign of the veracity of the account, because if an ancient were to create such a story he would never have it start with women.

[24:10]  ³ sn On Joanna see Luke 8:1-3.

[24:11]  ⁴ sn The term pure nonsense can describe idle talk or a tale. The point is important, since the disciples reacted with disbelief that a resurrection was possible. Sometimes it is thought the ancients were gullible enough to believe anything. But these disciples needed convincing about the resurrection.

[24:12]  ⁵ sn While the others dismissed the report of the women, Peter got up and ran to the tomb, for he had learned to believe in what the Lord had said.

[24:12]  ⁶ sn In most instances the entrance to such tombs was less than 3 ft (1 m) high, so that an adult would have to bend down and practically crawl inside.

[24:12]  ⁷ tn In the NT this term is used only for strips of cloth used to wrap a body for burial (LN 6.154; BDAG 693 s.v. ὀθόνιον).

[24:12]  ⁸ tn Or “went away, wondering to himself.” The prepositional phrase πρὸς ἑαυτόν (pros Jeauton) can be understood with the preceding verb ἀπῆλθεν (aphlqen) or with the following participle θαυμάζων (qaumazwn), but it more likely belongs with the former (cf. John 20:10, where the phrase can only refer to the verb).

[24:12]  ⁹ sn Peter’s wondering was not a lack of faith, but struggling in an attempt to understand what could have happened.

[24:12]  ¹⁰ tc Some Western mss (D it) lack 24:12. The verse has been called a Western noninterpolation, meaning that it reflects a shorter authentic reading in D and other Western witnesses. Many regard all such shorter readings as original (the verse is omitted in the RSV), but the ms evidence for omission is far too slight for the verse to be rejected as secondary. It is included in Ì⁷⁵ and the rest of the ms tradition.