John 20:5-7

Amplified Bible

Footnotes

1. John 20:5 Removing the burial wrappings and spices from a dead, decaying body would have been not only extremely difficult (if not impossible), but overwhelmingly nauseating. If a tomb robber had even attempted such a thing, the tomb would have been left in shambles. It would make no sense for a tomb robber to remove a dead body from the wrappings before stealing it.
2. John 20:7 The word used here, soudarion, is taken from Latin (sudarium), where it refers to a linen handkerchief (cf Acts 19:12) or large linen napkin. This suggests something of the dimensions of the cloth, which was probably a new, unused piece of material.
3. John 20:7 Jesus either caused the tight linen wrappings to fall from His body miraculously or His resurrected body miraculously passed through the linen wrappings, leaving them just as they were where He was lying (except for the face-cloth), unlike Lazarus who emerged from the tomb and had to be released from the wrappings. In either case, the grave wrappings would collapse on themselves on the flat surface of the slab where His body had been placed. The text also indicates that Jesus may have removed the face-cloth Himself once His hands were free, and neatly placed it apart from the other wrappings.