Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary John 20:11

"But Mary was standing without at the tomb weeping: so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb;" — John 20:11 (ASV)

Mary Magdalene had returned to the tomb and stood outside, wailing for the loss of Jesus. On looking into the tomb, she saw two figures in white seated on the shelf where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the foot and the other at the head. The tomb was a horizontal chamber cut through the soft limestone rock on which Jerusalem was built. Usually such tombs had a small antechamber into which the low entrance opened and from which the burial chambers radiated. This tomb seems to have been large enough to accommodate several living persons in addition to the burial cells.