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While we see gospels written by four different men, we also see they each stressed different parts of what they knew in their writings. John 20 is no different. We see that John comments less about what happened while Jesus was on the cross and His death but greatly detailed Pilate’s interactions with the Jewish leaders. As we saw last week, John shows us how determined Pilate was to set Jesus free compared to other Gospels.
Chapter 20 leads us into the details of Jesus' resurrection and appearances to the disciples.
Mary Magdalene was also known as Mary of Magdala. Magdala was a small fishing village along the shores of Galilee. Mary Magdalene was spoken of a dozen times in the four Gospels. She is mentioned more than even any of the disciples. She is the second most important woman in the New Testament right behind Mary, Jesus' mother. We see Mary Magdalene appearing over and over again. When Jesus met mary, He had compassion for her and set her free from the grip Satan had on her. Her freedom at Jesus' hand endowed her to Him and she exhibited never ending devotion to and faith in Jesus.
Mary went to the tomb early that morning and found the stone used to seal the tomb had been moved away. This stone had been put in place by Pilate’s men and sealed by his authority. She ran to tell Peter and “the disciple Jesus loved."
It is commonly believed John is the disciple Jesus loved yet no where is Scripture is that validated. There are some that even believe the Gospel of John is mis-titled and there is no clear proof the writer is John. We are told to not add to or take away from Scripture by Scripture itself. My answer to the question "who is “the disciple Jesus loved?” is just that, “the disciple Jesus loved." We have a desire at times to answer all questions and tie everything up in neat packages but in this case there is nothing to prove who this disciple is so, for me, it is best to leave it be rather than be incorrect.
Mary told them the tomb was empty and someone had taken Jesus' body and they have no idea where He is. Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb. The other disciple got there first, looked in, and saw the burial linens but did not enter. Peter got there and went right in. To me it is no surprise Peter did not hesitate but ran directly into the tomb. Peter also noticed the burial linens lying there but the cloth that had covered Jesus head was folded up and placed apart from the rest of the linens.
Here again is some debate. Some translations say the face cloth was folded and apart from the other linens. Some says it was rolled up and apart from the other linens. These two thoughts come from how the translations are taken. There is nice symbolism to the idea of the folded face cloth but nothing supports it Scripturally. What we can accept is that Jesus' body linens were in a pile a little apart from His face cloth. It could be that the cloth lay in proper perspective to a body going out from them without disturbing them so they would appear to be in the same place they would be if His body was still in them. Again, nothing to back that up. It seems most scholars agree that if His body had been stolen, the linens would not have been positioned as there were. My own thought is that if His body had been stolen, why would any robber take the time to unwrap the body and carry it away uncovered? Kind of like if a person robbed your home and saw a brand new 60” TV in a box, why would they take the time to take it out of the packaging to run off with it? All interesting thoughts but what we see in Scripture is the linens were in the tomb and Jesus wasn’t.
After Peter had gone in, the other disciple then went in and saw the same things. When he saw those things he believed. Until that moment in the tomb when they saw Jesus' empty burial cloths, they had not understood what Jesus meant when He said He must rise from the dead. Now they understood and believed and returned home.
Mary remained outside the tomb crying and the disciples left the tomb, passed Mary, and went home. John doesn’t tell us that they spoke at all to Mary and left her crying. As she wept, she looked into the tomb and saw two angels. One was sitting at the head of where Jesus' body was and the other at the foot. The angels asked her why she was crying. Her answer leads us to believe the disciples did not tell her Jesus had risen from the dead. Mary replied that someone had taken Jesus' body away and she didn’t know where they had put Him.
That may have been horrible for Mary. She was so devoted to Jesus and had followed Him everywhere He went. Imagine how devastated she must have been that she was now completely disconnected from Him and fearing that connection would be lost forever because she may never know where His body had gone.
Carrying all those emotions, she turned and saw someone standing nearby. She did not recognize the person but it was Jesus. He too, asked her why she was crying and who she was looking for. Thinking He was the gardener, she asked him to please tell her where Jesus' body was if he had taken it away so she could go and get Him.
Jesus simply said, “Mary” and she turned and cried out, “Rabboni” which is teacher in Hebrew. She may have run to hug Him for Jesus said, “Don’t cling to me. For I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go and find my brothers and tell them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to My God and your God.”
One may consider His body was not in a state that could be clung to. Scholars say it may have been a statement that said what one would see at that time was not who He would become for those who believe. Once He fully ascended He would be among us not bodily but by the presence of His spirit whom He would send. Once His ascension was complete the Holy Spirit would be among us. So the instruction was not to hang onto what has been, Jesus in bodily form on earth, indicating they should be excited for the Spirit that was to come.
One thing that we might note is how Mary was blessed in all this compared even to the disciples. She saw angels, she saw Jesus risen, she was the first to see Him alive and she was actually the person to begin proclaiming Jesus had risen from the dead.
If we think about the spreading of the “Good News," it was Mary who began the entire thing. What a blessing for her. Jesus had taken her from all the guilt and rejection of being a miserable sinner, to the person who was the first to declare Jesus had risen from the dead and was now alive. She not only proclaimed it, she knew it because she had seen it all with her own eyes. This says to me, that He can take anyone, cleanse them, and make them people who can cry out the truth of who He is and what He offers. Mary set the example for all of us who have Christ in our life as Savior. We too have been cleansed from a life of sin and we too must proclaim to a fallen world that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. We too must proclaim He is risen from the grave and is alive.
That same Sunday evening, the disciples, except for Thomas (nicknamed Didymus which means, “the twin." There is no evidence of who his twin might be if that is what they meant by using that term.) were meeting in a locked room. They were afraid the Jewish leaders would hunt them down. Jesus suddenly appeared in the room with them. He said, “Peace be with you.” He showed them the wounds in His hands and side. Seeing Him, they were filled with joy. Jesus again spoke to them saying, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Jesus then breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Luke said at first they were frightened by Jesus' appearance and He even addressed it in Luke by asking them why they were afraid.
Jesus gave them His Spirit and sent them out to continue the work Jesus had begun with His life, death, and resurrection. They were to go into all the world and spread the Good News. The Father sent Jesus to bring the world to Him and now Jesus was likewise sending them to continue to bring man back to God.
Jesus made it possible for the sins of man to be forgiven. Jesus gave the disciples the authority to teach and preach of that gift and how one can receive forgiveness through Jesus. However, if one rejects Jesus Christ, his/her sins will not be forgiven.
The disciples told Thomas of Jesus' visit by saying, “We have seen the Lord!” Thomas responded by saying he would not believe unless he saw the nail holes in Jesus' hands and put his fingers in them and put his hand into His side.
Eight days later, the disciples were again gathered behind locked doors and Thomas was with them. In the same way as before, Jesus suddenly appeared in their midst. Jesus said, “Peace be with you. He then looked to Thomas and said, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”
Apparently Thomas did and believed for he proclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”
Here we see that even doubters come to faith in Jesus once they are confronted with the truth of Jesus' resurrection.
Jesus then commented that they believed because they had seen Him, then He offers a blessing upon all those who believe and have not seen what they had seen. We are the recipients of the blessing Jesus offered that very day. For the followers in generations past that time have believed in Him without ever seeing him.
The writer then tells us the disciples saw Jesus do many more miraculous signs above and beyond what is recorded in the Gospel of John. He tells us what is written is so that we can believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him we will have life through the power of His name.