The Empty Tomb
20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus [Thomas (Aramaic) and Didymus (Greek) both mean twin. ]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
The Purpose of John’s Gospel
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe [Or may continue to believe] that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
20:1–31 The risen Jesus reveals his glory and confers the
Spirit. This story fulfills the basic need for testimony to the resurrection.
What we have here is not a record but a series of single stories.
20:1–10 The story of the empty tomb is found in both the
Matthean and the Lucan traditions; John’s version seems to be a fusion of the
two.
20:1 Still dark: according to Mark the sun had risen,
Matthew describes it as “dawning,” and Luke refers to early dawn. Mary sees the
stone removed, not the empty tomb.
20:2 Mary runs away, not directed by an angel/young man as
in the synoptic accounts. The plural “we” in the second part of her statement
might reflect a tradition of more women going to the tomb.
20:3–10 The basic narrative is told of Peter alone in Lk
24:12, a verse missing in important manuscripts and which may be borrowed from
tradition similar to John. Cf. also Lk 24:24.
20:6–8 Some special feature about the state of the burial
cloths caused the beloved disciple to believe. Perhaps the details emphasized
that the grave had not been robbed.
20:9 Probably a general reference to the scriptures is
intended, as in Lk 24:26 and 1 Cor 15:4. Some individual Old Testament passages
suggested are Ps 16:10; Hos 6:2; Jon 2:1, 2, 10.
20:11–18 This appearance to Mary is found only in John, but
cf. Mt 28:8–10 and Mk 16:9–11.
20:16 Rabbouni: Hebrew or Aramaic for “my master.”
20:17 Stop holding on to me: see Mt 28:9, where the women
take hold of his feet. I have not yet ascended: for John and many of the New
Testament writers, the ascension in the theological sense of going to the
Father to be glorified took place with the resurrection as one action. This
scene in John dramatizes such an understanding, for by Easter night Jesus is
glorified and can give the Spirit. Therefore his ascension takes place
immediately after he has talked to Mary. In such a view, the ascension after
forty days described in Acts 1:1–11 would be simply a termination of earthly
appearances or, perhaps better, an introduction to the conferral of the Spirit
upon the early church, modeled on Elisha’s being able to have a (double) share
in the spirit of Elijah if he saw him being taken up (same verb as ascending)
into heaven (2 Kgs 2:9–12). To my Father and your Father, to my God and your
God: this echoes Ru 1:16: “Your people shall be my people, and your God my
God.” The Father of Jesus will now become the Father of the disciples because,
once ascended, Jesus can give them the Spirit that comes from the Father and
they can be reborn as God’s children (Jn 3:5). That is why he calls them my
brothers.
20:19–29 The appearances to the disciples, without or with
Thomas (cf. Jn 11:16; 14:5), have rough parallels in the other gospels only for
Jn 20:19–23; cf. Lk 24:36–39; Mk 16:14–18.
20:19 The disciples: by implication from Jn 20:24 this means
ten of the Twelve, presumably in Jerusalem. Peace be with you: although this
could be an ordinary greeting, John intends here to echo Jn 14:27. The theme of
rejoicing in Jn 20:20 echoes Jn 16:22.
20:20 Hands and…side: Lk 24:39–40 mentions “hands and feet,”
based on Ps 22:17.
20:21 By means of this sending, the Eleven were made
apostles, that is, “those sent” (cf. Jn 17:18), though John does not use the
noun in reference to them (see note on Jn 13:16). A solemn mission or “sending”
is also the subject of the post-resurrection appearances to the Eleven in Mt
28:19; Lk 24:47; Mk 16:15.
20:22 This action recalls Gn 2:7, where God breathed on the
first man and gave him life; just as Adam’s life came from God, so now the
disciples’ new spiritual life comes from Jesus. Cf. also the revivification of
the dry bones in Ez 37. This is the author’s version of Pentecost. Cf. also the
note on Jn 19:30.
20:23 The Council of Trent defined that this power to
forgive sins is exercised in the sacrament of penance. See Mt 16:19; 18:18.
20:28 My Lord and my God: this forms a literary inclusion
with the first verse of the gospel: “and the Word was God.”
20:29 This verse is a beatitude on future generations;
faith, not sight, matters.
20:30–31 These verses are clearly a conclusion to the gospel
and express its purpose. While many manuscripts read come to believe, possibly
implying a missionary purpose for John’s gospel, a small number of quite early
ones read “continue to believe,” suggesting that the audience consists of
Christians whose faith is to be deepened by the book; cf. Jn 19:35.
The Gospel of John
Online Bible Study in English
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