3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8Finally 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.)
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
10Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13They 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.” 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 “Woman,” he said, “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.”
16Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
17Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18Mary 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 Hiss Disciples
19On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25So 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 it.”
26A 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!” 27Then 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.”
28Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:1-31 –NIV)
At the point where today’s passage begins, Jesus’s body was in the tomb. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had taken his body down from the cross, prepared it for burial with spices, a mixture of myrrh and aloes, and wrapped it in linen, according to the Jewish burial custom. They laid his body in the tomb – in Joseph of Arimathea’s own tomb, in fact. Then Joseph rolled a heavy stone in place to cover the entrance to the tomb. (As I’ve been doing, I’m going to add some details from the other gospel accounts to fill out John’s account. Matthew and Mark tell us about Joseph’s placing the stone over the entrance to the tomb.) When Jesus was placed in the tomb and the stone rolled in front of the entrance, Mary Magdalene (out of whom Jesus had cast seven demons), Mary the mother of James and Joses, and some of the other women that had followed Jesus were there. They saw Jesus’s body as it was placed in the tomb and the stone rolled into place.
At this point, as nearly as we can tell, there was not a single person who thought Jesus would rise from the dead. He had raised others and had told his disciples repeatedly that he himself would rise from the dead after three days, but it had completely passed them by. Apparently, they were not even hoping for his resurrection.
Look at verse 1 in today’s passage. Here’s what it says: “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.” This is early Sunday morning. The first day of the week is Sunday. (Around twenty years ago, someone in congress tried to get a law passed changing the first day of the week to Monday. It didn’t go anywhere.) According to the other gospel accounts, Mary Magdalene had come with Mary the mother of James and Joses and some of the other women to complete the preparation of Jesus’s body. They were waiting for the Sabbath to be over so that they could finish the work started by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. While they were on their way, they were wondering how they would be able to move the stone because it was so heavy. But before they got there, an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and rolled the stone away. Jesus had risen from the dead!
According to verse 2, Mary came running back to Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved (the disciple Jesus loved is John) and told them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” You see, it didn’t even occur to them that Jesus could have risen from the dead! John and Peter ran to the tomb.
John outran Peter. ( Most of the experts believe that John was quite a bit younger than Peter –maybe still a teenager –so he was in a lot better shape than Peter.) What do you suppose they were thinking as they ran to the tomb? I doubt that they were thinking that Jesus might have risen from the dead; although, why would anyone want to move his body so early in the morning (or at any other time for that matter)? Anyway, John got to the tomb first, but didn’t go in. He looked in and saw the strips of linen that they had wrapped around Jesus’s body lying there, but didn’t go in. But when Peter arrived, he rushed right in. (verses 3-7) Finally, John went in. (verse 8) John says that he saw and he believed. John went in and saw the same thing Peter had seen. He saw the strips of linen that had been wrapped around Jesus’s body as well as the burial cloth that had been around his head. The burial cloth was folded up in a separate place from the rest of the cloths. Do you think that if someone had come and moved Jesus’s body, they would have unwrapped it first and folded up the cloth that was around his head? John understood that Jesus had risen from the dead.
Now look at verse 9. In verse 9, John says that they still didn’t understand from the Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. Although John believed, they didn’t understand from the Scripture. Every Sunday I tell everyone to read the Bible every day. The Scriptures are the word of God. They tell us what God has done and what he will do. If the Scriptures said that Jesus would rise from the dead, then he had to rise from the dead. It was absolutely necessary for him to rise from the dead! He could not do otherwise! And if the Scriptures say that we who trust in Jesus will rise from the dead, we will not do otherwise! We will indeed rise from the dead! The Scripture cannot be broken (to use Jesus’s words in John 10:35).
Now look at verses 10 through 12: “Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.” This should have impressed anyone that something very unusual was going on (as if the fact that the burial wrappings were lying there, but no body, was not unusual enough)! The angels asked Mary why she was crying. (verse 13) Mary said, “They have taken my Lord away and I don’t know where they have put him.”
Then Mary turned around and saw Jesus standing there. (verse 14) She didn’t recognize him. How could she? Jesus was supposed to be dead, but this man was alive! She thought he was the gardener. Jesus said, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” (You know, Jesus addressing Mary Magdalene as “woman” sounds to us almost as though he were going to rebuke her. That’s the way Peter used the word when he denied Jesus to the servant girl: “Woman, I don’t know him.” (Luke 22:57) But when Jesus said “woman”, it was more like a term of endearment. In John chapter 2, at the wedding at Cana where Jesus changed the water into wine, when Jesus’s mother suggested that he do something about the fact that they were running out of wine, Jesus said, “Woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come.” The NIV translators translated it as, “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” (John 2:4) They could have done something like that in this case too: “Dear sweet woman, little lamb, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Well. Mary thought Jesus must have been the gardener. She said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said, “Mary” –and Mary recognized him. You know, Jesus told his disciples back in John chapter 10 that he was the Good Shepherd: “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father –and I lay down my life for the sheep.” And he said that the sheep listen to the shepherd’s voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.” Jesus called Mary by name and Mary knew his voice.
Now let’s look at verse 17. Jesus told Mary, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father.” Jesus had to return to the Father in order to send the Holy Spirit, the Counselor, to the disciples. Jesus said in John 16:7, “But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”
And also because of Jesus, God the Father is not only his Father, but our Father too –and not only his God, but our God too. Because of Jesus – because of his death and resurrection –we belong to God. “I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” 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.
Now look at verses 19 and 20. Listen while I read them:
19On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
The doors were locked, but Jesus came and stood among the disciples. John make a point of the fact that the doors were locked. Jesus’s resurrection body was different from the body he had when he went to the cross. I don’t think it was a different body, because there was no body left in the tomb. But his body was changed. He was able to go through walls. And his body was immortal and is immortal. The apostle Paul says that our resurrection bodies will also be immortal - imperishable. Our natural bodies will be changed to spiritual bodies. (1 Cor. 15:35-54) And, although the horrible wounds Jesus had received when he was scourged were apparently healed, the nail holes and the hole the spear made in his side were still there and presumably always will be as a testimony to his sacrifice to save us from eternal condemnation.
Now look at verses 21 and 22:
21Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
This was Sunday evening. Evidently Jesus had returned to the Father and come back, because he was able to give the Holy Spirit to them to be with them just as he had promised. (What they received in Acts chapter 2 when the tongues of fire came down on them was power through the Holy Spirit to go out and preach the gospel. Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem for this to happen. It happened almost fifty days later.)
Now look at verse 23. Verse 23 says, “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” Actually, I’m not sure what to do with this verse, but I’ll give it a shot. When Jesus told the paralytic in Luke chapter 5 that his sins were forgiven, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law thought he was blaspheming. They said, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” I think they were right. Only God can forgive sins. But Jesus had also told the disciples another time that whatever they bound on earth would be bound in heaven and whatever they loosed on earth would be loosed in heaven. (Matt. 16:19, 18:18) This sounds like unlimited power. But if you look at the footnote in the NIV, you will see that there is an alternate translation. The alternate translation is: “Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.” The alternate translation is what these verses literally say. In other words, whatever the disciples decide on earth on earth, will already have been decided in heaven. I think what God gave the disciples was the ability to positively know his will. I think the same thing applies in the case of forgiveness. If they forgive anyone, it’s because God has already decided that that person should be forgiven.
Now look at verses 24 through 29. Here’s what they say:
24Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25So 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 it.”
26A 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!” 27Then 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.”
28Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Thomas is not mentioned in any of the other gospel account except to say that he was a disciple. But he’s mentioned other times in John’s gospel. Here are a couple of quotes. This first one is when Jesus was going to Jerusalem to raise Lazarus from the dead. The disciples knew that the Jewish leaders were after Jesus and wanted to kill him, so they were reluctant to go. Here’s what Thomas said: “Let us also go so that we may die with him.”
And here’s another one. This is when Jesus was trying to tell his disciples that he would be going to the Father. He told them, “You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Does anyone of you know how Jesus answered that question? “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Anyway, that’s Thomas.
Thomas had not seen Jesus when he had appeared to the other disciples. He said that he would not believe Jesus had risen from the dead unless he actually saw him for himself and saw for himself the nail marks and the hole made by the spear – actually put his fingers and hand into the wounds. He was Doubting Thomas. Jesus accommodated him. He came a week later –the same way, with the doors locked – and told him to put his finger into the wounds and to stop doubting. Thomas exclaimed to Jesus, “My Lord and my God.”
According to tradition, after Jesus’s ascension, Thomas didn’t do much in the way of obeying Jesus’s command to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. However, according to tradition, he was captured and sold into slavery. He was taken to India, to Madras, where he finally began to preach the gospel. He had to be a slave before he was free to preach the gospel. India was one of the first places the church spread to. Eventually, Thomas was martyred in Madras. Later a church was built on the site of his martyrdom. A friend of mine lived across from it when he was young.
Now look at verse 29. Jesus told Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” We have not seen Jesus, and yet we have believed. (If you haven’t believed, don’t hesitate any longer. Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. He is the only way to eternal life. Without him there is only wrath and anger. With him there is glory and honor and immortality.)
Now look at verses 30 and 31. Here’s what they say:
30Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John’s whole purpose in writing this book and telling just a few of the miraculous signs that Jesus did is so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we might have life in his name. His greatest sign was to die for our sin and to rise from the dead.
Praise the Lord!
Amen!