John 20

Perhaps the most important chapter in the Bible. I'm not incredibly optimistic that my comments will be more helpful or elucidating than just reading the thing, so expect less analysis and more reflection.

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The Empty Tomb

1Early 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. 2So 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!"

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.)

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The 'other disciple' is John, the writer. Throughout this gospel, he calls himself 'the disciple Jesus loved', which is as powerful a testimony to the character of Jesus as his raising the dead or healing the sick. The message of having both "Jesus was so great- he walked on water!" and "Jesus was so great- he loved me!" is that Jesus is not only holy and powerful, but that he is personal and interested in each of us.

Also, this section is important for combating another strange heresy I've encountered: a denial of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. It's become somewhat popular to interpret the Bible as allegory or myth rather than history. Jesus didn't really rise from the dead- his spirit did, or his spirit lives on in all of us as long as we keep it alive, or...something. I don't know. Ask the Episcopalians. But Jesus isn't a ghost- his body isn't in the tomb, which means it must be somewhere else. And this isn't a grave robbing- the linen is folded neatly. Mary's first idea is wrong. If you question the validity of scripture, that's one thing. But it's entirely different to insist that it says something other than that Jesus rose from the dead with his body.

Thirdly, this passage speaks to the nature of belief. We're told that John 'saw and believed'. John hadn't even seen Jesus alive yet, but he still saw the empty tomb and believed that Jesus had risen from the dead. Did John base his belief on empirical evidence? Kind of- I suppose you could argue that he saw the absense of Jesus's body as evidence of his resurrection. But John also trusts God and trusts his friend Jesus, and that's where this belief stems from. Jesus had told all of them what would happen in the Upper Room, and John and Peter are just piecing it together now.

Lastly, on this bit about how the disciples didn't know from scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. It's included in here to show that the disciples would have no motive to steal Jesus's body and pretend that he rose- the thought just never occurred to them. Fulfilling prophecy is important throughout the New Testament, but the mechanisms of this are strange. Jesus has a great knowledge of the scriptures, so it's clear that he knows what he has to do to fulfill them. But his disciples only know about it afterward, and they are the ones who will preach Christianity. Why is this?

Perhaps it's because fulfilling prophecy for prophecy's sake destroys its legitimacy. Imagine that you are living in 200 B.C. and want to be a messiah. To get people to believe you, you have to fulfill scripture. So you get yourself a checklist of important parts of scripture, then go down the list fulfilling what you need to. You read that none of your bones should be broken, so you get really good health insurance. You read that 'out of Egypt I called my son', so you go down to Egypt and hang out for a while, then come back. Then you hold a press conference about how you've fulfilled all prophecy. This strategy works as long as the Press believes the same interpretations of scripture, but this is begging the question, a bit, isn't it?

That may be a good reason why the disciples are so in the dark for so long: by not knowing God's plan fully, it becomes a story about God's plan being carried to fruition by Jesus, without help even from his friends. For more on this nature of prophecy, read Oedipus Rex, Minority Report, or Harry Potter.

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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.

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This section speaks for itself. Just keep track that Mary doesn't believe in the Resurrection until Jesus walks up to her and speaks her name and gives her a hug, even if John (and maybe Peter) already do.

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Jesus Appears to His 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."

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Again, this shows Jesus rising in bodily form- his hands and side are still pierced. How his body still breathes and metabolizes with a ruptured spleen or liver or whatever isn't explained. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe the reason why Jesus wasn't recognized before was that he looked a little different. Or maybe he didn't allow Mary to recognize him at first.

Jesus has some good first words, too: "Peace be with you!" He is declaring just what his resurrection means: it is proof that God and men are now at peace with one another. This message must be preached to all corners of the world.

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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^[a] believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

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Again, this goes to the nature of belief, and is a little hard to comprehend. Jesus says that it is a virtue to believe in Him and his resurrection even without having seen him. But he also appears to his disciples, anyway. How hard is it to believe in the resurrection if you see Jesus die, then see him ten days later alive again? Not as hard as it is 2000 years later, I think we'd say. But John adds that this Gospel serves as a testimony, making belief easier and possible.

Moreover, what moral courage does it take to believe in the resurrection when you see Jesus right in front of you? This is what Jesus means when he says that those who do not have this empirical evidence are 'blessed' when they still believe.

Some might argue that this sets a bad precedent: can't I go to God on Judgment Day and say that it's not fair to save Thomas because he got to put his finger in Jesus's side, but all I got was this lousy book? Or what about people who don't even have that- it's easier for me to be a Christian because my family is.

Scripture answers this in plenty of ways, saying that God saves who he does and that his reasons for doing so are beyond our comprehension, saying that he's given everyone a conscience and knowledge of God so that "every man is without excuse", saying that he's testified about himself a whole lot- through the Old Testament, and here with the New. But this section also says that God listens to our concerns about our own faith. It should be enough for Thomas to believe his friends' testimony about Jesus. After all, that's all Christians today have. But God is prepared to go beyond what is needed, and will indulge us and help us believe in him.

He did it before when Peter walked on water. He did it again with the father of a girl who had died. He did it again with Thomas. And he does it again today. If we are feeling insecure about God's existance or his grace or resurrection, we can pray to Him for help, and we know that God will answer our prayer, and that He will say to all of us: "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."