Year 2, Week 39, Day 5 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 39, Day 5

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of John 20.

Today’s reading consists of the resurrection account provided by John. John’s historical record of Jesus’ resurrection is consistent with the accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but John provides supplemental details that compliment the other narrations. John 20 highlights that while Mary discovered the empty tomb, Peter was the first disciple to go into the tomb: "Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple…So Peter went out with the other disciple…but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb” (John 20:1-6). Before John 20 is complete, Jesus would appear to all the disciples. One disciple in particular, Thomas, would not believe that Jesus rose from the dead until he saw Jesus with his own eyes. While Jesus showed Himself to Thomas, He announced blessings on those who would believe without seeing: “Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:28-29). The testimony of the Scripture would be what the Holy Spirit would use to stir faith in Jesus: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so 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 20:30-31).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was the surprise and even disbelief of the disciples concerning the fact that Jesus rose from the dead: “Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes” (John 20:8-10). Peter and John saw with their own eyes that Jesus was not dead in the tomb; but they do not seem to yet grasp that Jesus was gone from the tomb because he had been raised from the dead. Mary’s report, which compelled them to go to the tomb, assumes that Jesus’ body had been taken: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him” (John 20:2b). Jesus’ resurrection is not on Mary’s radar; she thinks someone has taken away the body of Jesus. But beyond Mary, none of Jesus’ followers anticipated His resurrection. They were completely unprepared for it. None of them seemed to have expected Jesus to do what He repeatedly said He would do: rise from the dead on the third day: “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Matthew 16:21; see also Matthew 17:23; 20:19; Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:34; and Luke 9:22; 18:33). The disciples will be slow to believe that Jesus was alive.

Even after Peter and John returned back to their home (possibly where all the disciples were together), and Mary stayed at the tomb, she was unsure of who she was talking to as Jesus appeared to her: “Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (John 20:14-16). Mary mistakes Jesus to be a gardener, to whom she continues her understanding that Jesus’ absence is the result of His being taken (presumably by Jewish and/or Roman authorities), and not raised from the dead. But as Jesus speaks to Mary, her eyes are open, much like the men on the road to Emmaus, whom Jesus traveled with, but were initially unaware that they were with Jesus: "And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 24:25).

Two quick observations about the historical record of Jesus’ resurrection including the disbelief of the disciples as well as the eyewitness account of Mary. The inclusion of these elements into the historical record add much credibility to John’s Gospel account. If John and the other Gospel accounts were fabrications and not true retellings of how things actually happened, then neither the disbelief of the disciples as well as the eyewitness testimony of Mary would have likely been added. Mary as a key eyewitness, in light of the attitude toward women in those days, would have hardly made for a strong case. In addition, the slowness to grasp the resurrection does not put Peter and John in a good light, for these men go on to be key leaders of the early church. A fabricated story would have most likely put them in a more favorable light. But the truth is that they were slow to grasp Jesus’ resurrection, for the reality of the Holy Spirit would be absolutely crucial for understanding such a truth: “Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken” (John 2:19-22).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe