The risen Lord

Easter Sunday, April 4 , 2021

Read John 20:1-18

In all four gospels, the story of the resurrection begins very early on the Sunday morning with the discovery of the empty tomb by a group of women (Matt.28:1-8; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-11). John refers only to Mary Magdalene, though “we” shows she wasn’t alone (1-2). His tomb story focuses not on the women (already told in the other gospels) but on Peter and John (3-9; “the one Jesus loved” is John’s way of referring to himself indirectly 13:23; 19:26).

The empty tomb itself did not prove that Jesus was risen. But no graverobber would have unwrapped the body and discarded the expensive linen, so the three-fold mention of the cloth lying there is significant (5,6,7; 19:40). It was undisturbed, as if the body of Jesus had passed through it. This was enough to convince John (not yet Peter) that Jesus had risen – “he saw and believed” (8). Believe is a keyword in John, used here both as a climax to this story and as an introduction to the theme of seeing and believing with which the chapter will end (20:29).

John’s account singles out Mary Magdalene (1) because it’s her encounter with Jesus which he now relates (10-12). Her crying shows that she still had not understood that Jesus had risen (13). But he was there with her, although Mary did not recognise him until he spoke her name (14-16; 10:3-4). “Do not hold on to me” doesn’t mean that he could not be touched (20:27; Luke 24:37-39) but that she needn’t cling to him out of fear that he was immediately returning to the Father (17a). Though soon he would, and that’s good news for it means that his disciples (“my brothers”) can enter into the same relationship that Jesus himself has with the Father God (17b; 14:7; 17:3). Wonderful news indeed! (18)