John 20 Commentary
Mary Magdalene reaps her reward. Seek and you shall find, her Master had said. Her love for Jesus keeps her at the now-empty tomb, weeping. Jesus appears to her first.
“Woman, why are you crying?” The angels ask Mary Magdalene not because they don’t know why she is crying. But she shouldn’t cry because Jesus is alive! There is no need to cry, hence the question. The angels have the point and as though to back the message from the angels, Jesus appears to Mary immediately. Indeed, He is alive!
The freshly resurrected Jesus appears to His disciples twice. Thomas is absent on the first visit. A week later, Thomas is in the house. The New Living Translation captures the moment accurately.
Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. Verse 26.
The picture is that Jesus doesn’t walk into the room through the walls, or descend from above through the roof. Jesus has been there all along. He simply decides to physically manifest Himself and become visible.
He has been in the room all the time. He listened to Thomas’ logical doubts and simply picked up from the last statement. He is omnipresent. Jesus is ever present because He is God.
“Peace be with you.” The irony of this new life! The disciples have imprisoned themselves for fear of the Jewish leaders. Yet, it is in these moments that the LORD speaks peace to them. And you know when the Creator speaks, things happen. It isn’t a mere wish. Peace rests upon the disciples as the LORD speaks. He is the Prince of Peace, Isaiah 9.
The disciples are now brothers to Jesus Christ. So intimate! Verse 17.
Jesus sends His ‘brothers’ out on the same mission as His own mission. His mission came with the anointing of the Spirit. We saw this same arrangement in the Old Testament, particularly in the Book of Judges. The Spirit would empower certain individuals to complete specific ‘salvation’ missions. Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, Samuel, Saul, David … Now the disciples have their own turn.
“Woman, why are you crying?” The angles ask the same question that the LORD Jesus asks. Angels are messengers who relay the information of the Master.
If we picked one word to represent the gospel of John, the word ‘Life’ would come up. The gospel is written so that we may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have life in His name.
Reflecting the brevity of life wrought on self by humanity’s wickedness, the term ‘everlasting’ or ‘eternal’ life is used. Reflecting the death of man that came about when the LORD withdrew His Spirit, the term ‘Life’ (without any qualification) is used.
The resurrection is important because, by it, we understand fully that physical death isn’t the end of the story. However, physical death remains important as it terminates an important window of salvation. Jesus must be believed now and not after physical death. But for the saints, it is a welcome interruption as it expedites their reunion with the Jesus they have longed for.
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