Bible Study series: John 20:1-10. This historical fact changed the world, whether the world sees it or not. It is the firstfruits to the experience of all redeemed humanity.
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For the Greek text, click here:
At that link, I provide a lot more commentary.
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: John 20:1-10
1 On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came early, while it was still dark, to the tomb and saw the stone taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved and said to them, “They have removed the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they have placed him.” 3 Then Peter went out, and the other disciple too, and came to the tomb. 4 The two ran together. And the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and was the first one to come to the tomb. 5 Stooping down, he saw the strips of linen lying there, but he did not enter. 6 Then Simon Peter came and followed him and went into the tomb and saw the strips of linen cloth lying there. 7 And the face-cloth, which was on his head, was not lying with the strips of linen but was apart and rolled up by itself. 8 So then the other disciple, who was the first to the tomb, also went in and looked and believed. 9 For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead. 10 So the disciples departed back to their own homes. (John 20:1-10)
Comments:
This quotation from Carson, though long, summarizes the centrality of the resurrection.
For John, as for all the early Christians, the resurrection of Jesus, was the immutable fact upon which their faith was based; and their faith in large part depended on the testimony and transformed behavior of those who had actually seen the resurrected Jesus. Their Master was not in God’s eyes a condemned criminal; the resurrection proved that he was vindicated by God, and therefore none the less the Messiah, the Son of God he claimed to be. The culminating faith that brings the disciples out of the era of the Mosaic covenant and into the era of the saving sovereignty of God mediated through the Son is based on the sheer facticity of the resurrection (20:8, 24-29)—or, better put, such faith trusts Jesus as the resurrected Lord. Nor is John alone on the non-negotiability of the resurrection, for Paul writes, “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead … And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins (1 Cor. 15:14-17) (pp. 631-32)
That is perfectly stated.
He goes on to point out that each resurrection appearance in all of the four Gospels could stand alone, as each person or group told their stories. So it is difficult to reconcile all four Gospels accounts in the trivial details. We don’t need to reconcile them in the trivial details because the main message and even the sequence of events (burial—resurrection—appearances) are clear. Nonetheless, as we go along, I’ll refer to attempts to harmonize the details, which is not too difficult in most cases.
Remember, don’t let your faith be so brittle that it snaps in two when these differences arise in the four Gospels. We must not allow post-Enlightenment and postmodern demands to intimidate us about documents that were written two thousand years ago. These story-tellers did not have modern technology. Even the Guttenberg printing press was invented in the mid-1400’s.
Just hold on to the central fact of the resurrection. It is central to our faith.
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
At the link, scroll down to the Resurrection and celebrate the similarities.
1-2:
The fact that Mary Magdalene got there early, while it was dark, indicates that she was eager to find out what happened. She had a strong desire and hope to ensure that Jesus’s predictions about his death and resurrection would come true. Her answer was partly revealed. The stone was removed and the tomb was empty. Could it be that he really was raised from the dead? Her slight unbelief was revealed, however, when she told Peter that she (we) did not know where they placed or put him. It never occurred to her, apparently, that he was resurrected, or if the thought crossed her mind, she dismissed it.
Mark 16:2 says that the women got to the tomb “just after sunrise. The best explanation is that Mary got there first, while the other women came later (Mounce, comment on v. 1). I also like what Borchert writes:
We may also inquire concerning the time when Mary came to the tomb. All the Gospels indicate it was about dawn, but Mark 16:2 notes that the sun had risen. Yet John states that it was still dark (prōi skotias). Both Gospels, however, use the term prōi, “early,” and “dark” is a relative term. Also Mark’s “very early” suggests that that sunrise had barely occurred. More important, the reader should remember that time and temperature readings in John are also theologically oriented statements (cf. 3:2; 10:23; 13:30). It was indeed early morning when Mary Magdalene saw a sign of the resurrection—the removed stone—but she was still in the dark concerning its significance.
Why did Mary shift the verb and the implied pronoun to “we” when John shows she was alone? The other Gospels say that Mary Magdalene was not alone but came with other women. John is simply training the camera on her in this scene. The other three Gospels always put this Mary first in their list of first women to get to the tomb. Remember: Gospel writers were free to omit and include data points. These are differences, not contradictions. The equation is simple:
Data Points in One Gospel + Omitted Data Points in Another Gospel = a Difference ≠ a Contradiction.
How can an omission or silence contradict anything? Or how can included data points contradict silence or omitted data points? They cannot. There is no contradiction between the Gospel accounts.
Let’s move on.
When the stone was removed, it was taken away from the opening of the tomb.
“they”: Who were the men who would remove the stone and take away the body of Jesus? Klink is right: the Jewish authorities. This reflects Matt. 28:11-13, which says that a story circulated that the authorities removed the body. If they had moved it, they could have produced, as soon as the Jesus Movement grew rapidly in Jerusalem. But the good news is that they did not remove the body. God did, by transforming and resurrecting it.
3-7:
Evidently Peter and the beloved disciple started out from their hiding place in or near Jerusalem and ran together, but John put on his “trainers” or “tennis shoes” or “sneakers” and outran Peter. I have always pictured Peter to be husky—and the beloved disciple seems to be John the apostle and author of this Gospel—was probably younger and certainly fleeter of foot. But of course this is just my speculation.
In any case the beloved disciple got there first and stooped down and looked in and saw the cloths. The one covering the Lord’s head was apart and away from the strips of linen covering his body, as if to say that the glorified body simply slipped out and left them there where they were. It could be that an angel rolled up the face-cloth. Or maybe Jesus himself did! If so, then he wanted to leave the tomb better than when he found it! Or maybe we should cool our jets and say it was an unknown gardener. In any case, the cloth did not keep its shape when the Lord was resurrected.
The tomb was big enough to go inside, but the beloved disciple had to stoop down or bend down to peep inside. Two angels could fit in it (v. 12).
“face-cloth”: it was used for the face to wipe perspiration (BDAG). It was a sweat cloth. It comes from the Latin sudarium, which in Greek here is soudarion. Lazarus also had a face cloth on him at his burial (11:44).
8-10:
Here we have some ideas spliced in with rapid-fire. John finally went in, saw the cloths, and believed. But the others (plural) did not believe because they had not yet come to understand the Scriptures that said he must rise from the dead. John is simply introducing what is about to happen in this chapter, when Jesus appears to the disciples. They will not believe at first, but eventually will. Verses 8-9 simply compress and abbreviate the time.
For the Scriptures, we can consult the Book of Acts and Peter’s preaching, which I place at the end of this pericope (pronounced puh-RIH-koh-pea) or section or unit of Scripture. For now, Peter did not understand the full meaning of the resurrection. He did not connect the dots when Jesus said that he could raise this “temple” in three days (2:19-22). He was talking about his body.
Morris insightfully writes: “The Easter faith means more than the conviction that a resuscitation has taken place; it includes understanding that the divine purpose revealed in Scripture has now taken place. It seems that John had now come to believe that the resurrection had taken place, but that he did not yet appreciate all that that meant” (comment on v. 8)
“disciples”:
Translation note on v. 10: the phrasing is not the same as it is at 19:27 (“to their own homes”); it could be translated “to their own places,” which broadens out their destination (Carson, comment on v. 10).
“must”: in v. 9, this verb comes from the word dei (pronounced day). The Greek verb means: “it is necessary, one must … one ought or should … what one should do” (Shorter Lexicon). Additionally, it is often translated as “must” or “has to” or “it is necessary.” John uses the verb in an eschatological sense of inaugurating the kingdom by Jesus’s ministry, particularly in the saving work of Jesus (John 3:7, 14, 30; 4:4; 9:4; 10:16; 12:34; 20:9). In other words, God is directing his Son on a mission, and there is a sense of “divine must” or “divine necessity” in the direction, in order to invade the dark world (Klink, comment on 4:4). Now, however, the divine necessity is his resurrection.
If the hostile authorities had wanted to refute the resurrection of Jesus, they could have produced the body, but they never did.
Further, here is a table of the resurrection appearances. I hope it clarifies the main passages:
|
Resurrection Appearances |
|||
| Appearance | Place | Time | Scriptures |
| The Empty Tomb | Jerusalem | Resurrection Sunday | Mt. 28:1-10; Mk. 16:1-8; Lk. 24:1-12; Jn. 20:1-9 |
| Mary Magdalene | In a garden in Jerusalem | Resurrection Sunday | Mk. 16:9-11; Jn. 11-18 |
| Other women | Jerusalem | Resurrection Sunday | Mt. 28:9-10 |
| Two men on Road to Emmaus | Emmaus seven miles from Jerusalem | Resurrection Sunday | Mk. 16:12-13; Lk. 24:13-32 |
| Peter | Jerusalem | Resurrection Sunday | Lk. 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5 |
| Ten disciples in upper room | Jerusalem | Resurrection Sunday | Lk. 24:36-43; Jn. 20:19-25 |
| Eleven disciples in upper room | Jerusalem | Following Sunday | Mk. 16:14; Jn. 20:26-31; 1 Cor. 15:5 |
| Seven disciples | Sea of Galilee | Some time later | Jn. 21:1-23 |
| Eleven disciples on mountain | Galilee | Some time later | Mt. 28:16-20; Mk. 16:15-18 |
| More than five hundred | Unknown | Some time later | 1 Cor. 15:6 |
| James | Unknown | Some time later | 1 Cor. 15:7 |
| His disciples at his ascension | Mount of Olives | Forty days after resurrection | Lk. 24:44-49; Ac. 1:3-8 |
| Paul | Damascus | Several years later | Ac. 9:1-9, 22:3-16, 26:9-18; 1 Cor. 9:1 |
| Adapted from NIV Study Bible, p. 1754. | |||
Also see 14. Do I Really Know Jesus? He Appeared to His Disciples
David L. Turner in his commentary Matthew: Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Baker Academic, 2008), pp. 683-84, has a magnificent section in his commentary on “Without the resurrection,” which I modify here:
Without the resurrection…
Jesus’s redemptive act of dying for sinners would not have divine endorsement. The Father would not declare that Jesus’s death was victorious and the blood shed on the cross to initiate the new covenant would be effective (Rom. 4:25).
His promise that he would rise from the dead (12:40; 16:21; 17:9; 20:19; 26:32) would be empty, and his death would be scorned or pitied, but not believed or obeyed (1 Cor. 15:16-19)
Jesus could not save people from their sins, just as the angel had promised (1:21), for he would be cursed with infamy because he hanged on a tree or wooden pole (Deut. 21:22-23; Gal. 3:13).
There would be no apostolic foundation of the church (16:18), since the apostles deserted him at his arrest and death. Yet his resurrection turned them back and restored them and made them into disciples (26:27-29; 28:7, 10, 16-20).
There would be no complete model of sacrificial living. By dying to self, you gain your soul. Genuinely abundant living occurs when one gives up one’s own life, but without the resurrection the new orientation is short-circuited (10:38-39; 16:24-26; 20:26-28; 23:12; cf. Rom. 6:1-11).
There would be no eschatological shalom to rectify all earthly wrongs and renew the world (19:28). Shalom means peace and prosperity and wellbeing, and this will happen at the end of the age. But it would not happen without the resurrection.
The martyrs whose blood cries out from the ground would experience no justice or vindication (23:35; Rev. 6:9-11). Those who commit violence would not be held accountable without an ultimate reckoning (13:37-42; Dan. 12:2). “Satan would win the cosmic battle.”
People could not hope for their own resurrection and reward (13:43; 16:27; 25:31-40; 27:51-52). Jesus’s ethical teaching said that there would be judgment and reward in the coming kingdom (4:17; 5:12; 7:1-2, 21). What would become of the thrones of the twelve apostles and the rewards Jesus promised to all his disciples (6:9-21; 13:43; 19:27-29; cf. Dan. 12:3; Rev. 2:26-27; 3:21)?
The kingdom would never come to earth and be implemented fully, as it is in heaven (6:10, 33).
Jesus’s “climatic saving act of dying for sinners by crucifixion would lack interpretation and proof of divine acceptance.” The preaching of the cross (Gal. 6:14; 1 Cor. 18-25; 1 Pet. 1:19; Heb. 2:9, 14; 9:12-14; Rev. 5:6-9) would be insignificant and meaningless.
To sum up, the gospel must include the cross and the resurrection, side by side. The gospel must be communicated with the saving power of the cross, and the proof of the saving power of the cross comes through the resurrection. “Any ‘gospel’ that does not place Jesus’s resurrection alongside Jesus’s death is not the authentic message of Jesus and the apostles.”
Scriptures for the resurrection:
Acts 2:32; 3:15, 26; 4:2, 10, 33; 5:30; 10:40; 13:30-37; 17:18, 31; 23:6; 24:21; 25:19; 26:8, 23
Rom. 1:4; 4:25; 6:4-5; 8:11; 10:9
1 Cor. 15:3-8, 12-23, 32, 42.
2 Cor. 4:10, 14; 13:4
Gal. 1:1
Eph. 1:20; 2:5; 4:10
Phil. 2:8-9
Col. 2:12; 3:1-4
1 Thess. 4:14
1 Tim. 3:16
Heb. 1:3; 10:12; 12:1
1 Pet. 1:21; 3:18-22
Rev. 1:5, 18; 2:8; 5:6-10
Thus, the apostolic community, some of whom were infallibly inspired to write the NT, believed that the resurrection was the foundation of their faith. So it should be the foundation of our faith too. Are we better than their generation? No.
GrowApp for John 20:1-10
1. The resurrection is the core of our faith. Please study 1 Cor. 15:12-20 to find out how important it is.
2. From those verses in 1 Cor. 15:12-20, what does the resurrection mean in your life?
RELATED
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
12. Eyewitness Testimony in John’s Gospel
4. Church Fathers and John’s Gospel
3. Archaeology and John’s Gospel
SOURCES
For the bibliography, click on this link and scroll down to the very bottom:
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