John 20
Mary Magdalene in the garden hears her name spoken and recognizes the risen Jesus — then Thomas, eight days later, touches the wounds and says my Lord and my God.
Summary
Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb on the first day of the week while it is still dark and finds the stone removed. She runs to Simon Peter and the Beloved Disciple: they have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him. The two disciples run; the Beloved Disciple reaches the tomb first and looks in; Peter enters first and sees the linen cloths lying there and the face cloth rolled up in a place by itself. The Beloved Disciple enters, sees, and believes. They go home. Mary stands weeping outside; she stoops to look in and sees two angels in white sitting where the body had been, at the head and at the feet. Why are you weeping? They have taken my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him. She turns and sees Jesus, not recognizing him. Why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener, she says if you carried him away, tell me where you have laid him. Jesus says Mary. She says Rabboni. He tells her not to cling to him because he has not yet ascended, and sends her to tell the disciples.
That evening, on the first day of the week, the disciples are gathered behind locked doors for fear of the authorities. Jesus comes and stands among them and says peace be with you. He shows them his hands and his side; they are glad. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. He breathes on them: receive the Holy Spirit. Whoever's sins you forgive, they are forgiven; whoever's sins you retain, they are retained. Thomas, one of the Twelve, is not present; he refuses to believe the report: unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I will never believe. Eight days later the disciples are inside again, and Thomas with them; Jesus comes through locked doors and stands among them. He addresses Thomas: put your finger here, and see my hands; put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. Thomas says my Lord and my God. Jesus says: because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. The chapter closes with the purpose statement: 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 1Chapter 1 falls into two distinct movements.
- John 2Chapter 2 contains the first two incidents of the public ministry, set in very different registers.
- John 3Chapter 3 divides into a dialogue and a testimony.
- John 4Chapter 4 is built around the longest conversation Jesus has with anyone in any of the four gospels.
- John 5Chapter 5 turns on a Sabbath healing that provokes the first sustained conflict with the religious authorities and generates a major theological discourse.
- John 6Chapter 6 is the longest in the gospel and the most demanding.
- John 7Chapter 7 is one of the most dramatic scenes of the public ministry, set during the week-long Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.
- John 8Chapter 8 opens with the pericope of the woman taken in adultery (verses 1–11), absent from the earliest manuscripts and widely understood as a later addition, but narratively powerful: whoever is without sin may cast the first stone.
- John 9Chapter 9 is the most novelistic chapter in John and a sustained piece of dramatic irony.
- John 10Chapter 10 follows directly from the expulsion of the man born blind in chapter 9 and develops two sustained metaphors.
- John 11Chapter 11 is the dramatic climax of the Book of Signs and the most fully narrated miracle in John.
- John 12Chapter 12 is the bridge between the two halves of the gospel.
- John 13Chapter 13 opens the Book of Glory and sets the scene for the Farewell Discourse that occupies chapters 14–17.
- John 14Chapter 14 is the opening movement of the Farewell Discourse and contains several of the most quoted passages in the gospel.
- John 15Chapter 15 moves through two large movements: the vine and branches discourse (verses 1–17) and the warning about the world's hostility (verses 18–27).
- John 16Chapter 16 continues the Farewell Discourse and moves through three phases.
- John 17Chapter 17 is the high-priestly prayer, unique in the New Testament: Jesus prays at length in the hearing of his disciples on the night of his arrest.
- John 18Chapter 18 covers the arrest, the hearings before Annas and Caiaphas, Peter's three denials, and the first half of the Roman trial before Pilate.
- John 19Chapter 19 covers the final stages of the trial and the crucifixion.
- John 20Chapter 20 narrates the resurrection in two stages across two distinct scenes.
- John 21Chapter 21 is often discussed as a possible appendix, since chapter 20 closes with a purpose statement that reads like an ending.