I Have Seen the Lord!
John the Evangelist invites you, the reader, to experience the garden and the locked upper room. Come: see and hear what the disciples saw, heard, and experienced.
Before dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb (John 20:1). She was grieving the loss of Jesus of Nazareth, who had borne witness to His Father but had been arrested, condemned, and crucified not long earlier (John 1:1-19:37). Jesus had been hastily prepared for burial (John 19:38-42); Mary and other female disciples had come to complete the task more thoroughly.
But she did not find the tomb in any kind of condition as she was expecting: the stone had been rolled away (John 20:1). She ran to Peter and the “other disciple whom Jesus loved,” whom we believe to be John the Evangelist, and told them how someone had taken the Lord from the tomb, but they did not know where they put Him (John 20:2). Peter and John ran to the tomb; John wanted to make sure the reader was aware he made it to the tomb first (John 20:3-4). John looked into the tomb: he saw strips of linen lying there, but no body (John 20:5). When Peter arrived, Peter did not bother to look first but burst into the tomb: he also saw the linen strips, but also the face cloth rolled up in a place by itself (John 20:6). John then entered the tomb, and he saw and believed: he accepted the reality Jesus’ body was not there but the linen strips and face cloth were, but did not yet understand how the Scripture spoke of Jesus rising from the dead (John 20:8-9). Peter and John returned to where they had been staying; Mary Magdalene stood outside the tomb weeping (John 20:10-11).
Maybe Peter and John spoke somewhat of what they had seen as they traveled home; maybe they were silent and were attempting to process it all. Mary Magdalene might continue to insist someone had taken the body, but it would be difficult to explain why anyone who would be trying to steal the body would have unwrapped it first: it would have taken a lot of additional time, and it would have proven far more convenient to carry the body away as wrapped and deal with the wrappings in another place. The only reason the strips of linen and the face cloth would still be there without the body is if Jesus had removed them Himself.
John might have believed, but Mary Magdalene was having none of it at the moment. While weeping, she looked inside the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting, one where Jesus’ head had been, and the other where His feet had been (John 20:11-12). They asked her why she was weeping; she spoke to the angels according to what she had said formerly to Peter and John (John 20:13).
Apparently all of the power and symbolism of the moment was completely lost on her. She was speaking to angels. They sat where Jesus’ head and feet had been, very much like the cherubim flank the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:18-22). The mercy seat was the place of atonement; and just as the Aaronite high priest was commanded to put off the linen garments he wore in the holy place after having made atonement for Israel (Leviticus 16:2-4, 23-24), so Jesus left off the linen strips and folded the face cloth after His death in His resurrection (cf. John 20:5-7).
Yet Mary Magdalene could not perceive all of this in her grief. Nor was she able to discern who she then turned to see, for Jesus then asked her why she was weeping, but she thought he was the gardener and asked Him to tell her where He had put His body so she might take Him (John 20:14-15). This whole scene is saturated in irony: by providing redemption where Adam and Eve had transgressed, Jesus very much was a type of gardener (cf. Romans 5:12-20), and this “gardener” had indeed “carried away” the body of Jesus, since it was Jesus Himself in the flesh!
And then, the height of the drama: Jesus called Mary by name. Mary Magdalene then recognized Him, calling Him Rabboni, or Teacher, in Aramaic (John 20:16)! Jesus told her to not touch Him since He had not yet ascended to His Father; He commissioned her to go tell “My brothers” how He was ascending to “My Father and your Father” and to “my God and your God” (John 20:17). Mary went and told the disciples how she had seen the Lord and then related what He had said to her (John 20:18).
Many have tried to make much of Jesus’ command for Mary Magdalene to not touch Him. We do best to understand the concern as very contextually and momentarily specific; after all, Jesus’ disciples would soon be invited to touch Him, and so it is not as if Jesus was not able to be touched before He ascended (e.g. John 20:27). It would not at all be surprising for Mary Magdalene to have wanted to hold onto Jesus: she had lost Him once, and would have been determined to not lose Him again.
But it was not at all the purpose of God in Christ for anyone to cling to the resurrected Jesus; instead, Jesus commissioned Mary to deliver the great and transformative news, not only of Jesus’ resurrection, but also of His imminent ascension (John 20:17). Jesus would later speak regarding His ascension with His disciples explicitly; the power of the message here involves the possessive pronouns. Mary was to go and tell “My” brothers how Jesus was about to ascend to “My” Father and “your” Father, to “My” God and “your” God. Jesus had frequently spoken of God as His Father; He had not yet spoken of His disciples as His brothers, nor of His Father as their Father and God. While it is true they were all fellow Israelites and thus brothers in that sense, and likewise God was always their God and Father, the relationships had now been reconciled and redeemed in ways not possible before Jesus’ suffering and death.
In this way, Mary Magdalene is the apostle to the Apostles: Jesus sent her to tell them the good news of His resurrection, and she did so. No one should ever attempt to diminish or dismiss the importance and power of Jesus’ choice of Mary Magdalene as His first witness of His resurrection.
John the Evangelist then related the events which would take place later that evening (John 20:19-23). The disciples were gathered and locked the doors of the place for fear of the Jewish authorities (John 20:19). Jesus appeared in their midst and offered them His peace (John 20:19). He showed them His hands and side, and they rejoiced to see Him (John 20:20). Jesus again gave them His peace and commissioned them: as the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus now sent them (John 20:21). Jesus breathed on them and told them to receive the Holy Spirit: if they forgave or retained anyone’s sins, they would indeed be forgiven or retained (John 20:22-23).
There were times before Jesus’ death and resurrection in which He would escape from very precarious situations in miraculous ways (e.g. John 8:59), but at this moment He seemed to be able to transcend space and time barriers and simply appear in a locked room. And yet Jesus was no ghost or phantasm: John insisted on how He showed them all His hands and side (John 20:20), and ostensibly the wounds from what He had recently suffered remained. From this we have some reason to believe our bodies in the resurrection will still bear at least some of the signs of our experiences in this life, although how and to what extent remains, as with most things regarding the resurrection, left unrevealed.
This scene represents the moment the disciples became the Apostles. Jesus commissioned them as the Father had commissioned Him. Spirit, in Hebrew and Greek, is associated with wind or breath, which well explains why Jesus would have breathed upon the disciples to give them the Spirit in John 20:22. But did the Apostles truly receive the Holy Spirit at this moment or the better part of fifty days later at Pentecost (cf. Acts 2:1-13)? No text provides an explicit answer, but we are likely best to understand this moment as Jesus preparing them for Pentecost: He wanted them to understand how the promises formerly made would be fulfilled; even though Thomas was not present at this moment (John 20:24), he yet would receive the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Likewise, we do well to understand the ability to forgive and retain sins as specifically directed to the Apostles as part of their work in bearing witness to all God accomplished in Jesus (cf. Matthew 18:18).
John then noted how Thomas called Didymus was not with the disciples when Jesus came (John 20:24). When the disciples told him how they had seen the Lord, Thomas was not about to take their word for it: he insisted upon seeing and touching the wounds on Jesus’ hands and side before he would believe (John 20:25). Eight days later the disciples, with Thomas present, were again in a locked room, and Jesus again appeared (John 20:26). Jesus then invited Thomas to do as he had said formerly, to see and touch Jesus’ wounds, so he might believe (John 20:27). John did not record whether Thomas actually touched Jesus’ wounds; instead, Thomas replied, “My Lord and My God!” (John 20:28). Jesus then asked if Thomas believed because he saw Jesus and then pronounced blessings on those who have not seen but yet have believed (John 20:29).
John the Evangelist then confessed how Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of the disciples which were not recorded in his book (John 20:30). But those which have made up the Gospel of John were recorded so the hearer and/or reader might believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and they would have life in His name (John 20:31).
What should we make of Thomas and of John’s commentary? Thomas has been called “Doubting Thomas” ever since on account of this scene. Many would castigate or think less of Thomas because of his doubt, yet such likely proves unwise.
Many also read Jesus’ response to Thomas as a rebuke: oh, so you had to see to believe? Those who are really blessed are those who believe without seeing! But Jesus had just invited Thomas to investigate His wounds so he might come to believe (John 20:27).
Likewise, many consider John 20:30-31 to represent the original conclusion to John the Evangelist’s witness. According to this perspective, John 21:1-25 would represent a later addendum or coda, most likely added by John the Evangelist himself, to tell more stories and clarify some matters. And yet we have no text critical evidence for this claim.
Instead, we might better understand John’s commentary as stemming directly from Jesus’ beatitude in John 20:29. In this reading, Jesus was not really attempting to rebuke Thomas at all; instead, He was simply pointing out how Thomas, and the other disciples, all needed to see and experience in order to believe, and pronounced blessing on all those who would not see but would yet believe.
For Jesus knew He would soon ascend to the Father, and it would be the eyewitness testimony of those disciples present in that locked room which would be the basis upon which all future generations might come to believe He is the Christ, the Son of God.
And it is the credibility of that witness which has, at least in part, animated how John the Evangelist has portrayed Mary Magdalene and the disciples as they encounter the Risen Christ. Imagine if Jesus had not really risen from the dead, but the disciples had later come to have some kind of spiritual experience which they imagined to be a kind of resurrection, and were trying really hard to justify Jesus despite His death. Is this the way they would have told the story about themselves? It would be highly unlikely. In this scenario, we would have expected them to all be at the tomb early in the morning, already fully expecting Jesus to have risen.
But that is not how the story is told. Instead, the first real witness to Jesus is a woman, one who immediately beforehand insisted to angels and disciples how someone had stolen Jesus’ body. Mary Magdalene did not show up to the tomb expecting the Risen Jesus. In the Roman world, the witness of a woman was not seen as maintaining sufficient integrity to stand in a court of law; therefore, if they were making this story up, they would not have had Mary be the one to tell them about Jesus’ resurrection.
Likewise, it is not as if they portray themselves as easily convinced. Peter and John believe something happened, but even they did not fully understand at first. In this way, Thomas’ intransigence provides important credibility for his witness. He was not going to just uncritically accept the witness of his fellow ten disciples regarding their experience of Jesus in the resurrection. We should not imagine Thomas was harboring specific, unique doubts about Jesus; if anything, Thomas should have really wanted to believe, for Thomas, by all accounts, was as committed and faithful a disciple as any of the other ten.
Such was confirmed by the moment Jesus stood before Thomas: maybe Thomas actually touched Jesus, or maybe he did not, but it is from the mouth of Thomas where we find the first confession of Jesus not only as Lord, but also as God, in the narrative of John’s Gospel (John 20:28). How Thomas drew this conclusion is left unrevealed, but he was certainly not wrong in doing so. God had raised Jesus from the dead; Jesus, therefore, was Thomas’ Lord and God.
We are unable to physically be present to experience what Mary Magdalene and the disciples experienced on the first day of the week and eight days afterward. But we can maintain great confidence in the integrity of John the Evangelist’s witness, and the witness of Mary Magdalene and the other disciples. Mary Magdalene really saw Jesus raised from the dead, as did Thomas and the other disciples. John’s witness has been recorded so we might have the same moment of recognition as did Mary Magdalene and Thomas: Jesus our Teacher is risen from the dead, and He is now our Lord and our God. May we thus accept the witness of John, Mary, and the disciples, and obtain eternal life by believing Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God!
Ethan R. Longhenry
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