John 20:1-31
The Empty Tomb
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Jesus came back to us after He died...Many of His close followers got to see Him right after His death...And when they saw Him, they sometimes did not recognize Him...Mary Magdalene stood outside the tomb crying over His death...As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot...The angels asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”...“They have taken my LORD away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put Him.”...At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus...So she did not recognize Him, even as He talked to her...
He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?...Who is it you are looking for?”...Thinking He was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will get Him.”...Jesus said to her, “Mary.”...She turned toward Him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”)....Jesus said, “Do not hold on to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father...Go instead to My brothers and tell them, ‘I AM ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’”...Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the LORD!”...And she told them that He had said these things to her...
Then Jesus would later appear to His Disciples...By seeing Jesus the Disciples would believe that He was Divine...Now Thomas was a little bit different about His belief..Not only did Thomas say he would need to see Jesus alive, but he also said he would need to touch Jesus and His wounds, that He suffered on the cross...Thomas almost demands both to see and touch our LORD before He will believe that He is still alive...Thomas said this to the other disciples after they had seen Him and he had not, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”...Thomas needed to see Jesus and to touch Him again to believe...
Seeing Jesus in the flesh after His resurrection was very important for Jesus' story and to have belief in Him and for His ministry to continue...Seeing Him made people believe...And the Disciples, as well as Mary got to see Him soon after His death...Believers believe that it was Jesus in the flesh even after His resurrection...He came back and did appear to His Disciples...He wanted to show them that He did overcome death, and that He was not just a Spirit, who had no physical body...We know that He did have a physical body after His death, because of Thomas...Because Thomas even got to touch His body, which is what he said he wanted to do so that He might believe...
The followers and Early Christians believed this resurrection story and that Jesus walked the earth again after His death...It wasn't too many years after John wrote his gospel that St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote this about Jesus' death..."For I know and believe that He was in the flesh even after the resurrection; and when He came to Peter and His company, He said to them, Lay hold and handle Me, and see that I am not a demon without body...And straightway they touched Him, and they believed, being joined unto His flesh and His blood...Wherefore also they despised death, nay they were found superior to death...And after His resurrection He [both] ate with them and drank with them as one in the flesh, though spiritually He was united with the Father."...
It was important that people saw Jesus and touched Him after His death...St. Ignatius certainly believed this and wrote about this for others and us to believe...Seeing Jesus, touching Jesus, and believing in the resurrection, make us believe that Jesus lives...He is still alive...Jesus knew the importance of His returning to earth and being seen after His death for forty days...But He reminds us that He will leave and be united with His Father and says, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”...