Sunday April 12 John 20:1-18

Good day, finally a day without snow. This week we have two options for our text. They are John 20:1-18 or Mark 16:1-8. Both are texts on the resurrection of Jesus. I think we are using the text from John so that is what I will use here.

Jesus has been crucified and placed in a tomb. A huge, heavy stone has been rolled in front of the tomb opening.

V1 “Early on the first day” brings to mind Genesis 1:1-5. In that story a new creation is beginning. Now we have a new creation, a new beginning. This was Sunday, the first day of the week for the Jewish people. This was also the day of First Fruits. First Fruits was a celebration of the beginning of the barley harvest. On this festival a sheaf of barley was cut from the field and offered to God. It was the first (best) of the grain offered to God and then the rest of the harvest could begin. According to Lois Tverberg in her book “Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus” on the Sabbath after Passover, the day immediately preceding First Fruits, a dramatic prophecy was always read in the temple. Ezekiel 37:5 said “I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life”. This said God would raise the dead when he came. God raised Jesus as a First Fruit offering. The start of the harvest of raising all the dead. Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb. It is still dark. She sees the huge stone has been rolled away from the entrance.

V2 She ran to tell Peter and John about this thinking someone had taken the body in the night and hidden it.

V3-4 Peter and John set out for the tomb running. John out ran Peter and got there first.

V5 John looked in and saw (Greek=noticed) the linen wrappings laying there.

V6 Peter got there and bent over to go into the tomb. He saw (Greek=studied for clues and tried to comprehend) the linen wrappings lying there. They were as if wrapped around a balloon that had deflated.

V7 The cloth that was wrapped around Jesus’ head to keep his jaw closed was lying by itself but had been rolled up. There is an order to all this. If the body had been taken, the wrappings would have been taken too. There is no body but wrappings and they seem to have an order to them.

V8 John then bends down and enters the tomb and he sees (Greek=understood; it clicked)
and believed.

V9 None of the disciples were looking for a resurrection. They didn’t even understand yet why he had predicted his death. The only resurrection that they knew was to take place was at the end of the age when all would be resurrected.

V10 They return home. Their minds must have been whirling with thoughts trying to figure out and understand what was happening.

V11 Mary has come back to the tomb to look in. No doubt she had heard from the disciples what they had found.

V12 She sees two angels sitting where the body had been, one at the head and one at the feet. In Exodus 25:17 two cherubim had been on either side of the ark which had the atonement cover on it. On the Day of Atonement the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the cover to atone for the peoples sins. Jesus had died to atone for the sins of all.

V13 They ask why is she crying and she says they have stolen the body.

V14 She turned around still bent over from looking in the tomb when she saw Jesus there but didn’t recognize him. His first appearance is to a woman. The importance of this is amazing as women could not bear witness. Normally the male writers would have kept this out the text as her testimony would be invalid but they include it which validates the story even more. They are accepting the verbal witness of a woman.

V15 Jesus questions her. She thinks he is the gardener. Where in the bible do we first read of a garden? Genesis – the creation story. Who is the gardener in that story? God, who walks in the garden in the evening. Here we have a new garden and gardener, again a new creation. Jesus had come looking for Mary. She wants to know where the body is so she and the others can finish the job of anointing the body with oils (which would combat the stench of a decaying body).

V16 Jesus calls her name and she recognizes him. She calls him “Rabbouni” – teacher- note for all Davinci Code readers if they had been married she would have cried husband or Jesus not teacher.

V17 She probably wants to hug him but he tells her not to. The Greek is “cling to me”. This may have something to do with his deity, no one knows for sure. He tells her to go to his brothers. Jesus says “you a women go witness to the men” which wasn’t traditionally accepted. Their status has now shifted from disciples to brothers. It has gone from a master (teacher)/student relationship to a family relationship. Now his father is their father too as well as being their God. More family relationship references. By their belief in Jesus they have been adopted into Gods’ family. Jesus is now their adopted brother. (As he is ours too.)

V18 Mary went to the disciples and announced she had seen Jesus. She tells them what he has said.

V19 That same Sunday evening the disciples are locked in a room for fear that they too would be taken away and crucified Jesus comes and stands among them. He did not walk through the wall as a ghost. He was always there; he just transforms his body so they can see it; just as he is always with us. He says “Peace be with you.” reflecting John 14:27. This would have been “Shalom”. It is more than a statement. It is a blessing, a restoration of relationship and a greeting. He didn’t say why did all of you leave me and scold them (which he had every right to do). Rather, he restored their relationship with him. By saying Shalom he was putting everything right again. This is the first thing he says to them.

V20 He shows them his hands and side. They can see his transformed body still has the signs of crucifixion on it. This is a bodily resurrection, a transformed body, not a “soul” floating around without a body. His example is the first of how we will all be resurrected in this way to dwell with God on the new earth (not somewhere in space). The book of Revelation has the New Jerusalem coming to a restored earth. This is the start of the restoration. The disciples’ rejoicing reflects John 16:22 when they visually saw the Lord.

Enjoy your Easter, rejoice and celebrate! Kim