In the beginning of John 20, Mary Magdalene finds the tomb of Jesus open and empty after His resurrection (although she doesn’t know all of that, yet). She tells Peter and John, who run to the tomb. While Mary is crying outside of the tomb, she speaks with two angels and then Jesus appears to her directly with a message for her to tell His disciples. Read John 20:17-18 to learn more about the message that Jesus gave, and what Mary told the disciples.
It appears to be on this day – the day that we celebrate as Resurrection Sunday – that the narrative picks up in John 20, verse 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!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
John 20:19-20 NIV
Just to set the timeline here, Jesus had been taken on Thursday evening and crucified on Friday. It would have been a terrifying weekend for the disciples. To make things more complicated, at least two of them (Peter and John, the latter being the author of this gospel) have seen that the tomb was empty (confirming the evidence that Mary Magdalene had told them), and there’s been this additional testimony from her.
So, the disciples had some reason to hope that Jesus was alive, but I suspect that at least some of them were still skeptical. It is my understanding that a woman’s testimony wasn’t legally binding in that culture, and even if the disciples wanted to believe Mary Magdalene, this wasn’t what they had expected. If the disciples were like the rest of us (and I think that they were), it would probably have taken some time to unwind their preconceptions about Jesus being a political king and overthrowing the Roman Empire, and get to the point where they understood what Jesus had actually come to Earth to accomplish. In fact, even if they believed that Jesus was alive again, they still had reason to fear crucifixion. Despite the potential for them to be raised from the dead (as they had seen Jesus do for others during His ministry), no one wanted to be crucified.
So, they are understandably still hiding this evening. It would take additional evidence and – more significantly – the power of the Holy Spirit to turn these disciples who had fled from soldiers three days ago into bold witnesses of the resurrected Christ, about 7 weeks later.
Then, “Jesus came and stood among them…”. Maybe we wish that John had narrated more details about how this happened, though. Did Jesus just appear: “out of thin air”, as we might say? Did He pass through the door, wall, or ceiling? We might want to know the details, but perhaps those would just get in the way and detract from the key point here: Jesus was alive and He was with His disciples again!
What does Jesus say to them? “Peace be with you!”. I imagine part of this being similar to the “fear not” message that we find angels saying to people who are terrified when they appear. However, with this being the “shalom” peace (confirmed by the Lookout) that we find in the Jewish language, there was much more to the peace that Jesus brought than just “don’t panic”.
Yes, the disciples had nothing to fear by seeing Jesus show up among them, even after they had witnessed His arrest, crucifixion, and death. In addition, though, they now had confirmation that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah, since God verified this by raising Jesus from the dead. And, although they probably didn’t appreciate it yet, the disciples could now have lasting peace with God through the perfect sacrifice that Jesus had made for their sins. I see God’s raising of Jesus from the dead as attesting to the validity of that sacrifice – a sort of divine “stamp of approval”.
Remember what we discussed about the disciples still figuring this out? Jesus doesn’t just appear and expect that His disciples are good to go. No, He understands us and knows that we are merely human, after all. (In fact, being our creator gives Jesus unique insights into us that we don’t know ourselves.) So, He shows the evidence of His crucifixion, confirming that He is the same Jesus that was crucified just a few days before.
Now, the disciples can dare to rejoice. After a rough couple of days, they had heard some unusual – and hopeful – information over the past 12 hours or so, but now they can now witness – first-hand – proof for themselves that Jesus was indeed alive. This, I think, was when hope became certainty.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for February 25, 2024
References:
- The Lookout, February 25, 2024, © 2024 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – John, by Beauford H. Bryant and Mark S. Krause. © 1998 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 