Chapter Twenty

1-10. Mary Magdalene and two disciples, Peter and John, at the tomb. - 11-18. The appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene. - 19-23. The appearance of Christ to the disciples in the evening of the day of resurrection. - 24-29. The appearance of Christ to the apostle Thomas in the presence of the other disciples. - 30-31. The conclusion to the Gospel.

John 20:1. Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. The evangelist John, like the Synoptists, does not depict the event of the resurrection itself, but speaks only of how the disciples of Christ learned of this event: he needed to show his readers that the resurrection of Christ is a fact sufficiently attested. But, as in his other accounts, John does not repeat what has already been said by the Synoptists, but supplements their accounts with new details. “On the first day of the week” – see comments to Matt 28:1 and parallel passages. “Mary Magdalene,” one of the most devoted disciples of Christ (John 19:25), comes to the tomb (of course, in order to anoint the body of Jesus with aromatics, Mark 16:1) while it was still dark. She did not come alone, but with other women, as is seen from her words (“we do not know”, – verse 2), but according to John’s account, she overtook the other women and came alone to the tomb, where she saw that the stone which had covered the tomb had been rolled away.

John 20:2. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. Mary, thinking that the stone was rolled away by people who had moved the body of Christ somewhere, hastens to inform about this the disciples of Christ who were most esteemed by her—Peter and John (who, here also, as in other places, does not name himself by name). “We do not know.” She is apparently saying this because she did not know that the other women who came to the tomb after her saw Angels here who announced to them that Christ had risen (see Matt 28:5-8 and parallel passages).

John 20:3. Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. John 20:4. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. John 20:5. Bending down to look in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Peter and John quickly went to the tomb, and even “ran”—John adds. Whether because John was younger than Peter, or because he hurried to find out what was the matter, he first overtook the second. But he did not enter the tomb itself out of a natural feeling of fear before the mystery of death. Bending down to the grave, he noticed only the wrappings—that is, the linen cloths or bandages that ordinarily tightly encased the limbs of the dead body (cf. John 11:44).

John 20:6. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, John 20:7. and the cloth that had been on his head, not lying with the other wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. John only cast a fleeting glance at the wrappings (as shown by the verb used of him, βλέπει, verse 5), but Peter, as a more decisive person, entered the tomb itself and here found nothing but wrappings and a head cloth, which lay folded separately from the wrappings. Peter examined this carefully (θεωρεῖ), but did not arrive at any definite conclusion about what had happened to Christ’s body.

John 20:8. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in; and he saw and believed. John 20:9. For as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. John 20:10. Then the disciples went home again. Then John also dared to go inside the tomb and, seeing what Peter had seen, believed that Christ had risen. He understood that no theft of the body could have taken place here, because those who would have stolen it would not have had time to remove from Christ the wrappings that clung tightly to the body, nor moreover to roll them up. About whether Peter believed in Christ’s resurrection, John says nothing, and therefore some commentators (for example, Bishop Michael), taking into account Luke’s account that Peter left the tomb, “amazed in himself at what had come to pass” (Luke 24:12), believe that Peter at that moment had not yet believed, but believed afterwards (Luke 24:34), while others (for example, Zahn) think that both with John Peter believed, since John speaks of both himself and Peter that they could thus far not find in the Scripture indications that Christ was to rise from the dead. The fact that after this visit to the tomb Peter did not go to search for Christ’s body, but went home with John, leads us to recognize the second opinion as more probable. Indeed, with his fiery and impetuous character, Peter would certainly have set out to search for Christ’s body if he had the slightest suspicion that it had been taken away somewhere (cf. the action of the prophet Elijah’s disciples, 2 Sam 2:16). “They did not yet understand...” Just as other Jews, the disciples of Christ before his resurrection did not imagine that the Messiah was to die and consequently did not think at all about any resurrection of his (cf. Mark 9:10). Christ, according to John, spoke of his resurrection only in figures (John 2:19).

John 20:11. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; John 20:12. and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and one at the feet. John 20:13. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. Passing over in silence the secondary question of how Mary Magdalene again found herself at the tomb, the evangelist reports that she “stood by the tomb and wept.” Just like John, she bent down to the tomb and at this time saw two Angels sitting there (cf. Luke 24:4; Matt 28:3). The heavenly messengers ask her the reason for her tears, and Mary answers them as if to simple people, not suspecting that before her were Angels, because hardly would she have thought it necessary to inform about the loss of Christ’s body those who, certainly, knew themselves what had really happened. If John mentions here the appearance of Angels, he probably thereby wishes to show how Christ was glorified from the very moment of resurrection: this glorification was best attested by the appearance of Angels. Why did Peter and John not see the Angels? To this question one can only answer conjecturally. Probably they, as apostles, were required to have faith that did not need those extraordinary angelic appearances which were granted to Mary and other women (cf. Luke 24:4-11).

John 20:14. When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. John 20:15. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. John 20:16. Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Having answered the Angels, Mary turned away from the tomb, because she had become convinced that Christ’s body was not in the tomb. At this time she saw Jesus standing near her. She did not recognize him, probably because her eyes were kept from recognizing him, as were the eyes of the two disciples walking to Emmaus (Luke 24:16). To Christ’s question of whom she was seeking, Mary, thinking Christ to be a gardener, asks him to tell her where he had placed him (she does not say whom, assuming that the gardener was occupied with moving Christ’s body and knows what Mary is asking about). Probably Mary did not receive an immediate answer to her question: she was again looking at the tomb when Christ called her by name. The tone in which Christ addressed Mary at once gave her the opportunity to recognize him, and she joyfully exclaimed: “Rabbouni!” Although John translates this word the same as the word “Rabbi,” there is no doubt that on Mary’s lips this designation had a special meaning. The thing is that in ancient Hebrew literature the word “Rabban” meant not a teacher-scribe, but was equivalent to the expression “Adon-master” (Zahn, p. 664). Mary, calling the risen Christ thus, clearly recognizes in him the Master of life.

John 20:17. Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ Probably Mary in unexpected joy rushed to Christ to grasp his feet. Only in this way can one explain the words Christ addressed to her: “Do not hold on to me” (more precisely, do not seize me, do not hold; cf. the meaning of the verb used here, ἅπτεσθαι, with Matt 8:15; Luke 22:51). The reason why Christ forbids Mary to embrace him lies in the fact that he “has not yet ascended to the Father.” By this he gives Mary to understand that the time for the renewal of personal communion with him among believers has not yet come, this communion will become possible only when he returns to the state in which he was before he came into the world (cf. John 6:62). And this was necessary in order that God’s will for the salvation of all humanity could be fulfilled. Mary, as if holding Christ in the circle of his former disciples, prevented the boundaries of Christ’s communion with humanity from expanding to those limits which he had in mind when he said that he would draw all to himself (John 12:32). Only after Christ’s ascension can every believer in him enjoy communion with him unhindered (John 3:15). “Go to my brothers...” Mary should not hold Christ here on earth, but go to his brothers—thus Christ calls his disciples in order to show his special closeness to them (cf. the expression “friends” in John 15:13-15) and to tell them that he is now ascending (ἀναβαίνω—present tense) to his Father and God, who is at the same time their Father and God. Christ, evidently, is not here speaking of the ascension that was to take place after forty days. According to John’s understanding, Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene at the moment when he had just left the tomb. He rose, but was not yet glorified—glorification would follow immediately, and, apparently, he appeared to Mary in order to send her to the disciples with the announcement that at this very moment the glorification of Christ, which he had repeatedly told them about before as the most important event which would lead to their own glorification as well, was about to be accomplished (cf. John 16:7). As if wishing to show that he had not yet entered a state of divine glorification, Christ here calls the Father his God: he does not use such an expression anywhere else in his other discourses preserved in John. However, Christ speaks separately about his relation to God and separately about the disciples’ relation to God. By this he shows that he is the Son of God the Only-Begotten, who hid his eternal glory in the state of incarnation and is now going to take it again as something belonging to him from eternity—to take it precisely as God-man, so that the weak human nature might be glorified with him. From this the designation of the apostles as “brothers” of Christ takes on a special meaning: Christ as it were wishes to say that the apostles too, thanks to Christ’s glorification, are destined sometime to come to the Father and to enter into Christ’s glory (cf. John 3:2; Heb 6:20).

John 20:18. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her. Mary goes and proclaims that Christ appeared to her and passes on to him his words addressed to her. Some commentators on the basis of the testimony of the evangelist Mark believe that the disciples did not believe Mary (Mark 16:11). This opinion should be recognized as correct, although John himself does not say how the disciples received the message about the resurrection. If Loisy asserts that according to John the apostles are presented as having believed Mary (Peter and John himself already, says Loisy, believed, and the other disciples without fear and with joy received Christ who appeared to them), then this assertion is refuted by the direct testimony of the evangelist Mark. Of course, however, from among those disciples who did not believe Mary, one should exclude Peter and John.

John 20:19. When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you. John 20:20. After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Here is described (up to verse 24) the appearance of the risen Christ to the disciples in the evening of the same first day of the week. The evangelist Luke gives more detail about this appearance (Luke 24:36 and following). John adds to what Luke said only certain details. Thus, he says that at this time the doors of the house where the disciples were gathered were locked for fear, lest the Jews suddenly break in to seize Christ’s disciples. By mentioning this circumstance, John obviously wishes to note that if Christ nevertheless appeared to the disciples, it means that his glorification in body, in his humanity, had already been accomplished: he was no longer held back by locked doors, and his body freely passed through the walls. Then John alone speaks of Christ showing the disciples his side (in Luke instead of this the “feet” are mentioned). If John does not mention the bewilderment and fright of the disciples at the sight of Christ who appeared so unexpectedly (cf. Luke 24:37) and speaks only of the joy which they felt at this moment, this is explained, of course, by John’s usual method—to omit details of events known from the Synoptic Gospels. The joy of the apostles, mentioned also by Luke (Luke 24:41), he repeats in order to show here the fulfillment of the promise given by Christ to the disciples in the farewell discourse (John 16:20-22). It should be noted that Christ undoubtedly was pointing to his wounds caused by nails and spear, and showed them with the purpose of assuring the disciples that before them stood their crucified Teacher. Of course, John and the women standing at the cross had already told the apostles how the soldier pierced Christ’s side with a spear, which the apostles themselves had not seen.

John 20:21. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. Since the disciples, abandoning their Teacher and Lord during his hours of suffering, had thereby as it were renounced the work entrusted to them of spreading Christ’s teachings in the world (John 17:18), Christ now restores them to their dignity and removes all doubts that had arisen in them regarding their right to be apostles, saying that he sends them just as the Father himself sent him. By this he already gives them to understand that he sends them fully equipped to accomplish the mission entrusted to them, as his Father sent him with all the power of the Spirit (John 3:34).

John 20:22. When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. John 20:23. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. To strengthen the disciples, Christ gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit, and in doing so uses an external sign (symbol)—breathing. Some ancient commentators saw only a symbol here. Thus, Theodore of Mopsuestia was condemned at the Fifth Ecumenical Council for asserting that Christ in his first appearance to the disciples did not give them the Holy Spirit, but only made a sign of breathing the Spirit into them (canon 22). In our time Zahn has revived this heresy, asserting that in the passage we are considering Christ only speaks of the future sending of the Spirit. The breathing which Christ uses here is, according to Zahn, only a symbol. It gave the apostles no special powers or hierarchical advantages. If they are granted here the right to forgive and not to forgive sins, it is not in the Sacrament of Confession, about which there is no mention here, but only through the proclamation to all people of the great truth that henceforth in Christ anyone can obtain forgiveness of sins under the condition of repentance and faith, which are required of those entering Christ’s Church... But one cannot agree with such an interpretation. One would need far too much imagination to see in the granting to the apostles the right to bind and loose an instruction to proclaim the Gospel. Such an instruction Christ expressed directly (Matt 28:19-20). Moreover, there is not a single instance in the Gospels where Christ used a symbol that did not contain actual content. The view of B. Weiss seems more plausible, according to which Christ here gave not the Spirit which he promised to all believers (John 7:39), but a special gift intended only for the apostles and, of course, their successors. As for the right to bind and loose, in giving now to his disciples this right, Christ fulfilled the promise he had once made in the person of Peter to all apostles (Matt 16:19). But in that case one cannot but agree with those theologians (for example, with Loisy) who say that by this giving of the Spirit and the power to bind and loose Christ opens the beginning of the existence of the Church.

John 20:24. But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. John 20:25. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. After this appearance of the risen Christ, the apostles themselves become heralds of the resurrection. They joyfully tell the apostle Thomas, who was probably away from Jerusalem on the day of resurrection, about the resurrection of Christ. Thomas does not believe their account that they saw Christ and the wounds on his hands and side. He himself wants to see and even touch these wounds—the stubbornness of his character (cf. John 11:16) manifested itself in this case with special force!

John 20:26. A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you. John 20:27. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Do not doubt but believe. Eight days Thomas remained in that state. The next Sunday after the first, he was already with the disciples (the entire setting here is almost the same as in the first appearance of Christ, and therefore one can assume that the second appearance also took place in Jerusalem, and not in Galilee, as Zahn thinks). After greeting Christ addresses Thomas with a demand to touch (such is the meaning here of the expression “see”) with his own fingers the marks on his hands where the nails had pierced, and then to verify with his hand the wound from the spear blow found in Christ’s side. By repeating precisely the demand that Thomas himself had made in the presence of the disciples, but which Christ had not heard, the Lord already by this very expression of clairvoyance exerted a beneficial effect on Thomas’s soul (cf. the words said to Nathanael at his calling, John 1:48). “Do not be faithless.” Some commentators for some reason interpret these words in the sense of an invitation to Thomas: from the two paths which lay before him, faith and unbelief, choose the first path (the Bishop Michael, for instance, somewhat holds such a view). But from John’s account it is clear that Thomas had already taken the path of unbelief: he did not believe even the unanimous testimony of his companions who asserted that they had seen the Lord (verse 25).

John 20:28. Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God! John 20:29. Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe. The words of the risen Christ gained victory over Thomas’s stubborn heart. He forgot about his former demand and no longer wished to touch the wounds on Christ’s body. And the fact that Thomas indeed did not use Christ’s permission is evident not only from the fact that John does not speak of his verification of these wounds, but also from the fact that he calls Thomas’s confession a direct, immediate answer which Thomas gave in response to the Lord’s proposal (“answered”). “My Lord and my God!” Thomas, recalling to himself all that Christ had formerly said about his relation to the Father (John 8:58 and others), as well as various manifestations of the miraculous power of Christ, now expresses an open confession of his faith in Christ not only as his Lord—thus the disciples called Christ even before (Matt 21:3)—but also as God. He does not even confine himself to the designation “Son of God,” because such a designation could be understood in a figurative sense, but directly calls Christ God, of course, God who assumed human flesh. “You have believed...” Christ confirms Thomas’s confession, as if saying that Thomas, having believed in the Divinity of Christ, acted quite rightly. The Lord, by pointing to the way in which Thomas came to faith in him—the path of personal verification—does not by any means seek to belittle Thomas before the other disciples: after all, they too at first did not believe the testimony of the women (Mark 16:13) and were convinced only when the Lord appeared to Peter (Luke 24:34). However, in the blessing of the Lord for those who believe in him without seeing him (Jesus Christ, of course, had in mind the Christians of future times), there lies a gentle rebuke to Thomas for desiring to have more tangible proofs of Christ’s resurrection than those which God was pleased to give to people.

John 20:30. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. John 20:31. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. Here John gives the first conclusion to his Gospel. He notes, with the incompleteness of his narrative about Christ’s life in mind, that Christ performed many “other signs” or, more correctly, “signs” (σημεῖα), which, however, are not mentioned “in this book,” that is, in his Gospel. Christ performed the signs “before his disciples.” This does not mean that the entire people were not witnesses to them, but is said by John so as to inspire in his Christian readers confidence in the apostles, who were the leaders of Christians, in order to make clear that the preaching of the apostles about Christ as God incarnate was based on many testimonies which Christ gave to them concerning his divine dignity. “But these,” that is, the accounts in John of the signs performed by Christ. “So that you may believe.” Since John wrote the Gospel already for those who believed in Christ, it is correct to recognize here another reading: “so that you may continue to believe” (ἵνα πιστεύητε, and not πιστεύσητε). Such a reading is confirmed also by other manuscripts (see in Tischendorf). One must believe that “Jesus is the Messiah,” the Messiah whom the Jews expected, and at the same time “the Son of God,” as the Jews did not want to recognize him and as many later Christian heretics also did not see in Christ. Only such a faith in Christ as the Son of God can give man eternal life. This life is obtained “in his name”; more correctly—life is found, contained in his name. Once we have found in Christ the true Son of God, we thereby already have true, eternal life (cf. John 1:12). * * * Notes Among the Church Fathers and our Orthodox exegetes there is no unity in explaining the words of Christ spoken to Mary Magdalene (verse 17). According to the interpretation of Saint John Chrysostom, Christ was impressing upon Mary that she should now approach Him with greater reverence, “since He had become through the flesh far more perfect.” Thus, according to Chrysostom, the glorification of Christ’s body was already completed. Saint Cyril of Alexandria explains Christ’s prohibition from touching Him by the fact that Mary, not having yet received the purifying grace of the Holy Spirit, was not to touch the holiest body of the Lord. Consequently, in the mind of Saint Cyril as well, Christ’s body became holiest or glorified already from the very moment of resurrection. Bishop Michael finds here an indication that Christ was in “that same body.” Archbishop Innocent expresses himself even more definitively in the same spirit: “Mary’s taking the Lord for a gardener shows that the glory of resurrection was already hidden beneath the veil of flesh, though passed triumphantly through the gates of death, but not yet raised to the full height of heavenly majesty.” By “ascension” Archbishop Innocent understands “a temporal ascension into the higher world,” where Christ was to appear with His resurrected body as the victor over hell and death. In general agreement with Archbishop Innocent is G. K. Vlastov, who says that the process of glorifying Christ’s body was still only being accomplished at that very hour when He was speaking with Mary. When the Lord appeared to His disciples and allowed them to touch Him, the glorification was already complete. Among defenders of the opposite opinion should be mentioned Roman Levitsky, who says that to allow that Christ’s body immediately after resurrection had not yet fully freed itself from the conditions of earthly material existence means to allow that Christ’s death was not a complete, actual death, but His resurrection was not an abolishing of the very sting of death, a decisive victory over it, the destruction of all its power. But all the difficulties he raises about such an interpretation fall away if we hold to the view of G. K. Vlastov that the Lord’s glorification continued only a few hours after the resurrection. In John, according to the best manuscripts, “hands and side” is read, and the word “feet” is omitted (Tischendorf).