My Lord and my God: the empty tomb, the risen Jesus and Thomas

The Gospel of John is anonymous. Church tradition, from Irenaeus in the late second century, ascribes it to the apostle John, son of Zebedee, and the book points to 'the disciple whom Jesus loved' as the witness behind it (21:24). Scholars divide. Some hold that the apostle wrote it, some that a circle of his followers shaped it, and Richard Bauckham argues for an eyewitness outside the Twelve. The traditional date is the 80s or 90s of the first century, and a fragment of John 18 (P52) shows it was in circulation in the early second century.

Chapter 20 follows the burial of Jesus in a garden tomb near the place of crucifixion (19:38-42). Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus wrapped the body in linen cloths with spices, as was the Jewish custom. The women who went to the tomb at dawn on Sunday, the first day of the week, are in all four Gospels, and the empty tomb is part of the earliest preaching of the church. Paul reports what he received about the death, burial and resurrection on the third day 'according to the Scriptures', and about the appearances, in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, a text written within about twenty-five years of the event.

The disciples at the time of the events were afraid. They had left Jesus at his arrest, and they met behind locked doors for fear of the Jewish authorities. Chapter 20 is the climax of the Gospel, and it carries the author's own statement of purpose (20:30-31). Chapter 21 is a later scene by the lake and works as an epilogue.

John 20 is a resurrection narrative, told as historical report with theological point. The four Gospels agree on the main facts: Jesus was buried, the tomb was found empty on the first day of the week, women were the first to find it, and the risen Jesus appeared to disciples. They differ in details such as the number of women and angels and the order of appearances. Differences of this kind are normal in independent accounts of the same events, and they have been harmonized in various ways. John gives the Jerusalem scenes with unusual closeness, including the race to the tomb and the dialogue with Mary.

John's own method matters. He writes selectively, as he says in verses 30-31. He tells the story through scenes of recognition and belief. Each scene ends with someone seeing and believing, and the whole is meant to carry the reader to the same belief. The word 'see' is used in several senses in the chapter: the beloved disciple sees and believes, Mary sees Jesus, the disciples see the Lord, Thomas sees and believes. And the last beatitude is for those who have not seen (verse 29), which includes the reader.

Two textual and interpretive notes. The Greek of verse 31 has two readings, 'that you may believe' as a continuing act or as the start of belief, and manuscripts differ. Some scholars infer that the Gospel is written to bring people to faith, others that it is to strengthen those who already believe. The class takes both as within John's purpose. Second, verses 22-23 are among the most debated in the Gospel, and the tradition note describes the main views.

Verses 1–10

It is early on Sunday, still dark, when Mary Magdalene finds that the stone has been removed. She runs to Simon Peter and the beloved disciple and says, 'They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have put Him!' The plural 'we' may suggest that other women were with her, as the other Gospels say. The two disciples run, and the other disciple reaches the tomb first and looks in. Peter, arriving second, goes in first. They see the linen cloths and the cloth that had been around Jesus' head, 'rolled up, lying separate from the linen cloths'. The detail has been read as showing that the body was not stolen, since a thief would not pause to unwrap it and fold the head cloth. It also contrasts with the raising of Lazarus, who came out still bound (11:44). Jesus has left his grave clothes behind. The beloved disciple 'saw and believed'. Then John adds that they did not yet understand from the Scripture that he must rise. The Scripture is not named; the early church later pointed to texts such as Psalm 16:10 (Acts 2:27; 13:35).

Verses 11–18

Mary stays at the tomb weeping. She sees two angels in white sitting where the body had lain, one at the head and one at the feet, and she gives the same answer. Then she turns and sees Jesus but does not recognize him, and she thinks he is the gardener. A garden has been mentioned as the site of the tomb (19:41). Jesus says her name, 'Mary', and she answers in Hebrew (probably Aramaic) 'Rabboni', which means teacher. The scene echoes the Good Shepherd's words that he calls his sheep by name (10:3). He then says, 'Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.' The verb is a present command and can mean 'stop holding on'. Jesus is not forbidding all touch, since he invites Thomas to touch his wounds and the women take hold of his feet in Matthew 28:9. He is saying that the relationship is changing: he is not staying in the old way, and he is about to ascend. He sends her to 'My brothers' with the message that he is ascending 'to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God'. For the first time in the Gospel he calls the disciples his brothers, and Mary is the first witness who announces, 'I have seen the Lord!' Later tradition calls her the apostle to the apostles.

Verses 19–23

On the evening of the first day the disciples are together with the doors locked. Jesus comes and stands among them and says, 'Peace be with you!' He shows them his hands and his side, the marks of the cross, and they rejoice. He repeats the peace and says, 'As the Father has sent Me, so also I am sending you.' The mission of the disciples is modelled on his own. Then he breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.' The verb for breathing is closely related to the one the Greek Old Testament uses of God breathing life into Adam (Genesis 2:7), and Ezekiel 37:9 summons the breath to enter the dead bones. The forgiveness statement in verse 23 is discussed in the tradition note.

Verses 24–29

Thomas, called Didymus ('twin'), was absent. He says he will not believe unless he sees the nail marks and puts his finger and hand where the nails and the spear were. A week later Jesus comes again, with the doors locked and Thomas present, and invites him to touch his hands and side. He says, 'Stop doubting and believe.' Thomas answers, 'My Lord and my God!' It is the highest confession in the Gospel. Jesus accepts it and then says, 'blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.'

Verses 30–31

Jesus did many other signs not written in the book, but these are written so that readers may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing have life in his name.

The resurrection stands at the centre of the Christian message. Paul says that if Christ is not raised, the preaching and the faith are empty (1 Corinthians 15:14). John presents it as the vindication of Jesus' claims, as the sign that God has accepted his sacrifice, and as the start of the new creation. The Spirit given by the risen Lord is the Spirit promised in 14:16-17 and 16:7, and the giving of the Spirit is connected to the mission: the Son sends the disciples as the Father sent him.

The relation of verse 22 to Pentecost is discussed. Some readers take the breathing as a pledge of the Spirit who would be poured out at Pentecost (Acts 2). Others take it as a real giving of the Spirit for new birth, with Pentecost the public empowerment for witness. Others read it as an acted promise. The point common to all is that the Spirit comes from the risen Jesus.

The chapter also teaches the nature of faith. Thomas's doubt is met with evidence, but the blessing goes to those who believe without seeing, which includes everyone who reads John. Faith rests on testimony: the beloved disciple saw and believed, and the book is written so others may believe. The final beatitude joins the Gospel to the later church's life of faith by the written word (compare 1 Peter 1:8).

Here Christ is not foreshadowed but present. The chapter is fulfilment. Jesus said in 2:19-22 that he would raise the temple of his body in three days, and John says the disciples remembered this and believed. Verse 9 says that Scripture had pointed to the resurrection, and Paul says Christ was raised on the third day 'according to the Scriptures' (1 Corinthians 15:4). Jesus shows the marks of the cross, and John has already tied the piercing of his side to Zechariah 12:10 (19:37). The risen one is the crucified one.

Two further connections are offered more tentatively, as echoes. Jesus breathing on the disciples recalls God breathing life into Adam (Genesis 2:7), and the garden setting of the tomb and of Mary's meeting with the supposed gardener hints at a new creation. Calling the disciples 'My brothers' may recall Psalm 22:22, which Hebrews 2:11-12 applies to Christ.

Thomas's cry, 'My Lord and my God!', brings the Gospel full circle to its first verse, where the Word was with God and was God (1:1), and to 1:18, where the only Son is said to have made God known. The words may echo Psalm 35:23, where the psalmist cries to 'my God and my Lord'. In the Gospel's own logic the confession is not a mistake that Jesus corrects but the truth he accepts. The church has read it as a plain statement of his deity.