The empty tomb and the risen Lord: that you may believe

John 20 is the climax of the Gospel and the original end of its narrative. The last two verses (20:30-31) read like a conclusion, and chapter 21 is an added epilogue. The chapter gives the Gospel's account of Easter: the empty tomb, the appearance to Mary Magdalene, the appearance to the disciples on Easter evening and a week later to Thomas.

The resurrection is told in all four Gospels, and the accounts agree on the core: Jesus was buried, the tomb was found empty on the first day of the week by women, including Mary Magdalene, and Jesus appeared to his disciples (Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24). They differ in details. John centres on Mary Magdalene, though her words 'we do not know' (verse 2) imply others. Luke 24:12 has Peter running to the tomb, though some early manuscripts omit that verse, and Luke 24:24 mentions 'some of those with us' going there. Matthew and Mark point the disciples to Galilee, John's first appearances are in Jerusalem, and chapter 21 returns to Galilee. Mark's oldest manuscripts end at 16:8, and verses 9 to 20 are generally regarded as a later addition. Paul's list of appearances in 1 Corinthians 15:3 to 8, written about AD 55 and passing on what he had received, is the earliest written testimony, and it names Peter, the Twelve and others but not the women. Scholars harmonise the accounts in different ways. Some stress that the Gospels select and arrange material, and others note that real differences remain.

Whether history can speak about a resurrection is itself debated. Historians such as N. T. Wright argue that the rise of the Christian movement and the empty tomb are best explained by a bodily resurrection. Others, such as Bart Ehrman, hold that history as a discipline cannot establish a miracle. John does not argue the case in this way. He gives eyewitness testimony and states his purpose in verses 30 and 31. The Gospel is anonymous, traditionally attributed to the apostle John and dated by most to AD 80 to 100.

John 20 is resurrection narrative with a recognisable pattern. A person finds an absence, does not recognise the risen Jesus, is called by name or shown his wounds, and recognises him. The chapter is written to move readers from seeing to believing. It uses the verb 'to see' repeatedly (verses 1, 5, 8, 12, 14, 18, 20, 25, 29) and sets different kinds of sight alongside each other: the beloved disciple who sees and believes at the grave cloths, Mary who sees angels and does not understand, Thomas who will believe only when he sees, and readers who have not seen (verse 29).

Three principles help.

• First, avoid forcing the Gospel accounts into one timetable; each author selected and arranged material for his purpose, and John's stated aim in 20:31 governs his selection.
• Second, notice the details that the account does not explain. Some have argued from the orderly head cloth and the linen wrappings that the body was not stolen, since thieves would hardly leave the grave clothes, but the text does not argue the point. It simply reports.
• Third, treat the symbolic touches as secondary. The garden (19:41; 20:15) and the breathing (20:22) have echoes of Genesis, but John does not state them, and they should be labelled as echoes. The chapter's plain claim is that Jesus rose bodily, bearing his wounds, and that this is the ground for faith.

Verses 1–10

'Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark', Mary Magdalene finds the stone removed. She runs to Peter and the beloved disciple with the report, 'They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have put Him!' She thinks of theft, not resurrection. The two disciples run, and the beloved disciple arrives first but does not go in. Peter enters and sees the linen cloths and the head cloth rolled up, lying separate. When the other disciple enters, 'he saw and believed'. Lazarus had come out of his tomb still bound in grave clothes (11:44), but Jesus leaves his behind. Verse 9 says that they did not yet understand from the Scripture that he had to rise. The New Testament later says that Christ rose on the third day 'according to the Scriptures' (1 Corinthians 15:4), and Acts reads Psalm 16:10 as pointing to it (Acts 2:25-31).

Verses 11–18

Mary stays weeping and sees two angels in white, one at the head and one at the feet. They ask why she weeps, and she answers that they have taken her Lord. She turns and sees Jesus but does not recognise him and takes him for the gardener. His question, 'Whom are you seeking?', echoes his first words in the Gospel (1:38) and his words in the garden of arrest (18:4). He says her name, 'Mary,' and she answers in the Hebrew speech of the day, probably Aramaic, 'Rabboni!' (Teacher) This fulfils the shepherd's word that his sheep hear his voice and he calls them by name (10:3-4). Then he says, 'Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.' The verb (haptomai) in the present tense most likely means to stop holding on. She is not to keep him as he was before, because his relationship to the disciples is now changing through his ascent. He sends her to 'My brothers' with a message of 'My Father and your Father, to My God and your God'. For the first time the disciples are called his brothers, sharing his sonship. She announces, 'I have seen the Lord!' Later early Christian writers called her 'apostle to the apostles' for this.

Verses 19–23

That evening the disciples are behind locked doors for fear of the Jews. Jesus stands among them and says 'Peace be with you,' the Hebrew shalom greeting that is also the gift he promised (14:27). He shows his hands and side, which identifies the risen Lord with the crucified one. His body is real and marked, yet it is also not limited by walls. 'The disciples rejoiced', fulfilling 16:22. He repeats the greeting and gives a commission: 'As the Father has sent Me, so also I am sending you.' He breathes on them and says, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.' The verb for 'breathed' is the same one the Greek Old Testament uses in Genesis 2:7 for God breathing life into Adam, and similar to Ezekiel 37:9, so the scene suggests a new creation. Interpreters differ on how this relates to Pentecost (Acts 2). Some see a pledge or foretaste, others see the Spirit given here for new life with Pentecost as the empowering for mission, and others think John compresses what Luke places fifty days later. The sentence on forgiveness in verse 23 is discussed in the tradition note.

Verses 24–29

Thomas, called Didymus, 'the twin', is absent. He had spoken in 11:16 and 14:5. He declares he will not believe unless he sees the nail marks and puts his finger and hand in them. A week later Jesus returns, says 'Peace be with you,' and invites him to touch. The text does not say that Thomas does so. He confesses, 'My Lord and my God!' This is the highest confession in the Gospel and returns to 1:1, where the Word was God, and 1:18. Some scholars suggest it also stands against the claims of Roman emperors, since Domitian was said to have demanded the title 'lord and god', though this is uncertain. Jesus then speaks of those 'who have not seen and yet have believed', who are the Gospel's readers.

Verses 30–31

John states his method and aim. Jesus did many other signs, 'but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name'. Ancient manuscripts differ on whether the verb 'believe' means 'come to believe' or 'continue to believe'. The Gospel serves both purposes.

John 20 is central to the Christian doctrine of the resurrection. The New Testament treats it as God's vindication of Jesus and the beginning of the new creation (Romans 1:4; 1 Corinthians 15:20), and as the ground of justification (Romans 4:25) and hope (1 Peter 1:3). The risen body is the same body that was crucified, with marks of the wounds, and yet different: it is not stopped by locked doors and is not at once recognised. Paul speaks of a 'spiritual body' (1 Corinthians 15:44), by which he means a body transformed by the Spirit, not a body that is no longer physical.

The chapter also states the Church's mission. The disciples are sent as Jesus was sent, and they are given the Spirit. They are the first of those who testify. The blessing on those who believe without seeing (verse 29) is the church's situation: faith rests on the apostles' testimony, and Peter later says of believers that they love Christ without having seen him (1 Peter 1:8). And the Spirit is given by the risen Christ, which joins resurrection, the new life of believers and the church's task. Finally, the chapter confesses the deity of Christ in the form of address: Thomas calls him Lord and God, and Jesus accepts it without correction.

Here Christ is the risen Lord, and the chapter shows him fulfilling what he said. He had spoken of raising the temple of his body in three days (2:19-22), and said he had authority to lay down his life and take it up again (10:17-18). Verse 9 notes that the Scriptures had pointed to it as well. He is the Good Shepherd who calls Mary by name, and the Son who ascends to his Father and brings his disciples into the same family: his Father is theirs, his God is theirs. He is the bearer of peace, which he promised in chapter 14, the giver of the Spirit he promised in chapters 14 to 16, and the sender who commissions the apostles.

Some echoes are more tentative. The breath on the disciples recalls God's breath on Adam (Genesis 2:7) and the breath on the dry bones (Ezekiel 37:9), and the meeting in a garden may hint at a new creation, since the Gospel mentions a garden at the tomb (19:41) and Mary's mistaking him for the gardener. These are echoes and the text does not state them. The most explicit christological statement is Thomas's. 'My Lord and my God' stands against the Gospel's first sentence, in which the Word was God, and completes the circle. The chapter's final purpose is that readers believe that Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah of Israel, and the Son of God.