New American Bible
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Chapter 20
1
1 2 3 On
the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the
morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
2
So she ran 4 and went to
Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
"They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they put
him."
3
5 So Peter and the other disciple went out and
came to the tomb.
4
They both ran, but the other disciple ran
faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first;
5
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there,
but did not go in.
6
When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went
into the tomb and saw the burial cloths 6 there,
7
and the cloth that had covered his head, not
with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
8
Then the other disciple also went in, the one
who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed.
9
7 For they did not yet understand the scripture
that he had to rise from the dead.
10
Then the disciples returned home.
11
8 But Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And
as she wept, she bent over into the tomb
12
and saw two angels in white sitting there, one
at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been.
13
And they said to her, "Woman, why are you
weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken my Lord, and I don't
know where they laid him."
14
When she had said this, she turned around and
saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus.
15
Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you
weeping? Whom are you looking for?" She thought it was the gardener and
said to him, "Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him,
and I will take him."
16
Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned
and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni," 9 which
means Teacher.
17
Jesus said to her, "Stop holding on to me,
10 for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my
brothers and tell them, 'I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and
your God.'"
18
Mary of Magdala went and announced to the
disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and what he told her.
19
11 12 On the evening of that
first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them,
"Peace be with you."
20
When he had said this, he showed them his hands
and his side. 13 The disciples rejoiced when they saw the
Lord.
21
14 (Jesus) said to them again, "Peace be
with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
22
15 And when he had said this, he breathed on them
and said to them, "Receive the holy Spirit.
23
16 Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and
whose sins you retain are retained."
24
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was
not with them when Jesus came.
25
So the other disciples said to 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 into the nailmarks and put my hand
into his side, I will not believe."
26
Now a week later his disciples were again
inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."
27
Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger
here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not
be unbelieving, but believe."
28
17 Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord
and my God!"
29
18 Jesus said to him, "Have you come to
believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have
believed."
30
19 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence
of (his) disciples that are not written in this book.
31
But these are written that you may (come to)
believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief
you may have life in his name.
1 [1-31] The risen Jesus reveals his
glory and confers the Spirit. This story fulfills the basic need for testimony
to the resurrection. What we have here is not a record but a series of single
stories.
2 [1-10] The story of the empty tomb
is found in both the Matthean and the Lucan traditions; John's version seems to
be a fusion of the two.
3 [1] Still dark: according to Mark
the sun had risen, Matthew describes it as "dawning," and Luke refers
to early dawn. Mary sees the stone removed, not the empty tomb.
4 [2] Mary runs away, not directed by
an angel/young man as in the synoptic accounts. The plural "we" in
the second part of her statement might reflect a tradition of more women going
to the tomb.
5 [3-10] The basic narrative is told
of Peter alone in ⇒ Luke 24:12, a verse missing in
important manuscripts and which may be borrowed from tradition similar to John.
Cf also ⇒ Luke 24:24.
6 [6-8] Some special feature about the
state of the burial cloths caused the beloved disciple to believe. Perhaps the
details emphasized that the grave had not been robbed.
7 [9] Probably a general reference to
the scriptures is intended, as in ⇒ Luke 24:26 and
⇒ 1 Cor 15:4. Some individual Old Testament
passages suggested are ⇒ Psalm 16:10;
⇒ Hosea 6:2; ⇒ Jonah 2:1,
2, ⇒ 10.
8 [11-18] This appearance to Mary is
found only in John, but cf ⇒ Matthew 28:8-10 and
⇒ Mark 16:9-11.
9 [16] Rabbouni: Hebrew or Aramaic
for "my master."
10 [17] Stop holding on to me: see
⇒ Matthew 28:9, where the women take hold of his
feet. I have not yet ascended: for John and many of the New Testament writers,
the ascension in the theological sense of going to the Father to be glorified
took place with the resurrection as one action. This scene in John dramatizes
such an understanding, for by Easter night Jesus is glorified and can give the
Spirit. Therefore his ascension takes place immediately after he has talked to
Mary. In such a view, the ascension after forty days described in
⇒ Acts 1:1-11 would be simply a termination of
earthly appearances or, perhaps better, an introduction to the conferral of the
Spirit upon the early church, modeled on Elisha's being able to have a (double)
share in the spirit of Elijah if he saw him being taken up (same verb as
ascending) into heaven (⇒ 2 Kings 2:9-12). To my
Father and your Father, to my God and your God: this echoes
⇒ Ruth 1:16: "Your people shall be my people,
and your God my God." The Father of Jesus will now become the Father of
the disciples because, once ascended, Jesus can give them the Spirit that comes
from the Father and they can be reborn as God's children
(⇒ John 3:5). That is why he calls them my brothers.
11 [19-29] The appearances to the
disciples, without or with Thomas (cf ⇒ John 11:16;
⇒ 14:5), have rough parallels in the other gospels
only for ⇒ John 20:19-23; cf
⇒ Luke 24:36-39; ⇒ Mark
16:14-18.
12 [19] The disciples: by implication
from ⇒ John 20:24 this means ten of the Twelve,
presumably in Jerusalem. Peace be with you: although this could be an ordinary
greeting, John intends here to echo ⇒ John 14:27.
The theme of rejoicing in ⇒ John 20:20 echoes
⇒ John 16:22.
13 [20] Hands and . . . side:
⇒ Luke 24:39-40 mentions "hands and
feet," based on ⇒ Psalm 22:17.
14 [21] By means of this sending, the
Eleven were made apostles, that is, "those sent" (cf
⇒ John 17:18), though John does not use the noun in
reference to them (see the note on ⇒ John 13:16). A
solemn mission or "sending" is also the subject of the
post-resurrection appearances to the Eleven in ⇒ Matthew
28:19; ⇒ Luke 24:47;
⇒ Mark 16:15.
15 [22] This action recalls
⇒ Genesis 2:7, where God breathed on the first man
and gave him life; just as Adam's life came from God, so now the disciples' new
spiritual life comes from Jesus. Cf also the revivification of the dry bones in
Ezekial 37. This is the author's version of Pentecost. Cf also the note on
⇒ John 19:30.
16 [23] The Council of Trent defined
that this power to forgive sins is exercised in the sacrament of penance. See
⇒ Matthew 16:19; ⇒ Matthew
18:18.
17 [28] My Lord and my God: this forms
a literary inclusion with the first verse of the gospel: "and the Word was
God."
18 [29] This verse is a beatitude on
future generations; faith, not sight, matters.
19 [30-31] These verses are clearly a
conclusion to the gospel and express its purpose. While many manuscripts read
come to believe, possibly implying a missionary purpose for John's gospel, a
small number of quite early ones read "continue to believe,"
suggesting that the audience consists of Christians whose faith is to be
deepened by the book; cf ⇒ John 19:35.
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