Scripture: John 20
(Especially vs. 29)
The END and then the BEGINNING: Why did John write
his Gospel? John
20:30-31 Jesus did many other
miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in
this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John
20:1-29
Early on the
first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb
and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.
So she came
running to Simon Peter and John, and said, "They have
taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"
So Peter and John started for the tomb. Both were running, but John outran
Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of
linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him,
arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well
as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up
by itself, separate from the linen. Finally John, who had reached the tomb
first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (What did John believe? He believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and
that by believing you may have life in his name.) (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise
from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the
tomb
*************************************************************************
Then the
disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to
look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had
been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" She said, "They have taken my Lord away, and I don't know where they have put
him." At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but
she did not realize that it was Jesus. He said, "Woman, why are you
crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the
gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away,
tell me where you have put him, and I will get him." Jesus said to
her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in
Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said, "Do not hold on to
me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and
tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your
God.'"
Mary Magdalene
went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!"
And she told them that he had said these things to her.
*************************************************************************
On the evening
of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors
locked for fear of the Jews, 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. Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And with that he breathed on them and said,
"Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins,
they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."
Now Thomas
(called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus
came. So the other disciples told him,
"We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the
nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
*************************************************************************
A week later
his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the
doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"
Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my
hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me,
you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
Do you see through Easter Eyes?
John 20:29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have
seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have
believed."
John 4:46-48
Once more he
visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was
a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard
that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to
come and heal his son, who was close to death. 48 "Unless you people see miraculous signs
and wonders," Jesus told him, "you
will never believe."
Isa 53:1-6
Who has
believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew
up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no
beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we
should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and
familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was
despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and
carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and
afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our
iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his
wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has
turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
What did Peter and John see?
They saw Mary Magdalene and the other women giving eyewitness testimony
that Jesus was no longer in the tomb.
They saw the tomb with the stone rolled away. They saw the tomb empty of any body. They saw the grave clothes from Jesus body
lying where he had been laid.
CONCLUSION
Revelation 1:4-7 Grace and peace to you from him who is, and
who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful
witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his
blood, 6 and has made us to be a
kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father — to him be glory and power for
ever and ever! Amen.
7 Look, he is
coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who
pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So
shall it be! Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment