1Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2Therefore she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him!”
3Therefore Peter and the other disciple went out, and they went toward the tomb. 4They both ran together. The other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. 5Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he didn’t enter in. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and entered into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying, 7and the cloth that had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself. 8So then the other disciple who came first to the tomb also entered in, and he saw and believed. 9For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10So the disciples went away again to their own homes.
11But Mary was standing outside at the tomb weeping. So as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb, 12and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13They asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid him.” 14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, and didn’t know that it was Jesus.
15Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?”
She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
16Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned and said to him, “Rabboni!” which is to say, “Teacher!”
17Jesus said to her, “Don’t hold me, for I haven’t yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her. 19When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the middle and said to them, “Peace be to you.”
20When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” 22When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit! 23If you forgive anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven them. If you retain anyone’s sins, they have been retained.”
24But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came. 25The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26After eight days, again his disciples were inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the middle, and said, “Peace be to you.” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.”
28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
29Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
30Therefore Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; 31but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
The Gospel of John stands out as unique among the Gospels. Whereas Matthew, Mark and Luke share a considerable amount of the same information, though with different emphases, John shares only two-percent of the text of the Synoptic Gospels. That means that his work is ninety-eight percent different.
Who wrote this book, and why is it so different? Among the church fathers who lived close to the time of John, there was no question. He was the disciple whom Jesus loved, the youngest member of the apostolate group, probably in his mid-teenage years. He is the John who leaned on Jesus at the Last Supper. John lived to the end of the first century, and also wrote three epistles, and the book of Revelation.
Both the authorship and dating of John’s Gospel have been called into question by many critical scholars, believing that it was written by someone other than the apostle John, and even that it was written at the end of the second century. After a portion of John’s Gospel was discovered that dates to the early second century, the late date was abandoned.
John’s Gospel uniquely emphasizes the words of Jesus, being composed of discourses. Why would John do this? I believe that it is because by the time he wrote his Gospel it had been more than two decades, or more, since the other Gospels had been written and circulating throughout the Christian communities of the empire. Christians were familiar with the events and words of Jesus from these other apostolic Gospels. John needed to provide new information. Also, in view of the challenges to the person of Jesus by heresies that had begun to develop, it was needful for him to present a more theologically cohesive statement about the humanity and deity of Messiah Jesus.
Who was John’s audience? The Gospel does not tell us, but in view of the post-A.D. 70 date of the book, and that he wrote it, most likely, in Ephesus, in Asia Minor, a Gentile audience is in view.
The main purpose of this mid-80s book is stated toward the end. He says, “these things are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in His name” (John 20:31). The book was to introduce Jesus to a Gentile audience and to equip believers in the truths about who Jesus is. Matthew and Luke contain genealogies and birth narratives, and Mark excludes these, focusing on the servanthood of the Messiah. Uniquely, John begins in eternity with His Gospel, revealing that the man who had walked among them on the earth, was in reality the God of creation, one with the Father before all time. Though the Son of God, known also as the Word, was with the Father and was the same God, nonetheless, He chose to enter among humanity as a human. The apostle demonstrates by Jesus' acts and words, and the response of people to Him, that He was true God and true man. At the end of the first century there were those who accepted His humanity, but not His deity, as well as those who rejected His true humanity. John responds to both.
Not only does John reveal the person and nature of the Son of God, but he speaks plainly that only through belief in the Son of God was there salvation. He repeats the words of Jesus that the one who has the Son has life, and the one who does not, has the judgment of God. Similarly, the one who does not have the Son, does not have the Father, but the one who has the Son, has the Father also. At another time, John gives the words of Jesus, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.” In a world of pluralism, both in the Graeco-Roman world of the early church, and the world of today, such exclusivism grates the ears of many. Yet John’s teaching is clear: Jesus is the only way to God.
John’s Gospel does have many thought provoking discourses, but it as well has many wonderful stories. We have the encounter of Jesus with a leader of the Jews late one night, in which He tells this teacher of the Jews that he had to be born from above if he is to enter the kingdom of God. Following this exchange is one of the most famous, and significant, biblical verses in the Bible, that God loved the world and gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. There is also the fascinating encounter of an immoral Samaritan woman with Jesus when He was traveling through the region. As a religious Jew, it is unthinkable that He would converse with the woman at the well. She was a woman, a Samaritan, and an immoral woman. Jesus set aside all social conventions in order to reach into the heart of this woman to bring her to faith in Him.
Not only did Jesus seek to bring spiritual salvation to humans in John’s Gospel, but He reaches out in compassion to the physical ailments of the people He encountered. Thus we have the stories of the man lying by the pool of Bethesda who could not walk. Jesus raised him from his bed. Another time He healed a blind man on the Sabbath, demonstrating that Jesus still cares for people, even on the holy day set apart by Him for His people.
We find in John's Gospel an emphasis on the physical nature of the resurrection. Certainly the other Gospels indicate that the resurrection of Jesus was genuine and was physical in nature, but John goes beyond this. He has Mary of Magdala grasping Him in the garden, and we have the invitation of Jesus for the disciples, particularly Thomas, to touch the wounds of His hands and side.
The theology of John’s Gospel is rich. We see, as said before, the humanity and deity equally true of Jesus. Jesus, in John 8, even declares Himself to be the I AM of Exodus 3. We discover that salvation comes by God’s grace through faith to all those who come by His sovereign call in John 6. Special focus on the nature of the Son as true human, though God, is given throughout the book, particularly in John 1:14 and in the resurrection accounts.