John 20 Verses 1 to 18 Death Was Arrested June 11, 2023

John 20 Verses 1 to 18 Death Was Arrested June 11, 2023

Class Presentation Notes AAAA

Background Scripture:

· Psalm 30:5 (NASB) 5 For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

· Acts 13:35-37 (NASB) 35 "Therefore He also says in another Psalm, 'YOU WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.' 36 "For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay; 37 but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.

Main Idea: Sorrow is transformed to hope when we seek the risen Savior.

Study Aim: To understand the stone was removed not so Jesus could escape but that all the world could look in and see the tomb was empty.

Create Interest:

· In studying John’s account, it must be remembered that John was writing an historical account. He was not interested in giving insurmountable evidence for the resurrection. His interest was twofold:

o to give the evidence that led him to immediately understand and believe,

o to give enough evidence to lead anyone to immediate belief—if a person is willing to believe.

· John was interested in giving enough evidence to make anyone’s faith viable and respectable. Now having said this, John’s record of Jesus’ resurrection is a strong historical account of the event. To an honest, objective, and good heart, the evidence is convincing (Lu. 8:15).[1]

Lesson in Historical Context:

· Radical has a number of meanings, and one is “revolutionary.” Or to be more precise, radical change means “an extreme or substantial change in the existing system.” A radical event is an event that takes the current system and flips it on its head. Something truly radical changes all we know in an instant. Nothing brought more extreme changes than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It stands unrivaled as the most radical event in history.

· The apostle Paul makes this case in 1 Corinthians 15. Some in the Corinthian church were saying there was no resurrection of the dead. They claimed Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, and it didn’t really matter. “Not so fast,” Paul says in effect.

o “If Christ has not been raised, … your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins” (1 Cor 15:14, 17). That’s how radical the resurrection is.

o If it didn’t happen, we would still be in sin, and everything we believe about God, Jesus, and salvation would be empty and meaningless. The resurrection brought profound changes in our faith, purpose, and standing before God.

· In John 19:38–39 we get the first clue this passage is about change. John includes a detail about each man that reveals a change in his attitude.

o Joseph of Arimathea had been a secret disciple but was now publicly identifying himself with Jesus.

o Nicodemus, who had secretly come to Jesus at night when no one would see him (Ch. 3), also comes out of the dark and identifies himself as a follower of Jesus.

o It doesn’t take much imagination to understand the potential danger in identifying with one who was just executed for sedition and blasphemy. If Joseph’s and Nicodemus’s lives weren’t in danger, their reputations certainly were.

§ What change took place in these men?

§ What prompted such courage?

· In the same chapter where John documents secret disciples who were afraid to follow Jesus, he also records this statement made by Jesus:

o “Truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces much fruit” (12:24).

o Like the first flowers blooming in the spring, these two men are the first fruits of the great harvest that will come from Jesus’s death.

§ They also serve as a signal to readers of the Gospel that changes are coming, and the most radical one is near.

· Consider a second change in this passage.

· Once Jesus laid down his life, the persecution and affliction were over.

o He had paid our debt to sin.

o He had fully received the righteous wrath of God.

o His suffering was complete.

o Now his body is treated differently. He is no longer abused as the sacrificial Lamb.

o He is treated with respect as the only begotten Son of God, the true King of Israel (19:40–42).[2]

Bible Study:

John 20:1-10 (NASB) 1 Now on the first dayof the week Mary Magdalene *came early to the tomb, while it *was still dark, and *saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. 2 So 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 do not know where they have laid Him." 3 So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. 4 The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; 5 and stooping and looking in, he *saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. 6 And so Simon Peter also *came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he *saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. 9 For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. 10 So the disciples went away again to their own homes.

· Vs. 1: If the resurrection were a hoax, constructed (for some reason) by the apostles, they would most definitely not have had as their primary eyewitness a woman of dubious moral character. Instead, they would have chosen a respected male member of the community, for a woman’s evidence, according to the Mishnah, was not normally admissible in court.

· The Synoptic accounts of the resurrection story include several women coming to the tomb: three in Mark 16:1 (“Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome”); two in Matt 28:1 (“Mary Magdalene and the other Mary”); and according to Luke 24:10 there were more than three (“Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others).

· The purpose for their coming was apparently the bringing of spices to anoint the body (Mark 16:1; Luke 24:1) or to see the tomb (Matt 28:1).

o The Johannine story focuses on Mary Magdalene, who is mentioned only in this chapter of John and at the cross in 19:25. In Johannine fashion she serves as a model or representative of a type of person, here the women.

o This evangelist is interested in painting word portraits of people such as John the witness, Andrew, Nathaniel, Nicodemus, the Woman of Samaria, the Blind Man, Thomas, Martha, Mary the sister of Lazarus, the High Priest, Pilate, Peter, and so on. As such these people are not to be viewed merely as exclusive units/persons but as identifiable representatives of their kind of people.

· We may also inquire concerning the time when Mary came to the tomb. It was indeed early morning when Mary Magdalene saw a sign of the resurrection—the removed stone—but she was still in the dark concerning its significance[3]

· And there had certainly been question marks over Mary’s character.

o In Luke 8:2 we read about ‘Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out’.

o And several have suggested that this Mary was the one described as the woman who had lived a sinful life and anointed Jesus’s feet with perfume and wept over them (Luke 7:36). If we were constructing this story, we would not have chosen Mary.

o But her presence here strongly underlines that John was recording what actually took place.

· Grave-robbing had become such a problem within the Roman Empire that about fifteen years after these events Emperor Claudius declared it a crime punishable by death. Probably the value of the myrrh and aloes (19:39) would have made the body of Christ a valuable commodity. So, it is no wonder that, when Mary discovered that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance to the tomb and had seen that the body was gone, she assumed that it had been stolen.

· This was what she reported back to the disciples Peter and John (v. 2). It is very likely, therefore, that this was what they also assumed had happened, and they ran off to the tomb to investigate. They were not expecting Jesus to rise from the dead; that was far from their thoughts. Despite all the things he had told them, they were not expecting that miraculous event (vv. 3–7). So off they ran to the tomb, the younger John outpacing older Peter.

· They had been expecting to see an empty stone bench, or even maybe just a dead body stripped of the valuable linen cloths and even more valuable spices; but what they saw put out of their heads any idea of grave-robbers.

o Instead, they saw the linen and spices still there in position, but the body was gone (v. 7). It was as if it had evaporated through the burial cloths.

§ The linen strips hadn’t been unwrapped but the body they were wrapped around had disappeared and they had collapsed on themselves.

§ The same applied to the burial cloth that had been wrapped around the head; it was lying there in its separate position above the main body cloths.

o This couldn’t have been the work of grave-robbers. No one took a body and left the valuable linen and spices. Nor did anyone have the skill, time or motive to unwrap a dead body and then somehow reposition the linen strips in such a complex way.[4]

· Vs. 2-8: From the fact that the stone in front of the tomb had been moved, Mary inferred that Jesus’ body had also been moved. Without looking into the tomb she ran to tell Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, that someone had stolen the body (v. 2).

o The account of the two disciples’ race to the tomb and of what they saw is givenneither for theological reasons nor to enhance the apostolic authority of either man but simply as the historical recollection of an eyewitness.

o The beloved disciple reached the tomb first and looked in at the strips of linen (cf. 19:40) but did not enter the tomb (vv. 4–5). When Peter arrived, he entered the tomb at once; what he saw is carefully described (vv. 6–7), but his reaction is not. Finally, the beloved disciple went into the tomb, and his reaction is described: He saw and believed (v. 8).

· He can say with confidence that the beloved disciple saw and believed either because he himself is the beloved disciple or because his account rests on the beloved disciple’s testimony (cf. the anonymous eyewitness testimony mentioned in 19:35).

o It is likely that even the description of the placement of the strips of linen and the burial cloth which had been around Jesus’ head, though introduced in connection with Peter (vv. 6–7), actually rests on the beloved disciple’s report. He and Peter both saw it, but he is the one “who testifies to these things and who wrote them down” (21:24). He is the storyteller, and the entire scene is viewed through his eyes.[5]

· Vs. 9: This must mean that he believed that Jesus had been raised from the dead, even though, the evangelist adds in parenthesis, They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.

o It was to take some time before even ‘the other disciple’ understood that Scripture foreshadowed the resurrection of Christ.

o According to Luke, the risen Jesus himself opened the eyes of his disciples to understand the Scriptures, i.e. what was written about Him ‘in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms’ (Luke 24:25–27, 44–46).

o It is important to note the emphasis John and other NT writers place upon the importance of the empty tomb. For them the resurrection of Jesus was certainly not just ‘spiritual’ survival after death; it involved a real resurrection of the body.[6]

§ This knowledge would come later, in spite of the evidence of the empty tomb. Their first real knowledge of the Scriptures is found in Luke 24:44–46, when the Lord in resurrection power explained to them from the OT that He had “to rise from the dead the third day”. Shortly afterwards, Peter was a changed man as he handled the OT in a way that had not been possible before. Thus:

📷 In Acts 1:20he quoted Ps 69:25; 109:8.

📷 In Acts 2:25–28he quoted Ps 16:8–11.

📷 In Acts 2:30he quoted Ps 132:11.

📷 In Acts 2:34he quoted Ps 110:1.

📷 In Acts 3:22he quoted Deut 18:15, 19.

📷 In Acts 3:25he quoted Gen 12:3; 22:18.

📷 In Acts 4:11he quoted Ps 118:22.

v What a change was affected by the Lord opening the Scriptures, and by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit received at Pentecost.

Thoughts to Soak on:

· What kind of faith did Peter and John have at that stage in their spiritual experience?

o They had faith based on evidence.

§ They could see the graveclothes; they knew that the body of Jesus was not there. However, as good as evidence is to convince the mind, it can never change life.

· Those of us who live centuries later cannot examine the evidence, for the material evidence (the tomb, the graveclothes) is no longer there for us to inspect.

o We have the record in the Word of God (John 20:9) and that record is true (John 19:35; 21:24). In fact, it is faith in the Word that the Lord really wanted to cultivate in His disciples(see John 2:22; 12:16; 14:26).

o Peter made it clear that the Word of God, not personal experiences, should be the basis for our faith (1 Peter 1:12–21).

· The disciples had only the Old Testament Scriptures, so that is what is referred to in John 20:9. The early church used the Old Testament to prove to both Jews and Gentiles that Jesus is the Christ, that He died for sinners, and that He arose again (Acts 9:22; 13:16ff; 17:1–4; etc.). The Gospel includes “and that He arose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:4).[7]

John 20:10 (NASB) 10 So the disciples went away again to their own homes.

· Vs. 10: The place to which they returned was “their own home”, namely the place where they were staying, the upper room.

o They were in a dreadfully ignorant state, not knowing the Scriptures, nor knowing the promise of the Lord, nor the fact that the Lord had been raised. Contrast this ignorant state with the state of David when he returned to bless his house (1 Chron 16:43), a good state to be in when returning home, unlike the people generally who merely “departed every man to his house”.

o No doubt this latter state of mind characterized those men in 7:53, “every man went unto his own house”, while the Lord went to the mount of Olives, perhaps to the home of Mary and Martha on the eastern slopes.[8]

John 20:11-18 (NASB) 11 But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; 12 and she *saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 And they *said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She *said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him." 14 When she had said this, she turned around and *saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus *said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?"Supposing Him to be the gardener, she *said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away." 16 Jesus *said to her, "Mary!" She turned and *said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher). 17 Jesus *said to her, "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.'" 18 Mary Magdalene *came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and thatHe had said these things to her.

· Vs. 11: The scene then shifts back to Mary, alone by the tomb after the others have left. She is weeping. The loss of the body is the final indignity, the last straw; even her mourning for Jesus is violated. It is not hard to imagine the enormous emotional strain which the last few days had placed on Mary, not least the anguish of having looked on at Calvary. Her tears were more than understandable.

· Vs. 12: Deciding to look once more into the tomb she sees two angelic figures, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. ‘The place of Jesus’ death was between two thieves, the place of his burial was between two angels.’

· Vs. 13: They ask her about her tears. Woman, why are you crying?. From the perspective of heaven nothing is more incongruous than tears at the empty tomb of Jesus.

o If there is one place in space and one moment in time when tears are least appropriate, it is at the empty tomb of Jesus on Easter morning! Mary repeats her concern at the disappearance of my Lord.

o It is significant that the devotion of her heart prevents her referring to a ‘body’. He is still ‘her Lord’.

· Before Mary has time to reflect on the significance of these heavenly visitors, she becomes aware of another presence behind her.[9] One could surmise that at this point one of the angels motioned for Mary to turn around.

· Mary is sobbing and wailing, because the word used in verse 11 is the same used to describe the mourners at Lazarus’ grave.

o This was the traditional eastern death wail, and it came from the depths of her broken heart.

§ Jesus had cast seven devils from Mary.

§ She had sinned much, she had been forgiven much, and she loved much.

§ Her heart was in indescribable anguish.

§ On top of the horror of his death came this last indignity—they had taken his body and were undoubtedly going to make further sport of him.

· Vs. 16: As Mary cried “Rabboni,” she apparently threw her arms around Jesus. But Jesus cautioned her to not cling to him. He wanted her to realize that a new relationship was in the process of being established. The comfort that awaited Mary and her friends was far more substantial than his material presence could ever give.

· It is very significant that here, as in the other three Gospels;

o Christ first appears to the woman Mary Magdalene—not to an apostle, not to the great in society or in the church, but to a particular woman.

o Christ appeared first to one who in the culture of the time was oppressed, a woman who had known great sin.

o What a great comfort it should be to us that Christ always comes first to the poor in spirit. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). That truth will never change.[10]

· Vs. 17: “Stop clinging to me.”These words are not found in the Synoptics, and therein lies the key to their deeper meaning and wider application.

o In Matthew 28:9 we read, “As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet.” How sharp the contrast here, yet how perfectly in keeping with the particular scope of each Gospel!

§ Matthew presents Christ as the Son of David, in Jewish relationships.

o John portrays Him as the Son of God, connected with the sons, as head of the new creation, the members of which know Him not “after the flesh” (2 Cor. 5:16).

o Therefore, in His saying “Stop clinging to me” to Mary, the Lord was giving plain intimation that the Christian would know Him only in spirit, as the One with the Father on high; hence His “for I am not yet ascended”!

o It was the first hint—abundantly amplified in the sequel of the new relationship into which the resurrection of Christ has brought us, linking us with Himself as the Son of God in the Father’s House! How significant that this was His thirdword to Mary—the number which speaks of resurrection!

· “But go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend [the proper present “I am ascending”] unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17).

o Mary was to be the first witness of Christ’s resurrection. This illustrates a truth of great practical importance.

§ A woman—more devoted, perhaps, than any of the Twelve—had anointed Him for His burial (John 12),

§ and now a woman is the first to whom Christ revealed Himself in resurrection glory.

§ How this tells us that the heart leads the mind in the apprehension of God’s truth.

o The men were quicker to grasp, intellectually, the meaning of the empty tomb, but Mary was the more devoted, and this Christ rewarded.

o Mary exemplifies the case of those whose hearts seek Christ, but whose minds are ill-informed.

o It is the heart God ever looks at. We may know much truth intellectually, but unless the heart is absorbed with Christ, He will not reveal Himself to such a one in the intimacies of love and communion.[11]

Thoughts to Soak On

· The reason Jesus gave for this command “Stop clinging to me” was that He had “not yet ascended to the Father” (NASB). Then He mentioned ascending again in His instructions of what she was to tell the disciples. He said, I ascend (“am returning,” NIV) unto my father.

· The relation of these words to the first part of verse 17 has been explained in several ways.

o One view is that John’s Gospel assumes that Jesus ascended to the Father between the time He spoke to Mary and the time He spoke to Thomas.

o Another view is that Jesus was saying in essence, “I will still be with you for a while longer; therefore, there is no need to act as if this will be our last time together.”

o A third view is that Jesus was saying in essence: “I am in the process of preparing you for the time when I ascend to the Father. During this time I need to help you become accustomed to a new way of relating to Me. You will not be able to see and touch Me, but I will be with you in the Spirit.”

§ This last view seems to be what Jesus did during the time between His resurrection and His ascension. He appeared to His followers suddenly from time to time, but He was not with them continually.[12]

Spiritual Transformations

· Mary Magdalene was the first to go to the tomb and find it empty, the first to see the risen Lord, and the first to be commissioned to tell others Jesus had been raised from the dead.

o Peter and John visited the empty tomb, and John “believed” in some sense.

o However, the real basis for faith in the resurrection is not the empty tomb but the appearances of the risen Lord.

o Before Mary saw Jesus alive, she felt only fear and despair; however, after seeing Him, she felt joy and hope.

· Sometimes believers lose heart and become afraid of something that threatens them.

· The message of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus should be called to mind.

· When we recall that He lives and that we live in Him, hope and joy should be the result.

· https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPW9xYEyijQ (double click to listen)

o Because He lives I can face tomorrow;

Because He lives all fear is gone;

Because I know He holds the future;

And life is worth the living just because He lives.

· How can faith in the crucified, risen Lord Jesus deliver us from fear and despair?

· How do you share your testimony to non-Christians who are without any real hope?

Prayer of Commitment:

v Lord, deliver me from times of fear and despair by the power of Your resurrection.

[1]Leadership Ministries Worldwide, The Gospel according to John, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 2004), 377. [2]Matt Carter and Josh Wredberg, Exalting Jesus in John (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2017), 376–377. [3]Gerald L. Borchert, John 12–21, vol. 25B, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2002), 290–291. [4]Andrew Paterson, Opening Up John’s Gospel, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2010), 172–174. [5]J. Ramsey Michaels, John, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2011), 336–337. [6]Colin G. Kruse, John: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 4, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 370. [7]Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 388–389. [8]John Heading, John, What the Bible Teaches (John Ritchie Ltd., 2000), 322–323. [9]Bruce Milne, The Message of John: Here Is Your King!: With Study Guide, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 290–291. [10]R. Kent Hughes, John: That You May Believe, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1999), 455–456. [11]Arthur Walkington Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John (Swengel, PA: Bible Truth Depot, 1923–1945), 1093. [12]Robert J. Dean, Family Bible Study, Summer 2001, Herschel Hobbs Commentary (LifeWay Christian Resources, 2001), 78–79.