John 20 Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: John 20:1-9: Sunday – the body is gone

A. Find Out:

1. Who went when and found what? v.1
   •  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.
2. Who did she tell what? v.2
   •  So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!’
3. What was their response and what happened? v.3,4
   • So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first
4. What did the first disciple do and see? v.5
   • He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.
5. What did Peter do and see? v.6,7
   • Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped round Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.
6. What did the other disciple then do? v.8
   •  Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

B. Think:

1. What was Mary’s response?
2. How are the different characters of Peter & John shown?
3. What different levels of understanding do the three have?

C. Comment:

Three people and three responses. Mary Magdalene sees the body gone and assumes grave robbers, and so goes to tell the men. She will shortly have her particular encounter with the Lord but for the moment she is in unbelief.

Peter comes with John but is outrun by him, but when he arrives at the tomb, goes plunging in to see fully for himself. According to Luke, (Lk 24:12) Peter left wondering what had happened. He is in a perplexed state. John, who had come with Peter, had arrived before him but had held back from actually going into the tomb and saw just the strips of linen lying there. His thoughts were inconclusive.

Once Peter has led the way into the tomb, John then follows and once in the tomb he also sees the cloth that had been around Jesus head, neatly folded up and put to one side. Something about that, perhaps, seemed to create in him a picture of Jesus coming back to life and first of all taking the cloth off from around his face and putting it neatly aside before he unwound all the rest of the burial strips which he then just left in a heap near the entrance of the tomb. John believes! But, he is willing to confess, it wasn’t because he realised it was all in accord with the prophetic Scriptures, for he was still blind to them at that moment. Yet something tells him it HAS happened.

D. Application:

1. Different people come to faith in different ways. Some take longer.
2. Jesus Christ died and DID rise from the dead. He IS alive!

Passage: John 20:10-18: Mary meets the risen Jesus

A. Find Out:

1. What did Mary do and see? v.11,12
   • Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
2. What did they ask and what did she reply? v.13
   • They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away,’ she said, ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’
3. Who did she then see but who did she think he was? v.14,15b
   • At this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus. .. Thinking he was the gardener
4. What did he ask and what did she reply? v.15
   • He asked her, ‘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.’
5. What seemed to open her eyes and what did he command? v.16,17
   • Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned towards him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means ‘Teacher’). 17 Jesus said, ‘Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’
6. What did Mary then do? v.18
   • 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.

B. Think:

1. How many questions was Mary asked and what were they?
2. What did her replies indicate?
3. Yet what seemed to bring the truth to her?

C. Comment:

If Peter denied Jesus three times, Mary Magdalene stated her unbelief three times (v.2,13,15). She had been with the disciples, she had heard Jesus teaching them that he would rise from the dead, yet we see her with her mind firmly fixed in her grief. Mary had clearly loved Jesus deeply for she owed him much (see Lk 8:2). She had been there at the Cross (see 19:25) and she had come at first light to see if she could minister to the body. The other Gospels indicate that she was not alone in her actions, but John highlights her as if, although she did have company, in her grief she just felt totally alone. In her grief therefore, she is completely locked into her belief that Jesus is dead. How often do we allow our emotions to lock us into untruth?

She encounters angels and turns away from them; she encounters Jesus and just cross examines him. It seems she is in a daze that means she misses the wonder of all that is before her. Grief can do that! Then Jesus speaks that one intimate word, her name, and suddenly her darkness is pierced and she realises who it is. Joy and relief! Hold on, says Jesus, I know you want me never to leave you again, but it can’t be like that yet. I’ve got to go to Father and then (implied), I’ll be with you by my Spirit for ever.

D. Application:

1. Grief blinds us to the truth.
2. Strong emotion often holds us in unbelief.

Passage: John 20:19-23: Jesus comesto the disciples

A. Find Out:

1. Where were the disciples when? v.19a
   • On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders
2. How did Jesus come and what did he say? v.19b
   • Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’
3. What did he do and how did the disciples respond? v.20
   • After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
4. What did he then say? v.21
   • Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’
5. What did he then say and do? v.22
   • And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.
6. What did he finally tell them? v.23
   •  If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.’

B. Think:

1. What was remarkable about how Jesus came to them?
2. How did he convince them who he was?
3. How did he explain their commission?

C. Comment:

It is later on in that same day, Sunday, that Jesus comes and now shows himself to all the gathered disciples. The first thing to note is the amazing way he comes. The doors are locked but he just appears in the room. The body he has now is obviously not limited in the way it had been before. Yet he is not a ghost for, as we’ll see tomorrow he doesn’t mind them actually touching him.

The second thing to note is the way that he immediately seeks to calm their fears. They were probably all aware of their having failed him at his point of greatest need, when they all deserted him and left him to the authorities. But he is not there to condemn, only to send! So twice he says, be at peace! Again and again, we fear the Lord is coming to tell us off, but again and again he comes to affirm and send us again to do the work!

Whether he actually imparts the Holy Spirit here, when he breathes on them, is questionable. It certainly happened on the day of Pentecost and so it is more probable that here he was simply giving them a graphical forewarning or even instruction as to what was to happen to them. Under the empowering of the Holy Spirit they would do the works he had done and assess and bring forgiveness as he did.

D. Application:

1. Jesus comes to encourage, build and send us, not condemn!
2. He imparts his Spirit to enable us to do his works.

Passage: John 20:24-31: Jesus helps Thomas believe

A. Find Out:

1. How had Thomas missed out? v.24
   • Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
2. What was his response to the other disciples? v.25
   • 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.’
3. When and how did Jesus come to them again? v.26
   • 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!’
4. What did Jesus tell Thomas to do? v.27
   •  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.’
5. What was Thomas’s response? v.28
   • Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’
6. What did Jesus then say? v.29
   • Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’
7. Why did John say he had written these things? v.30,31
   • Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

B. Think:

1. How did Jesus meet Thomas at his exact point of doubt?
2. How did he gently rebuke Thomas?
3. What indication is there that John was thinking of finishing here?

C. Comment:

When Jesus had come Thomas had not been there. Jesus did not stay (we don’t know what he did in between visitations), and so when Thomas came back and was told what had happened, he basically assumed they had all been imagining it. We noted in a previous study how some of the others had had trouble believing; now it’s Thomas’s turn! It is a week later that Jesus comes again. Again we don’t know what the disciples did in that week but all we are told is that a week later they are still together and they are still behind locked doors. Jesus just appears in the room as he had done previously and now Thomas has no further reason to doubt.

The way Jesus speaks to him indicates that he knew exactly what Thomas had said a week ago and he meets him head on. OK, he says, here I am, feel me and stop doubting! Thomas believes and makes a strong declaration – “My Lord and my God!”. Excellent, says Jesus, but even better in the days to come when people can say that without having seen me! That’s right, almost adds John by implication, and I’ve written all these things so that when you read you will believe. So do we believe? This Gospel of John has been specifically written to help us believe.

D. Application:

1. Thomas saw Jesus in the flesh, we see him in his word.
2. Thomas believed. We are called to believe. Do we?