Easter, 2022 - John's Unique Account of the Resurrection

Christ is risen! Alleluia!

Today we celebrate Jesus’s resurrection from the dead. John’s account of the resurrection guides our thoughts in this reflection.

The account of the resurrection in the gospel of John (John 20) differs from the accounts found in the synoptic gospels. John focuses on Mary Magdalene, one of the women who were a part of Jesus’s circle of disciples (Luke 8:1-3). In John’s account, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb alone, but in the synoptic gospels, she was accompanied by other women. When she arrived, she saw that the stone had been rolled away from the door of the tomb. Assuming that someone had stolen Jesus’s body, she ran to Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved — commonly understood to be John — to tell them. This detail is unique to John’s gospel. In Matthew and Luke, the women ran to report to the disciples only after they had encountered an angel. They went to report that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Here, Mary Magdalene ran to report she had found the tomb had been opened. Naturally, Peter and John ran to the tomb to check out what had happened. John’s gospel is the only one to indicate that they went to the tomb. The synoptic gospels have no mention of any of the Twelve going to the tomb. Only the women went to the tomb in those accounts. John, arriving first, stood outside looking in. When Peter arrived, he seemingly did not hesitate. He entered the tomb. They found the tomb was empty, but they found nothing to indicate what had happened. They found the linen burial cloths, lying where they had been cast aside. They also found the cloth that had been used to wrap Jesus’s head, rolled up and lying apart from the other burial clothes. Having taken stock of the situation, they left the tomb, returning home. John’s gospel indicates that John believed (John 20:8), i.e., John believed Jesus had been raised from the dead, not that his body had been moved or stolen. The gospel writer specifically noted “as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead” (John 20:9).

After Peter and John left the tomb, the story again focused on Mary Magdalene. First, she looked into the tomb without entering it. There she saw two angels who spoke to her. “Woman, why are you weeping?” (John 20:13). She did not recognize them as angels. As she turned away from the tomb, she saw Jesus, but thought he was the gardener. Jesus repeated the question posed by the angels, “Woman, why are you weeping?” He probed further, “Whom are you looking for?”  (John 20:15). That question was all the opening she needed. Still thinking someone had taken Jesus’s body, she asked about where his body had been taken. Only after Jesus called her by name did she recognize him. “Mary!” (John 20:16).

The personal touch of being called by name enabled Mary to recognize him. “Teacher!” (John 20:16). Apparently, she grabbed him, hugging him in joy for Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me” (John 20:17). He then instructed her to go tell the other disciples. Having been raised from the dead, he was returning to the Father from whom he had come (John 20:17). Mary returned to the other disciples, announcing to them that she had seen Jesus, very much alive. She told them all that Jesus had said to her (John 20:18). Mary Magdalene was the first witness to the resurrection and the first to proclaim it to others. She was the first apostle, i.e., one sent to announce the good news!

It seems to me a central theme runs through all the twists and turns of John’s unique resurrection story. Jesus is the rabbi (teacher) who teaches us the spiritual truths we otherwise do not see, even though the scripture bears witness to these truths (John 20:9). Jesus reveals to us the Father so that we may know him (John 17:3). (This is a major, repeated theme in John’s gospel — John 1:14, 18; 14:9 — reemphasized in the story of the resurrection.) Through Jesus, we are beloved children of God (John 1:12-13; 1 John 3:1-3). We know God with the same kind of intimacy as Jesus did, as Abba (Father) — “to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (John 20:17). We live in intimate relationship with God as Father. In and through Jesus, we have a personal relationship with God in which God knows us by name. We participate in God’s life, the life shared in the Godhead — what the gospel of John calls eternal life.

In the story of Mary Magdalene, Jesus told Mary, “Do not hold on to me” (John 20:17). This detail has multiple layers of meaning (in my mind). On the surface, it refers to Mary Magdalene joyfully clinging to Jesus, perhaps afraid of losing him again. On another level, this part of the story points to a spiritual truth. We cannot experience the full life of the resurrection until we stop holding on to old ways of thinking about God and our old ways of relating to God. Like Mary Magdalene, we have to turn loose of the old in order to experience the new.

Following the Apostle Paul’s teaching about the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15), we traditionally use Easter Sunday to celebrate that, in rising from the dead, Jesus destroyed the power of sin and death. His resurrection sets us free from the destructive, controlling power of sin and its consequence, death. We no longer need fear death.

Death has been swallowed up in victory.

Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 15:54-55.

John’s account of the resurrection proclaims a different reality. John’s account proclaims the truth of all that Jesus taught about God. God is a loving Father — Abba — who relates to us out of grace. We are beloved children, claimed in Christ Jesus through the waters of baptism (John 1:12-13). Through the indwelling Spirit, both Jesus and the Father dwell in us (John 14:23). We are participants in God’s nature and, thereby, in God’s life — eternal life. The very life of God flows in us and through us, empowering us to love as Jesus loved (John 15:1-17).

This Easter, as we talk about victory over death, may we also talk about life — God’s life in us, i.e., eternal life. May we hear John’s account of the resurrection call us to turn loose of old ways of thinking about and relating to God! May we embrace God as Abba even as God, with delight, embraces us as beloved children!

“To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. … From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:12-13, 16).