John's Witness of the Resurrection

Continuing the discussion from yesterday about the different accounts of the Savior’s resurrection, John’s gospel is, as usual, the most different from the others.  John’s record tells us again of Mary Magdalene’s visit to the sepulchre but does not mention the other women there as do the synoptic gospels.  Like Luke it mentions that Peter came to the sepulchre but also adds that John too came with him.  John’s is the only gospel that gives us detail about Christ’s appearance to Mary Magdalene in one of the most touching scenes of the New Testament. As she sat there weeping over Him suddenly she found He was there: “Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Hold me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (JST John 20:16-17).  All four accounts recognize Mary Magdalene as a central figure in these events on that Sunday morning.

                Like Luke, John also recorded the visit of the Savior that same evening to the disciples: “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.”  Luke’s account records the visit of the Savior on the road to Emmaus before this, but both put the appearance of the Savior to His apostles on the evening of that Sunday.  John’s account differs slightly from Luke’s, though, for he recorded, “But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came” (John 20:19, 24).  Luke’s account said that shortly before Jesus arrived the two from Emmaus “found the eleven gathered together,” suggesting that Thomas was among them since only 11 were left after Judas had died.  As these two messengers from Emmaus told their incredible story, “Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you” (Luke 24:33, 36).  It is possible that Luke only had a record of the fact that the apostles were there and so he mistakenly assumed all eleven were present, or that perhaps there were eleven men but one was not an apostle (since he did not explicitly say it was the eleven apostles). 

                The rest of John’s account is unique to his gospel and gives us more detail about the Savior’s visits and instructions to His apostles.  John told of the Savior’s visit to the apostles eight days later, when Thomas this time was with them, and Christ declared, “Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing” (John 20:27).  It’s unclear whether this was in Jerusalem still or if they had already in Galilee somewhere.  The final chapter of John then recounts the visit of the Savior to the apostles at the Sea of Galilee some time later as the Risen Lord provided a miracle of fishes again for them and then asked Peter three times, “Lovest thou me?”  Matthew was the only synoptic writer to refer to Galilee in the Savior’s visiting, alluding to a mountain there where Jesus came and visited them that was likely yet another appearance to them.  It may be that much of the subsequent “forty day ministry” that took place thereafter, and of which we know little, may have been in Galilee (Acts 1:3).  Despite their differences, John’s testimony is as clear as the other gospel writers: Jesus was indeed resurrection and He in reality ministered as a resurrected Being to those whom He had taught and served in mortality.