John 20:10-18. What is Christianity?

There have been many views about religion. Napoleon said,

“Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.”

Karl Marx said of religion

“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness.”

The apostle Paul described what religion can be,

“ . . . having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.” 2 Timothy 3:5

The 19th-century Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard identified two kinds of religion -- Religion A and Religion B. The first is "faith" in name only. It's the practice of attending church without genuine faith in the living Lord. Religion B, on the other hand, is a life-transforming, destiny-changing experience. It's a definite commitment to the crucified and risen Savior, which establishes an ongoing personal relationship between a forgiven sinner and a gracious God.

This difference explains why, for many years, the British author C.S. Lewis had such great difficulty in becoming a Christian. Religion A had blinded him to Religion B. According to his brother Warren, his conversion was,

“. . . no sudden plunge into a new life, but rather a slow, steady convalescence from a deep-seated spiritual illness - an illness that had its origins in our childhood, in the dry husks of religion offered by the semi-political churchgoing of Ulster, and the similar dull emptiness of compulsory church during our school days.”

Reason to Believe

How did the early disciples come to believe in the resurrection of Jesus? The gospel writers are clear that they were not expecting this to happen, but John explains how they grasped this fact – from being eyewitnesses. The truth gradually dawns upon them as the evidence accumulates. John repeatedly emphasises what the disciples ‘saw,’

20:8 John entered the tomb, ‘He saw and believed.’

20:14 Mary ‘turned round and saw Jesus standing there.’

20:20 ‘The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.’

20:25 Thomas is told, ‘We have seen the Lord.’

20:29 Jesus told Thomas ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’

We are to be rather like a jury in a court of law who are presented with the evidence of the witnesses and are asked to make a decision. The decision will be made both on the weight of the evidence and the character of the witnesses, the personal bias of the juror should not be a factor. John goes out of his way to emphasise that they ‘saw and believed.’

Unfortunately, it is possible to see and not believe. Seeing is is not enough to change people. Unless people understand the meaning behind what they see they will not become real believers. Repeatedly throughout the gospels there are those who saw the miracles of Jesus but did not understand the implications.

Then there are those who understand that if they accept what the witnesses say there are radical implications for themselves, so they will do all they can to undermine the evidence of the witnesses. This account of Mary meeting the risen Jesus has been derided as being that of a hysterical, hallucinating woman who so wanted to see Jesus again that when she saw the gardener she mistook him for Jesus. But let us look more closely at the evidence.

Mary Magdalene’s Evidence

Remember Mary was probably a middle aged married lady who became a close friend of Jesus, his mother Mary and the other disciples. We know she was wealthy as she was one of those ladies who financially supported Jesus and his disciples (Luke 8:1-3). Her reputation has been besmirched by falsely confusing her with having been a prostitute, the reasons for this error were given in the previous article. She was certainly devoted to Christ and possibly this is why she was given the privilege of first seeing the risen Lord Jesus. It is surely true that the rewards we receive from Christ reflect our devotion to him.

After Mary Magdalene had gone to Jesus’ tomb early in the morning and seen the stone rolled away, she returned to tell Peter and John who themselves ran to see the empty tomb. Mary Magdalene then followed them back to the tomb in the garden. When John and Peter had seen inside the empty tomb with Jesus’ grave clothes lying there in place, they left, presumably to report back their findings to the disciples and their families.

However Mary stayed in the garden, crying.

“Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying.” John 20:10-11

Mary was certainly devoted to Jesus. She stood by him, whatever the circumstances. She was a dogged and determined woman, being the first to go to the tomb that Sunday morning and staying around after Peter and John had left. One thing is clear, she was not looking for the resurrection, she was seeking a body.

Peter and John had seen enough to convince them that to look around the garden for the corpse of Jesus would be a waste of time. Something extraordinary had happened. That massive stone had been rolled up the slope, the tomb was empty but the grave clothes were lying there as if Jesus had just passed through them. John ’saw and believed’ (John 20:8). Perhaps some of what Jesus had said about being killed and rising again came back to their minds. They simply went home to share what they knew and await further events.

Presumably Peter and John told Mary what they had seen. She remained in the garden, drowning in her sorrows. Everything seemed to be going wrong. She could not even show her respects at his grave. She was wondering where Jesus’ body was. Yet her fears were groundless. She still hadn’t understood that she was asking the wrong question. How often our anxieties are the same. The majority of our anxieties turn out to be groundless. We must never let our feelings control our relationship with the Lord.

She then plucked up the courage to peer into the tomb for herself. What a surprise she had. There were two people dressed in white sitting on the slab where Jesus’ body had lain. They were separated, one being where Jesus’ head had been and the other at his feet. John calls them angels but clearly Mary did not grasp this. They asked her,

“Woman, why are you crying?’ John 20:13

This is surely a mild rebuke. To cry when someone you love has died is not wrong and when this is compounded with the grave being disturbed, is this not understandable? The angel is concerned that her persistent crying is preventing her from seeing what is really going on. Her thinking was still,

“They have taken my Lord away and I don’t know where they have put him.” John 20:13

These words were very similar to those she had said to Peter and John,

“They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him.” John 20:3

Mary was obviously thinking that the authorities had removed the body of Jesus, possibly so that his grave could not become a memorial to him.

The other gospels only mention one angel but if anyone has been involved in recording different peoples witness statements such a divergence only adds to the credibility. There has been no collusion over how to tell the story. Different witnesses always focus on something different. Luke adds more details about this encounter which must have been frightening. He adds that there were other women present who had also come with spices.

“While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ Then they remembered his words.” Luke 24:4-8

John is telling the story from Mary Magdalene’s perspective. She was so focussed on finding the body of Jesus that nothing else made much impact. She doesn’t seem to be at all impressed with seeing these glowing angels. Then suddenly she notices someone else standing there.

“At this she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus.” John 20:14

It is striking that in the post resurrection accounts of Jesus he appeared the same, fully human with flesh and blood but was somehow different. Jesus suddenly joined his disciples inside the locked upper room later that day. The two disciples, who Jesus was shortly to join that afternoon as they walked the seven miles to Emmaus, were kept from recognising him until they all had a meal together. When Jesus met up subsequently with his disciples in Galilee something kept them from recognising him.

“Early in the morning Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realise it was Jesus.” John 21:4

Then the light dawned on John, who said to Peter,

“It is the Lord.” John 21:7

When Jesus invited the disciples to join him for breakfast, John adds,

“None of the disciples dared ask him, ‘Who are you?’ They knew it was the Lord.” John 21:12

When Mary saw another man standing behind her she thought it was the gardener. That is her testimony about how she was thinking. An atheist might try to say that Mary was so upset and consequently hallucinating, that she thought she saw Jesus standing there, speaking to her. That is the standard way that rationalists would try to explain away the resurrection appearances to so many people at different times.

But notice that Mary told the story the other way round. She didn’t see a gardener and assume, in a deluded way, that it was Jesus. No, she saw Jesus but didn’t recognise him and assumed it must be the gardener. It is hard to consider anything more unlike hysteria. Even when he spoke, she failed to recognise him.

“At this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not recognise that it was Jesus.” John 20:14

Jesus repeats the same words as the angels,

“Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’ John 20:15

She even fails to recognise his voice but still thinks she is talking to the gardener; when she sees the Lord of Glory she says to herself,

“It’s the gardener.”

She was probably thinking, ‘At last, here is somebody who can tell me where the body has been taken to.’ So she asked,

“Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” John 20:15b

This last phrase, ‘I will get him’ does strongly suggest that Mary Magdalene was a lady of considerable wealth and social standing. She expected to get things done.

Mary’s befuddlement was resolved by just one word. Jesus simply said her name,

“Mary.”

The relationship God wants with all people is always personal. I well remember talking to a stranger to our church; as we were walking out to have coffee after the service we started to chat. Eventually I said to him,

“I hope you don’t mind my asking but are you a convinced Christian yourself or aren’t you sure about these things?”

His reply was interesting,

“I would describe myself more as a convinced churchman, but my wife is a convinced Christian.”

He accepted an invitation to join us at a Christian Basics course and his life was radically changed. He became personally committed to Christ from then on. Jesus called him personally.

Mary’s immediate reaction betrays how she saw Jesus – he was her teacher, one she deeply respected and loved, but that was all.

“She turned towards him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means teacher).” John 20:16

How different this response was to that of Thomas when he met the risen Christ at the end of this chapter . He said,

“My Lord and my God.” John 20:28

Mary saw Jesus as her teacher yet Thomas now sees him as his God, his Lord. These responses are so different. It was the medieval Church reformer, Martin Luther who said,

“Many say Jesus is Lord, but only a true Christian can say ‘Jesus is my Lord.”

It would appear that Mary was mourning the loss of a good friend and teacher. She wanted the old relationship to be restored, but nothing more than that.

Mary approaches Jesus and puts out her hands, either hug him or to hold his feet but Jesus says to her,

“Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father.” John 20:17

Jesus here tells Mary not to hold onto him physically. He explains that he is now going to be with his heavenly Father, Surely Jesus is saying that now their relationship must change because of who he is. He is the risen Lord, the creator and Saviour of this world. Mary was substituting something of the humanity of Christ for who he really is. She wanted the old relationship to be restored but Jesus wanted something more than being ‘Teacher.’

Mary did not yet understand the immensity of the gospel. That the God who created this world had entered it as Jesus the Christ. Peter and John still needed for their understanding to deepen also.

One Sunday evening a vicar asked his son what he had learned in Sunday school that afternoon.

“We learned that to be a Christian, faith has to drop a foot.”

“What do you mean?” the puzzled vicar asked.

“We were told that it is possible to have a faith in your head but not yet in your heart. That’s why faith must drop a foot.”

Mary’s commission

It is striking that the first order given to Adam and Eve was ‘Don’t touch’. Here the first order, given by the risen Lord Jesus, was again, ‘Don’t touch’. When we recognise who Jesus is we come under his command. Jesus had repeatedly said,

“If you love me, you will obey what I command.” John 14:15

“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.” John 14:21

“If anyone loves me he will obey my teaching.” John 14:23

“He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.” John 14:24

The apostle John reminded his readers of this essential feature of the Christian life,

“We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.” 1 John 2:3

The evidence that I am a true Christian, a converted person, is that my heart is set on living for Christ because I have recognised who he really is. There are many who like the moral teaching of Christ, like Albert Schweitzer who followed the ethic of Jesus to give his life as a doctor in primitive Africa. Even well meaning clergymen who are kind-hearted and caring may have yet to really see who Jesus is.

The Nature of the Resurrection

David Jenkins was a controversial figure who was appointed as Bishop of Durham. He described the resurrection of Jesus as ‘a conjuring trick with bones!’ He thought the resurrection was only spiritual, rather like some of the Gnostic teachers in the second and third century AD. However the apostles were clear that Jesus did rise physically. They could still touch him, speak to him and eat with him. However it was more than that. Lazarus had had a physical resurrection but he still had to die again.

Christian belief is to see Jesus for who he is and then to make him the Lord of our lives. We take up our cross and live sacrificially for him because, whatever happens to us here in this life we will live in service of him in eternity.

BVP