It's Go Time (John 20:19-23) Series

Let's start by reading last week's passage, John 20:1-18:

(1) Now, on the first day of the week, Mary the Magdalene comes early in the morning,

dark still being, to the tomb,

and she sees the stone having been taken away from the tomb.

(2) Then, she runs and she comes to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus was loving,

and she says to them,

"They have taken away the Lord from the tomb,

and we don't know where they put him."

(3) Then, Peter and the other disciple go out,

and they were coming to the tomb.

(4) Now, the two were running together,

and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter,

and he came first to the tomb,

(5) and, bending over to peek in, he sees lying there the strips of linen cloth,

but he didn't enter in.

(6) Then, also Simon Peter comes,

following him,

and he entered the tomb,

and he sees the strips of linen cloth lying there,

and the facecloth that was upon his head,

not with the strips of linen cloth lying,

but separately wrapped up in one place.

(8) Then, the other disciple also entered-- the one coming first to the tomb--

and he saw,

and he "believed."

(9) For they hadn't yet known the Scripture

that it was necessary for him, from the dead, to rise.

(10) Then, they departed again to their own things/homes-- the disciples.

(11) Now, Mary stood at the tomb outside weeping.

Then, while she was weeping, she bent over to peek in to the tomb,

(12) and she sees two angels in white being seated,

one at the head, and one at the feet, where Jesus' body was lying,

(13) and those ones say to her,

"Woman, why are you weeping?"

She says to them (that),

"They have taken away my Lord,

and I don't know where they put him."

(14) These things saying, she turned around,

and she sees Jesus standing there,

and she didn't know that Jesus, it is.

(15) Jesus says to her,

"Who are you seeking?"

That one, thinking that the gardener he is, says to him,

"Lord/sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you put him,

and I, him, will take away."

(16) Jesus says to her,

"Mariam."

That one being turned around says to him in Aramaic,

"Rabbouni,"

which means "Teacher."

(17) Jesus says to her,

"Don't, me, cling to.

For I haven't yet ascended toward the Father.

Now, go to my brothers,

and say to them,

"I am ascending to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God."

(18) Mary the Magdalene comes,

announcing to the disciples that "I have seen the Lord,"

and these things, he said to her.

This brings us to John 20:19. Here, we find ourselves still in the same day. We've seen Peter, the question mark. We've seen the beloved disciple come to full faith. And we've seen Mary, given the Little Commission, instructed to tell the disciples that Jesus is alive, and that he is going toward his Father.

This, is what she does. She is obedient to Jesus' sending her. How do the disciples respond? Verse 19:

(19) Then, when it was evening on that day-- the first day of the week, and the doors having been barred/locked where the disciples were because of fear of the Judeans-- Jesus came,

and he stood in their midst,

and he says to them,

"Peace to you,"

(20) and this saying, he showed his hands

and his side to them.

Let's focus first on the disciples here. They've heard the good news from Mary that Jesus is risen. But this news does nothing for them, as far as courage goes. They are scared of the Judeans. They've closed themselves off from the world, and they just hope that nothing bad happens to them. The world is a threat, and a danger.

It's into this room filled with fear, that Jesus enters. Suddenly, he's in the middle of the room, standing in their midst.

How did he get there?

Maybe, you want to say that he walked through the door, or a wall. But AJ (Author of John) doesn't actually tell us that. Jesus simply "appears where he desires to appear, and his visible presence disappears when he desires to have it so" (Lenski, John, 1366). He's just there.

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Maybe: We understand that there is an unseen realm, and a visible realm (2 Kings 6:17-20). Normally, all we have access to is the visible realm. But Jesus at this point can apparently alternate back and forth between the seen and unseen.

Lenski:

“He came and stood in their midst” is all that human thought and language can say. He did not walk through anything. The disciples did not see him take so many steps from the door or the wall to their midst. He was there, and that was all.