Year C Easter Sunday, John 20: 1-9,April 15, 2001
Visiting the tomb and finding the body of Jesus gone, Mary Magdalene reports the fact to Peter and the Beloved Disciple who run to the tomb. They both observe the same facts, but the Beloved Disciple believes that Jesus is risen.
Chapter 20 consists of four scenes that teach of different responses to the risen Jesus. In the first scene verses one to nine. Jesus does not even appear. It is a story about the empty tomb. The second scene is about Jesus appearance to Mary Magdalene verses eleven t eighteen at the tomb. Scene three takes place on Easter Sunday night in a locked room. Jesus appears to the ten disciples and then, in scene four a week later, he appears again to them, but this time Thomas is present and his response highlighted. All these scenes take place in Jerusalem, as do the appearances in Luke and Mark 16:1-8. In chapter 21, an epilogue to the gospel work, Jesus appears in two more scenes that take place in Galilee. The author is as much or more concerned with the effect of Jesus’ resurrection on the disciples, faith response, as or than the fact of it.
In itself this story of the empty tomb did not originally convey the idea of resurrection, except to the beloved disciple who interpreted the facts correctly. The subsequent stories of Jesus’ appearances clarified the meaning of the empty tomb, since no one saw the actually event of Jesus’ rising from the dead.
In verse one, “First day of the week,” Sunday. The days of the week are not named in the Bible.
Tomb: The entrance to such tombs was a small opening about a yard high from the ground. Hence the need to bend down to see in. A boulder rolled against the entrance could seal the tomb.
The more elaborate ones had a wheel-shaped slab that rolled in a tract across the entrance, having the effect of a sliding or rolling door.
Mary Magdalene: Mark and Luke say she and other women came to anoint the body, since it had to be buried hastily before Sabbath sunset. Matthew simply states that they came to see the tomb. John gives no reason for the visit. It was believed that the person’s spirit lingered around the tomb for three days.
In verse two, “to Simon Peter,” Both Peter and the “Beloved Disciple,” present at the cross, were reported by John to have stayed around in Jerusalem, so it would be natural for Magdalene to report to them.
“The other disciple whom Jesus loved,” Though he was clearly an historical personage, one of the disciples, though not necessarily one of the Twelve, his name is never given. He represents all faithful disciples of all ages.
In verse four, “the other disciple,” He arrived first, meaning he was the first to believe in the Resurrection. He is also the first to recognize Jesus in 21:7. The fact that he outran Peter has been the subject of much speculation as to its significance. No reason is given in the text. He is presented as the ideal follower who does not need an appearance of Jesus to believe in him. Peter and John are portrayed as friends not rivals. The Beloved Disciple is the quickest to look for Jesus and the first to believe in him.
In verse five, The fact that the burial clothes were still there is meant to prove that Mary was wrong to suppose that the body was stolen. The only possible explanation of the facts was that Jesus had been raised from the dead. We recall that Lazarus needed his burial clothes. He would use them again for he would die again. Jesus had no need of them, so they remained behind. But they were evidence to the beloved disciple not of theft or death but of life.
In verse seven, “the napkin,’ John singles out the napkin for special mention. What thieves would stop to fold the clothes if they stole the body? This was a signal to faith eyes that unbelief would miss. Perhaps there was something distinctive in the way it was folded, letting the believing, loving disciple in on a “sign.” Subtly, the author is communicating that love sees “signs” otherwise missed.
In verse eight, “saw and believed,’ John does not specify what the beloved disciple believed, but there can be no doubt what he means. He means that he drew the only possible conclusion from the facts and the reader is expected to do the same. THE DISCIPLE HAS REACHED RESURRECTION FAITH WITHOUT AN APPEARANCE OF JESUS!
In verse nine, Things had happened pretty fast. Only the beloved disciple had kept his wits about him. The empty tomb threw Magdalene, who loved Jesus, too, for a loop. She jumped to the conclusion that his body had been stolen by enemies. The Jewish authorities would accuse Jesus’ followers of the same thing. Peter saw the same facts as the other disciple, but he was still overcome by the recent events to be able to see or think straight. Remember he loved Jesus, too, but with human (philia) love, not yet the agape love of the other disciple which 21:15-19 will point out. It took time for the truth to dawn on the disciples. Only later when they calmed down and thought about it and prayed about it could they see it all as the fulfillment of a pattern foretold in Scripture. When they did that they could flesh out the implications and applications of a Risen Jesus.
Peter and the “Beloved Disciple” saw the same facts, although the Beloved Disciple took a closer look and, so, saw more than the physical facts. He saw “into” them to their meaning. For Peter the facts were facts. For the Beloved Disciple they were what everything else was- “signs.” The sacramental attitude, namely, that there is more to reality than meets the physical eye, is a corollary of the “eternal attitude,” seeing everything from the vantage point of eternity. The Beloved Disciple did not see anything different from Peter, only differently. The difference is in the disciple’s being called “beloved.” This is agape love, not merely friendship love. Peter was a friend of Jesus, too. Ch 21 will treat of the rehabilitation of Peter after his denial of Jesus and his appointment as chief shepherd of the Church. Peter will represent the authority and leadership in the Church. But the hero in John’s gospel is not Peter but the Beloved Disciple, the one whose love for Jesus gives him an insight to detect his presence even and especially when he is not physically visible. The Beloved Disciple represents in the Church, the primacy of love. No wonder he outdistanced Peter and came to recognize the presence of the Risen One before Peter did. Love will always outdistance authority, leadership and law, and arrive first at the correct conclusion.
The author of John wants us to realize that we are the Beloved Disciple(s). We are in his gospel. We cannot all be Peter and lead, but we all can love. Like the Beloved Disciple we come to resurrection faith without benefit of a physical apparition of Jesus, a personal appearance to us. Love of him empowers us to sense his presence without need of visible proof and to read the “signs” of his presence. The sacramental attitude opens us up to the invisible world behind the visible one. The essential point is that the Christian is in a vital personal relationship with the Risen Christ. This is a mutual indwelling, which Jesus expounded and expanded upon in his Last Supper discourse, his farewell address. It is his sacramental Eucharistic presence within us which is the same as his Risen presence among us. We have no need of apparitions, appearances, miraculous phenomena beyond the miracle of his presence already experienced through mutual love: his love for his Father and vice versa, our love for him and vice verse, our love for one another and vice versa.
The first Christians came to realize that the grave could not hold Jesus. The tomb was found to be empty because it was bound to be empty. The Beloved Disciple was merely the first of many to follow. He interpreted the signs correctly because of the intimacy he shared with Jesus. Perhaps it was all pre-arranged, perhaps Jesus confided in him, giving him clues as to what to look for- folded napkins, etc. Likely not, though, since the rest of us would be excluded from such private revelations. More likely, the disciple’s experience was much like ours. Intimacy with the Lord, learned in prayer and then experienced in the details of life, reveal patterns, subtleties, what others might call “coincidences,” which clue us into not merely his presence, which is true no matter what our consciousness of it, but his engaged, involved, caring, loving presence- a presence that is with and for us, operating on our behalf and in our best interests. Only love can do that. It did that for the Beloved Disciple and it does that for us.
The fact of the empty tomb, the marks of the crucifixion, and eating food will stress the continuity of Jesus’ resurrected body with his earthly one. The appearances behind closed and locked doors , not being immediately recognized and appearing in different locations otherwise impossible will stress discontinuity with earthly bodies and laws. Yet, it is the same Jesus, the same Lord, the same one who died also rose from the dead, no matter how different the appearances may seem. He is alive after all , for all, for all time and for eternity. The link to him is faith and love, themselves as inseparable as his earthly and glorified body. He was not only alive then, not only present on earth then. He is alive today in and among us. Like all Beloved Disciples we believe in him and experience him without benefit of an appearance. He is present more deeply than that. He dwells within us in Holy Communion.
For one can believe in the Risen Lord Jesus without actually seeing him.
One can experience the Risen Lord’s presence without physically seeing or feeling him.
Love makes humans sensitive to “invisible” realities and non-physical presence otherwise inaccessible to human experience.
The sacramental attitude, that there is more to reality than what meets the physical eye, is a corollary of the eternal attitude.
Attitude and vision: Adopting the eternal attitude, seeing everything and everyone from the viewpoint of eternity, empowers a person to see-in-a-context. It gives a person vision of all realities, not only as they can be isolated from all other realities, but also as they relate to and are related to all other realities. The eternal attitude reveals relationship. Of course, the fundamental revelation is that we are all or can be, if we so choose, related to God, the Eternal. When the eternal attitude is seen through a relationship with Christ the vision become as if crystal clear. Faith in him first, then through him and with him makes all the difference in this world. We see everything and everyone differently than we would without that vision. Faith is like a pair of glasses, high-powered glasses. But the vision it gives is of another dimension, so nothing really changes in our physical, this earthly dimensional, vision. It is on the spirit level that we see earthly realities from a spiritual call it “height” or “depth.” It matters little what metaphor one uses. Unfortunately, this extra vision, while we are still on earth, comes and goes. It can be turned on by an act of will, but it tends to go off as soon as we lose concentration. Thus, even a believer, like Peter, can look at reality from the purely earthly level and misinterpret his or her experiences because he or she has left out or off the eternal light. Peter and the Beloved Disciple both had the capacity to see beyond the raw facts of the empty tomb and the remaining clothes, but only one turned the light on and saw what was really the case. He interpreted the physical facts in and by the light of the eternal dimension, a dimension he was introduced to and taught about by Jesus. He might not have been better at it than Peter, but he was quicker to turn the light on. Love is the power that lets one turn the light on sooner.
The sacramental attitude: The process of faith is difficult to put into words and we must use words in a way we would not use them in ordinary earthbound speech. It may seem odd to the unbeliever, but the eternal vision, which empowers us to look beyond what is physically present to see what is behind it, also empowers us to simultaneously look within that same reality to see into it. The boundaries of earth and human logic get sort of stretched and become fluid in the eternal viewer. Simultaneously, the eternal vision shows up what is different about a reality be it a moment in time, an object or a person and shows how it is related to all other realities. The eternal vision reveals the eternal “glow,” a glow that is hidden from physical sight, a “glow” that may well be tarnished by sin, yet still “glowing” nonetheless. The Beloved Disciple representing all Christians of all time, who love Jesus and follow him, saw what glowed in that dark tomb. Peter did not, at least not at the time, but he would. This vision is not a mystical vision that results from long and quiet contemplation, although such an intensely felt vision does exist. No, this vision is open to every Christian, every beloved disciple. The sacramental attitude, seeing into all realities and seeing them as they are before God, is not restricted to religious rites, ceremonies, gestures, objects or people. The attitude works on all realities and every Christian not only can but should have and exercise it. Both Peter and the Beloved Disciple had it, only one exercised it and came to resurrection faith without the need of an earthly vision of Jesus. These stories are told to teach us and inspire us to turn on the light Christ gave us. Indeed Christ is that light. When we do we enter into his very world, see as he sees, love as he loves. He joins us to his resurrected body and life and we enjoy it all. The Beloved Disciple did not have “to see it to believe it.” He believed it first and then he saw it. The rules of eternity and heaven are often the exact opposite of the rules of time and earth. Amen.
