2BC BIBLE STUDY NOTES
Wednesday in the Word
Second Baptist Church
June 3, 2026
John 20:14-31
Verses 14-15. Today we will look at the first three of many instances where Jesus appears to his followers after the resurrection. The first appearance that John records is at the tomb with Mary. Mary had come to the tomb in the early morning hours to anoint the body with funeral spices. When she arrived, she noticed the tomb open and the body of Jesus missing. She assumes someone has taken the body and she goes to inform the disciples. Later she returns with the disciples, and they also see that the body of Jesus is no longer in the tomb. When the disciples leave the area, Mary remains crying over the events of the last few days. While she is crying, angels ask her why she was crying. She responds by saying that someone has taken the body of Jesus and she doesn’t know where. After the angels question her, another who is there questions her. She doesn’t recognize the person standing there questioning her. She thinks he must be a gardener who came early to tend to the area. She is not paying any attention to this man assuming he is of no real significance. Because she thinks the man works in the area as a laborer she asks him if he took the body. This man questions her about her crying and who she was looking for. Her tears are due to the separation between her and Jesus. Being separated from God is what sin did, being reconciled to God is what Christ did. When we are separated from Christ we should be sad, but once we are reconciled to him we should be full of joy.
Verse 16. The man responds by calling Mary by her name. As soon as he called her name, she knew who he was. She had heard him call her name before. She had heard this voice before. Jesus said in John 10 that his sheep know his voice. Verse 16 states that she turned when she heard her name. The implication is that she was not facing Jesus. The word "turned" was also used by the early church for turning away from the former life into the life of faith. Some even translate it "be converted" in some contexts. Perhaps John meant to explain that at the sound of her voice Mary "was converted" or turned from the old life to her new life in Christ. When Mary heard the voice of Jesus she was fully persuaded. She had seen him crucified. She saw him die. The only way he could be speaking to her was that he was who he said he was; The son of God. She called Jesus, ’'Rabboni." This word appears only here and in Mark 10:51 in the New Testament. It is a lengthened form of "rabbi." "Rabbi" meant "my great one" and was used as a title of respect for a teacher. Rabboni would have expressed greater respect and honor. She was overwhelmed with emotion and ran to hug Jesus. Mary’s joy is the joy we should have everyday. Jesus is alive. If he is alive then all that he said was true.
Verses 17-18. Mary is so excited she clings on to Jesus not wanting to let go. She is excited that she is reunited with the one she thought she lost. Even though she is excited, Christ commands her to let go of him and go and tell the disciples that he is raised. Mary’s joy must be shared. She cannot have this joy all to herself; she must quickly spread the good news. We have the same command. It is not good enough for us to be excited about our relationship with Christ; we must spread the good news of his resurrection and what that means to all who believe. Jesus says, "I want you to go tell My brethren that I have to go to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God. Stop clinging to Me, Mary. This is only temporary until I finish what I must do. Then I am going to ascend." All along, Christ promised that He would ascend to the Father (Jn. 13:33, 36; 14:2, 6, 28; 17:11). He had said, "When I am come back, I am going to My Father. This is just temporary." Jesus wanted to appear merely to set things in order, commission His disciples, go back to God, and then send the Holy Spirit to dwell within them
Notice that Jesus says, "...go to my brethren...." This is a whole new thing. The disciples had been called servants, they had been called friends, but they had never been called brothers until now. Here is something exciting, thrilling, and new: a whole new relationship to Christ. In John 15:15 Jesus says, "Henceforth I call you not servants...but I have called you friends...." He now can say, "I used to call you friends, but now I'm calling you brothers."Why are we called brothers of Jesus?" By virtue of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and our identification with it, we are in Christ and therefore brothers of Christ. Hebrews 2:9 says that Christ tasted death for every man. Verse 10 says that He brought many sons to glory. And then verse 11 says, "For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren." in other words. because of our faith in Christ we have become brothers of Christ. ROMANS 8:29 -ROMANS 8:14-17 GALATIANS 3:26-28.
Verses 19-20. The disciples were locked in the house because of their fear of the Jews. They were scared to death. But then came Jesus. He walked through the wall. If He could ascend out of His grave clothes, what's a wall? If Jesus Christ, even in His physical form prior to His resurrection, could walk on water, don’t you think He could rearrange the molecules to walk through a wall? Science tells us that most of the body is space. We could get technical and talk about scientifically rearranging the molecules of the body to fit through the molecules of the wall, but let's just say that Jesus walked through the wall. Jesus Christ was in their midst. Now, they were panicked when He arrived. Luke 24:37 says that they were scared to death. They were terrorized and thought that He was a phantom or a ghost. So, in order to reveal who He was, He shows them His hands and His side.
Verses 21-23 . Jesus commissions his disciples to spread the good news. He does this in three ways:
He first tells them to carry the gospel.
He promises to give us help to do the work.
He gives them authority to fulfill the mission.
John’s audience is reading this book long after the resurrection and ascension of our Lord. John wants his audience to understand that all they need to have a relationship with God through his Son Jesus is to believe. Faith again becomes the key ingredient we need to have a covenant relationship with God. John doesn’t capture all the miracles and events of the Lord, but he does cover what is necessary to believe. This gospel reminds us that all we must have faith in Jesus.
Verses 24-29. Most of the disciples at this point have seen Jesus. One of the disciples, Thomas, has not. The other disciples have told Thomas that they have seen Jesus, Thomas feels he needs the same experience before he will believe. Many would get on Thomas but understand the other disciples did not believe until they saw Jesus for themselves as well, Thomas tells the others that he will not believe until he can see the nailed scarred hands and the hole in his side where he was pierced. It wasn’t until eight days later that Jesus appeared to the disciples with Thomas present. It was then that Thomas received all the evidence that he needed to believe. When he believes, Jesus tells him and he speaks to us as well, that it is better to believe God before you see the evidence than it is to believe God after the evidence has been presented. The true definition of faith is to believe and hope in evidence that is not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) What areas of our lives do we have trouble to believe God before it happens?
Verses 30-31. In our text, John informs his unbelieving readers about the “bottom line” of all that he has written. John has one goal for the unbeliever: He wants to demonstrate as clearly and as forcefully as he can that Jesus not only claimed to be the Christ (the Messiah), the Son of God, but that by many miraculous signs He proved it! The last and greatest of these signs was His resurrection from the dead. While the resurrection of Jesus from the dead was prophesied in the Old Testament, and by our Lord Himself, John makes it very clear that the disciples were not predisposed to believe it. Only after the most forceful and compelling evidence would the disciples believe Jesus really was alive. And having become convinced of this great truth, the disciples never ceased to proclaim it. The resurrection of Jesus is the final and compelling proof that He is the Son of God and the Savior of the world.
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