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John 20 — Commentary 4

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Benson Commentary John 20:1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. John 20:1-9 . The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene alone early, when it was yet dark — See notes on Matthew 28:1 ; Mark 16:1-2 ; Luke 24:1 ; where the circumstance of John’s mentioning only Mary Magdalene as visiting the sepulchre, is accounted for, and explained at large. And seeth — With the other women, mentioned by the three other evangelists; the stone taken away from the sepulchre — And that the tomb was open. Probably, in consequence of the distinguished ardour of her affection for her dear Lord and Master, she had advanced a little way before the others, and therefore first discovered that the stone was removed. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter — That is, after she and the other women had entered into the sepulchre, had made search for the body there, and had not found it, ( Luke 24:3 ,) but before she and they had seen the angels, who informed them that he was risen: for after that it is very improbable that she should speak as the evangelist says she did to Peter, in the next words, They have taken away the Lord, &c., and we know not where they have laid him. Peter, therefore — Upon hearing that the stone was removed, and the body gone; went forth, and that other disciple — Immediately, and made all possible haste to the sepulchre, to satisfy themselves whether what was told them was a fact, and to see if they could make any further discoveries. Some think the other disciples were with Peter and John, when Mary gave them this information; but it seems more probable that she told it only to them; at least, it is evident that only these two went to the sepulchre. So they ran both together — Being eager and anxious to have their doubts cleared up. And the other disciple — John, being probably the younger man; outran Peter, and came first to the sepulchre — He did not, however, go in, perhaps being afraid; he only stooped down; and saw the linen clothes lying — Or rollers which had been about Christ’s body. Then cometh Simon Peter — Following him very quickly; and went into the sepulchre — Without hesitation; and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin, &c. — And that in such regular order as fully satisfied him that the body had not been taken away in a hasty manner, by persons who feared being interrupted or detected. Doubtless, the angels who ministered to him, when he rose, folded up the napkin and the linen clothes, and laid them in this order. Then went in also that other disciple — Who, being less adventurous than Peter, had hitherto stood without; and he saw — That the body was not there; and believed — That it had been taken away, as Mary had told them. Thus Grotius, Bengelius, Wesley, Macknight, Campbell, and most commentators understand the clause, which sense certainly the next words favour. Whitby, however, and Doddridge, view it in a different light. “Peter,” says the former, “only saw and admired what was done; ( Luke 24:12 ;) but John saw and believed, not the words of Mary, for we find not that either of them suspected her of falsehood, but the resurrection of Jesus, or the words of Christ, After three days I will rise again. This, John saith, was the reason of his faith, not the predictions of the Old Testament; for, as for the apostles, ( John 20:9 ,) as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.” Dr. Doddridge speaks to the same purpose. “I understand it,” says he, “as a modest intimation, that he, (John,) first indeed of all others, believed the truth of Christ’s resurrection, inferring it, as he reasonably mighty from the order in which he found the sepulchre. The words,” adds he, “have a force and grace in this interpretation, which I think no other can give them.” In consistency with this view of the passage, he translates and paraphrases the next verse as follows. “For hitherto they did not know, or had not known, as ?????? ??????? properly means; the full meaning of the various intimations of Scripture, to which Jesus had so often referred, to convince them that he must certainly rise from the dead; which if they had considered, they would cheerfully have expected the accomplishment of them, and would not have been so much surprised at the news which Mary brought them.” Whichever be the sense of the clause, it must, at least, be acknowledged, that the circumstances of which these two disciples were now spectators “were very awakening, and very proper to prepare their minds for something extraordinary, since nothing but the resurrection of Jesus could, in right reason, be concluded from them. The body, they saw, was gone; but by whom could it be taken away, and for what purpose? Not by friends; for then, in all probability, they would have known something about it. Not by Jews; for they had nothing to do with it. Pilate, to whom alone the disposal of it belonged, as the body of a malefactor executed by his orders, had given it to his disciples, who laid it in the sepulchre but two days before: and wherefore should they remove it again so soon? Not to bury it; for in that case they would not have left the linen clothes or winding-sheet, and the napkin, folded up behind them. Whoever, therefore, had removed the body, they could not have done it with a design to bury it, and yet no other purpose for the removal of it could be imagined. Besides, it must have been removed in the night by stealth, and consequently in a hurry. How then came the winding-sheet and napkin to be folded up, and disposed in so orderly a manner in the sepulchre? Add to this, that the stone was very large; and therefore many people must have been concerned in this transaction; not one of whom was there to give an answer to any such questions. These, and such like reflections, could not but rise in their minds, and these difficulties could not but dispose them to expect some extraordinary event; especially as they knew the life of Jesus was a life of miracles, and that his death was attended with prodigies and wonders; all which would now come crowding into their memories.” Still, however, they did not understand from the prophets, that the Messiah was to rise again from the dead: on the contrary, they supposed them to have predicted that he should not die, but abide for ever; which was an additional cause of perplexity to them, and an obstacle to their believing Jesus was risen. See West. John 20:2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. John 20:3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. John 20:4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. John 20:5 And he stooping down, and looking in , saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. John 20:6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, John 20:7 And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. John 20:8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. John 20:9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. John 20:10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. John 20:10-13 . Then the disciples (Peter and John) went away again unto their own home — Went to their companions in the city, as the original expression, ???? ??????? , seems evidently to signify. Accordingly, soon after this the women found the eleven and the rest together. It was very prudent in Peter and John to retire immediately, lest they should have been questioned by the rulers, if found near the sepulchre. But Mary stood without — It seems she had followed Peter and John to the sepulchre, but did not return to the city with them, being anxious to find the body of her Lord; but after they were gone, she stood without at the sepulchre weeping — Being in great perplexity at her not knowing what was become of it. And as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre — To examine it afresh; and seeth — To her great surprise; two angels — In the form of men; in white — That is, clothed in white habits; the one at the head, and the other at the feet, &c. — “The sepulchre seems to have been a square room hewn out of a rock, partly above ground, its roof being as high as the top of the door, which formed its entrance. This door opened upon a stair which ran down straight to the bottom of the sepulchre, along with the side of its left wall. Having carried the body down with its feet foremost, they would naturally place it length-ways, by the right-side wall of the sepulchre, with its feet to the back wall. This description is agreeable to the accounts which travellers give us of the Jewish sepulchres, particularly Mr. Maundrell, who was on the spot and saw several of them. They were generally caves, or rooms hewn out of rocks. And as the Jews did not make use of coffins, they placed their dead separately in niches, or little cells cut into the sides of these caves. But Joseph’s sepulchre, being a new one, was in all probability unfinished; and might have no niches cut into its sides, where they could deposite the dead; for which reason they laid Jesus on the floor, in the manner described, intending when the sabbath was passed to remove him to some finished burying-place.” — Macknight. And they say unto her — With a tender regard; Woman, why weepest thou? — This question was only designed to give occasion to inform her of that which would turn her mourning into rejoicing. She saith, Because they have taken away my Lord — The blessed body which I came to embalm; and I know not where they have laid him — That is, laid it; or how the sacred corpse may be neglected or abused. John 20:11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, John 20:12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. John 20:13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. John 20:14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. John 20:14-15 . And when she had thus said, she turned herself back — Probably hearing a sudden noise behind her, and being affrighted; and saw Jesus standing — Near her; but knew not that it was Jesus — His habit being changed, her eyes also overflowing with tears, and her mind being so far from any expectation of his appearance, and so much distressed, that she probably did not so much as look up to the face of the person who appeared; Jesus saith — With his usual tone of voice and accent; Woman, why weepest thou? — These were probably the first words Christ spoke after his resurrection. Why weepest thou? — I am risen. The resurrection of Christ has enough in it to allay all our sorrows, to check the streams, and dry up the fountains of our tears. Here we may observe, Christ takes cognizance, 1st, Of his people’s griefs, and inquires why they weep? 2d, Of his people’s cares, and inquires whom or what they seek, or what they would have; when he knows they are seeking him, yet he will know it from them; they must tell him whom they seek. She, supposing him to be the gardener — The person employed by Joseph to dress and keep his garden, who she thought was come hither thus early to his work; saith, Sir, if thou have borne him hence — If, for any unknown reason, thou hast taken him away from this place, where the master of the sepulchre saw fit so honourably to lay him but a few hours ago; tell me where thou hast laid him — Where I may find his corpse; and I will take him away — Will take effectual care that his corpse shall be removed and decently interred elsewhere. Here we may observe, 1st, That her taking Jesus for the gardener intimates, that there was nothing very splendid in his dress: accordingly when he appeared to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus they seem to have taken him for a person of a rank not superior to their own. 2d, That she accosts this stranger in respectful language, even when she took him for a servant, prudently reflecting, that an error on that hand would be more excusable than one on the other, supposing he should prove a person of superior rank in a plain dress. 3d, That she does not name Jesus, but speaks in indefinite terms; If thou have borne him hence — Intimating that he was the one person of whom her own thoughts and heart were so full, that she took it for granted every one must know whom she meant. 4th, She seems to have supposed, that this gardener disdained that the body of a person who was ignominiously crucified should have the honour of being laid in his master’s new tomb, and that therefore he had removed it to some sorry place which he thought fitter for it. John 20:15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. John 20:16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. John 20:16-17 . Jesus saith unto her, Mary — Expressing himself with an emphasis, and that air of kindness and freedom, with which he had been wont to speak to her. This one word, Mary, was like that to the disciples, in the storm, It is I. She turned herself directly toward him, and, eagerly fixing her eyes upon him, instantly discovered who it was; and transported with a mixture of unutterable passions, she cried, Rabboni, which is to say, Master — And so much was her heart affected, that she could say no more, but immediately prostrated herself at his feet to embrace them; according to that modesty and reverence with which the women of the East saluted the men, 2 Kings 4:27 ; Luke 7:38 . But Jesus refused this compliment, saying, Touch me not — Do not embrace me, either to pay thine homage to me, or to confirm thy faith; or do not cling to me; for it seems she held him by the feet, Matthew 28:9 . Or, Do not detain me now, or waste time in embracing me; for I am not yet ascended to my Father — I have not yet left, and am not immediately to leave, the world; thou wilt, therefore, have many other opportunities of testifying thy regard to me. “The word ???????? , (says Dr. Campbell, here rendered to touch, ) in the use of the LXX., denotes also to lay hold on, and to cleave to, as in Job 31:7 ; Ezekiel 41:6 , and other places.” The sense here plainly is, “Do not detain me at present. The time is precious. Lose not a moment, therefore, in carrying the joyful tidings of my resurrection to my disciples.” Accordingly it follows, Go to my brethren, &c. — Thus does he intimate in the strongest manner the forgiveness of their fault, even without ever mentioning it. These exquisite touches, which everywhere abound in the evangelical writings, show how perfectly Christ knew our frame. And say unto them, I ascend — He anticipates his ascension in his thoughts, and so speaks of it as a thing already present; to my Father and your Father; my God and your God — This uncommon expression shows, that the only- begotten Son has every kind of fellowship with his Father. And a fellowship with God, some way resembling his own, he bestows upon his brethren. Yet he does not say our God, (for no creature can be raised to an equality with him,) but my God, and your God: intimating that the Father is his, in a singular and incommunicable manner, and ours through him, in such a kind as a creature is capable of. According to Mr. West, this text, I am not yet ascended, &c., comprehends, in a few words, a variety of very important hints, which have not commonly been taken notice of in them; particularly that our Lord intended by them to recall to the minds of his disciples the discourse he had with them three nights before, in which he explained what he meant by going to the Father, ( John 16:28 ,) and by twice using the word ascend, designed to intimate that he was to go up to heaven, not merely in spirit, as the pious dead do, but by a corporeal motion and translation, and that it would be some time before he took his final leave of earth, by this intended ascension. All which expressions and predictions concur, with a great many other circumstances, to show how impossible it was that such an apprehended appearance should have been merely the result of a disordered imagination, which Mr. West illustrates at large, as he also does the mistaken apprehension of those disciples, who, when some of their companions, whose veracity they could not suspect, testified they had seen the Lord, thought his body was not risen, but that it was only his spirit which appeared to them. John 20:17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch 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. John 20:18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her. John 20:18 . Mary Magdalene came — With the other women; and told the disciples — As they mourned and wept for the loss of their beloved Master, ( Mark 16:10 ,) that she had seen the Lord, &c. — That he had indeed appeared to her, and that he had spoken these gracious things mentioned above. Peter and John had left Mary seeking their common Lord carefully with tears, and would not stay to seek him with her; and now she comes to tell them that she had found him, and to rectify the mistake she had led them into by inquiring after the dead body; for she now found it was a living body, and a glorified one; so that she found what she sought, and, what was infinitely better, she had the happiness of having seen the Master, and was willing to communicate of her joy to them, for she knew it would be good news to them. And, as she told them what she had seen, so also what she had heard: she had seen the Lord alive by this token, that he had spoken these things unto her as a message to be delivered to them, and she delivered it faithfully. Observe, reader, when God comforts us, it is with this design, that we should comfort others. And they that are acquainted with the word of Christ themselves, should communicate their knowledge for the good of others, and not grudge that others should know as much as they do. John 20:19 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. John 20:19-20 . Then the same day at evening — The day on which he arose from the dead; being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut — And fastened on the inside; where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews — In this translation the arrangement of the sentence, as Dr. Campbell observes, is not proper, as it either suggests a false meaning, or at least renders the true meaning obscure. “The disciples assembled, but surely not for fear of the Jews; for, as they did not intend by violence to oppose violence, if any should be offered them, they could not but know that to assemble themselves would more expose them to danger than any other measure they could take. The plain matter is, they assembled for mutual advice and comfort, and being assembled, the doors were shut for fear of the Jews; as they were well aware of the consequence of being discovered at such a time in consultation together. Further, the words do not necessarily imply, that while the doors continued shut our Lord entered miraculously. The word ???????????? is even more literally rendered, having been shut, than, being shut, or, when they were shut: as it is the preterperfect, not the present, or imperfect participle. They may, therefore, for aught related by the evangelists, have been made by a miracle to open and give him access.” The reading of the sentence, therefore, ought to be, Jesus came where the disciples were assembled, the doors having been shut for fear of the Jews. This circumstance of the doors being shut is very happily mentioned by John, because it suggests the reason why the disciples took Jesus for a spirit, as Luke tells us they did, Luke 24:37 , notwithstanding that the greatest part of them believed he was risen. Jesus stood in the midst, and saith, Peace be unto you — See the note on Luke 24:36-43 . When he had so said, he showed them his hands — And his feet, ( Luke 24:39 ,) with the prints of the nails in them; and his side — Containing the mark which the spear had left in it. Thus giving them infallible proofs, that he had the very identical body which had been nailed to the cross and pierced. Then were the disciples glad — As it might reasonably be expected they should be, when they thus saw the Lord, and were assured by such infallible tokens that he was really alive. John 20:20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. John 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. John 20:21-23 . Then said Jesus again, Peace be unto you — This is the foundation of the mission of a true gospel minister; peace in his own soul, in consequence of his having received pardoning mercy from God through Christ, 2 Corinthians 4:1 . As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you — Christ was the apostle of the Father, Hebrews 3:1 : Peter and the rest the apostles of Christ. And when he had said this, he breathed on them — In a solemn manner, communicating unto them new life and vigour; and saith unto them — As ye receive this breath out of my mouth, so receive ye — That is, ye shall receive; the Holy Ghost — Out of my fulness, in his various graces and gifts, influencing your minds and hearts in a peculiar manner, and fitting you for your great and important embassy. He refers chiefly to those extraordinary influences of the Spirit which they were to receive at the following pentecost. Whose soever sins ye remit — According to the tenor of the gospel; that is, supposing them to repent and believe; they are remitted; and whose soever sins ye retain — Supposing them to remain impenitent and unbelieving; they are retained — So far is plain: but here arises a difficulty. Are not the sins of one who truly repents and unfeignedly believes in Christ, remitted without the absolution by Christ’s ministers here spoken of? And are not the sins of one who does not repent and believe, retained even with it? What then does this commission imply? Can it imply any more than, 1st, A power of declaring with authority the Christian terms of pardon, whose sins are remitted and whose retained? as is done in the form of absolution contained in our church service: and, 2d, A power of inflicting and remitting ecclesiastical censures? that is, of excluding from, and readmitting into, a Christian congregation? See note on Matthew 16:19 . Some, indeed, are of opinion, that something further than this is intended in this commission, as given to the apostles, namely, the gift of discerning the spirits of men in such perfection, as to be able to declare with certainty to particular persons in question whether or not they were in a state of pardon and acceptance with God; and it must be acknowledged that such a gift was doubtless conferred in certain cases on some, if not on many, of the first ministers of Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:10 . John 20:22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them , and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: John 20:23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. John 20:24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. John 20:24-25 . But Thomas, called Didymus — That is, the twin; was not with them when Jesus came — The cause of his absence is not mentioned. Possibly it might be affliction, or some other unavoidable hinderance. Through this, however, he missed the satisfaction and happiness of seeing his Master risen, and of sharing with the disciples in their joy upon that occasion. Here we may observe, those know not what they lose who unnecessarily and carelessly absent themselves from the stated, solemn assemblies of the people of God. The other disciples, therefore, said to him — The next time they saw him, and that doubtless with great joy; We have seen the Lord — Relating to him, probably, all that had passed at the time, and particularly the satisfaction Christ had given them, by showing them his hands and his side. But he said, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, &c. — As if he had said, This is a matter of too great importance for me to believe on any report, even on yours; nay, more is necessary to convince me than merely a transient sight of mine own eyes: for unless I shall have the fullest evidence of my own feeling, as well as sight of him, I will not by any means, or any testimony whatsoever, believe that he is risen. “Thus ended the transactions of the day on which our Lord arose from the dead; a day much to be remembered by men throughout all generations, because it brought fully into act the conceptions which had lodged in the breast of Infinite Wisdom from eternity, even those thoughts of love and mercy on which the salvation of the world depended. Christians, therefore, have the highest reason to solemnize this day with gladness each returning week, by ceasing from labour, and giving themselves up to holy meditations, and other exercises of devotion. The redemption of mankind, which they commemorate thereon in its finishing stroke, affords matter for eternal thought, being such a subject as no other, how great soever, can equal; and whose lustre, neither length of time nor frequent reviewing can ever diminish. For, as by often beholding the sun we do not find him less glorious or luminous than before, so this benefit, which we celebrate after so many ages, is as fresh and beautiful as ever, and will continue to be so, flourishing in the memories of all reasonable beings through the endless revolutions of eternity.” — Macknight. John 20:25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. John 20:26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. John 20:26 . After eight days — That is, eight days after his resurrection, namely, the next Sunday; again his disciples were within — Were in a private room, as they were before; and Thomas with them — For though he had been absent once, yet he would not be absent a second time. When we have lost one opportunity of receiving good, we should give the more earnest heed to lay hold on the next. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, as before, and stood in the midst — And they all knew him; for he showed himself now just as he had shown himself before. Our Lord deferred this his second appearance for some time, 1st, To show his disciples that he was not risen to such a life as he had formerly lived, to converse daily and hourly with them, but was as one that belonged to another world, and visited this only as angels do, now and then, when there was occasion. Where Christ was during these eight days, and the rest of the time of his abode on earth, would be folly to inquire, and presumption to determine. Wherever he was, no doubt angels ministered unto him. 2d. He deferred it so long as seven days for three reasons: 1st, That he might put a rebuke on Thomas for his incredulity, and perhaps also for his negligence. He had not attended the former meeting of the disciples, and to teach him to prize those seasons of grace better for the future, he shall not have such another opportunity for several days. A very melancholy week we have reason to think he had of it; drooping and in suspense, while the other disciples were full of joy: and the cause was in himself: it was his own folly and unbelief. 2d, That he might try the faith and patience of the rest of the disciples. They had gained a great point when they were satisfied that they had seen the Lord; then were the disciples glad; but he would try whether they could keep the ground they had gained when they saw no more of him for seven days. And thus he would gradually wean them from his bodily presence, which they had doted and depended too much upon. 3d, That he might put an honour upon the first day of the week, and give a plain intimation of his will, that it should be observed in his church as the Christian sabbath, that is, the weekly day of holy rest and holy convocations. That one day in seven should be religiously observed, was an appointment from the beginning; as old as innocence; and that, in the kingdom of the Messiah, the first day in the week should be that solemn day, Christ’s meeting his disciples in a religious assembly once and again on that day was indication sufficient. Add to this, it is highly probable, that in his former appearance to them he had ordered them to come together again that day seven-night, and had promised to meet them, and also that he appeared to them every first day of the week, (besides at some other times,) during forty days. And the religious observance of that day has been from thence transmitted down to us through every age of the church. This therefore is the day which the Lord has made sacred, and appointed for his peculiar worship and service. On this occasion also Christ said, Peace be unto you — Thus saluting them all in a friendly and affectionate manner, as he had done before. And this was no vain repetition, but significant of the abundant and assured peace which he gives, and of the continuance of his blessings upon his people, for they fail not, but are new every morning, new every meeting. John 20:27 Then saith he to 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 20:27-29 . Then said he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, &c. — Thus our Lord lets them see, that he was not unacquainted with what had lately passed among them in his absence, and at the same time takes an effectual way to convince and satisfy his over-scrupulous disciple. Referring to what Thomas had said, he answers it word for word: for he had heard it, though unseen: and one would suppose that his telling him of it so particularly must surely have put him to the blush. Observe well, reader, there is not an unbelieving word in our tongues, no, nor thought in our minds at any time, but it is known to the Lord Jesus. And be not faithless, but believing — Believe on this evidence at least, which addresses itself to so many of thy senses. And Thomas — Overwhelmed at once with such abundant demonstration of the fact in question, and such condescending kindness of his Master, fell under the conviction in a moment, and, instead of entering on any further scrutiny, answered — In the utmost transport of astonishment and joy; My Lord and my God! — As if he had said, I now not only acknowledge thee to be Jesus my Lord, as I have formerly done, and to be infallibly risen from the dead, as my fellow- disciples have affirmed, but I confess thy divine knowledge and power, and prostrate myself before thee as the great incarnate Deity, the glorious Immanuel. And this glorious confession he makes without putting his finger into the print of the nails, &c. The irrefragable argument arising from these words, in proof of the Deity of our blessed Lord, (which so many good writers have stated at large,) cannot be evaded by saying, that these words are only an exclamation of surprise, as if he had said, Good God! is it indeed thus? for it is expressly declared, he spoke these words to him: and no doubt Christ would severely have reproved him, if there had not been just reason to address him thus. It is worthy of observation here, that this s

Expositors

Expositor's Bible Commentary John 20:1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. XXII. THE RESURRECTION. "Now on the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, while it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and seeth the stone taken away from the tomb. She runneth therefore, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we know not where they have laid Him. Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. And they ran both together: and the other disciple outran Peter, and came first to the tomb; and stooping and looking in, he seeth the linen cloths lying; yet entered he not in. Simon Peter therefore also cometh, following him, and entered into the tomb; and he beholdeth the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, that was upon His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself. Then entered in therefore the other disciple also, which came first to the tomb, and he saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. So the disciples went away again unto their own home. But Mary was standing without at the tomb weeping: so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she beholdeth two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him. When she had thus said, she turned herself back, and beholdeth Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing Him to be the gardener, saith unto Him, Sir, if thou hast borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away, Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto Him in Hebrew, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith to her, Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father: but go unto My brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and My God and your God. Mary Magdalene cometh and telleth the disciples, I have seen the Lord; and how that He had said these things unto her."-- John 20:1-18 . John gives no narrative of the Resurrection itself. He gives us what is much more valuable--a brief account of the manner in which he himself was convinced that a resurrection had taken place. His shy nature, his modest reluctance to put himself forward or use the first person in his narrative, does not prevent him from seeing that the testimony of one who, like himself, was an eyewitness of the facts is invaluable; and nothing but additional interest and reality is added to his testimony by the varied periphrases with which he veils his identity, as "the disciple whom Jesus loved," "that other disciple," and so forth. When Mary brought the startling intelligence that the tomb was empty, Peter and John instantly made for the spot at the top of their speed. The older man was left behind by John, but natural reverence kept him from entering the rocky chamber. He looked in, however, and to his surprise saw enough to convince him that the body had not been removed for interment elsewhere or to be cast out with the bodies of criminals. For there were the linen cloths in which He had been wrapped, carefully taken off and left behind. The impression made by this circumstance was confirmed when Peter came up, and they both entered and examined the tomb and made their inferences together. For then they saw still clearer evidence of deliberation; the napkin which had been tied round the head of the dead body was there in the tomb, and it was folded and laid in a place by itself, suggesting the leisurely manner of a person changing his clothes, and convincing them that the body had not been removed to be laid elsewhere. At once John was convinced that a resurrection had taken place; his Lord's words took a new meaning in this empty tomb. Standing and gazing at the folded cloths, the truth flashed into his mind: Jesus has Himself risen and disencumbered Himself from these wrappings, and has departed. It was enough for John: he visited no other tomb; he questioned no one; he made no inquiries of his friends in the high priest's household,--he went to his own house, filled with astonishment, with a thousand thoughts chasing one another through his mind, scarcely listening to Peter's voluble tongue, but convinced that Jesus lived. This simple narrative will be to many minds more convincing than an accumulation of elaborate arguments. The style is that of an eyewitness. Each movement and every particular is before his eye: Mary bursting, breathless, and gasping out the startling news; the hasty springing up of the two men, and their rapid racing along the streets and out through the city gates to the garden; John standing panting at the rock-hewn sepulchre, his stooping down and peering into the dark chamber; Peter toiling up behind, but not hesitating a moment, and entering and gazing at this and that till the dumb articles tell their story; and the two men leave the sepulchre together, awed and convinced. And the eyewitness who thus graphically relates what he knew of that great morning adds with the simplicity of a truthful nature, "he saw and believed"--believed then for the first time; for as yet they had not seen the significance of certain scriptures which now seemed plainly enough to point to this. To some minds this simple narrative will, I say, carry home the conviction of the truth of the Resurrection more than any elaborate argumentation. There is an assuring matter-of-factness about it. Sceptics tell us that visions are common, and that excited people are easily deceived. But we have no word of visions here. John does not say he saw the Lord: he tells us merely of two fishermen running; of solid, commonplace articles such as grave-clothes; and of observations that could not possibly be mistaken, such as that the tomb was empty and that they two were in it. For my part I feel constrained to believe a narrative like this, when it tells me the grave was empty. No doubt their conclusion, that Jesus had Himself emptied the tomb, was not a certain but only a probable inference, and, had nothing more occurred, even John himself might not have continued so confident; but it is important to notice how John was convinced, not at all by visions or voices or embodied expectations of his own, but in the most matter-of-fact way and by the very same kind of observation that we use and rely upon in common life. And, moreover, more did occur; there followed just such results as were in keeping with so momentous an event. One of these immediately occurred. Mary, exhausted with her rapid carrying of the news to Peter and John, was not able to keep pace with them as they ran to the tomb, and before she arrived they were gone. Probably she missed them in the streets as she came out of the city; at any rate, finding the tomb still empty and none present to explain the reason of it, she stands there desolate and pours out her distress in tears. That grave being empty, the whole earth is empty to her: the dead Christ was more to her than a living world. She could not go as Peter and John had gone, for she had no thought of resurrection. The rigid form, the unanswering lips and eye, the body passive in the hands of others, had fixed on her heart, as it commonly does, the one impression of death. She felt that all was over, and now she had not even the poor consolation of paying some slight additional attention. She can but stand and lay her head upon the stone and let her tears flow from a broken heart. And yet again in the midst of her grief she cannot believe it true that He is lost to her; she returns, as love will do, to the search, suspects her own eyesight, seeks again where she had sought before, and cannot reconcile herself to a loss so total and overwhelming. So absorbing is her grief that the vision of angels does not astonish her; her heart, filled with grief, has no room for wonder. Their kindly words cannot comfort her; it is another voice she longs for. She had but the one thought, "They have taken away my Lord,"-- my Lord, as if none felt the bereavement as she. She supposes, too, that all must know about the loss and understand what she is seeking, so that when she sees the gardener she says, "Sir, if thou hast borne Him hence." What need to say who? Can any one be thinking of any other but of Him who engrosses her thought? In all this we have the picture of a real and profound grief, and therefore of a real and profound love. We see in Mary the kind of affection which a knowledge of Jesus was fitted to kindle. And to Mary our Lord remembered His promise: "He that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him." None is so unable as He to leave any who love Him without any response to their expressions of affection. He could not coldly look on while this woman was eagerly seeking Him; and it is as impossible that He should hide Himself now from any who seek Him with as true a heart. Sometimes it would seem as if real thirst for God were not at once allayed, as if many were allowed to spend the best part of their days in seeking; but this does not invalidate the promise, "He that seeketh, findeth." For as Christ is again and again removed from the view of men, and as He is allowed to become a remote and shadowy figure, He can be restored to a living and visible influence in the world only by this man and that man becoming sensible of the great loss we sustain by His absence, and working his own way to a clear apprehension of His continued life. No experience which an honest man has in his search for the truth is worthless; it is the solid foundation of his own permanent belief and connection with the truth, and it is useful to other men. Mary standing without at the sepulchre weeping is a concrete representation of a not uncommon state of mind. She stands wondering why she was ever so foolish, so heartless, as to leave the tomb at all--why she had allowed it to be possible to become separated from the Lord. She looks despairingly at the empty grave-clothes which so lately had held all that was dear to her in the world. She might, she thinks, had she been present, have prevented the tomb from being emptied, but now it is empty she cannot fill it again. It is thus that those who have been careless about maintaining communion with Christ reproach themselves when they find He is gone. The ordinances, the prayers, the quiet hours of contemplation, that once were filled with Him are now, like the linen clothes and the napkin, empty, cold, pale forms, remembrances of His presence that make His absence all the more painful. When we ask where we can find Him, only the hard, mocking echo of the empty tomb replies. And yet this self-reproach is itself a seeking to which He will respond. To mourn His absence is to desire and to invite His presence; and to invite His presence is to secure it.[29] The Evangelist Mark saw more in the Lord's appearance to Mary than a response to her seeking love. He reminds his readers that this was the woman out of whom the Lord had cast seven devils, meaning apparently to suggest that those who have most need of encouragement from Him are surest to get it. He had not appeared to Peter and John, though these men were to build up His Church and be responsible for His cause. To the man whom He loved, who had stood by Him at His trial and in His death, who had received His mother and was now to be in His place to her, He made no sign, but allowed him to examine the empty tomb and retire. But to this woman He discloses Himself at once. The love which sprang from a sense of what she owed Him kept her at the tomb and threw her in His way. Her sense of dependence was the magnetic point on earth which attracted and disclosed His presence. Observe the situation. Earth lay uncertain; some manifestation is needed to guide men at this critical time; blank disappointment or pointless waiting broods everywhere. At what point shall the presence of Christ break through and quicken expectation and faith? Shall He go to the high priest's palace or to Pilate's praetorium and triumph over their dismay? Shall He go and lay busy plans with this and that group of followers? On the contrary, He appears to a poor woman who can do nothing to celebrate His triumph and might only discredit it, if she proclaimed herself His friend and herald. But thus continuous is the character of Jesus through death and resurrection. The meekness, the true perception of the actual sorrows and wants of men, the sense for spiritual need, the utter disregard of worldly powers and glory, characterise Him now as before. The sense of need is what always effectually appeals to Him. The soul that truly recognises the value and longs for the fellowship and possession of Christ's purity, devotion to God, superiority to worldly aims and interests, always wins His regard. When a man prays for these things not with his lips but with his life's effort and his heart's true craving, his prayer is answered. To seek Christ is to feel as Mary felt, to see with practical constraining clearness as she saw, that He is the most precious of all possessions, that to be like Him is the greatest of all attainments; it is to see His character with clearness, and to be persuaded that, if the world gives us opportunity of becoming like Him and actually makes us like Him, it has done for us all that is vital and permanently important. As Mary answered the angels she heard a step behind or saw the tomb darkened by a shadow, and on turning discerns dimly through her tears a figure which naturally enough she supposes to be the gardener--not because Jesus had assumed the clothes or lifted the tools of the gardener, but because he was the likeliest person to be going about the garden at that early hour. As the heart overburdened with grief is often unconscious of the presence of Christ and refuses to be comforted because it cannot see Him for its sorrow, so Mary through the veil of her tears can see only a human form, and turns away again, unconscious that He for whom she seeks is with her. As she turns, one word wipes the tears from her eyes and penetrates her heart with sudden joy. The utterance of her name was enough to tell her it was some one who knew her that was there; but there was a responsive thrill and an awaking of old memories and a vibration of her nature under the tone of that voice, which told her whose alone it could be. The voice seemed a second time to command a calm within her and turn her whole soul to Himself only. Once before, that voice had banished from her nature the foul spirits that had taken possession of her; she had "awaked from hell beneath the smile of Christ," and now again the same voice brought her out of darkness into light. From being the most disconsolate, Mary became at a word the happiest creature in the world. Mary's happiness is easily understood. No explanation is needed of the peace and bliss she experienced when she heard herself owned as the friend of the risen Lord, and called by her name in the familiar tone by Him who stood now superior to all risk, assault, and evil. This perfect joy is the reward of all in the measure of their faith. Christ rose, not that He might bring ecstasy to Mary alone, but that He might fill all things with His presence and His fulness, and that our joy also might be full. Has He not called us also by name? Has He not given us at times a consciousness that He understands our nature and what will satisfy it, that He claims an intimacy no other can claim, that His utterance of our name has a significance which no other lips can give it? Do we find it difficult to enter into true intercourse with Him; do we envy Mary her few minutes in the garden? As truly as by the audible utterance of our name does Christ now invite us to the perfect joy there is in His friendship; so truly as if He stood with us alone, as with Mary in the garden, and as if none but ourselves were present; as if our name alone filled His lips, our wants alone occupied His heart. Let us not miss true personal intercourse with Christ. Let nothing cheat us of this supreme joy and life of the soul. Let us not slothfully or shyly say, "I can never be on such terms of intimacy with Christ,--I who am so unlike Him; so full of desires He cannot gratify; so frivolous, superficial, unreal, while He is so real, so earnest; so unloving while He is so loving; so reluctant to endure hardness, with views of life and aims so opposed to His; so unable to keep a pure and elevated purpose steadfastly in my mind." Mary was once trodden under foot of evil, a wreck in whom none but Christ saw any place for hope. It is what is in Him that is powerful. He has won His supremacy by love, by refusing to enjoy His private rights without our sharing them; and He maintains His supremacy by love, teaching all to love Him, subduing to devotedness the hardest heart--not by a remote exhibition of cold, unemotional perfection, but by the persistence and depth of His warm and individual love. Mary had no time to reason and doubt. With one quick exclamation of ecstatic recognition and joy she sprang towards Him. The one word "my Master,"[30] uttered all her heart. It is related of George Herbert that when he was inducted into the cure of Bemerton he said to a friend: "I beseech God that my humble and charitable life may so win upon others as to bring glory to my Jesus, whom I have this day taken to be my Master and my Governor, and I am so proud of His service that I will always call Him Jesus, my Master." His biographer adds: "He seems to rejoice in that word Jesus, and says that the adding these words 'my Master' to it and the often repetition of them seemed to perfume his mind." With Mary the title was one of indefinite respect; she found in Jesus one she could always reverence and trust. The firm, loving hand that admits no soft evasion of duty; the steadfast step that with equanimity ever goes straight forward; the strong heart that has always room for the distresses of others; the union with God which made Him a medium to earth of God's superiority and availing compassion,--these things had made the words "my Master" His proper designation in her lips. And our spirit cannot be purified and elevated but by worthy love and deserved reverence, by living in presence of that which commands our love and lifts up our nature to what is above it. It is by letting our heart and mind be filled by what is above us that we grow in abiding stature and become in our turn helpful to what is at a still lower stage than we are. But as Mary sprang forward, and in a transport of affection made as though she would embrace the Lord, she is met by these quick words: "Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended to My Father." Various conjectural reasons for this prohibition have been supposed,--as, that it was indecorous, an objection which Christ did not make when at a dinner-table a woman kissed his feet, scandalising the guests and provoking the suspicions of the host; or, that she wished to assure herself by touch of the reality of the appearance, an assurance which He did not object to the disciples making, but rather encouraged them to make, as He would also have encouraged Mary had she needed any such test, which she did not; or, that this vehement embrace would disturb the process of glorification which was proceeding in His body! It is idle to conjecture reasons, seeing that He Himself gives the reason, "for I am not yet ascended," implying that such "touching" would no longer be prohibited when He was ascended. Mary seems to have thought that already the "little while" of His absence was past, and that now He was to be always with them upon earth, helping them in the same familiar ways and training them by His visible presence and spoken words. This was a misconception. He must first ascend to the Father, and those who love Him on earth must learn to live without the physical appearance, the actual seeing, touching, hearing, of the well-known Master. There must be no more kissing of His feet, but homage of a sterner, deeper sort; there must be no more sitting at table with Him, and filling the mind with His words, until they sit down with Him in the Father's presence. Meanwhile His friends must walk by faith, not by sight--by their inward light and spiritual likings; they must learn the truer fidelity that serves an absent Lord; they must acquire the independent and inherent love of righteousness which can freely grow only when relieved from the over-mastering pressure of a visible presence, encouraging us by sensible expressions of favour, guaranteeing us against defeat and danger. Thus only can the human spirit freely grow, showing its native bent, its true tastes and convictions; thus only can its capacities for self-development and for choosing and fulfilling its own destiny be matured. And if these words of Jesus seemed at first chilling and repellent, they were followed by words of unmistakable affection: "Go to my brothers, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God." This is the message of the risen Lord to men. He has become the link between us and all that is highest and best. We know that He has overcome all evil and left it behind; we know that He is worthy of the highest place, that by His righteousness and love He merits the highest place. We know that if such an one as He cannot go boldly to the highest heaven and claim God as His God and Father, there is no such thing as moral worth, and all effort, conscience, hope, responsibility, are vain and futile. We know that Christ must ascend to the highest, and yet we know also that He will not enter where we cannot follow. We know that His love binds Him to us as strongly as His rights carry Him to God. We can as little believe that He will abandon us and leave us out of His eternal enjoyment, as we can believe that God would refuse to own Him as Son. And it is this which Christ puts in the forefront of His message as risen and ascending: "I ascend unto My Father and your Father." The joy that awaits Me with God awaits you also; the power I go to exercise is the power of your Father. This affinity for heaven which you see in Me is coupled with affinity for you. The holiness, the power, the victory, I have achieved and now enjoy are yours; I am your Brother: what I claim, I claim for you. FOOTNOTES: [29] See Pusey's sermon on this subject. [30] "Rabboni" had more of reverence in it than would be conveyed by "my Teacher," and it is legitimate here to use "Master" in its wider sense. John 20:19 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. XXIII. THOMAS' TEST. "When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when He had said this, He showed unto them His hands and His side. The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord. Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace be unto you: as the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe. And after eight days again His disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith He to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and see My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and put it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing. Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."-- John 20:19-29 . On the evening of the day whose dawning had been signalised by the Resurrection, the disciples, and, according to Luke, some others, were together. They expected that the event which had restored hope in their own hearts would certainly excite the authorities and probably lead to the arrest of some of their number. They had therefore carefully closed the doors, that some time for parley and possibly for escape might be interposed. But to their astonishment and delight, while they were sitting thus with closed doors, the well-known figure of their Lord appeared in their midst, and His familiar greeting, "Peace be with you," sounded in their ears. Further to identify Himself and remove all doubt or dread He showed them His hands and His side; and, as St. Luke tells us, even ate before them. There is here a strange mingling of identity and difference between the body He now wears and that which had been crucified. Its appearance is the same in some respects, but its properties are different. Immediate recognition did not always follow His manifestation. There was something baffling in His appearance, suggesting a well-known face, and yet not quite the same. The marks on the body, or some characteristic action or movement or utterance, were needed to complete the identification. The properties of the body also were not reducible to any known type. He could eat, speak, walk, yet He could dispense with eating and could apparently pass through physical obstacles. His body was a glorified, spiritual body, not subject to the laws which govern the physical part of man in this life. These characteristics are worth noticing, not only as giving us some inkling of the type of body which awaits ourselves, but in connection with the identification of the risen Lord. Had the appearance been the mere fancy of the disciples, how should they have required any identification? Having saluted them and removed their consternation, He fulfils the object of His appearance by giving them their commission, their equipment, and their authority as His Apostles: "As the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you"--to fulfil still the same purpose, to complete the work begun, to stand to Him in the same intimate relation as He had occupied to the Father. To impart to them at once all that they required for the fulfilment of this commission He bestows upon them the Holy Spirit, breathing on them, to convey to them the impression that He was actually there and then communicating to them that which constituted the very breath of His own life. This is His first act as Lord of all power in heaven and on earth, and it is an act which inevitably conveys to them the assurance that His life and theirs is one life. Impulse and power to proclaim Him as risen they did not yet experience. They must be allowed time to settle to some composure of mind and to some clear thoughts after all the disturbing events of these last days. They must also have the confirmatory testimony to the Resurrection, which could only be furnished after repeated appearances of the Lord to themselves and to others. The gift of the Spirit, therefore, as a spirit of powerful witness-bearing, was reserved for six weeks. With this perfect equipment our Lord added the words: "Whosesoever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained." These words have been the occasion of endless controversy.[31] They certainly convey the ideas that the Apostles were appointed to mediate between Christ and their fellow-men, that the chief function they should be required to discharge in this mediation was the forgiving and retention of sins, and that they were furnished with the Holy Spirit to guide them in this mediation. Apparently this must mean that the Apostles were to be the agents through whom Christ was to proclaim the terms of admission to His kingdom. They received authority to say in what cases sins were to be forgiven and in what to be retained. To infer from this that the Apostles have successors, that these successors are constituted by an external ordinance or nomination, that they have power to exclude or admit individuals seeking entrance into the kingdom of God, is to leave logic and reason a long way behind, and to erect a kind of government in the Church of Christ which will never be submitted to by those who live in the liberty wherewith His truth has made them free. The presence of the Holy Spirit, and no bare external appointment, is that which gives authority to those who guide the Church of Christ. It is because they are inwardly one with Christ, not because they happen to be able to claim a doubtful outward connection with Him, that they have that authority which Christ's people own. But when our Lord thus appeared on the day of His resurrection to His disciples one of their number was absent. This might not have been noticed had not the absentee been of a peculiar temper, and had not this peculiarity given rise to another visit of the Lord and to a very significant restoration of belief in the mind of a sceptical disciple. The absent disciple was commonly known as Thomas or Didymus, the Twin. On various occasions he appears somewhat prominently in the gospel-story, and his conduct and conversation on those occasions show him to have been a man very liable to take a desponding view of the future, apt to see the darker side of everything, but at the same time not wanting in courage, and of a strong and affectionate loyalty to Jesus. On one occasion, when our Lord intimated to the disciples His intention of returning within the dangerous frontier of Judaea, the others expostulated, but Thomas said, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him"--an utterance in which his devoted loyalty to his Master, his dogged courage, and his despondent temperament are all apparent. And when, some time afterwards, Jesus was warning His disciples that He must shortly leave them and go to the Father, Thomas sees in the departure of his Master the extinction of all hope; life and the way to life seem to him treacherous phrases, he has eyes only for the gloom of death: "Lord, we know not whither Thou goest; and how can we know the way?" The absence of such a man from the first meeting of the disciples was to be expected.[32] If the bare possibility of his Lord's death had plunged this loving and gloomy heart in despondency, what dark despair must have preyed upon it when that death was actually accomplished! How the figure of his dead Master had burnt itself into his soul is seen from the manner in which his mind dwells on the print of the nails, the wound in the side. It is by these only, and not by well-known features of face or peculiarities of form, he will recognise and identify his Lord. His heart was with the lifeless body on the cross, and he could not bear to see the friends of Jesus or speak with those who had shared his hopes, but buried his disappointment and desolation in solitude and silence. His absence can scarcely be branded as culpable. None of the others expected resurrection any more than himself, but his hopelessness acted on a specially sensitive and despondent nature. Thus it was that, like many melancholy persons, he missed the opportunity of seeing what would effectually have scattered his darkness. But though he might not be to blame for absenting himself, he was to blame for refusing to accept the testimony of his friends when they assured him they had seen Jesus risen. There is a tone of doggedness that grates upon us in the words, "Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe." Some deference was due to the testimony of men whom he knew to be truthful and as little liable to delusion as himself. We cannot blame him for not being convinced on the spot; a man cannot compel himself to believe an

Illustrator

The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene... unto the sepulchre. John 20:1-10 The sepulchre J. Lightfoot, D. D. There were more common and more noble sepulchres. The common were in public burying places without the city. And through that place no current of water was to be made, cattle were not to feed there, nor wood to be gathered from thence. The more noble sepulchres were hewn out in some rock, in their own ground, with no little charge and art. You have the form of them described in these words: "He that selleth his neighbour a place of burial, and he that takes of his neighbour a place of burial, let him make the inner parts of the cave four cubits, and six cubits: and let him open within it eight sepulchres." They were not wont, say the Glosses, to bury men of the same family here and there, scatteringly, and by themselves, but altogether in one cave: where if any one sells his neighbour a place of burial, he sells him room for two caves, or hollows on both sides, and a floor in the middle. The tradition goes on. "Three sepulchres are on this side, and three on that, and two near them. And those sepulchres are four cubits long, seven high, and six broad." To those that entered into the sepulchral cave, and carried the bier, there was first a floor where they stood and set down the bier, in order to their letting it down into the sepulchre: on this and the other side there was a cave or a hollowed place, deeper than the floor by four cubits, into which they let down the corpse, divers coffins being there prepared for divers corpses. From these things may more plainly understand many matters, which are related of the sepulchre of our Saviour. The women entering into the sepulchre saw a young man sitting on the right "side": in the very floor immediately after the entrance into the sepulchre ( Mark 16:5 ). "Going in they found not His body," &c. ( Luke 24:3 ). "While they bowed down their faces to the earth" (ver. 12), "Peter ran to the sepulchre, and when he had stooped down, he saw the linen clothes." That is, the women and Peter after them, standing in the floor bow down their faces, and look downward into the place, where the sepulchres themselves were, which, as we said before, was four cubits deeper than the floor. "The disciple whom Jesus loved, came first to the sepulchre; and when he had stooped down [standing on the floor, that he might look into the burying place] saw the linen clothes lie: yet went he not in. But Peter went in," &c. ( John 20:5 ); that is, from the floor he went down into the cave itself, where the rows of the graves were (in which nevertheless no corpses had been as yet laid, besides the body of Jesus:) thither also after Peter, John goes down. "But Mary weeping stood at the sepulchre without: and while she wept she stooped down to the sepulchre, and saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and another at the feet, where the body of Christ had lain" (ver. 2). She stood at the sepulchre without: that is, within the cave on the floor, but without that deeper cave, where the very graves were, or the very places for the bodies: bowing herself to look down thither, she saw two angels at the head and foot of that coffin, wherein the body of Christ had been laid. ( J. Lightfoot, D. D. )

Matthew Henry

20:1-10 If Christ gave his life a ransom, and had not taken it again, it would not have appeared that his giving it was accepted as satisfaction. It was a great trial to Mary, that the body was gone. Weak believers often make that the matter of complaint, which is really just ground of hope, and matter of joy. It is well when those more honoured than others with the privileges of disciples, are more active than others in the duty of disciples; more willing to take pains, and run hazards, in a good work. We must do our best, and neither envy those who can do better, nor despise those who do as well as they can, though they come behind. The disciple whom Jesus loved in a special manner, and who therefore in a special manner loved Jesus, was foremost. The love of Christ will make us to abound in every duty more than any thing else. He that was behind was Peter, who had denied Christ. A sense of guilt hinders us in the service of God. As yet the disciples knew not the Scripture; they Christ must rise again from the dead. 20:11-18 We are likely to seek and find, when we seek with affection, and seek in tears. But many believers complain of the clouds and darkness they are under, which are methods of grace for humbling their souls, mortifying their sins, and endearing Christ to them. A sight of angels and their smiles, will not suffice, without a sight of Jesus, and God's smiles in him. None know, but those who have tasted it, the sorrows of a deserted soul, which has had comfortable evidences of the love of God in Christ, and hopes of heaven, but has now lost them, and walks in darkness; such a wounded spirit who can bear? Christ, in manifesting himself to those that seek him, often outdoes their expectations. See how Mary's heart was in earnest to find Jesus. Christ's way of making himself known to his people is by his word; his word applied to their souls, speaking to them in particular. It might be read, Is it my Master? See with what pleasure those who love Jesus speak of his authority over them. He forbids her to expect that his bodily presence look further, than the present state of things. Observe the relation to God, from union with Christ. We, partaking of a Divine nature, Christ's Father is our Father; and he, partaking of the human nature, our God is his God. Christ's ascension into heaven, there to plead for us, is likewise an unspeakable comfort. Let them not think this earth is to be their home and rest; their eye and aim, and earnest desires, must be upon another world, and this ever upon their hearts, I ascend, therefore I must seek the things which are above. And let those who know the word of Christ, endeavour that others should get good from their knowledge. 20:19-25 This was the first day of the week, and this day is afterwards often mentioned by the sacred writers; for it was evidently set apart as the Christian sabbath, in remembrance of Christ's resurrection. The disciples had shut the doors for fear of the Jews; and when they had no such expectation, Jesus himself came and stood in the midst of them, having miraculously, though silently, opened the doors. It is a comfort to Christ's disciples, when their assemblies can only be held in private, that no doors can shut out Christ's presence. When He manifests his love to believers by the comforts of his Spirit, he assures them that because he lives, they shall live also. A sight of Christ will gladden the heart of a disciple at any time; and the more we see of Jesus, the more we shall rejoice. He said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost, thus showing that their spiritual life, as well as all their ability for their work, would be derived from him, and depended upon him. Every word of Christ which is received in the heart by faith, comes accompanied by this Divine breathing; and without this there is neither light nor life. Nothing is seen, known, discerned, or felt of God, but through this. After this, Christ directed the apostles to declare the only method by which sin would be forgiven. This power did not exist at all in the apostles as a power to give judgment, but only as a power to declare the character of those whom God would accept or reject in the day of judgment. They have clearly laid down the marks whereby a child of God may be discerned and be distinguished from a false professor; and according to what they have declared shall every case be decided in the day of judgment. When we assemble in Christ's name, especially on his holy day, he will meet with us, and speak peace to us. The disciples of Christ should endeavour to build up one another in their most holy faith, both by repeating what they have heard to those that were absent, and by making known what they have experienced. Thomas limited the Holy One of Israel, when he would be convinced by his own method or not at all. He might justly have been left in his unbelief, after rejecting such abundant proofs. The fears and sorrows of the disciples are often lengthened, to punish their negligence. 20:26-29 That one day in seven should be religiously observed, was an appointment from the beginning. And that, in the kingdom of the Messiah, the first day of the week should be that solemn day, was pointed out, in that Christ on that day once and again met his disciples in a religious assembly. The religious observance of that day has come down to us through every age of the church. There is not an unbelieving word in our tongues, nor thought in our minds, but it is known to the Lord Jesus; and he was pleased to accommodate himself even to Thomas, rather than leave him in his unbelief. We ought thus to bear with the weak, Ro 15:1,2. This warning is given to all. If we are faithless, we are Christless and graceless, hopeless and joyless. Thomas was ashamed of his unbelief, and cried out, My Lord and my God. He spoke with affection, as one that took hold of Christ with all his might; My Lord and my God. Sound and sincere believers, though slow and weak, shall be graciously accepted of the Lord Jesus. It is the duty of those who read and hear the gospel, to believe, to embrace the doctrine of Christ, and that record concerning him, 1Jo 5:11. 20:30,31 There were other signs and proofs of our Lord's resurrection, but these were committed to writing, that all might believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the Saviour of sinners, and the Son of God; that, by this faith, they might obtain eternal life, by his mercy, truth, and power. May we believe that Jesus is the Christ, and believing may we have life through his name.