John 20

Ressurection Recognition

Headlines! Headlines! Read all About it!

Jean and I read the newspaper every morning—not the online version. We are old school and love getting newsprint all over our hands. I mostly read the sports and business sections, while Jean focuses on the news, especially local news.

When Jean wants to share an interesting article, the conversation goes something like this:

 Jean, “Did you read this article?”

Me, “Yeah, I glanced at it.”

Jean, “It’s about a new city council proposal.”

Me, “Um, that’s interesting.”

Jean, “It says our taxes will go up and services down.”

Me, in sudden recognition of the dire implications,

 “Wait. What? Let me see that! That’s a big deal!!!

Isn’t it funny how information escapes our attention until it gets personal? Or until it suddenly dawns on us that something has a deeper meaning than we initially thought? Then we start paying attention. And the closer we look, the more informed we become.

That kind of slow recognition happened to the people who experienced Jesus' resurrection. At first, they were confused; then insight began to creep in.  Finally, they grasped the truth and were changed forever.

Three Steps to Seeing Truth

When Mary Magdalene discovered the empty tomb, she ran to get Peter and John. They both ran back to the tomb, but John outran Peter. When he got there first, he stooped down and looked inside. Then Peter bolted past him and entered the tomb, and John followed. But they didn’t immediately understand what they were seeing.

In John 20:5, John “looked” at the strips of cloth without noticing any details. He glanced at them like I glanced at the headlines. In 20:6, Peter barged into the tomb and “saw” the burial clothes lying neatly and undisturbed. He saw the details but didn’t comprehend what it meant.

Finally, in 20:8, John entered the tomb and “saw and believed.” What did he see? The Greek word for this third way of seeing means he suddenly realized what had happened: Jesus was alive! He had risen from the dead!

Seeing is Believing

The Jews prepared bodies for burial by wrapping burial cloth around the body several times and adding preserving spices layered between the folds of each layer.

John realized the wraps could not have been removed from Jesus’ body because the spices were still in the folds. Therefore, Jesus had to have vanished from the wraps when he rose from death. This sight penetrated John’s mind and spirit so that he believed Jesus was alive.

 Later, when the newly resurrected Jesus appeared to the disciples, they were skeptical that he was alive until he showed them his hands and feet as physical evidence. However, they no longer needed physical evidence when they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost because he became permanently alive in their hearts.

Believing is Seeing

Today, we know that Jesus is not only alive but also alive in each of us through His Holy Spirit. As a result, we have spiritual evidence through faith. As Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”  

When Thomas asked Jesus for physical proof that he was alive, Jesus responded in John 20:29, “Because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

What a tremendous promise for us today. Like John and Peter at the tomb, the closer we look at God’s Word with spiritual eyes and seek to know Him better, the more we will see, believe, and be blessed with His living presence.

Maranatha,

Andy