Gospel of John Chapter 20
Channel: Andres Leon Rangel
Date: 2019-02-13

It relates the story of Jesus' resurrection. It relates how Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus and found it empty. Jesus appears to her and speaks of his resurrection and dispatches Mary to tell the news to the disciples. Jesus then appears to his disciples. The chapter is seemingly the conclusion to the Gospel of John, but it is followed by the somewhat tangential John 21.

The chapter is divided into three distinct sections. Verses 1-18 describe events at Jesus' empty tomb when it is found empty and the appearance of the risen Jesus to Mary Magdalene (see Noli me tangere). The second section describes Jesus' appearances to his disciples, while the last two verses relate why the author wrote this gospel. The first section can also be subdivided between the examination of the tomb by Peter and the Beloved Disciple and Christ's appearance to Mary.

There are several inconsistencies both within the chapter and between it and the resurrection account in the other gospels. Brown has advanced the thesis that the work is a melding of two different sources. One source originally contained verses 1 and 11 to 18 and described Mary Magdalene's trip the tomb. This information is unique to John. Another had verses 3 to 10 and 19 to the end and dealt with the disciples. This portion is far more similar to the synoptics. To those who doubt that the Beloved Disciple was the author of John this portion is merely the synoptics rewritten to make it seem like it was an eyewitness account. The portion on Mary Magdalene, by contrast, had to have been based on sources that only John had access to.