The Chosen Key Word in this Chapter is “Believe” it comes from the Greek Word “pisteuo” which means “to believe, to trust.”
A grieving woman mistakes the risen Jesus for a gardener, until He simply says her name. Welcome to Bible Life Basics Chapter Reviews, I am Chris and this is John 20.
Early on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene finds the stone already removed from the tomb and runs to tell Peter and John, who race to the tomb themselves. John, arriving first, sees the linen clothes lying there but does not go in immediately, while Peter enters directly, and John, following, “saw, and believed,” though neither yet fully understood the Scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead. After the disciples return home, Mary remains weeping outside the tomb, and when she turns and sees Jesus standing there, she mistakes Him for the gardener until He speaks her name, “Mary.” Recognizing His voice instantly, she cries out, “Rabboni,” and Jesus sends her to tell the disciples that He is ascending to His Father and their Father, His God and their God. That evening, Jesus appears to His disciples behind locked doors, showing them His hands and side, and they rejoice at seeing the Lord. He breathes on them, saying, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” and commissions them with authority to forgive sins. Thomas, absent that first time, refuses to believe without physically touching Jesus’ wounds himself, insisting he will not believe otherwise. Eight days later, Jesus appears again with Thomas present, and invites him directly to touch His hands and side, saying, “be not faithless, but believing.” Thomas responds with one of the clearest confessions of faith in the entire Bible, “My Lord and my God.” Jesus tells him, “blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” John closes this chapter explaining that Jesus performed many other signs not recorded here, but these were written specifically “that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
Jesus met Thomas exactly where his doubt was, offering the specific proof he demanded rather than shaming him for asking. But Jesus’ final words point toward something even greater, a blessing reserved for everyone since who believes without ever having seen Him physically at all, a blessing every reader of this Gospel is invited to share.
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