Session 30: February 18, 2023
Scripture Reading: John 20:1-23
Now very early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been moved away from the entrance. 2 So she went running to Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out to go to the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down and saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter, who had been following him, arrived and went right into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been around Jesus’ head, not lying with the strips of linen cloth but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, came in, and he saw and believed. 9 (For they did not yet understand the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead.)
10 So the disciples went back to their homes. 11 But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she bent down and looked into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus’ body had been lying, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” Mary replied, “They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him!” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” Because she thought he was the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni” (which means “Teacher”). 17 Jesus replied, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene came and informed the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them what Jesus had said to her.
19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the disciples had gathered together and locked the doors of the place because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. Just as the Father has sent me, I also send you.” 22 And after he said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained.”
Main Themes
Historical Questions
Harmonizing the Four Gospels
Chapter 20 of John’s Gospel puts us squarely within the resurrection narrative. This is a key event to the Christian faith. All four gospels describe it with varied levels of details. Because the event is multiply attested, one can compare the four narratives. One question that often comes up is whether all four gospels are consistent with one another. Here are the narratives found in the 3 other gospels:
Matthew 28:1-10: Now after the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. Suddenly there was a severe earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descending from heaven came and rolled away the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were shaken and became like dead men because they were so afraid of him. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised, just as he said. Come and see the place where he was lying. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead. He is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see him there.’ Listen, I have told you!” So they left the tomb quickly, with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. But Jesus met them, saying, “Greetings!” They came to him, held on to his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. They will see me there.”
Mark 16:1-8: When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought aromatic spices so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, at sunrise, they went to the tomb. They had been asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled back. Then as they went into the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has been raised! He is not here. Look, there is the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples, even Peter, that he is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you.” Then they went out and ran from the tomb, for terror and bewilderment had seized them. And they said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
Luke 24:1-12: Now on the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women went to the tomb, taking the aromatic spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood beside them in dazzling attire. The women were terribly frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has been raised! Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then the women remembered his words, and when they returned from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. But these words seemed like pure nonsense to them, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. He bent down and saw only the strips of linen cloth; then he went home, wondering what had happened.
Are these three narratives contradictory? Can they be harmonized (that is, can they be read together as supplementary to each other)? Before we attempt to answer these questions, I want to share a word of caution expressed very well by the website gotquestions.org:
The events surrounding Jesus’ resurrection can be difficult to piece together. We must remember two things: first, the news of Jesus’ resurrection produced much excitement in Jerusalem, and in the ensuing chaos many people were going many different directions. Groups were separated, and several different groups paid visits to the tomb, possibly more than once. Second, the writers of the Gospels did not attempt an exhaustive narrative; in other words, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John had no intention of telling us every detail of the resurrection or every event in the order that it happened.
In the battle with skeptics regarding Jesus’ resurrection, Christians are in a "no-win" situation. If the resurrection accounts harmonize perfectly, skeptics will claim that the writers of the Gospels conspired together. If the resurrection accounts have some differences, skeptics will claim that the Gospels contradict each other and therefore cannot be trusted. It is our contention that the resurrection accounts can be harmonized and do not contradict each other.
Generally speaking, when multiple witnesses describe an event slightly differently, that adds to the reliability of the testimony. It means that the witnesses are truly sharing their own recollection of the event, instead of organizing to repeat one witness’s version of the events or colluding to share a crafted narrative. So, from a historical standpoint, the fact that the four gospels describe the resurrection of Jesus differently is not a negative—instead, it is strong evidence of historical reliability. So what’s the problem? If the differences between the gospels are truly irreconcilable, then the Christian must give up on what is known as biblical inerrancy (which means that the Bible contains no errors). As I have explained before, biblical inerrancy is an important doctrine—one that should not be discarded lightly. However, it is not central to Christianity. As long as the core claims of the Bible are reliably recorded, small errors would not undo the religion as a whole.
In fact, before we consider a harmonization, let’s consider the question: are there core facts unquestionably affirmed by all four narratives? The answer is yes. Even if we grant differences in the gospels, they all clearly affirm that:
Jesus was buried in a tomb.
The tomb was empty a few days later.
The testimony of one or more women.
Jesus appeared to the disciples (some of these appearances are in verses after those quoted above).
The disciples went from despair to belief (again, some of this content is found in verses after those quoted above).
With all that in mind, let’s consider a possible harmonization of the events described in all four gospel. There are several harmonizing narratives offered by scholars, such as George Eldon Ladd’s. Here’s the one proposed by the same website I quoted above:
Jesus is buried, as several women watch (Matthew 27:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42).
The tomb is sealed and a guard is set (Matthew 27:62-66).
At least 3 women, including Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, prepare spices to go to the tomb (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1).
An angel descends from heaven, rolls the stone away, and sits on it. There is an earthquake, and the guards faint (Matthew 28:2-4).
The women arrive at the tomb and find it empty. Mary Magdalene leaves the other women there and runs to tell the disciples (John 20:1-2).
The women still at the tomb see two angels who tell them that Jesus is risen and who instruct them to tell the disciples to go to Galilee (Matthew 28:5-7; Mark 16:2-8; Luke 24:1-8).
The women leave to bring the news to the disciples (Matthew 28:8).
The guards, having roused themselves, report the empty tomb to the authorities, who bribe the guards to say the body was stolen (Matthew 28:11-15).
Mary the mother of James and the other women, on their way to find the disciples, see Jesus (Matthew 28:9-10).
The women relate what they have seen and heard to the disciples (Luke 24:9-11).
Peter and John run to the tomb, see that it is empty, and find the grave clothes (Luke 24:12; John 20:2-10).
Mary Magdalene returns to the tomb. She sees the angels, and then she sees Jesus (John 20:11-18).
Later the same day, Jesus appears to Peter (Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5).
Still on the same day, Jesus appears to Cleopas and another disciple on their way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32).
That evening, the two disciples report the event to the Eleven in Jerusalem (Luke 24:32-35).
Jesus appears to ten disciples—Thomas is missing (Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-25).
Jesus appears to all eleven disciples—Thomas included (John 20:26-31).
Jesus appears to seven disciples by the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1-25).
Jesus appears to about 500 disciples in Galilee (1 Corinthians 15:6).
Jesus appears to His half-brother James (1 Corinthians 15:7).
Jesus commissions His disciples (Matthew 28:16-20).
Jesus teaches His disciples the Scriptures and promises to send the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:44-49; Acts 1:4-5).
Jesus ascends into heaven (Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:6-12).
Pagan Origins of the Resurrection
John certainly presents the resurrection narrative as a historical event. There is no indication in the text that it is meant to be myth or fiction. However, claims are often made that Jesus’ resurrection repurposes ancient myths. Is this claim plausible? In other words, during the first century, were there other legends that would strike us as too similar to the story of Jesus? Honestly, no. These myth-borrowing theories only work if one is unfamiliar with the narrative of Jesus’ resurrection and whatever other myth it is allegedly based upon. Once the two tales are studied, the conclusion is that any similarities are too general or superficial.
First of all, one is hard pressed to find a true resurrection myth. Ancient stories often involved apparitions of deceased persons (sort of like ghosts) or persons who had become immortal. Notice that neither of these scenarios involves true resurrection—the body remains buried. True resurrection, as Craig Keener points out, was an almost exclusively Jewish belief.
But what about the Greco-Roman mystery cults? Didn’t they have dying and rising deities? At a glance, there are parallels between some of the Mysteries and Jesus’ resurrection, but we must look at the date. The most striking resemblances occur after the first century, when the Christian story had time to influence the mystery cults. (And the mystery cults influenced Christianity, with Christian authors beginning to adopt some of the Mysteries’ terminology.) However, even if we entertained 3rd century Mysteries as sources for the Jesus’ resurrection narrative, the Mysteries understood the world differently. Their narratives did not assign a spiritual and moral meaning to the events as Christianity did.
But, after getting past the two caveats above, one must admit there were myths of dying and rising gods pre-Jesus. Some of them would not have been known by the first-century Jews, which makes them irrelevant to the myth-borrowing thesis. Nevertheless, some of them would have been known by the Jews. Of this latter category, they are not as similar as is claimed. Take Osiris for example (a myth often compared to Jesus). As J. Warner Wallace explains:
Osiris was murdered and his body was then dismembered and scattered. Later, his body pieces were recovered and rejoined, and he was rejuvenated. Osiris then journeyed to the underworld, where he became the lord of the dead. He did not resurrect with a glorified body and walk with men on earth, as did Jesus. He was not alive again, as was Jesus, but was instead a “dead” god who never returned among the living.
One important observation I must reemphasize is how unique the Jewish and Christian understanding of resurrection truly is. It is not a belief in merely survival of the soul once the body has died, nor a belief in a happy life in either the underworld or Elysium. It is the belief in a true bodily resurrection. In fact, one would not expect persecution of the disciples if they had simply claimed they saw a ghost of Jesus or an apparition of the deified Jesus. Those claims would have seemed significantly less remarkable to their culture.
Mary at the Tomb
Mary goes to the tomb on Sunday, the first day of the week, to finish the burial rites. Recall that Jesus was buried late on Friday and the Sabbath begins on Friday night. Some of the burial preparations could not be performed on the Sabbath.
John tells us that Mary Magdalene goes to Jesus very early, “while it was still dark,” connoting devotion. She finds that the stone has been moved away, and she infers that the body had been taken. Mary Magdalene’s conclusion is not an impossible one. Sometimes robbers would break into tombs. These tomb robbers would take items of value and leave the body. To take the body would have been appalling. However, corpses could be used for magic, particularly corpses of those who died in gruesome ways. Notice also the plural in verse 2, “we don’t know where they have put him!” Mary Magdalene was not alone. As the other gospels inform us, she went to the tomb with other women.
Could there be other explanations for the missing body?
One theory is that Jesus was not dead—the “swoon” theory. As Craig Keener explains:
Nor is there historical merit to the old “swoon” theory (that Jesus was not yet dead and hence managed to revive sufficiently to act “resurrected” but then died somewhere unknown). Crucified persons simply did not revive: Josephus had three friends taken from crosses, and despite medical attention, two died (Josephus Life 420–421). Further, if one could revive, one would still be trapped within the tomb, which would lead to death (Chariton 1.4.11–12; 1.8). Keener, Craig S.. The Gospel of John : 2 Volumes (p. 1180). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Another theory is that the whole thing was fabricated by the disciples. There are many problem with this theory. If the story was false, why make women (considered unreliable in the ancient world) the primary witnesses? Why would the Jewish or Roman authorities not produce the body to put an end to the rumors of resurrection? Why would the apostles die for a claim they knew to be false (since they fabricated it themselves)?
The consensus among historians is that Jesus died, he was buried, and then the tomb was found empty. Some historians are so puzzled by these facts, they simply refuse to offer an explanation.
The Linen Wrappings
John makes sure that we notice the fact that the linen wrappings were “lying there.” He says it in verses 5, 6, and 7. John also tells us that the face cloth was rolled up in a place by itself.
There are two points to John’s description of the scene. First of all, whatever happened in that tomb may have been similar yet clearly distinct from Lazarus’ experience. Recall the resurrection of Lazarus:
When he had said this, he shouted in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The one who had died came out, his feet and hands tied up with strips of cloth, and a cloth wrapped around his face. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.” (John 11:43-44)
As we discussed when we covered chapter 11, the decedent would be tightly wrapped in cloth. The cloth would have probably stuck to the body due to all the bodily fluids, not to mention the spices. Lazarus was raised just as he was when he lived and was immediately faced by his cloth captivity.
Jesus was also wrapped after he died. Yet somehow Jesus does not face the same problem. Christians generally speculate that this has to do with Jesus’ resurrected body. Lazarus merely had his old body revivified. Jesus was resurrected into a glorified, permanent body. This new body does not seem to have the same limitations as the old. Of course, another possibility is a miracle, which would not necessarily involve the nature of Jesus’ new body.
The second point that John makes by highlighting the cloth wrappings—particularly that the face cloth was rolled up and placed next to the other wrappings—is that the scene was not in disarray. This is not the aftermath of robbers acting in haste. This is like a room with a bed well made: the result of a peaceful and thoughtful exit.
One could read some theological significance to leaving the wrappings behind, particularly the face cloth. Just like Moses’ veil covered divine revelation (see 2 Corinthians 3:7-9), Jesus leaving the veil behind could mean that a full revelation has finally come. The text is not clear on this point, so I will not explore it further.
John Believes
John tells us that Peter “and the other disciple” rush to the tomb. This other disciple is thought to be John himself. When John sees the tomb, he “believed.” Throughout the Gospel of John, we have read this expression before. Recall all the way back to chapter 1:
Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel!” Jesus said to him, “Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” (John 1:49-50)
Yet when the darkest moment came, everyone who had “believed” deserted Jesus. That kind of apostasy no longer happens to the apostles from this point in the narrative and onward. This “believed” in chapter 20 is something more, or something different, than in prior chapters. As the revelation of Jesus is complete, so is the belief in him.
John explains that the disciples had not understood (or known) the scripture foretelling that Jesus had to rise from the dead. As I always ask, what scripture? In this case, it is unclear.
We could speculate a passage such as Psalm 16:10:
You will not abandon me to Sheol;
you will not allow your faithful follower to see the Pit.
However, we cannot be sure.
Mary and the Angels
Mary Magdalene was the first to Jesus’ empty tomb. She is also given the privilege of being the first to see the risen Lord. The scene is, in my opinion, the sweetest in the whole gospel. She woke up that morning wanting to honor Jesus. She finds the tomb empty, informs the disciples, they come, see, and go back home. She remains there weeping. She is not ready to leave. In that moment, she sees two “angels” sitting inside the tomb who ask, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
I want to avoid delving too deep into the topic of angels (because it is likely to derail us), but angels in the Bible do not look like how they are portrayed in popular media. The word angel comes from the Greek “angelous,” which simply means messenger. In Genesis 18 and 19, two angels visit Abraham and later Sodom. They are not described in detail, but they are casually called “two men” and do not seem to call any attention to themselves. I think the reasonable assumption is that these angels looked like regular people. I point all this out to elucidate the scene with Mary Magdalene. The two angels in the tomb, with whom she has a seemingly normal interaction, may have looked like normal men. That explains her lack of surprise or fear.
Nonetheless, I do not want to ignore the fact that these angels were dressed in white. White garbs were not utterly unusual in Jewish tradition or the ancient world. Pagans would worship heavenly deities in white garments. More importantly, Jewish priests wore linen. Worshipers, including in the Jerusalem temple, often wore white. And angels in Jewish texts appeared in linen, white, or clothed in glory. Why would the angels be dressed in white? Black symbolized mourning and death. White symbolized joy and life. So, the fact that the angels wore white is important. They were not mourning the death of Jesus. This was not a sad and solemn time. It was a time of celebration for Jesus lived.
Mary and Jesus
The Gardener
Mary Magdalene then turns around and sees another man, who she believes to be the gardener. This makes sense—remember the tomb was located in a garden. In typical Johannine style, this man asks a question that makes sense on the surface but takes on much deeper meaning as we consider it from a theological standpoint: “Who are you looking for?”
The sweetness and heart wrenching quality of the scene continues. Mary Magdalene is distraught, yet she wishes to honor her master. She is not concerned with accusations, or asking why would someone do something as despicable as stealing a body. She simply wants an opportunity to make it right. She pleads, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him.”
The “gardener” calls her by name, “Mary.” Mary instantly recognizes him and calls Jesus by a title that shows both respect and intimacy, “my teacher.” This is the first of several “recognition scenes.” John and Luke describe instances in which disciples saw Jesus but did not recognize him until Jesus made himself known. This ability of Jesus’ resurrected body seems to be a trait of the heavenly beings. Jewish tradition held that angels could appear in different forms. In the Old Testament, God himself could appear in unrecognizable forms (see Genesis 18).
The Appearances
This appearance to Mary is the first of many that Jesus will make. These appearances are the “proof,” the “certificate of approval” that Jesus was who he said he was and his words were therefore true. Without these appearances, the gospel might be good news but we would never know. What I mean is, maybe Jesus would have been God who died for our sins, but we would hardly believe it. Consider what is probably the earliest Christian creed ever recorded:
Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received—that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, 4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as though to one born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also. (1 Corinthians 15:1-8)
On the cross, Jesus says his work is done. In the resurrection, Jesus shows his work was in fact done.
Most historians grant that at least the apostles believed to have seen Jesus resurrected. The Christian movement is otherwise unexplainable. Why would the apostles and other Jesus’ followers suffer and die for something they did not believe to be true?
Some claim that the appearances of Jesus are merely mythological; however, appearances of deities to large groups of people appear in mythology many centuries before the time of Jesus. The story of Jesus would be surprisingly anachronistic. Others claim that the appearances of Jesus were corporate visions, similar to mass delusions. This claim is unlikely. Not only are corporate visions exceedingly rare, but they are practically nonexistent if the vision is multimodal—that is, the vision engages multiple senses. Finally, as explained earlier when comparing the story of Jesus to pagan myths, the concept of corporal resurrection was barely intelligible to non-Jews and associated exclusively with the eschaton for Jews. If the resurrection appearances were either a delusion or a lie, there is hardly an explanation why that would be the lie they chose.
“Do Not Touch Me”
Jesus tells Mary, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father.” This expression seems curious at first. We should probably not envision Mary poking at Jesus’ body with one finger like if to make sure he was not a ghost. In context, we might envision Mary holding on to Jesus, either in an embrace, or holding on to this hands, or perhaps even his feet. Then Jesus’ response makes perfect sense. He is saying, “Mary, you must let me go. There are things yet to be done. I must leave again and return to my Father.” Some scholars do argue that what we have here is a prohibition on touching the sacred, such as in Exodus 19:12. This makes little sense of the heartwarming scene and of later appearance of Jesus when he encourages his disciples to touch him.
“Go to my Brothers”
Jesus tells Mary, “Go to my brothers and tell them” (emphasis added). This is the first time Jesus calls his disciples brothers, and such a title fits perfectly with the theology presented in John. Recall the very beginning of the gospel:
But to all who have received him—those who believe in his name—he has given the right to become God’s children. (John 1:12)
What did Jesus come to do? To make a way for everyone to become children of God—part of the family. Not mere servants or guests but children, sons or daughters, with inheritance rights. Now that the work of Jesus is done, he can refer to his disciples as brothers. Members of the household of God!
Another shocking fact of Jesus telling Mary, “Go to my brothers and tell them,” is that Jesus told Mary. I mean, Jesus asked a woman to deliver his message. The gospels and early Christian tradition are unanimous that Jesus’ resurrection was first revealed to women. Since women were not considered reliable witnesses, Christians would hardly have invented this.
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
As the women go to the tomb to honor their teacher, the disciples remain hidden and afraid. This is hardly a flattering description of the men. The narrative specifies that the doors were locked. This detail is presumably included to highlight that when Jesus appears among the disciples, he does so in some supernatural sense. As I have mentioned before, Jesus’ resurrected body seems to have some heavenly qualities that cannot be restrained by the physical world.
Jesus immediately offers peace, not reproach for their failures or their fear, but peace. The story does not provide details, but I think we can safely infer the disciples are surprised and have many questions. “Is he a ghost?” “Is it really him?” “Could this be happening?” Jesus settles the interrogation by showing them his wounds. “Yes, it’s really me,” he shows.
Then Jesus breathes on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained.” These statements require some examination. Let’s begin with the receiving of the Holy Spirit.
Receiving the Holy Spirit
One of the most iconic scenes in the New Testament is the Holy Spirit descending as flaming tongues during Pentecost.
Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like a violent wind blowing came from heaven and filled the entire house where they were sitting. And tongues spreading out like a fire appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:1-4)
This event occurs after Jesus tell the apostles to wait to “receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.” (Acts 1-8)
The question naturally arises: How are we to understand Jesus granting the Holy Spirit in John 20 and then the apostles receiving the Holy Spirit again just a few weeks later during Pentecost? One option is that the event John describes in chapter 20 is the same Pentecost event. John simply moves the meeting closer to Passover and describes it differently for narrative purposes (i.e., it is the climax of John’s Christology and Pneumatology). Some scholars take this view. In my opinion, this is hardly better than claiming that John made it up.
Is there a better alternative? The meeting in John 20 and the event in Pentecost only seem contradictory if we assume that both grant the Holy Spirit in the same sense. Jesus promises every believer that he or she will receive the water that forever quenches thirst (John 3:13). Whoever believes in Jesus will have “living water” (John 7:37-39), which is the Holy Spirit. This “type” of giving of the Spirit seems to be described in Ezekiel 36:26-27:
I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you; I will take the initiative, and you will obey my statutes and carefully observe my regulations.
I think that is the “type” of granting of the Spirit that John is describing—the guarantee made to every believer. Pentecost, on the other hand, seems like an unusual event in which the Spirit grants special powers. Recall, for example the prophets Elijah and Elisha, and how they are “energized” by the Spirit to prophesy and perform miracles (see 2 Kings 2). Pentecost was an event in which the Spirit empowered miracles. We might not experience that—every believer has not been guaranteed that.
In short, John 20 describes the Spirit that empowers us to follow God. Pentecost describes a miraculous empowering by the Spirit.
Finally, we must notice how the scene in John does represent the conclusion to his gospel. The Spirit finally comes to give life and continue the ministry that Jesus started. Jesus imparts the Spirit by breathing. This is reminiscent of Genesis 2:7:
The Lord God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Yet, unlike the breath of God in Genesis, the Spirit gives eternal life.
For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
And not only does the Spirit come such that we may be born again (or properly understood, born from above), the Spirit comes as another paraclete. The Spirit is immediately and directly connected with the prophetic mission of sharing the Gospel. As soon as the Spirit is granted, the apostles are sent just like Jesus was sent.
If You Forgive Anyone’s Sins…
Now we must explore the second statement, “If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained.” First we should notice that this statement is made in the context of a “sending.” Jesus says, “Peace be with you. Just as the Father has sent me, I also send you.” By looking at the sending of Jesus, at his earthly ministry, we can understand what the apostles were sent to do. (Some try to distinguish the two words translated as “send” in verse 21, but both Greek words are used interchangeably in John’s Gospel.) Moreover, these similar “sendings” had been mentioned previously in John. Recall chapter 17:
I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to the world just as I do not belong to the world. Set them apart in the truth; your word is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I set myself apart on their behalf, so that they too may be truly set apart. (John 17:15-19)
So, within the context of having been sent, what is the meaning of the apostles’ ability to forgive or retain sins? One could take the Catholic approach:
In John’s Gospel, following his Resurrection, Jesus makes plain he’s assigning the ministry to forgive sins to particular Church leaders, specifically his apostles and those they designate in succeeding them (John 20:20-23). The apostles and their successors are given not only the unique ministry to forgive sins in Jesus’ name, but also the power to “retain” sins if a minister judges someone has not genuinely repented of their wrongdoing.
Is there another possibility? We could (and I would argue, should) interpret the statement in chapter 20 in light of Jesus’ explanation in chapter 16:
But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I am going away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong concerning sin and righteousness and judgment—concerning sin because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; and concerning judgment because the ruler of this world has been condemned. (John 16:7-11)
Notice that in the passage above we see the same connection between the Spirit and judgment. The message of Jesus, “backed up” by the Spirit, becomes the judge. Therefore, the apostles carry with them the agent of judgment. As they share the Gospel they bring with it a decision to believe or not to believe, to embrace the righteousness of Christ or to follow the “ruler of this world.” That is, I would argue, how they can forgive or retain sins. They can discern that which is in line or out of line with God’s message.