John 20

The apostle John’s goal was simple and stated in two verses near the end of his gospel – John 20:30-31 says, And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

By the time you come to John 20 and that first Easter morning, John devotes himself to recording the various reactions of those who had believed in Jesus and followed Him for some three-and-a-half years. They had been left devastated by the events of that Friday, the Crucifixion, the murder of an innocent man. All of their hopes were now dashed, Jesus’ death was the death of their dream for life.

So John walks us through that morning with Peter and John (20:1-10) as they come upon an empty tomb and make their conclusions. Then Mary Magdalene (20:11-18) takes center stage as she too comes longing for her Lord. She is followed by over 100 saints gathered that evening in the upper room, still hiding in fear and brought together by grief (20:19-23) and finally we are told of our friend Thomas (20:24-29) and his sorrow and hesitancy to believe that it was possible for Jesus to have risen from the dead. All of that brings us back to John’s two verses of intention (20:30-31): to make a believer out of me.

As you celebrate this Easter, may our Lord convince you by His resurrection that He is everything He claimed to be. He is the Way and the Truth and the Life and no one can come to the Father but by Him. He came to lay down His life as the great Shepherd for His sheep and for those of us who will turn and believe in Him, we will be given eternal life as His free gift of love. May the resurrection make a believer out of you.

So grateful for His life,

Pastor Jack Abeelen