Portraits of Jesus in the Gospel of John

Lightner

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781498276245
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

In his Gospel, John presented Jesus as the Son of God by painting portraits, pictures, of him. The author of this volume displays twenty-nine of these portraits for us to look at and even study. The reader who observes these portraits carefully will come to know the Lord Jesus Christ in new and deeper ways. After each portrait is examined, there are applications for daily living and simple study questions drawn from the portrait. This book is all about Jesus the Living Word set forth in the Written Word and is intended for individual and group use.

Raised from the Dead

Portrait 28

John 20

Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is an integral part of the gospel message. The apostle Paul made that abundantly clear in his letter to the Christians at Corinth. In his description of the content of the gospel message which he preached the resurrection of Jesus was prominent. That gospel centered in Christ’s death and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1–4). In his Epistle to the Romans, Paul gave the same emphasis: He was “delivered over because of our transgressions and was raised because of our justification” (Romans 4:25).

Peter, on the Day of Pentecost, also placed great stress upon the resurrection of Jesus. To the Israelites gathered on that occasion he said of Jesus, “God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power” (Acts 2:24). And again Peter said, “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross” (5:30). He even gave the same emphasis to the Gentiles: “God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible” (10:40).

Each of the human writers of the first four books of the New Testament include extended accounts of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead (Matthew 28:1–16; Mark 16:1–20; Luke 24:1–53 and, of course, John 20:1–31). None of these accounts include all the same material. Each writer wrote with a specific purpose in mind for writing his Gospel as God the Holy Spirit guided him. The resurrection accounts do not contradict each other. Rather, they supplement each other. We need all of them for the full story that God wanted us to have.

As John painted his portrait of the resurrected Jesus, he emphasized two major things: the material evidence and the personal evidence for Jesus’ resurrection. Let us look together at these fascinating evidences.

The Material Evidence of Jesus’ Resurrection, vv. 1–10

Mary Magdalene witnessed Jesus’ death and was the first one to go to His tomb and find it empty. Mary Magdalene out of whom Jesus had cast seven demons (Mark 16:9) came to the tomb very early in the morning while it was still dark. She seems to have been a leader or outspoken person among three other women. These three would be Mary the mother of James, Salome, and Joanna (Mark 16:1 and Luke 24:10).

Mary Magdalene apparently came to the tomb before the other three women came. She could have done this to check out the scene ahead of time as a leader would often do, especially one so devoted to Jesus because of all He had done for her. The important thing to note is that she found the tomb without the body of Jesus; it was empty except for His grave clothes. These she may not even have observed.

Did Mary Magdalene actually look inside the tomb on this occasion? We do not know for sure. Maybe she saw the huge stone rolled away from the tomb’s entrance and concluded that Jesus’ body had been stolen. She ran to tell Peter and another disciple, probably John, what she witnessed. These two disciples then ran to the burial place. The disciple with Peter outran him and got there first. He stared into the tomb and saw “the linen wrappings lying there” (v. 5). When Peter arrived, he, as might be expected of him, burst into the tomb and witnessed the same thing. When the disciple with Peter saw what Peter saw from the opening, he also went inside.

So the stone was rolled away from the entrance to the tomb, and the graveclothes were there. They were not just scattered about but were still in tact and undisturbed but without the body of Jesus. The Jews in that day and time did not prepare a dead body as is done today. Without embalming the body, it was wrapped tightly with linen cloth. These were anointed with an ointment of spices. The body was covered from head to toe. A covering was placed over the head. This procedure of preparing the body created a cocoon-like appearance. What Peter and the other disciple saw as they peered into the tomb and then saw closeup was an empty shell without Jesus’ body in it.

How did the huge stone get moved away? What happened to the body inside the burial wrappings? There was no evidence of stealing the body. How did Jesus’ body get out of the wrappings without disturbing them? There is only one plausible answer to these questions. Miraculously, Jesus arose from the dead and from the grave. Supernaturally, the stone was rolled away by an angel from the Lord (Matthew 28:2). The tomb was empty of the body of Jesus. He arose from the dead, just as He said He would.

All of these who came to the tomb and saw only the grave clothes but not the body of Jesus inside were slow to believe. They did not understand what Jesus had told them before about His resurrection. Lest we become too critical of these friends and followers of Jesus, we need to ask ourselves the question, “Would I have believed if I had witnessed what they did?”

The two disciples “went home” after what they saw. That seems strange, does it not? Why would they do that? You would think they would spread the news far and wide. But they did not. They went “to their own homes” (20:10). Could it be that they were afraid they might be falsely accused by the authorities? Or maybe they were so puzzled over all that happened in the last few days that they needed time to think it all through, to meditate. After all, the open empty tomb without Jesus’ body with the cocoon-like form still there certainly must have brought to mind some of the things Jesus had said about His body as a temple which would be destroyed but which He would raise up in three days (John 2:19).

The Personal Evidence of Jesus’ Resurrection, vv. 11–31

Did you know that the New Testament records a large number of post-resurrection appearances of Jesus? He appeared to individuals, small groups, and a large group. The chart below lists these appearances along with the Scripture where they are recorded.

Post Resurrection Appearances of Christ

To Individuals

1. Mary Magdalene

2. Peter (1 Corinthians 15:5)

3. James ( 1 Corinthians 15:7)

4. Stephen at his stoning (Acts 7:55–60)

5. Paul at his conversion (Acts 9:3–8)

6. Paul at Corinth (Acts 18:9–10)

7. Paul in the temple (Acts 22:17–21)

8. Paul Later in Jerusalem (Acts 23:11)

9. Paul on another occasion (2 Corinthians 12:1–4)

10. John on Patmos (Revelation 1)

To Small Groups

1. Women returning from tomb (Matthew 28:8–10)

2. Cleopas and a friend (Mark 16:12)

3. Ten disciples in Jerusalem (John 20:19–250

4. Eleven disciples (John 20:26–31)

5. Seven disciples in Galilee (John 21:1–25)

6. Apostles on Mount of Olives (Acts 1:6–12)

To A Large Group

Apostles and more than 500 brethren (Matthew 28:16–20)

Now look with me at John’s portrait of Jesus as He appears to Mary Magdalene in verses 11 through 18. As Mary stood there crying at Jesus’ tomb, she stooped down and took a quick peek inside. She saw two angels, one where Jesus’ head would have been and the other where His feet would have been. They were both dressed in white. They asked her why she was crying. She answered them with, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him” (v. 13). Mary then turned away from the tomb and the two angels inside and saw someone else standing outside the tomb. She did not know it was Jesus.

We must remember that the last time she had seen Jesus, He was so disfigured that He hardly looked like He did before He was put on the cross. She knew too that His body had been placed in the borrowed tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. It was also early in the morning and her eyes were filled with tears.

Jesus then asked Mary why she was weeping and whom she was looking for. He, of course, knew the answer to both of these questions. She thought the gardener was talking to her. Without attempting to answer the questions asked her, she begged Jesus, without knowing He was there, to tell her where the body was so she could go and care for it.

Then it was that Jesus said to her, “Mary” (v. 16). All of us like to be called by our name. When Mary heard her name from this stranger, she finally recognized she was talking...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Introduction
• God’s Revealer and Revelation
• Lamb of God
• The One with Divine Authority
• Savior of Sinners
• Meeting People’s Needs
• Pursued by Killers
• Equal with God
• Provision and Protection
• The Bread of Life
• Surprise Visit to the Temple
• Light of the World
• Great I Am
• Giving Sight to a Blind Man
• Divine Shepherd
• Resurrection and the Life
• King without a Throne
• Anticipating the Cross
• Washing Feet
• Identifying His Betrayer
• Healer of Broken Hearts
• True Vine
• Promise-Maker and Keeper
• Predicting His Death, Resurrection, and Ascension
• Praying for Himself
• Praying for His Own
• Rejected, Arrested, and Tried
• Crucified
• Raised from the Dead
• Calling for Followers