Bible

This Post today in the Bible room concludes our reading of the Gospel of John with Session 10, the summaries of chapters 20 and 21.

____________________________________

John

Session 10

Chapter 20. Ascended

Before daylight, the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene is at the tomb:

• She finds the stone has been rolled away from the entrance;
• She goes to get Simon Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved;
• She tells them Jesus has been moved out of the tomb;
• And she does not know where they have taken Him;
• Peter and the other disciple have a foot race to the tomb;
• The other disciple arrives first at the tomb, does not go inside;
• He stoops down, looks inside, sees the grave clothes lying loose;
• Peter arrives, goes inside, sees the linen wraps, the head cover;
• Then the other disciple enters, sees the cloths, and believes;
• They do not yet know the scripture that Jesus would rise again;
• Both disciples leave the tomb, go to their homes;
• Weeping, Mary Magdalene stoops to see into the tomb;
• She sees two angels, seated where the body of Jesus had lain;
• They ask the woman why she is weeping;
• She answers: They have taken the body of her Lord;
• And, she does not know where they have placed Him;
• Turning around, she sees Jesus, but does not know Him;
• He speaks to her, asks her why she is weeping;
• Then He asks her whom she is seeking;
• Thinking this man might know something, she asks him:
• Where he has taken the body of Jesus?
• She intends to retrieve the body;
• At that point Jesus says her name: “Mary!”;
• She turns to Him and exclaims: “Rabboni” which is ‘Teacher’;
• He tells her to let go of Him as He has not yet ascended;
• But He instructs her to go get the brethren;
• And tell them He is ascending to His Father;
• So, she finds the disciples, tells them she has seen the Lord;
• And she tells them everything He has said to her;
• In the evening of that day, the disciples are gathered in a room;
• They have shut themselves inside for fear of the Jews;
• Jesus appears in the room with them, says “Peace be with you”;
• He shows them His hands and His side;
• The disciples rejoice when they recognize the Lord;
• Jesus says: ‘Peace to you,
• As the Father has sent Me, I also send you’;
• Breathing on them, He says: “Receive the Holy Spirit”;
• He gives them the power to forgive the sins of anyone;
• The disciple, Thomas, is not in the room at this meeting;
• Later, the other disciples tell him about seeing the Lord;
• Thomas tells them he will not believe it was the Lord,
• Unless he can see the wounds, touch them with his fingers;
• Eight days later, the disciples are gathered in a room;
• Thomas is with them at this meeting, the doors are shut;
• Jesus appears among them again, says: “Peace to you”;
• He invites Thomas to touch, and to see His wounds;
• He tells him to believe, and not to be unbelieving;
• Thomas responds: “My Lord and my God”;
• Jesus says: ‘Thomas, you have seen Me, and believed’;
• ‘Blessed are those who have not seen Me, yet believe’;
• Jesus performed many miracles not recorded in this book;
• These are written to help people believe Jesus is the Christ,
• The Son of God, and have life in His name.

Chapter 21. Follow

On the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, Jesus appears to some of the disciples:

• This group includes: Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael,
• The sons of Zebedee, plus two others of His disciples;
• Peter and two of them decide to go fishing;
• They take a boat out into the night, catch no fish;
• Morning comes and Jesus is standing on the shore;
• They do not recognize Him when He asks if they have food;
• They say ‘no’ and He says throw the net to the right side;
• With that, they catch so many fish the net is very heavy;
• The disciple whom Jesus loved recognizes Jesus;
• He tells Peter ‘It is the Lord’, then Peter puts on his coat,
• And immediately jumps into the water;
• The other disciples are in the boat, dragging in the fish;
• When they reach the shore, they see a fire with hot coals;
• They also see fish cooking and some bread;
• Jesus tells them to bring some of the fish they have caught;
• There are one hundred and fifty-three large fish in the net;
• Jesus invites them to have breakfast;
• They all know it is the Lord, but no one wants to ask Him;
• Jesus shares the bread and fish with them;
• This is the third time He has appeared to them after His death;
• After breakfast, Jesus asks Peter a question:
• He says: “Peter, do you love Me more than these?”
• Peter says: ‘Lord, You know that I love You;’
• Jesus tells him: “Feed My lambs;”
• Then He repeats His question to Peter: “Do you love me?”
• Peter’s answer remains the same: ‘You know that I love You;’
• Jesus says: “Tend My sheep;”
• The third time Jesus asks Peter: “Do you love me?”
• Peter says: ‘Lord, You know everything, You know I love You;’
• Jesus says: “Feed My sheep;”
• He continues talking to Peter: He reminds him of former times;
• When Peter could go places and do anything he wanted;
• But when Peter gets old, he will hold out his hands,
• And people will dress him, and take him to unwanted places;
• Jesus is telling him how it will be as he nears the end of his life;
• This is how he will glorify God with his life;
• Jesus tells him: “Follow Me;”
• Peter looks at the disciple whom Jesus loved, and says:
• “But Lord, what about this man?”
• Jesus tells him His will for this man does not concern Peter;
• He tells Peter: “You just follow Me;”
• So, the disciples think Jesus is saying this disciple will not die;
• But Jesus does not say that to him;
• This is the disciple who is writing all these things;
• He is testifying that everything he writes is true;
• There are also many other things which Jesus did;
• But if all these things were written in books,
• Perhaps the world could not contain them all.

End of Session 10 of the book of John.

(This concludes the reading of the Gospel of John.)