#john 20

[grace-and-grace-alone]

John 20:29

[Then] Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

[tomicscomics]

07/19/2024

Happy (almost) Feast of St. Mary Magdalene!

JOKE-OGRAPHY: 1. The Feast Day: This comic is based on the Catholic Church's scheduled readings for the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene (July 22, 2024). The Old Testament reading will be a portion of a love poem from Song of Songs 3:1-4. The Gospel reading will be the story of Mary Magdalene's encounter with Jesus after His resurrection, from John 20:1-17. 2. Song of Songs: The poem is about a woman searching everywhere for her missing lover. The poem's story is very cute on a literal level, but it also symbolizes the human heart's desperate yearning for the divine. For this cartoon, I rewrote the poem just slightly, keeping the story and pacing intact, but making it flow and rhyme in English. I hope I did alright! 3. Gospel of John: Days after Jesus is crucified and buried, Mary Magdalene visits His tomb but finds it open and empty. She runs to the apostles and tells them that someone stole Jesus's body. They come to investigate the tomb, but leave befuddled. While Mary stays and weeps by the open tomb, two angels appear inside and ask why she's crying. When she explains her sorrow, she's suddenly asked the same thing by Jesus, Who's appeared beside her, though she doesn't recognize Him until He says her name. 4. The Readings Combined: These two stories complement each other perfectly. All human relationships can be seen as reflections, shadows, or branches of the one relationship which every soul was created for: communion with God. By using the context of a human relationship, the poem gives a relatable, human voice to the soul's lofty instinctual longing. Read alongside Mary Magdalene's despair when she thinks she's lost her God, and her joy when she finds Him again, the poem's literal and symbolic meanings become one. It's an excellent pairing of readings by the Church, I must say. They may be on to something. I shall be watching their career with great interest.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

The Resurrection

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,” she said, “and we do not know where they have put Him!”

Then Peter and the other disciple set out for the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down and looked in at the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.

Simon Peter arrived just after him. He entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. The cloth that had been around Jesus’ head was rolled up, lying separate from the linen cloths. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in. And he saw and believed. For they still did not understand from the Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.

Then the disciples returned to their homes. But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent down to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and the other at the feet.

“Woman, why are you weeping?” they asked.

“Because they have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I do not know where they have put Him.”

When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there; but she did not recognize that it was Jesus.

“Woman, why are you weeping?” Jesus asked. “Whom are you seeking?”

Thinking He was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried Him off, tell me where you have put Him, and I will get Him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

“Do not cling to Me,” Jesus said, “for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and tell My brothers, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’ ”

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them what He had said to her.

It was the first day of the week, and that very evening, while the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them. “Peace be with you!” He said to them. After He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side.

The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so also I am sending you.” When He had said this, He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”

Now Thomas called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands, and put my finger where the nails have been, and put my hand into His side, I will never believe.”

Eight days later, His disciples were once again inside with the doors locked, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas replied, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. — John 20 | The Reader’s Bible (BRB) The Reader’s Bible © 2020 by Bible Hub and Berean.Bible. All rights Reserved. Cross References: Genesis 3:9; Matthew 16:19; Matthew 28:2-3; Matthew 28:9-10; Mark 16:9-11; Mark 16:14; Luke 24:1; Luke 24:5-8; Luke 24:10-12; Luke 24:36; Luke 24:39-40; John 1:1-3; John 1:12; John 2:22; John 10:34; John 11:16; John 14:5; John 19:40; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:4; Hebrews 11:1; Hebrews 2:4; 1 John 1:1-3

John 20 | Resources from Ligonier Ministries

[dylanadreams]

‭John‬ ‭20:30‭-‬31‬ ‭

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

[shutterandsentence]

"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet still believed."

--John 20:29

Photo: Asheville, North Carolina

[roratecaeli]

Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?

Heinrich Hofmann – Mary Magdalene at Christ’s Tomb

[a-queer-seminarian]

ID in alt text. Link to the tweets. The thread continues:

And she endures that space alone. Peter and the Beloved Disciple enter it for a moment, as first light tentatively touches the tomb’s rolled-back stone.

They sprint into it — that pregnant space between question and answer, death and rebirth — past Mary weeping without a word to her.

They enter the empty tomb and they see the burial cloths that God has stripped off and left behind. They see and the beloved, at least, “believes” (John 20:8). Believes that Jesus is risen — does he also believe that Jesus will return? That they will all see Jesus again, and soon?

If he does, his action is not to hunker down with Mary into the waiting space. He and Peter “return to where they were staying” (v. 10).

They cannot bear the waiting space. Most of us can’t. Who would choose to settle down in hospital halls with figures hunched and haggard, to wait with them for whatever news there may be?

Most of us wouldn’t. Magdalene might.

We can’t skip past the waiting, though. So Mary waits — waits for whatever will come, whenever it comes — and as she waits, she weeps. Her tears are not despair — they are lament.

In This Here Flesh, Cole Arthur Riley describes the power and purpose of lament:

“Lament is not anti-hope. It’s not even a stepping-stone to hope. Lament itself is a form of hope. It’s an innate awareness that what is should not be. As if something is written on our hearts that tells us exactly what we are meant for, and whenever confronted with something contrary to this, we experience a crumbling. And in the rubble, we say, God, you promised.”

Mary believes in the promises of her teacher, his proclamations of a world turned on its head, a new creation born where the poor are lifted from the ashes.

Her hope in that world has crumbled, but she doesn’t abandon the rubble: she settles into it. Makes her home there to wait and see what rises from the ruins.

Mary is crying, “God, you promised!” And she in turn promises God, “here I am — whenever you come, you will find me. I’m not going anywhere.”

In her chapter on lament, Cole continues, “Our hope can be only as deep as our lament is. And our lament as deep as our hope.” Mary’s lament is long, because her hope is deep.

Mary Magdalene does not sit in the garden in despair. Her lament expects response — demands it. Like God of Isaiah 56, she is waiting to be sought — waiting for her call to be met with response…and it will be! Her God WILL call her name — “Mary!” — and she will know the joy of lament answered, of hope fulfilled.

Magdalene is actively waiting for what she KNOWS will come. And she’s not going anywhere till it does.

Thank God for those who wrestle blessing out of pain; who brave the liminal lament and don’t let go.

Mary, your waiting is not in vain. Joy comes with the morning. Hallelujah!

[prolifeproliberty]

Easter - Part 1

”The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.

Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.

For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.“

‭‭John‬ ‭20‬:‭1‬-‭10‬ ‭KJV‬‬