John's resurrection narratives begins with a group of four accounts dealing with the events of the "first day of the week" and the "eighth day" following that. Below is an outline of these stories:
| Verses | Content |
| vv. 1-10 | The discovery of the empty tomb |
| vv. 11-18 | Mary's discovery of the Risen Lord |
| vv. 19-23 | Jesus' appearance to the disciples |
| vv. 24-29 | The confession of Thomas |
This series of narratives find their climax in Thomas' profession of faith: "My Lord and my God" and highlights the significance of the "first day" of the week. In these narratives, the "third day" is not mentioned. The shift from "third day" to the "first day" is not just a matter of perspective. It also signifies the shift in the Christian's understanding of how the Resurrection has affected his way of looking at the days of the week. This day is now called "the day of the Lord", Kuriakh Kyriake which has been translated into the romance languages, for example as "Domenica" (italian) and "Domingo" (Spanish and some Filipino dialekts). It is a false claim therefore to make the seventh day of the week the "Christian sabbath" since in early Christianity, the first day/eight day eclipsed it in importance.
The main characters in this series of narratives are Mary Magdalene, Peter, the beloved disciple and Thomas. Mary Magdalene stood with Jesus' mother and the beloved disciple under the foot of the cross (19:25). Simon Peter followed Jesus from the garden where Jesus prayed to the courtyard of the high priest where he denied having known Jesus. The beloved disciple gets mentioned by John from the Last Supper onwards. He, together with S. Peter, went into the high priest's courtyard and stood at the foot of the cross. It was to him that Jesus entrusted his mother. Thomas on the other hand, at the beginning of the ascent to Jerusalem, had said "Let us die with him." In addition, a question of his at the Last Supper (19:4), elicited Jesus' declaration "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life". These characters will have their relative importance in the series of accounts in John 20-21. The role of Peter and the beloved disciple will become more pronounced in the second set of narratives about the life and mission of the Church (21:1-14). In the present selection (John 20:1-10), it is the beloved disciple's faith that is highlighted.
Women are the first witnesses of the resurrection. This is proof, albeit indirect, that early Christianity's convictions about the Resurrected Lord did not begin with a myth but with a report that could not have been concocted. John the evangelist focuses on the figure of the Magdalene and her testimony (vv. 11-19). She had gone early to the tomb. In Matthew and Mark, the Magdalene is mentioned at the head of the group of women that went to the tomb to embalm a corpse. In John's gospel, Nicodemus had seen to it that Jesus is laid in an unused tomb with the paraphernalia for the burial (cf. John 19:38-42). John schematizes here preparing for the account of the Magdalene's discovery in John 20:11-18. When she discovers that the tomb has been laid open, she immediately goes to Simon Peter and John. This is an understandable reaction: she did not know where else to go but to the men who have been with the Lord.
John plots the discovery of Jesus' absence from the tomb by stages:
- Magdalene sees that the stone covering the tomb has been taken away;
- the beloved disciple, running faster than Peter, reaches the tomb first, peeps through the door and sees the burial clothes
- Peter arrives, enters into the tomb and sees not only the burial clothes but also the head piece (the sudarion) bundled up in a place of its own
- the beloved disciple finally enters and "he saw and believed."
This climactic phrase and the accompanying explanation ("That time, they still had not known the writing according to which it was necessary that he rise from the dead") point to the confessional characteristic of the narrative. The absence of Jesus from the tomb pointed to his resurrection and only later -- when they have reread Scriptures in the light of that event will they understand that it had been written about in the same Scriptures. The following narrative (vv. 11-18) and the account of Jesus' first appearance (Jn. 20:19-23) will spell out further the importance of this first discovery.
In this first account, John uses three verbs to designate the action of seeing: blepein, blepein qewrein, theorein eidon eidon. The Magdalene sees (blepein) the stone rolled away and the beloved disciple sees (blepein) the burial clothes. But Peter sees (qewrein) the clothes and the sudarion. Finally, the beloved disciple "saw (eidon) and believed". Later, in the testimony of the Magdalene a fourth verb will be used oraw oraw: "I have seen (ewraka eoraka) the Lord" (v. 18b)
Verbs of "seeing" in the gospel of John also have a theological value. They are not merely used to indicate an action (of sight): these also designate the mind's perception, one's conviction and faith. The graded use of the verbs for seeing in this narrative designate an increasing depth of perception into the signs that Jesus leaves behind. Later, however, Jesus will highlight the importance of faith over vision when he says to Thomas:
Do you now believe because you have seen (ewrakaV) me?
Blessed are those who have not seen (idonteV) yet believe.
It should now be obvious that considering the way John composes his narrative, that the beloved disciple emerges in the narrative as the one who sees the minimum yet reaches faith in the resurrection. Magdalene will later see the Lord and bear testimony about him to the rest of the disciples. Thomas will not only see the Lord but will be allowed to touch Him, somthing denied the Magdalene. In contrast, the beloved disciple only sees the signs left in the tomb and he believes. John observes that until that time, the beloved disciple had not understood the writings that Jesus must rise from the dead. He leaves us to understand that from that moment onwards, the beloved disciple understood it.
What allowed the beloved disciple to attain "knowledge" of the resurrection with a minimum of external data? True love leads to trust. The beloved disciple was loving and was loved and therefore he not only believed, he wanted to believe. But this love was not an emotional "feel-good" thing as the rest of John's gospel tells us. The beloved disciple listened to the words of the Lord. The image we have of him is that of the disciple who has his ears pressed to the heart of Jesus (cf. Jn. 13:23-25). Finally, he followed the Lord until the moment of His self-giving. Where the other disciples were absent, this disciple was present: at the foot of the cross (Jn. 19:26). It was there where he also received a special commission from the Crucified: to take His mother "into his own" (Jn. 19:27). And this disciple was beloved precisely because of the above: he loved to the point of the cross. It was this love that helped him believe.
