19 At evening on that day, the first day of the week, when, for fear of the Jews, the doors were shut where the disciples were, Jesus came among them and said to them, May peace be with you!
And after eight days, his disciples were again in the house and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were shut, Jesus came, and taking his place in the middle of them, he said, May peace be with you!
May peace be with you; my peace I give to you: I give it not as the world gives. Let not your heart be troubled; let it be without fear.
But no man said anything about him openly for fear of the Jews.
John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from him who is and was and is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his high seat;
And while they were saying these things, he himself was among them, and said to them, Peace be with you! But they were full of fear, being of the opinion that they were seeing a spirit. And he said to them, Why are you troubled, and why are your hearts full of doubt? See; my hands and my feet: it is I myself; put your hands on me and make certain; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he let them see his hands and his feet. And because, for joy and wonder, they were still in doubt, he said to them, Have you any food here? And they gave him a bit of cooked fish. And before their eyes he took a meal. And he said to them, These are the words which I said to you when I was still with you, how it was necessary for all the things which are in the writings of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms about me, to be put into effect. Then he made the holy Writings clear to their minds. And he said to them, So it is in the Writings that the Christ would undergo death, and come back to life again on the third day; And that teaching about a change of heart and forgiveness of sins is to be given to Jerusalem first and to all nations in his name. You are witnesses of these things. And now I will send to you what my father has undertaken to give you, but do not go from the town, till the power from heaven comes to you.
For where two or three are come together in my name, there am I among them.
And to whom Abraham gave a tenth part of everything which he had, being first named King of righteousness, and then in addition, King of Salem, that is to say, King of peace;
Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. May the Lord be with you all.
For he is our peace, who has made the two into one, and by whom the middle wall of division has been broken down,
So you have sorrow now: but I will see you again, and your hearts will be glad, and no one will take away your joy.
A little time longer, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me; and you will be living because I am living. At that time it will be clear to you that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I in you. He who has my laws and keeps them, he it is who has love for me: and he who has love for me will be loved by my Father, and I will have love for him and will let myself be seen clearly by him. Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, How is it that you will let yourself be seen clearly by us and not by the world? Jesus said to him in answer, If anyone has love for me, he will keep my words: and he will be dear to my Father; and we will come to him and make our living-place with him.
And later he was seen by the eleven themselves while they were taking food; and he said sharp words to them because they had no faith and their hearts were hard, and because they had no belief in those who had seen him after he had come back from the dead.
And if the house is good enough, let your peace come on it: but if not, let your peace come back to you.
I will give ear to the voice of the Lord; for he will say words of peace to his people and to his saints; but let them not go back to their foolish ways. Truly, his salvation is near to his worshippers; so that glory may be in our land. Mercy and faith have come together; righteousness and peace have given one another a kiss.
And I went to the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us have a meeting in the house of God, inside the Temple, and let the doors be shut: for they will come to put you to death; truly, in the night they will come to put you to death. And I said, Am I the sort of man to go in flight? what man, in my position, would go into the Temple to keep himself safe? I will not go in.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on John 20
Commentary on John 20 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 20
This evangelist, though he began not his gospel as the rest did, yet concludes it as they did, with the history of Christ' resurrection; not of the thing itself, for none of them describe how he rose, but of the proofs and evidences of it, which demonstrated that he was risen. The proofs of Christ's resurrection, which we have in this chapter, are
What is related here is mostly what was omitted by the other evangelists.
Jhn 20:1-10
There was no one thing of which the apostles were more concerned to produce substantial proof than the resurrection of their Master,
In these verses we have the first step towards the proof of Christ's resurrection, which is, that the sepulchre was found empty. He is not here, and, if so, they must tell us where he is or we conclude him risen.
Jhn 20:11-18
St. Mark tells us that Christ appeared first to Mary Magdalene (Mk. 16:9); that appearance is here largely related; and we may observe,
Some make those words, I ascend to my God and your God, to include a promise of our resurrection, in the virtue of Christ's resurrection; for Christ had proved the resurrection of the dead from these words, I am the God of Abraham, Mt. 22:32. So that Christ here insinuates, "As he is my God, and hath therefore raised me, so he is your God, and will therefore raise you, and be your God, Rev. 21:3. Because I live, you shall live also. I now ascend, to honour my God, and you shall ascend to him as your God.
Jhn 20:19-25
The infallible proof of Christ's resurrection was his showing himself alive, Acts 1:3. In these verses, we have an account of his first appearance to the college of the disciples, on the day on which he rose. He had sent them the tidings of his resurrection by trusty and credible messengers; but to show his love to them, and confirm their faith in him, he came himself, and gave them all the assurances they could desire of the truth of it, that they might not have it by hearsay only, and at second hand, but might themselves be eye-witnesses of his being alive, because they must attest it to the world, and build the church upon that testimony. Now observe here,
There are three secondary ordinances (as I may call them) instituted by our Lord Jesus, to continue in his church, for the support of it, and for the due administration of the principal ordinances-the word, sacraments, and prayer; these are, the Lord's day, solemn assemblies, and standing ministry. The mind of Christ concerning each of these is plainly intimated to us in these verses; of the first two, here, in the circumstances of this appearance, the other v. 21. Christ's kingdom was to be set up among men, immediately upon his resurrection; and accordingly we find the very day he arose, though but a day of small things, yet graced with those solemnities which should help to keep up a face of religion throughout all the ages of the church.
Jhn 20:26-31
We have here an account of another appearance of Christ to his disciples, after his resurrection, when Thomas was now with them. And concerning this we may observe,
It is an affecting word with which Christ closes up what he had to say to Thomas: Be not faithless but believing; meµ ginou apistos-do not thou become an unbeliever; as if he would have been sealed up under unbelief, had he not yielded now. This warning is given to us all: Be not faithless; for, if we are faithless, we are Christless and graceless, hopeless and joyless; let us therefore say, Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.