The chapter begins on the first day of the week, the first day of the new creation. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw it empty. She ran back to tell Peter and the beloved disciple. They both ran to the tomb.

The beloved disciple outran Peter and arrived first. He bent down the tomb and looked inside. He saw the linen cloths but he stayed outside. Then Peter arrived and entered the tomb. He saw the linen cloth lying there and the cloth used to wrap Jesus' head was rolled up by itself. The disciple then entered. He saw and believed. They still did not know scripture and so did not know Jesus must rise from the dead.

The beloved disciple bent down and looked inside. He saw the cloths. Peter did not bend down but entered immediately and saw the linen cloths. The other disciple then went in and he saw and believed. There was no mention of Peter believing.

Believing

The other disciple believed because he stooped down first before entering. Peter did not stoop down so he did not believe. To believe therefore, requires humility. One has to stoop down and experience the empty tomb. Very often, I would not bend to the Lord's guiding hand. I would not want to go through difficulties. But when I do, I experience the empty tomb. I experience difficulties, to the point where God seems absent. Yet, it is through these difficult moments that faith is strengthened. When one experiences the empty tomb, the absence of God, then and only then will one believe in him.

During these times, scripture would not matter. Nothing matters because nothing would make sense. The fact that Jesus is not where one expects him to be, is proof we are going towards a new life, a resurrected life.

After this, both men went back to their homes.

Mary Sees Jesus

Mary came back presumably with the two and stayed at the tomb, weeping. She stooped and looked inside and saw two angels inside the tomb. Mary stooped but stopped short of entering the tomb. They asked her why she was weeping. She thought someone had stolen Jesus' body. She did not wait for them to respond. She probably felt someone moving behind her. Jesus was standing there, but she did not recognize him.

He asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?”

She thought he was the gardener and blamed him for stealing the body of Jesus. “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I can take him away.” Mary was before the risen Jesus, but she was still looking for the dead one. Worse, she even mistook the Risen One as a thief.

Jesus then spoke her name, “Mary.” That was enough. She turned and she said, “Teacher!” Even if she did not recognize Jesus, she knew who the man was. She recognized him when he called her name.

“He calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out” (John 10:3). Mary was Jesus' sheep. She knew his voice. When Jesus called her name, he led her out of her grief.

First, she mistook Jesus as the gardener. In Genesis, man was created by God to take care of the garden. She mistook Jesus as still the fallen man. But he is risen and has now been glorified. He is the new Adam. He did not steal our inheritance, but he rose to give it back to us.

Do Not Hold Me

What is interesting is Jesus said, “Don’t hold me, for I haven't yet ascended to my Father”. When Mary recognized him, she immediately held him. Matthew's account said the women clasped his feet and worshiped him. The ascension of Jesus is the completion of his mission. He had to ascend to the Father so he could send the Holy Spirit.

Very often too, we continue to hold on to our image of the old Jesus. For one to grow and bear fruit, one must let go of what one thinks about him. Jesus is not the dead man. Jesus is the Risen One. He has risen and is victorious over death!

Jesus continued, “go to my brothers, and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God'.” With his resurrection, Jesus restored humanity to our original dignity. God became our Father. The fallen creation was redeemed.

Mary immediately ran off and told the disciples she had seen Jesus and all he told her.

This is what is required for those who have encountered the Risen Christ. One is called to go and tell others of the good news.

Peace

The scene shifts to the evening. The disciples locked themselves in. They were still afraid of being arrested. Suddenly, Jesus appeared to them and stood among them and said, “Peace be to you”. This is a standard Jewish greeting.

He then showed them his hands and the pierced side. The disciples were glad when they saw Jesus. The Gospel of Luke said they could not believe because they were filled with joy and amazement.

Before they could say anything, Jesus again greeted them, “Peace be to you.” He then commissioned them, “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit! If you forgive anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven them. If you retain anyone’s sins, they have been retained' .”

In our grief and fear, we shut down. We raise our defenses. Yet, Jesus passes through all these. He stood before the Eleven (except Thomas) and he gave them his peace, twice!

When Jesus comes, he does not bring riches. He does not bring power. Jesus brings his presence and peace. The presence of Jesus is enough because Jesus is all that matters. Through our grief, through our miseries, through our sufferings, Jesus passes through them because he is greater than all these.

With Jesus, we have peace in the midst of all the troubles. Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, give I to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.”

This appearance of Jesus fulfills that promise. Troubles will come. Difficulties will come. We will have fears. But the important thing is Jesus is there. He will never leave us!

The Co-Mission

He then commissioned them as the Father had sent him. The Father sent his only begotten Son to die for the sin of the world - to conquer sin and redeem the world.

The same goes for us. We are sent to die to ourselves and to conquer sin. We are called to share in the threefold mission of Jesus: as a priest, as a king and as a prophet.

We are called to be priests - to pray for others and to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and pure, to heal and to give comfort. We are called to be kings to conquer sin within ourselves, to conquer evil within us and to show the world the power of God to change lives and uplift people from meaningless and defeated lives, to a life that is according to the will of God - victorious and glorious.

We are called to be prophets to preach the good news of the risen and victorious Jesus: that we have been restored our dignity as children of God.

Power Over Sin

To help the disciples to share in his mission, Jesus breathed on them. This breath is the Holy Spirit. He gives the Holy Spirit as a Counselor, a Defender and an Advocate. The Spirit of truth will guide us in all we do.

As he sent his disciples, the Holy Spirit was there to help them. The Holy Spirit gave them power to forgive sins. This meant the disciples of Jesus had authority over sin. They had conquered sin, by the death of Jesus and they had power over it.

Very often, I hear people say Catholics have it easy. One can confess one's sins and the sins are forgiven. That is partly true. Yes, confession does wipe our sins away. But there is a condition to that. The person making the confession should have the desire to change.

If there is no desire to change, to repent, then there is no forgiveness of sin. The priest may say the words of absolution but the sins are not forgiven - because the person confessing has not accepted the forgiveness of Jesus.

Confession is a sacrament. It is our way of telling the Lord we want to have the victory he won for us. It is telling the Lord we want to live our lives as more than conquerors of sin. If one does not want to change, then where is the victory over sin? That person is still enslaved to sin. Therefore, the confession is not valid.

The desire to change is important. Due to human frailty, we will sin again. And that is what confession is all about. We want to change but we can't - not on our own. So we repeatedly come back to God for mercy and grace.

My Lord and My God

The scene immediately switched to Thomas who was not there when Jesus first appeared. The disciples told him they had seen Jesus. But he would not believe until he saw the nail marks in Jesus' hands and put his hand in Jesus' side.

Eight days later, Jesus again appeared. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus specifically spoke to Thomas and told him to put his finger on his hands and put his hand into his side. Then Jesus told him, “Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.”

This second appearance was for the sake of Thomas. As one of the apostles, Thomas had to be convinced Jesus was alive. He was to be a witness of the resurrection.

Thomas did not even have to touch Jesus. He just said, “My Lord and My God!” He finally got it! He had seen Jesus, alive! He had experienced the Risen Jesus and that was enough for him.

There is this expression “doubting Thomas”, which I think is unfair to him. If one looks at it, all the apostles did not first believe until Jesus appeared to them. Thomas' fault was not that he did not believe. His fault was he was not there when Jesus first appeared!

The Risen Jesus

For one to fully know Jesus, one must experience the Risen Jesus. That is when one will realize he is truly divine. Until he saw the Risen Jesus, Thomas knew Jesus as a man. But when he saw the Risen Jesus, he called him God.

This is the first and only time, in this gospel, if not in the entire New Testament, when someone explicitly called Jesus as God. The closest they got was to call Jesus as the Son of God but none of them explicitly called him God. Thomas may have doubted, but he was the only one who expressed the truth clearly - Jesus is God.

The resurrection is the symbol of hope. It is our symbol of life. To believe in it leads to life.

Believe Without Seeing

Jesus then told Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed.”

For those who came after the first generation of disciples, we are blessed because we are able to believe even without seeing. This is not because we have more faith. It is because God has given us more grace to pierce through our stubborn hearts so we can believe.

The chapter ends by saying Jesus did many other things “which are not written in this book”. The things written in the book were included so those who read it may believe Jesus is the Son of God and in believing may have life in his name.

To have life, one must believe Jesus is the Son of God - he is fully human and fully divine. Everything depends on this belief.