Gospel according to John 20

¹ It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb

² and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb’ she said ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’

³ So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb.

⁴ They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first;

⁵ he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in.

⁶ Simon Peter who was following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground,

⁷ and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself.

⁸ Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed.

⁹ Till this moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

¹⁰ The disciples then went home again.

¹¹ Meanwhile Mary stayed outside near the tomb, weeping. Then, still weeping, she stooped to look inside,

¹² and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, the other at the feet.

¹³ They said, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away’ she replied ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’

¹⁴ As she said this she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not recognise him.

¹⁵ Jesus said, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him’.

¹⁶ Jesus said, ‘Mary!’ She knew him then and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbuni!’ – which means Master.

¹⁷ Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and find the brothers, and tell them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’

¹⁸ So Mary of Magdala went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had said these things to her.

¹⁹ In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’,

²⁰ and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord,

²¹ and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. ‘As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.’

²² After saying this he breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.

²³ For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.’

²⁴ Thomas, called the Twin, who was one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.

²⁵ When the disciples said, ‘We have seen the Lord’, he answered, ‘Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe’.

²⁶ Eight days later the disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. The doors were closed, but Jesus came in and stood among them. ‘Peace be with you’ he said.

²⁷ Then he spoke to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Doubt no longer but believe.’

²⁸ Thomas replied, ‘My Lord and my God!’

²⁹ Jesus said to him: ‘You believe because you can see me. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.’

³⁰ There were many other signs that Jesus worked and the disciples saw, but they are not recorded in this book.

³¹ These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing this you may have life through his name.