John 20 - NLT Student Life Application Study Bible

20:1 Faithful Followers Mary Magdalene had taken very seriously Jesus’ call to follow him. Magdalene likely indicates that she was from Magdala, a town near Capernaum in Galilee. She had followed Jesus all the way to Jerusalem, and other women from Galilee had come with her (see Matthew 27:55-56; Luke 23:55). In Jerusalem, she followed him to the foot of the cross and to the empty tomb. Jesus rewarded her faithfulness by letting her be the first witness to his resurrection. (For more on these women, read the other Gospel accounts and see Mary Magdalene’s profile.)

20:22 Breath of Life The breath of God has life. The first man was created but didn’t come alive until God breathed into him the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). God’s breath made humans different from the rest of creation. Now, through the breath of Jesus, God provided eternal, spiritual life. With this breath of life came the power to do God’s will on earth because Jesus was giving his disciples a special filling of the Holy Spirit, a foretaste of what all believers would experience starting at the time of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21). To do God’s work, we need to rely on the love, direction, and enabling power of the Holy Spirit.

20:24-29 Dealing with Doubts Have you ever wished you could actually see, touch, and hear the voice of Jesus in person? Do you wish you could sit with him and talk through things? Though it isn’t in the same tangible way we read about here, he is as present with us as he was with Thomas because he is with us in the person of the Holy Spirit—and according to him, it’s even better this way (16:7).

20:24-31 Have you ever had doubts about Jesus’ resurrection? What would it take for you to believe that it happened? See the next turning point of The Bible’s Big Story.

20:27 Literal, Physical Body Jesus’ resurrected body was unique. It wasn’t the same kind of flesh and blood Lazarus had when he’d come back to life. Jesus’ body was no longer subject to the same laws of nature as it had been before his death—he could appear suddenly in a locked room, after all. But we know that he wasn’t some sort of ghost or apparition either, because he could still eat and be touched (Luke 24:35-43). Jesus’ resurrection was literal and physical; he wasn’t a disembodied spirit.