John 20 Round Two: The King Returns

The story opens in the dark and ends with a door flung wide. We journey through John 20—an empty tomb, a folded face cloth, a name spoken with tenderness, and peace breaking into a locked room—to trace how the resurrection moves people from fear to purpose and from doubt to confession. The details matter: Jewish timekeeping clarifies the “third day,” the linen wrappings hint at intention over theft, and Jesus’ wounds anchor hope in reality rather than wishful thinking.

We start with Mary Magdalene, whose grief turns to recognition the moment Jesus says her name. That intimate moment reframes loss into calling, and she becomes the first messenger of the risen King. From there, we step into a room thick with fear where Jesus speaks, Peace be with you, shows his scars, and breathes the Holy Spirit, commissioning ordinary people to carry extraordinary news of forgiveness. The message is clear and urgent: forgiveness isn’t a human invention but a gift we are sent to announce.

Thomas represents so many of us who need more than reports; we need an encounter. Eight days later, Jesus meets him where he is, inviting touch and trust. Thomas responds with the strongest confession in the Gospel of John, My Lord and my God, a pivot that tradition says led him to a life of bold witness. We close by returning to John’s purpose statement: these signs are written so you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. If this conversation stirred something in you—curiosity, hope, or even questions—tap follow, share this with a friend, and leave a review telling us which moment hit home.

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Topic Setup
• 0:44 Community Shoutouts And CTA
• 1:04 Jewish Time And The Third Day
• 3:57 The Empty Tomb And Folded Cloth
• 6:34 Mary Meets Jesus In The Garden
• 7:54 Jesus Appears To The Disciples
• 9:06 Thomas Doubts And Then Believes
• 11:03 Purpose Of John’s Gospel
• 12:05 Personal Application And Prayer

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. Every day, we take one chapter of the Bible, dig deeper, and discover that the more we dig, the more we find. You can find out more at the BibleBreakdown.com. Now let's grow in God's Word together. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, John chapter 20. And I just, there's so many titles I could go with, but today I'm going to say The King Returns. The King is back, man, and he is on his throne. We're going to jump into that in just a moment. There's so many great things. I'm not going to cover all of them because I want you to discover some things for yourself. There's, oh man, there's this, this is definitely one of those chapters. The more you dig, the more you find. But I want to dig into some of that today. But before we do that, if you like what we're doing, make sure you like this video. If you're looking at it on the YouTubes and you are subscribing to the channel, comment down below. If you are doing this as a podcast, thank you so much. You podcast people, y'all my favorites, okay? But I also want to hear from you as well. So go to the Facebook group, Bible breakdown discussion. Let me know how you're interacting with this. And I want to ask you this question. If Jesus were to show up to you in the flesh, like in person right now, what would you do? Would you freak out? Do you think you'd be like, hey, how's it going, Jesus? Like, like, what would your response be? Like, like, think about it for a moment. I'm pretty sure I'd pass out cult. I'm just saying that's just what I would do, but maybe not. Okay. Either that or I'd freeze. I wouldn't, I wouldn't have a clue what I was going on. But I want to hear about it. The more we dig, the more we find. I want to set up the scenario for you really quickly. Once again, remember, this is written by Jesus' best friend, and he is helping us understand the message of Jesus. And that is, he's the king. He is God. And what we saw in chapter 14, it's the Last Supper. It was on a Thursday night. Then Jesus was arrested. Jesus was then crucified on Friday. But now the very first verse in chapter 20 of the NLT says early on Sunday morning. Now, here's one of the questions that people give me all the time. Pastor, how is it that the Bible says that Jesus was going to be dead for three days? Best I can tell, Friday to Sunday is not three days. How does that work? Well, there's a lot of different ways it can work, but in the Jewish mind, this is exactly what it would be. And here's the reason why. Because if you go all the way back to the book of Genesis, chapter one, the Bible says evening and morning is day one. Evening and morning was day two, all the way through day seven, right? Or day six, and then day seven was a day of rest. But the way the Jewish calendar works is different from us in the Western world, and that is the day starts at night. So the day starts at sunset. And then anything between sunset and the next sunset is considered a day. So therefore, if someone said on the next day, it could even be with the course of about 20 minutes. It's just from sunset to sunset. And so if anything actually touches that day, it counts as a day. So if you look at it like this, Jesus died on a Friday. And so Friday in the Jewish mind would have been day one. Then at sunset, which now is on Saturday, that would begin day two. Well, then here's the thing the Bible says early on Sunday morning. So that meant somewhere while it was dark, as soon as it was evening, day three began. So the Jesus in the grave touched all three days. And in the Jewish mind, that is within that time frame, but it's also the earliest part of it as well. So as soon as it touched that day three, boom, Jesus is up out of there to fulfill that prophecy. So one more time again, Jesus died on a Friday. That would constitute being part of day one. Then you have all day Saturday beginning at sunset on Friday night. That is day two. And then as soon as sun, the sun set on that Saturday night, day three began. And so then Jesus rose again. And there's a lot of different theories how you want to break this up. And so that's why I would definitely tell you the more you dig, the more you find. But even with the most simplistic theory I just gave you right now, it fits and it works. And here's the thing Jesus is true, and his word is true. And so I don't care how you want to slice it, Jesus rose again. And we're going to read about it right now. So if you've got your NLT Bibles open with me, you want to open them up, get your coffee ready, man, it's about to get good. Here we go. John chapter 20, verse 1 says this. Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him. Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stooped and looked in and saw that the linen wrapping was there, but he didn't go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside, and he also noticed the linen wrappings lying there. While the cloth had been covered, covered Jesus' head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. Then the disciple who had searched the reached the tomb first also went in and he saw and believed. For until then they hadn't understood the scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. Then they went home. Now pause. Now, what is it about the fact that that linen wrapping over the face of Jesus being folded clicked something on for Peter? What was it about that that made a difference? Well, there's a lot of theories behind this, but one of the things we do know is that in that part of the world, especially Jewish people, they would have feast times that would last for up to seven days. So up to seven days, you'd have a place where you would go and eat and you'd party and do different things. And but sometimes you'd have to go for like a day and come back again. And so as a way to tell people that I'm not gone for good, I will be back, they would take the napkin that they would be using and they would fold it and put it in the seat of where they were. And that was a universal symbol of I have gone, but I'm coming back. And so what I think happened was is Peter is going in there. And remember, he's going thinking that they have stolen Jesus' body. But when he goes in there, he sees, yes, the other linen wrappings are everywhere, but the part that was on Jesus' face had been neatly folded and set somewhere. Immediately, he knew the universal symbol of I'll be right back. And he was like, It wasn't it wasn't a crime. Jesus is alive. And almost in a way, he's teasing us a little bit. He's telling us he'll be right back. And his eyes were open and they believed. And they were so full of belief, they went home. I wonder if they went home looking for Jesus. Verse 11 says, Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked inside. They saw the she saw two white robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. Dear woman, why are you crying? the angels asked her. Because they have taken away my Lord, she replied, and I don't know where they have put him. She turned to leave and saw someone standing there, and it was Jesus, but she didn't recognize him. Dear woman, why are you crying? And Jesus asked her, Who are you looking for? She thought that he was the gardener. How, by the way, how distraught do you have to be to think that Jesus is there to pull some weeds? You have got to be a distraught individual. And that's what she says, Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go get him. And I love this. Jesus said, Mary. And she turned to him and cried out, Rebonai, which is Hebrew for teacher. Don't cling to me, Jesus said, for I haven't yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, I have seen the Lord. Then she gave them his message. That Sunday evening, so it's a little bit later in the day, the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly Jesus was standing there among them. Peace be with you, he said. And by the way, notice he had to say peace with him because, which I asked you earlier, if Jesus ever appeared to you, you would probably freak out too. I would imagine if Jesus showed up to us right now in the flesh, the first thing he would have to say is calm down, because you'd be freaking out. And I would be too. So that's what he tells him, stop freaking out. And as he spoke to them, he showed them the wounds in his hand and in his side. And they were filled with joy when they saw the Lord. Again he said, Peace be with you. Other words, calm down, my friends. As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. Then he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven. And if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. Which, by the way, Jesus is not saying they have the power to forgive sin. He is saying it is important that you go spread this gospel, for as you tell people that they can be forgiven, they will discover they can be forgiven. But if you don't tell them, they won't know. That's what he's saying. Verse 24. One of the twelve disciples, Thomas, nicknamed the twin, was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, We have seen the Lord, but he replied, I won't believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands. Put my fingers into them and place my hand in the wounds in his side. Now pause. Now, once again, a lot of people love to hate on my bro Thomas, Thomas the Doubter, doubting Thomas. But can I tell you, I identify with Thomas. He's like, Look, guys, I saw him die, and I'm not against you. But I need to see for myself. I'm like that in a lot of ways. I'm a contrarian by nature. But what I love is that Jesus didn't get mad at him. Instead, verse 26, eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Tommy was with them. The doors were locked, but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. And he had to tell them again, peace be with you. Other words, calm down, calm down, calm down. Then he said to Thomas, Hey Tommy, put your finger right here and look at my hands. Put your fing, put your hand into the wound in my sight. Don't be faithless any longer, believe. And look what Tom did. My Lord and my God, Tom exclaimed. Then Jesus told him, You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me. And it's important we don't leave Tom in that spot. Because according to tradition, he became an outspoken witness for Jesus. Later he would travel all the way to Ethiopia, spreading the gospel, and would be martyred by being run through with a spear, and he was killed for his faith. He said, I have seen the Lord and I cannot take it back. So let's not leave him doubting. Let's leave him believing all the way to the end. Now, let's finish this up. Verse 30. The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written, that you may continue to believe, that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name. Man, Jesus is awesome. You may have 99 problems, but Jesus ain't one. I love this that Jesus called Mary by her name and she knew him. Jesus appeared to the disciples, and then he appeared again for one disciple because one did not believe. You know what I love about that? Jesus knows our name. Jesus knows where we are, and Jesus doesn't leave anybody out. I don't know which one of those you may find yourself in today. Maybe you're in that place where you feel like that you're lost, unknown, unnoticed, unloved. Can I tell you, the King of the universe knows you by name? He knows every hair on your head or not on your head. He knows the natural color of the hair on your head. Can I tell you he knows your name? Can I tell you that he knows where you are? And here's the thing he has not forgotten you. That is a wonderful, wonderful thing. Let's pray together and we'll be done for today. Father, thank you so much for your goodness, your mercy, your kindness. Thank you that you see us, you know us, and you are for every one of us. I pray we will experience your power today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Don't forget the reason why this was written, John 20, verse 31, that you may believe that Jesus is God, and that by believing in him, you may have life by the power of his name. I love you so much. I love God's word, and I'm so thankful to be reading it with you. I'll see you tomorrow for the grand finale, John chapter 21.