DOUBTS CONCERNING THE RESURRECTION -- JOHN

Even in the Fourth Gospel, we are confronted with examples of the resurrected Jesus not being recognized. This happens no less than four times in the final two chapters, making uncertainty one of the most consistent features of the combined resurrection story.

John 20:14-16

Blum summarizes some of the most common explanations for Mary's inability to know who she was talking to near the garden tomb: “The appearance of Jesus to Mary was so unexpected that she did not realize that it was Jesus...Some suggest that Jesus' appearance was changed; others say she had a temporary 'blindness' as did the Emmaus road disciples...others say that possibly the tears in her eyes kept her from recognizing Him...As the Good Shepherd, He calls His sheep by name (cf. John 10:3) and 'they know His voice' (10:4). Immediately she recognized Him.”

One technical point should be brought up here. Concerning the fact that Mary turned toward Him, Ellis notes, “There is some evidence, especially from a consideration of the possible Aramaic background to the Gospel that 'turned' here means 'recognized'; this is supported by the Sinaitic Syriac.”

As to why Mary took Jesus to be the gardener, Beasley-Murray says that “she assumed that at so early an hour during the Feast only the gardener would be there.”

Morris echoes some of Blum's catalog of reasons for her non-recognition by stating, “Why she did not recognize Him is not said. It is possible that tears were blurring her vision, but then tears are not usually a reason for failure to recognize someone well known. There seems to have been something different about the risen Jesus so that He was not always recognized.”

I would like to digress at this point to relate a somewhat similar situation I found myself in years ago. My best friend through middle school and high school was named Alan. We both went into the same profession and stayed in close contact through our university years, and he was best man at my wedding. But when I moved out of state, we lost contact with one another.

After that point, whenever I attended the yearly professional conference I would go to the registration desk to see if he happened to be in the attendance listings. And at last, when the conference was in Boston I saw that he had registered. But it didn't tell the hotel at which he was staying. So as I was leaving the registration desk wondering how I could get in touch with him, a man stopped as he was approaching from the other direction and shouted out my name. I had absolutely no idea who he was and how he would know my name. He apparently sensed my confusion and said, “It's Alan.”

After about five minutes of talking to him, he began to look perfectly familiar and I could not for the life of me figure out why I couldn't recognize him immediately. And unlike Mary, I did not have the excuse of tears in my eyes. Besides that, I was actually on the lookout to find my friend whereas seeing Jesus alive again was the very last thing on Mary's mind.

One final word on there verses: Raymond Brown disagrees with Dibelius, who feels that this story is “an adaption of the recognition scene that appears in stories of the Greco-Roman gods as they walk among men.” By contrast, Brown says that “John may be telling his readers that in the spoken word of Jesus they have the means of recognizing his presence.” That may be an overly subtle point, but in any case it does not subtract from the literal meaning of the narrative.

John 20:24-29

This is the most well known non-recognition story, that of 'Doubting Thomas.' Morris says, “Normally this is taken to indicate that Thomas is of a more skeptical turn of mind than the others, and, of course he may have been. But another possibility should not be overlooked, namely that he was so shocked by the tragedy of the crucifixion that he did not find it easy to think of its consequences as being annulled.”

And Culpepper wisely states, “Realist more than doubter, Thomas stands in for all who, like Mary Magdalene, embrace the earthly Jesus but have yet to recognize the risen Christ.”

In any case, Thomas totally redeems himself by his words, as Ellis says: “So to that disciple who most firmly demanded factual evidence was given the honor of making the first confession of faith in the completeness of the revelation summed up in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Blum summarizes the importance of this story by saying, “In his Gospel, John has traced the development of unbelief, which culminated in Jesus' enemies crucifying Him. Conversely, John also traced the disciples' development of faith, which was now climaxed in Thomas.”

John 21:4

The apostles are fishing at early daybreak when Jesus comes to them again. Both Blum and Brown evoke the same explanation for their inability to discern who he is this time:

“Early in the morning the disciples failed to recognize Jesus...on the shore either because of distance or lack of light.” (Blum)

“The distance and the dimness of the early morning light are offered as possible explanations.” (Brown)

John 21:12

But there are no such excuses to fall back on once the apostles come to shore and have a meal of fish prepared by Jesus himself. And yet we still run into the following inexplicable statement: “Now none of the disciples dared ask him, 'Who are you?' They knew it was the Lord.”

Morris voices our own thoughts regarding this point in the story when he writes, “John...informs us that none of them dared to ask who Jesus was. This seems curious. If they knew who Jesus was why should they ask such a question?...Yet it must be borne in mind that there was something unusual about Jesus' appearance.”

Brown comes to the same conclusion: “Because Jesus' appearance is strange (vs. 4), they recognize him but are puzzled and unsure. The Jesus they knew has undergone transformation in becoming the risen Lord.”

Finally, Anderson says, “Once ashore, the disciples evidenced a certain ambivalence regarding their encounter with Jesus...Perhaps they saw Jesus as the same recognizable person who even performed the mundane task of preparing breakfast, yet they also recognized that he manifested the divine glory.”

This is one time when all my other commentaries have let me down in that many of them do not even attempt to explain this glaring non sequitur. My own explanation goes back to the passage in Matthew 16:14 and parallels where Jesus asks his followers, “Who do men say I am?” Again, the obvious answer is “Jesus.” But although everyone knew his name, that doesn't necessarily translate to knowing exactly who he was. And the answers at that time included John the Baptist (also the worry of Herod Antipas – see Mark 6:16), Elijah, and Jeremiah. Or could he be a spirit as the disciples had felt on an earlier occasion (see Mathew 14:26) or a sort of guardian angel as they believed Peter was at a later date (see Acts 12:15)?

Thus, that problem phrase could almost be reworded as “What are you?” rather than “Who are you?”

Concluding Remarks

Here are a few general comments which apply to all the incidents of confusion on the part of those to whom the resurrected Christ appeared.

Borchert – “The possibilities of explaining the situation[s] are almost endless. But one must at least be careful not to think one can analyze and reach clear conclusions on unstated parts of a story. One must also be careful not to attempt the psychoanalyzing of a person in a story...The nonrecognition theme concerning the risen Lord, however, does seem to be significant feature in the...presentation of the appearance stories...This theme...appears to have had both apologetic and evangelistic significance for the early Christians as a means of explaining their pattern of coming to faith..Coming to the point of conviction that Jesus is alive is probably as varied as the nature of the people who believe.”

We may think that we are in a better position to understand the nature of the resurrection than those at the time. But as K.L. Anderson reminds us, “Jesus taught explicitly about the nature of resurrection life on only one occasion in the triple tradition (Mk 12:18-27 // Mt 22:23-33 // Luke 20:27-40)...Here Jesus declared that in the resurrection people will be like angels in heaven...Some scholars conclude that Jesus was referring to the resurrected as disembodied spirits.” So the confusion continues today.

And Sheriffs says, “The Christian idea of resurrection is to be distinguished from both the Greek and Jewish ideas.” The current Jewish ideas can be gauged from the various reactions of the early believers we have already canvassed. As for the Greek ideas at the time, Ellis notes an incident occurring in the Book of Acts: “The strangeness to the Greeks of the concept of anastasis is shown in Ac. 17:18 where some Athenians apparently thought 'resurrection' was a goddess.”