John 20:16

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John 20:16
  20:15
20:17  
John 20 16.jpg
William Etty's Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection first exhibited in 1834
Book Gospel of John
Christian Bible part New Testament

John 20:16 is the sixteenth verse in the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Bible. The verse describes the moment that Mary Magdalene realizes that Jesus has returned from the dead, when she recognizes his voice calling her name

Chapters and verses of the Bible

The Bible is a compilation of many shorter books written at different times by a variety of authors, and later assembled into the biblical canon. Since the early 13th century, most copies and editions of the Bible present all but the shortest of these books with divisions into chapters, generally a page or so in length. Since the mid-16th century editors have further subdivided each chapter into verses - each consisting of a few short lines or sentences. Sometimes a sentence spans more than one verse, as in the case of Ephesians 2:8–9, and sometimes there is more than one sentence in a single verse, as in the case of Genesis 1:2.

John 20 is the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the Bible. It relates the story of Jesus' resurrection. It relates how Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus and found it empty. Jesus appears to her and speaks of his resurrection and dispatches Mary to tell the news to the disciples. Jesus then appears to his disciples. The chapter is seemingly the conclusion to the Gospel of John, but it is followed by the somewhat tangential John 21, causing some biblical scholars to suggest that John 20 was the original conclusion of the Gospel, and John 21 was a later addition. The events related in John 20 are described somewhat differently in Matthew 28, Mark 16, and Luke 24.

Gospel of John Books of the New Testament

The Gospel of John is the fourth of the canonical gospels. The work is anonymous, although it identifies an unnamed "disciple whom Jesus loved" as the source of its traditions. It is closely related in style and content to the three Johannine epistles, and most scholars treat the four books, along with the Book of Revelation, as a single corpus of Johannine literature, albeit not from the same author.

Contents

Content

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

King James Version version of the Bible

The King James Version (KJV), also known as the King James Bible (KJB) or simply the Authorized Version (AV), is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, begun in 1604 and completed as well as published in 1611 under the sponsorship of James VI and I. The books of the King James Version include the 39 books of the Old Testament, an intertestamental section containing 14 books of the Apocrypha, and the 27 books of the New Testament. The translation is noted for its "majesty of style", and has been described as one of the most important books in English culture and a driving force in the shaping of the English-speaking world.

Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She
turned herself, and saith unto him,
Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

In the English Standard Version it reads:

Jesus said to her, "Mary." She
turned and said to him in Aramaic,
"Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).

In the Vulgate Bible the text reads:

dicit ei Iesus Maria conversa illa dicit ei rabboni quod dicitur magister

Translation notes

This verse, in the original Greek text, presents Jesus as addressing Mary Magdalene by the name Μαριάμ (Μariam), not the Hellenized form Μαρία (Maria) and as Mary responding by calling Jesus Ῥαββουνι (Rabbouni), in both instances using Aramaic terms. [1]

Aramaic is a language or group of languages belonging to the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic language family. More specifically, it is part of the Northwest Semitic group, which also includes the Canaanite languages such as Hebrew and Phoenician. The Aramaic alphabet was widely adopted for other languages and is ancestral to the Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic alphabets. During its approximately 3,100 years of written history, Aramaic has served variously as a language of administration of empires, as a language of divine worship and religious study, and as the spoken tongue of a number of Semitic peoples from the Near East.

Analysis

The exact significance of Rabboni is disputed. In Mark 10:51 it is translated as meaning "beloved teacher", but John here and in other verses translates it as simply "teacher". W. F. Albright and others interpret it as the diminutive form of Rabbi, and therefore translate it "my dear Rabbi", showing the close friendship between Mary and Jesus. Mary was thus calling Jesus with a title she had long used, signifying that she sees his return as a reversion to the status quo before his crucifixion. In John 20:17 and John 20:18 he divests her of this view, informing her that everything is changed.

Crucifixion Method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden beam and left to hang until eventual death

Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden beam and left to hang, perhaps for several days, until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation.

John 20:17 Jesus response to Mary Magdalene

John 20:17 is the 17th verse of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament. It contains Jesus' response to Mary Magdalene right after he confronts her just outside his tomb after his resurrection. According to the longer ending of Mark's Gospel Mary Magdalene is the first person to whom Jesus shows himself alive after his resurrection.

John 20:18 is the eighteenth verse of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the Bible. It occurs after Jesus' resurrection and appearance to Mary Magdalene. In the previous verse Jesus has given Mary a message to deliver to his disciples, this verse describes how she delivers it:

However, in some works from this period Rabboni is used as a name for God. Thus some scholars, such as Hoskyns, see the term as demonstrating that Mary has understood Jesus' divinity. Most scholars consider the title a respectful one, but less adoring than the term adonai . By contrast, when Thomas later accepts the truth of the resurrection he calls Jesus "My lord and my God" (John 20:28).

Mary's reaction seems to be spontaneous, and it is not known if "Rabboni" is an exclamation of discovery, or whether it should read "Rabboni?" with Mary momentarily questioning Jesus.

The Greek word διδάσκαλος in the original text and its Latin translation magister mean "teacher". Older English translations use "master", derived from the Latin word and meaning the same thing.

Context

Mary has found Jesus' tomb empty and is worrying about what happened to his body. At first she does not recognize Jesus when he appears, thinking he is a gardener. In John 20:16 she recognizes him when he calls her by name.

John 20:14 has already mentioned that Mary had turned around to see Jesus, so why does this verse say she turns again? One school of thought is that unmentioned by the author Mary had turned away from Jesus in the meantime. Kastner argues that she did so because the resurrected Jesus was nude. According to Brown most scholars simply believe that she had not fully turned in John 20:14 and was now fully turning towards Jesus.

John 20:14

John 20:14 is the fourteenth verse of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. In this verse, Mary Magdalene has just finished speaking to the angels she found in Jesus's empty tomb. She then turns and sees the resurrected Jesus, but fails to recognize him. In the Gospel of John, this is the first moment anyone sees Jesus after his resurrection.

Mary earlier did not recognize Jesus. When he addresses her by name she quickly realizes who it is. Some scholars link this to John 10:3, which states that "the good shepherd calleth to him by name every sheep of his flock", arguing that Jesus using Mary's name had deep powers. Some see Mary's transition from ignorance to worship as a metaphor for the adoption of faith.

Other gospels

The three other gospels do not recount this exchange, and give somewhat different accounts of the event. Matthew 28:9, for instance goes:

And as they went to tell his disciples,
behold, Jesus met them, saying, All
hail. And they came and held him by the
feet, and worshipped him.

This passage describes the women having already been informed of the resurrection by the angels in the tomb and leaving to tell the disciples of the event. It also clearly describes more than one woman being present, and omits the period where Mary is uncertain of Jesus' identity. Mark, and Luke agree with Matthew on these incongruities. Some scholars, such as Norman Geisler, explain this by arguing that, unmentioned by John, Mary ran into another group of women after leaving the tomb. This larger group returns goes to the tomb together whence the events described by the Synoptic Gospels unfold.

Mystery play

The York Cycle of English mystery plays has a whole (ten-minute) play about this incident. The word discussed above is Rabony in the original manuscript [ permanent dead link ] and Rabbi in one modernized version.

Related Research Articles

Empty tomb tomb of Jesus that was found to be empty by the Myrrhbearers

The four Gospels narrate how several women, including Mary Magdalene, found the tomb of Jesus to be empty when they visited his tomb to anoint his body with spices and oils. Instead, they met with an angel who told them that Jesus had been raised from the dead.

John 20:15

John 20:15 is the 15th verse of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It occurs when Mary Magdalene has returned to Jesus' tomb and found it empty. She does not know that Jesus has returned and they begin conversing without her realizing his identity.

John 20:13

John 20:13 is the thirteenth verse of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. This verse occurs after Mary Magdalene has found Jesus' tomb empty, except for two angels.

John 20:11

John 20:11 is the eleventh verse of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible.

John 20:10 is the tenth verse of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John. Peter and the Beloved Disciple have just finished examining the empty tomb of Jesus and in this verse return home.

John 20:9 is the ninth verse of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the Bible. Peter and the Beloved Disciple have been examining Jesus' empty tomb and the arrangement of the grave clothes. John 20:8 states that the Beloved Disciple looked in the tomb and believed, though there is conflict on what exactly he believed. John 20:9 seems to modify this statement but its exact meaning is also unclear.

John 20:8

John 20:8 is the eighth verse of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Peter and the Beloved Disciple are examining Jesus's empty tomb. Peter has been inside the tomb since John 20:6, while the Beloved Disciple had been examining it from outside. In this verse the Beloved Disciple enters the tomb.

John 20:7

John 20:7 is the seventh verse of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the Bible. In this verse, Peter is standing in Jesus's empty tomb. The Beloved Disciple and perhaps Mary Magdalene are outside. This verse describes the arrangement of the grave clothes they see.

John 20:6

John 20:6 is the sixth verse of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the Bible. Peter and the Beloved Disciple have just arrived at the empty tomb of Jesus. The Beloved Disciple, who arrived slightly ahead of Peter, paused outside the empty tomb. In the verse, Peter enters the tomb upon his arrival.

John 20:5 is the fifth verse of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the Bible. The Beloved Disciple and Peter have traveled to the tomb of Jesus to investigate Mary Magdalene's report that the body of Jesus had disappeared. In this verse the Beloved Disciple arrives at the tomb and while he looks in he does not enter it.

John 20:2 is the second verse of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament. Mary Magdalene has just discovered that the tomb of Jesus has been opened. In this verse she seeks out and tells this news to Peter and the "disciple whom Jesus loved".

John 20:3–4

John 20:3–4 are the third and fourth verses of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament. Peter and the Beloved Disciple have been informed by Mary Magdalene that Jesus' tomb has been opened and in these verses they depart for the tomb.

Matthew 4:19 Biblical verse

Matthew 4:19 is the nineteenth verse of the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. Jesus has just begun preaching in Galilee and has encountered the fishermen Simon Peter and Andrew. In this verse he calls the pair to join him.

Matthew 27:55-56

Matthew 27:55-56 are the fifty-sixth and fifty-seventh verses of the twenty-seventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The crucifixion and death of Jesus have just occurred, and these verses make note of a group of women who were present at that event.

<i>Rabboni</i> (sculpture) artwork by Gutzon Borglum

Rabboni is a public artwork by American artist Gutzon Borglum, located Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C., United States. Rabboni was surveyed as part of the Smithsonian Save Outdoor Sculpture! survey in 1993. It is a tribute to Charles Matthews Ffoulke, prominent Washington banker and tapestry collector.

References

Bibliography

Preceded by
John 20:15
Gospel of John
Chapter 20
Succeeded by
John 20:17