The twentieth chapter of St. John’s Holy Gospel is certainly one of the most prevalent and significant chapters in the entire Canon of Holy Scripture. Aside from the obvious fact that it records the Resurrection of our Lord, it features prominently in the liturgical life of the Church. The first half of the chapter is the Holy Gospel for the Easter Sunrise Service every year, as well as the Holy Gospel for the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene on the 22nd of July. And the second half of the chapter is the Holy Gospel for the Second Sunday of Easter every year, as well as the Holy Gospel for the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle on the 21st of December. Consequently, I believe I’ve preached on St. John chapter 20 more often than any other chapter in the Bible.
Over lunch with a pastor on Monday of this week, we talked about the way in which the Holy Scriptures are always yielding rich new treasures each time we study them and preach on them. And I found that to be very true in the case of St. John 20 over this past month, as I was working on a paper I was asked to prepare for a conference later this summer. I was specifically assigned the latter half of the chapter, St. John 20:19-31, which is all the more familiar because of its use in connection with the Office of the Keys in the Small Catechism. Yet, as I revisited the text and read through multiple commentaries on this account of our Lord’s Resurrection appearances to the disciples, I was delightfully surprised by the number of new things I learned. Perhaps some of that was due to the different purpose for which I was studying this portion of the Holy Gospel, but I rather believe it had more to do with the power of the living and life-giving Word of God.
One of the things that struck me, especially as I considered the different interpretations of the Keys in St. John 20, is the way the forgiving and retaining of sins in this Holy Gospel parallels and coincides with the necessary preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ Name in St. Luke 24:46-47. In both cases, the Law and the Gospel are at work to bring about a contrite recognition of sin and a receptive faith in the merciful forgiveness of our crucified and risen Lord. That Ministry of the Word is carried out “in His Name,” because He calls, ordains, and sends His Apostles and those who follow in their train as the Father has sent Him (St. John 20:21-22). And that “Office of the Keys” is exercised both broadly throughout the entire work of the pastoral ministry and narrowly in the hearing of confession and the granting of Absolution.
Another significant observation that I had not previously made, at least not explicitly, was the way the promises of our Lord in His “farewell discourse” on Maundy Thursday (St. John 13-17) began to be fulfilled already in His appearances to the disciples on the first and second Sundays of Easter (inaugurating their ongoing fulfillment in the weekly Divine Service). He promises that He will not leave His disciples as orphans, but will come to them (14:18); and twice in chapter twenty it is stated that He comes and stands among them (20:19, 26). He forewarns them that for a little while they will no longer see Him, and for that time they will weep and lament, but after a little while they will see Him again, and then they will rejoice (16:16-22); and in chapter twenty the disciples rejoiced and “were glad when they saw the Lord” (20:20), even as St. Thomas was then also brought from his doubts and fears to faith when he saw the Lord (20:27-29). So, too, Jesus promises that He will give His Peace to the disciples, that they should not be troubled or afraid (14:27); and in chapter twenty He three times declares His Peace to them (20:19, 21, 26). He also promises the Gift of the Holy Spirit (14:16-17, 15:26-27, 16:7-15); and in chapter twenty He breathes that Spirit upon them with His Word (20:22). And He indicates that He will send His disciples as the Father has sent Him (13:20, 17:18), which He does in chapter twenty (20:21).
There was more, of course, as the Word of our Lord is inexhaustible, but those were some of the highlights. I was likewise delighted to discover the ready availability of Dr. Luther’s sermons on St. John 20:19-31 in Volume 69 of the American Edition of Luther’s Works (CPH, 2009). And I am very much looking forward to the publication of Dr. Scaer’s new book, Jesus’ Resurrection: New Testament Testimonies (CPH, 2026), due to be released in just a few weeks (11 June).