- The Other Disciple - Part 524

Often, when we read John chapter 20, we focus on Thomas - sometimes called Doubting Thomas - because it was he who would not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead until he could see in Jesus' hands the print of the nails. The scriptures state, "and thrust my hand into His side." After eight days His disciples and Thomas with them were together. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace be unto you." Then said He - Jesus - already knowing the inner thoughts of Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands and reach hitherto thy hand and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless but believing." In other words, look upon whom they pierced for I am He. And when he did, Thomas answered the Lord saying, "My Lord and my God." What a revelation.

There are other equally insightful revelations within John 20 as well. First, there is the reference to the "other" disciple. Early, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene had gone to the sepulchre where Jesus was supposed to be and saw that the stone had been taken away. In verse 2, we read that Mary ran to Simon Peter, and to the "other" disciple, whom Jesus loved and said unto them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre and we know not where they have laid him.

Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple and came to the sepulchre. The scriptures note that the two both ran together but the "other" disciple did outrun Peter. Reaching the sepulchre first, he stooped down and looked in but did not enter into the sepulchre. Then came Simon Peter who did go in, seeing the linen clothes lie. And the napkin that was about His head, not lying with the linen clothes but wrapped together in a place by itself.

"For as yet they knew not the scripture, that He must rise again from the dead."


Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.
But it is the "other" disciple that we should take particular note of.  John 18:15 states, "And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did "another disciple." It was this "other" disciple that "was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest."

In John 20:18, it was this "other" disciple -- whom Jesus loved - that reached the sepulchre first. He did not go inside in the beginning. But note the scripture in John 20:8: "Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed." Even though he "as yet had not known the scripture -- that He must rise again from the dead, he believed."

Like Thomas later, the "other" disciple believed that Jesus had risen from the dead even when he did not realize that Jesus death and resurrection had been foretold in prophecy in the days before. He -- John -- believed even though he did not know that the death and resurrection of Jesus was decided before the world was formed. What a revelation! 

The second insight in John 20 focuses on Mary Magdalene. Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping, and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre. And seeing two angels in white sitting the one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus HAD previously lain, they said to her, "Woman, why weepest thou?" Mary replied,"Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him." She turned herself back and saw Jesus standing -- even though she knew not at the time that He was Jesus. But Jesus asked the same question, "Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?"

When Jesus said her name, Mary, she then knew Him. "Rabboni; which is to say Master."

In all of these people, there was a belief that their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was their everything. Their Lord and their Saviour. There was a reason Mary wept. There was a reason John started to run with Peter but arrived at the sepulchre first. Ask Jesus into your life today. Stand in the offering plate!