April 9, 2026
Passage to read: John 20:1-18, especially verses 17-18
“Go to my brothers and tell them I am ascending to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God.”
The above is one of several “archetypal” statements in John’s Gospel. That is, statements that depict the pattern of what our life as Jesus’ disciples is intended to be.
On many occasions I have referenced John 1:1-18, which is known as “The Prologue” of John’s Gospel. This prologue contains the entire Gospel of John in a nutshell.
The prologue begins “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was in a face-to-face gaze with God.”
The prologue continues, “And the Word became flesh (in the incarnation of Jesus) and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as the only one from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The prologue ends, “No one has ever seen God, the only begotten God, who exists into the bosom of the Father has revealed God.”
The prologue therefore depicts Jesus, the eternal Word of God, in a relationship of mutual indwelling between Father and Son. What Jesus tells Mary to tell his brothers* (not disciples, not friends, brothers) is that they, too, now exist in the same relationship with God in which Jesus exists, a relationship of mutual indwelling. John 14:20 puts it this way, “In that day (that is, when the Holy Spirit comes) you will know that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you.”
This relationship of mutual indwelling is love, divine Love. The earlier chapters of John’s Gospel focused on Jesus as the Light and the Life. The Gospel culminates in a focus on love. Love that is mutual indwelling. Love that is union with God. Love that is oneness. This love, and only this love, finally satisfies the longings of the heart. Because we were made for this love. This love, then, empowers us, uniquely empowers us, to wash one another’s feet and to wash the feet of the world.
You remain in my prayers,
Jim
*These Gospel Notes do not give me space to adequately address the question of women disciples. For now, suffice it to say that Mary Magdalene is the one who first met the risen Jesus, not the male disciples. And Mary is the one first given the Message and commissioned to declare it to the men.
