John 20 19: 29 From The Gospel Of John

In this particular pericope, John 20 19:29, from the gospel of John provides for the reader an account of the resurrected Christ appearing to his disciples. I have clearly demarcated the boundaries of this passage to contain full, clear thoughts and capture the story that is at hand. Verse 19 begins with, “so when it was evening on that day” which tells the reader that there is a change in scenery and narrative. Verse 30 begins with “therefore” and begins a short explanation as to why the gospel was written. One might say that this pericope could be broken up at verse 24, but the use of δέ (but) tells us that 24-29 is contingent on what is happening in 19-23 and is therefore included. This text belongs in the genre of narrative, as it continues the story of the resurrected Christ that began in the beginning of the chapter. Not only is the text narrative, but it is a gospel narrative which is of note. When reading the gospels, and particularly John, every aspect of the story is important for it was carefully chosen, discerned, and retold “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (Jn. 20:31b).

Our passage comes at the end of John’s gospel and contains the breathing of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples and Thomas’s famous moment of doubt. We can consider the “about-ness” of the text to include both the narration of the resurrected Christ breathing the Holy Spirit on the disciples and the struggle that Thomas had to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. This focus is

The words of Jesus are quite clear. I presume some might want to read the Lucan account of the sending of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-13) into this account given in John. This seems natural to equate the two, but when considering gospel narratives, we must seek to consider each on its own terms first, rather than initially reading one into the