Unshaken: Chapter a Day

John 20 Discussion

• Pastor Plek

Share episode

Send us a text

A quiet garden, a rolled-away stone, and a name spoken through tears—that’s where everything changes. We step into John 20 and trace the early morning race to the empty tomb, the folded linens that whisper order after chaos, and the moment Mary mistakes Jesus for a gardener until he calls her by name. That recognition carries both tenderness and urgency: peace for a trembling heart and purpose for a shaken world. Do not cling, go and tell becomes the pivot from grief to mission.

From there, we move into a locked room where fear meets presence. Twice the doors are shut; twice Jesus stands among the disciples with the same steadying word: peace be with you. He shows the wounds, breathes on them as a sign of the Spirit to come, and entrusts the community with the authority to announce forgiveness. Thomas’s journey captures honest skepticism in all of us—hesitation born from heartache—until he touches reality and confesses, my Lord and my God. The scene becomes a blessing for our time: those who believe without seeing are not second-class; they are called blessed.

We wrap by drawing out the purpose of John’s gospel and what it means for daily life. Linger like Mary. Step fully in like Peter. Receive peace in your locked places. Then go and tell. If you’ve wrestled with doubt, if you’ve needed peace, or if you’ve wondered whether your story is too messy to matter, this conversation offers clarity, courage, and a clear path forward: believe and have life in his name.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs hope today, and leave a review to help others find it.

Text us at 737-231-0605 with any questions.

Pastor Plek:

And welcome back to a chapter a day. Keeps the devil away. I'm Pastor Pleck. That's Pastor Holland. We are talking John chapter 20. We're going to outline it. We're going to find some observations, get into some interpretation, and finally land the plane with some application that you can take along your way as you pray the day. What do you say? So here we go. Look at John 20, verses 1 through 10, the empty tomb. Mary Magdalene discovers the stones rolled away. Peter and the and the and John race the tomb. They find it with its linens folded and return believing-ish, but puzzled. All right. So uh then verses 11 through 18, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene. Mary just balls her eyes out, encounters two angels. Then Jesus, she mistakes him for the gardener and then recognizes him and then hugs him. He's like, hey, go tell the other disciples. Now, verse 19 through 23, Jesus appears to the disciples. Verses 24 through 29, we have the moment or the scene with Jesus and doubting Thomas. Thomas, like, if I don't see no proof, I ain't believing. And uh verses 30 and 31, Jesus then give, or John gives us the purpose of the gospel that many other signs were done that weren't written down so that you may believe that Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. All right, let's get into some observations about this text.

Pastor Holland:

Man, there's so many. We could do like an episode per verse per chapter. It is so good. My favorite thing about this chapter racing to the tomb. Racing to the tomb. And John is like, they're gonna know that I beat you.

Pastor Plek:

I won. But then Peter was like, I went in. You were too scared. And then John's like, yeah, but I won.

Pastor Holland:

He says it again at the end, you know. I just I it's the most like just relatable. I when I when you think about like which disciple do I relate to the most? I I am John. I go, if I beat you to the tomb, they will know for all eternity. It will be written in the scriptures. I will make sure that people know. Yeah. I love that.

Pastor Plek:

I love that. Okay. Um here's one that I thought was wild. Okay. Ready? Ready. The linen cloths are folded up. Yeah, okay.

Pastor Holland:

Like Jesus is make your bed. Make your morning.

Pastor Plek:

I was like, like of all the things to include, like, huh?

Pastor Holland:

He didn't just leave it in a little pile on the ground. Yeah, he could have like he could have husbands, fathers.

Pastor Plek:

Fold your clothes. That's basically what that means. All right, and how about this? So the the other disciple who reached the tomb first, he had to make sure he was actually there first, also went and sold and believed. Yeah, they didn't understand that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples just went home. Yep. Like they didn't go to the bar to celebrate. They didn't like they didn't even go to one house, they went to their own houses. Yeah. Just like take a nap.

Pastor Holland:

That was crazy. Yeah. Guess it's time to go home.

Pastor Plek:

I like, I don't like to me, I would be like, bro, that was crazy.

Pastor Holland:

And and so they missed seeing the angels and seeing Jesus because they just went home. But meanwhile, Mary's hanging out, lingered. Yeah. And she got to see the angels and see Jesus. Okay, and check this out. She, you know, he says, uh, she, you know, clings to him and he says, Don't cling to me. Um uh where I've yet to return to my father? Yes. Uh what verse is that? Where uh verse 17. 17. There it is, there it is. For I have not yet ascended to the Father. Okay, so all throughout John, you've seen Jesus as, you know, he's the um, you know, different aspects of the temple and the altar, right? He's like the lampstand, he's the light of the world. He's the, you know, the living water, um, like the basin. He's the bread of life. He's the good shepherd. And now he is the incense that has to rise up to, you know, what they had to light the incense, it symbolized their prayers going up. And now Jesus has to, the final thing of his, you know, fulfilling all the different, he's the sacrifice on the altar. Now he's the incense that needs to be sent. Contaminated. What? Contaminated? What do you mean?

Pastor Plek:

By Mary. Because she says, Don't touch me. Like here he is, he's just been mur murdered. He gets up from the dead, and the first thing he says to her, don't touch me.

Pastor Holland:

Well, not don't touch me. Don't cling to me. Okay, like get off me. Like, I don't, you I haven't finished, I'm not done yet. I have to do the final thing. I have to ascend the colour.

Pastor Plek:

And also because it says Mary. Yeah.

Pastor Holland:

And then then don't cling to me. And okay, so there's all these double meanings here. She mistakes them for the gardener. This is not just a little random detail. The garden, the garden, the everything starts, creation starts. From the garden to the garden, my friend. Boom. And so you have a death outside the garden. You know, you have the garden of Gethsemane, you have in chapter 19, um uh with the crucifixion, um, and you see a garden again there. Uh, and now you you see um like the full arc of this. Jesus is mistaken for the gardener. He's the he's he's the gardener, he's the vine dresser, he's the he's amazing. It's it's kind of wild. It's so cool.

Pastor Plek:

Okay, how about uh I mean, like, if if there's ever a moment that Mary might have needed just a moment, you would think that Jesus would give her. No, but here's the thing: you got your comfort. Hey, he's risen from the dead. Now get to work. Yeah. Go, you have hope. I'm alive. Now go tell. So I think what happens for a lot of us, we need so much therapy. Uh, in you know, like I need to get healed first before I get on mission, which I understand people are in different spots. But here, Mary Magdalene had been delivered from seven demons. If there's anybody that had some trauma, it was Mary. Yeah. And then the very thing that Jesus tells her to do is go and tell the disciples what you've seen and heard. Yeah. So it might, you know, straight to application on this one is like go and tell right those you care about that Jesus is alive.

Pastor Holland:

It's awesome. Okay, another observation. There's too many observations, but Jesus can go through walls. The doors are locked. It says that twice. Verse 19, the doors are locked. And then when he comes again, um He was the original Santa Claus. Verse 26. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you. He just appears, but he has walks through walls. Teleportation or go through walls, power.

Pastor Plek:

What he's got it. I mean, he was teleporting before teleporting was cool. All right, how about this? Thomas going, unless I see, I will not believe. How many people do you know fit that category? Yeah. Unless Jesus shows up here and is I'm not gonna believe. And Jesus says, Blessed are those who do not see yet believe.

Pastor Holland:

And that's us. You know, we haven't seen Jesus in the flesh. Um, well, I don't know if you have. I have I haven't, not yet. Uh, and you know, we believe, and so we're we're blessed. God has blessed us with faith apart from sight, and that's awesome.

Pastor Plek:

Okay, how about um eight days later, his disciples were inside again. So on a Monday. Yep. You know, is this holy Monday?

Pastor Holland:

It's interesting. Okay, here's one more thing. Eight has significant meaning. It does. But it's a Monday in this case. It is, but just saying. It is a Monday, but the you know, the eight the idea of a seven-day week and the eighth day, you know, being a little bit more than a little bit. It would always be like the Sunday creation. Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

Um, so there's some significance. So you're going with a Sabbath day reiteration, and now every now and then we're gonna have a holy Monday that we have off.

Pastor Holland:

You know, it's uh could be, could be.

Pastor Plek:

All right, how about this? Uh um, yeah, I feel like we've we've hammered out pretty much every possible observation here. Well, there's probably way more. Way more. We're gonna get into some uh truths about the nature of man.

Pastor Holland:

Nature of man, we have doubts of things that we haven't seen. So Thomas is like, you know, who who doesn't identify with Thomas about being like, man, I don't know. I can't believe it. Like, that's in all, even though we we have believed and we're like, okay, like we've had those moments of doubt. I mean, G Thomas saw Jesus walk on water.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, he saw Jesus tell the wind and waves to stop, he saw him multiply the loaves and fishes, he saw Jesus raise people from the dead, and somehow this is too hard for him to believe. Right. Uh I'm like, at some point you go, man, like your level of needing to believe stuff is.

Pastor Holland:

If I were Mary, I'd be like, for real? Like, why would I lie to you? Yeah, like what?

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, like I you are making this up. Yeah. Like, and I appreciate that because here's like I wonder how that went over. All you all liars.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. Like, here's Mary's like, I literally I saw two angels, I saw Jesus, I touched him, and he told me to go back and tell you guys. And Thomas' like, nope. Oh no, even better.

Pastor Plek:

Nice try. All the other ten. Yeah. And he walks through walls and they're like, Yeah, we saw. And he's like, No, you guys are lying. I of all that we've been through up to this point, I am not in on that.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. But here's the deal. He he is sincere. Like, there's some people, you know, that like show us a sign, the Pharisees. They didn't really want to, they didn't really want to believe in Jesus. They were just trying to test him. Thomas, he really wanted to believe. And he see Jesus shows up for him, and Thomas, like, all right, you got me. My Lord and my God. Um, also, another a confession of Jesus as God. So, I mean, we've hit this so many times in John, but um, Jesus is God. He's not just a prophet. Sorry, Muslims, Jesus is God. Wow. I'm laying it on him.

Pastor Plek:

All right, how about um yeah, I love all that. So the man just grapples, which we just saw with grief. Because it could have been also that he was just sad and he doesn't want to believe it, he doesn't want to get his hopes up. I think that might be Thomas' issues. Like, there's this part of us that doesn't want to believe the good news because we don't want to be let down. Yeah. And I think a lot of people, a lot of anxious people out there kind of live in worst-case scenario land, so they won't be disappointed. Yeah, right. Uh, how about let's get into the character of God. Um he blesses faith without sight. I love that.

Pastor Holland:

Amen. Um Jesus is the Son of God. Yeah, I think we've nailed that. It's theme verse, but also by believing, you may have life in his name. I like that. God is not a life taker. He was, you know, with all these demands from you, he needs something from you. God is a life giver. To be a Christian is to receive life, to enjoy life. Um, yeah, God is a life giver.

Pastor Plek:

He's a rest giver and a purpose giver. I I just I think Mary's peace giver, verse 26. Yeah, yeah. Okay, peace giver and then purpose giver. So he gives Mary peace in like when she has a this moment of ultimate clarity and joy and peace, and then immediately he gives her purpose to go and do something. Yeah. And I think if you are not benched, you're there, you're not a benched Christian. Like you just need to get your life together more before you start telling people about Jesus. Go tell people about Jesus today. In fact, let's get into some applicacion, shall we? Uh, unless you got one more about the okay.

Pastor Holland:

We I mean, we haven't hit on the filioque in a few chapters, but Jesus does breathe on them and say, receive the Holy Spirit. He does. Jesus gives them the Holy Spirit. Is the Holy Spirit in his breath? You know, I think it's a symbolic act here. And then well, that's an interpretation. We know they don't, you know, it's on with Pentecost that the spirit actually, right?

Pastor Plek:

Like he's it came out literally, Holy Spirit literally came out of his mouth.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, literally. But we know Pentecost is when the spirit comes down. You know, so that's this is not yet happened. Yeah, this is like a you know, he's getting them ready. He's getting them ready for it. But then he tells them to wait, you gotta wait until Pentecost.

Pastor Plek:

All right, all right.

Pastor Holland:

You know, it could have been like which happens after the pre-ascension of Jesus. That's my take. That's my take.

Pastor Plek:

All right.

Pastor Holland:

Um, what else?

Pastor Plek:

Um, yeah, I think that's we on character of God or we application. We're on character of God. Uh we could probably land the plan on that and then get to some application. Okay. How about a sin to confess or avoid, a promise to claim, an example to follow, command to obey, or knowledge to believe. What do you got there?

Pastor Holland:

Do not disbelieve, but believe.

Pastor Plek:

Nice. There's your command to obey. I I love that. How about stop disbelieving? Yeah. And in in that lens, obey the command to go as a witness. You've got rest. Now you've got purpose. Go and tell uh my disciples. Go and find someone that's a future disciple. Yeah. Receive the Holy Spirit, command to obey.

Pastor Holland:

Did you know that anyone who asks for the Holy Spirit will be given to them? Luke 11. Man, it's such a great verse. And yeah, it's tied to verse 23. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. That's good. And so the you know, the church has a responsibility to proclaim the gospel, which is where, you know, our forgiveness comes from by hearing and believing the gospel and being forgiven of our sins. So it's good.

Pastor Plek:

How about um blessing is for all generations because we don't get to see and yet still believe.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

And um and by believing, we may have we have life in his name. So I I love those kind of combining those two. Like you listen, a promise for you to claim is that you have life uh and you have blessing. Yeah.

Pastor Holland:

I love that.

Pastor Plek:

All right, what else you got?

Pastor Holland:

I think about this, might this might be a little odd one, but Mary just kind of lingering there, and then the blessing that came. She got to see the angels and see Jesus. Um, she didn't just hurry home. This this may be a stretch, but I'm like, in your time with the Lord in the morning, like linger there. Don't just go, boom, you know, I read my thing and boom, on to the next thing. That's kind of like what the guys were like. I feel like that's what men typically are like is like bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. So we did the thing. I'm out. Yeah. And you know, Mary lingers there and you know, she gets to experience um the presence of Jesus in a powerful way. And so whether it's a church, you know, linger at church, don't just go a little more lingering at church.

Pastor Plek:

Don't, you know, if the pastor's there trying to lock up, just linger a little longer.

Pastor Holland:

Okay, you know, take it for take it with a grain of salt.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, just uh linger, linger. Like sit there and enjoy the presence of God because you not might you might miss a blessing if you just head straight home. Example to follow.

Pastor Holland:

Um be out, be fast. Yeah, outrun. I there's a metaphor, there's a some kind of metaphor in there.

Pastor Plek:

Run, be the first one to the tomb.

Pastor Holland:

First one to the tomb. Uh, you know, don't slack. I don't know. There's something there.

Pastor Plek:

Or how about that? Make sure if you race to the tomb, you go in all the way.

Pastor Holland:

There you go. Let why don't we just say metaphors let other people decide what they mean? Yeah. Be the first one to the tomb. I love it. Go in all the way. Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

Um, how about uh yeah, I I I'm kind of stuck on those two now. Mary coming to the tomb early while it was still dark. So like I think that's huge. Like, I think the thing about Mary is that nobody was there doing a countdown for the resurrection. Yeah. Like nobody thought that nobody was gonna be in the tomb. They were they were just thinking she was, and here's the other thing. They already put 75 pounds worth of myrrh and balm and whatever you do. Like, how much more did he need?

Pastor Holland:

Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

I mean, this is where maybe the application is that no matter how good of a job you do as a man, a woman will always criticize it. No, no, that's not true. That's not true. Improve upon it, man. Improve upon it, improve upon it. Improve upon it. Yeah, that's way better. Okay. All right. All right, man, we're we're digressing.

Pastor Holland:

Um let's wrap it up with you should believe that Jesus is the Christ. Yes, the Son of God.

Pastor Plek:

And by believing, you should have lives in his name. All right, hey, thanks so much for joining us. We will see you next time on a chapter.

Podcasts we love

Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.