Peace Be With You

In this episode we read John 20 in its first-century context. We cover Jewish burial customs and the rock-cut tombs of Jerusalem, what "resurrection" meant to Jewish and Greek audiences, and why the first witnesses being women matters. We compare the Gospel accounts to see who was at the tomb and look at the timeline from Friday's burial to the following Sunday.

We also look at John's literary choices and word selection: three different verbs for "seeing," echoes of Genesis and the garden, Jesus breathing on the disciples, and Thomas's confession, "My Lord and my God," in a world where Caesar demanded those titles. We examine "Peace be with you" as both an everyday greeting and a statement of restored relationship, and John 20:23 on forgiving and retaining sins, including how different Christian traditions read it. We close with John's purpose statement in verses 30-31 and the blessing on those who believe without seeing.

Of course we have the best joke of the week and some tricky trivia!

Topics covered: Jewish burial and tombs, ancient views of resurrection, women as witnesses, comparing the Gospel accounts, "Peace be with you," forgiving and retaining sins, Thomas, John's purpose statement.

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