Teen Life Application Study Bible - Gospel of John - Flipbook - Page 31
JOHN 20
she replied, “and I don’t know where they have
put him.”
14
She turned to leave and saw someone
standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t
recognize him. 15“Dear woman, why are you
crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,”
she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me
where you have put him, and I will go and get
him.”
16
“Mary!” Jesus said.
She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!”
(which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
17
“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I
haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find
my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to
my Father and your Father, to my God and your
God.’”
18
Mary Magdalene found the disciples and
told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she
gave them his message.
JESUS APPEARS TO HIS DISCIPLES 19That
Sunday evening* the disciples were meeting
behind locked doors because they were afraid
of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was
1174
standing there among them! “Peace be with
you,” he said. 20As he spoke, he showed them
the wounds in his hands and his side. They
were filled with joy when they saw the Lord!
21
Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22Then
he breathed on them and said, “Receive the
Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive anyone’s sins, they
are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they
are not forgiven.”
JESUS APPEARS TO THOMAS 24One of the
twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the
Twin),* was not with the others when Jesus
came. 25They told him, “We have seen the
Lord!”
But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see
the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers
into them, and place my hand into the wound
in his side.”
26
Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with
them. The doors were locked; but suddenly,
as before, Jesus was standing among them.
“Peace be with you,” he said. 27Then he said
20:19 Greek In the evening of that day, the first day of the week.
20:24 Greek Thomas, who was called Didymus.
I WONDER . . .
After I became a Christian, I was told to start
reading the Bible, but it’s bigger than any
book I ever even attempted to read. Where
do I start?
Unfortunately, at no place in the Bible does it say,
“Start here,” and then, “Read this next.” Consequently, we need help.
When two people in love have to be separated for
a while, they usually send streams of letters to each
other. Intertwined with the boring facts about daily
life is a story of love and devotion to the other person.
To find the “good stuff,” you would have to wade
through the details. If you wanted to find out how
the relationship developed, you would need to go
through those details.
Sometimes that’s how it is with the Bible. The
events that occurred so long ago don’t seem to have
any relevance to us today. But if your goal is to understand the relationship between God and his people,
from Adam to Jesus, those details become essential
information.
New Christians usually want the “good stuff.”
Later, as they grow in their faith, they will be more
interested in the details that will help them put God’s
whole plan together.
So for now, consider these suggestions:
• Check out the Gospels to get to know Jesus. Listen
to his words. Try to understand what each story is
saying and watch how Jesus treats others. John tells
us that he wrote his book “so that you may continue
to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God,
and that by believing in him you will have life by
the power of his name” (John 20:31). The first four
books of the New Testament give four different perspectives on Jesus’ life. Getting to know him should
be your first priority.
• Next, read through some of the letters that Paul,
Peter, and John wrote to the early churches. Most of
the New Testament letters were written by Paul to
guide those first believers.
• Try Proverbs next. You can read one chapter a day
and finish the book in a month.
• After this, read books like Genesis, Exodus, Daniel,
and Jonah. They offer stories of real people whose
problems were not all that different from yours.
The Christian life has no shortcuts. We must be
disciplined enough to dig into the Bible to find all
the buried treasure that God wants to give those who
will dig deep enough. Many people read through the
Bible in a year. By reading the whole Bible, you can
see how God’s plan came about over the centuries.
