John 20:1 • Point of View

The John Project

When I was a young man, I toured with a Christian rock band, and in 1977, we recorded a live concert for television to promote the release of an album. The show was captured from different angles by a variety of cameras, and their individual feeds were edited together to create the version for broadcast. But immediately after the performance, our band had to get back out on the road. So, we didn’t get to see the finished version when it aired. But nearly a decade later, while visiting a distribution warehouse, I was shocked and thrilled to find an original video tape from that concert in a random box just sitting on one of the shelves. It was the feed from only one of the cameras and doesn’t capture everything. But because of its distinct vantage point, it preserves aspects of the performance that likely didn’t appear in the televised version. So, I’ve come to appreciate the value of that camera’s point of view. A point of view is the perspective from which something is observed or experienced. And the accounts of the resurrection of Jesus contained in the New Testament vary a bit from each other because of that. Each person who lived through that event experienced it from within the context of their individual perspective. It’s one story with the same start and finish, but it’s wrapped around an assortment of other stories taking place inside it because of the witnesses’ different frames of reference. And the gospel writers had their OWN points of view. Under the direction of the Holy Spirit, each of them had a distinct purpose for their writing and a different audience in mind when they made the choices about which of the stories within the story to include. Taken together, though, it’s like having the opportunity to view the same scene through the lenses of different cameras. And that provides us with a fuller, richer picture of what happened. But there’s also value in tightening the focus and zeroing in on a single vantage point to savor the unique details it captures. And that’s the choice John made for his account of the discovery of the empty grave and revelation of the risen Savior. The first verse of chapter 20 sets those events within the frame of a single point of view. According to the other gospels, there were several women who came to Jesus’ tomb early on the first Easter morning. But John only mentions one of them, Mary Magdalene. Magdalene was not her last name. It’s a reference to where she came from, the city of Magdala. And maybe where she came from is part of the reason why her viewpoint was important to John. I’m not referring to the geographical location of her past but to what she experienced there. According to Luke (8:2), she had lived under the horrors inflicted on her soul by seven demonic spirits until she encountered Jesus and was set from that bondage. As a result, the intensity of her devotion to him was on full display as she moved from grief over his death through confusion at the disappearance of his body to the joy of his resurrection appearance. It was as if nothing and no one else mattered. And maybe her point of view reveals something about God’s. Isn’t that the way he loves us, as though nothing and no one else matters? Yes, the Bible says he loves the whole world (John 3:16), but it also describes him as a shepherd who’s willing to leave the ninety-nine to rescue the one lost lamb (Matthew 18:11-13). And once when Jesus was pressing through the push and shove of a sizeable crowd, he still knew when one specific woman reached out and touched the hem of his garment. We’re told he sought her, made eye contact with her, spoke to her, and ministered healing to her as if she was the only person there (Luke 8:43-48). God’s love is intently focused on each of us individually. And in those times when we’re tempted to believe otherwise, may the Holy Spirit remind us that we are his point of view.