is know the rest of the story (John 20 - 21)

John’s is the strangest, most complicated gospel so it shouldn’t be a surprise that his telling of the resurrection should be different.  In the other three gospels Mary Magdalene and another woman arrive at the tomb and in various tellings see that the stone has been removed and that Jesus is not there.  They go to tell the disciples.  In John, Mary Magdalene is alone and when she sees that the rock has been removed, she runs to tell Peter and "the disciple that Jesus loved" (the one at the cross mentioned).  Given the various minor differences in other scenes this shouldn’t be a big deal.  But...

Peter and the other disciple run to the tomb.  The one that Jesus loved gets there first but he doesn’t go in.  Peter goes in and sees the tomb is empty.   Then the disciple “who got there first” goes in and believes.  Peter and the disciple return home.  Why this emphasis on the unnamed disciple?

At this point, Mary Magdalene looks in the tomb and sees two angels.  When she turns around she sees Jesus but she does not recognize him.   When she finally realizes that it is Jesus, he tells her to tell the disciples that he is returning to his Father.  She does so, but Jesus doesn't return to his Father.  He meets with the disciples and tells them that if they forgive people’s sins the people will be forgiven.

A week later he again returns to the disciples (through a locked door) and this time Thomas is present.  He didn’t believe the disciples when they told him about the first visit.  He wanted proof.   Jesus tells Thomas to touch his hands and his side and believe.  Then Jesus says to Thomas, “Do you believe because you see me?   How happy are those that believe and don’t see.”  Finally, Jesus returns to the disciples a third time and helps them catch 153 fish.  

Jesus then asks Peter if he loves him and Peter replies that he does.  Jesus asks him three times (probably symbolic of the three denials) and Peter responds that he does.  Jesus then warns Peter of Peter’s own death.

Finally we learn the identity of the other disciple – the one that Jesus loved, the one that Jesus said would now be Mary’s son, the one that reached the tomb in a race with Peter.  It is the gospel writer John, "the one that told of these things, and the one that wrote everything down.  And we know what he said is true.”

The last line is interesting to me.  It sounds like the writer of this gospel is not John but perhaps a disciple of John who is retelling the events that John told.   It is also interesting because there seems to be some attempt at making John more important than the other gospel writers and the other disciples.  In Luke there is an argument between the disciples about which one is the greatest and in Mark, the brothers James and John ask to be placed on either side of Jesus in the Kingdom.  Now, in this gospel we have John being declared  the one Jesus loved most.  John is the one that Jesus told to be Mary’s son.  John is the first to reach the empty tomb.  And John’s gospel is true.  

In his letter to Theophilus that begins his gospel, Luke says that many stories have been written and that he wants Theophilus to know the truth.  John’s gospel also wants to ensure that people know that it is the truth.  Matthew mentions the Jews bribing the Romans to tell that the body of Jesus was stolen while the guards slept.  I am wondering what stories are out there that were not considered the truth.