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John 20:16 is a verse in the Gospel of John in the Bible. The verse describes the moment that Mary Magdalene realizes that Jesus has returned from the dead. Mary has found Jesus' tomb empty and is worrying about what happened to his body. At first she does not recognize Jesus when he appears, thinking he is a gardener. In John 20:16 she recognizes him when he calls her by name.
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In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:
Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.In the English Standard Version it reads:
Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).In the Vulgate Bible the text reads:
dicit ei Iesus Maria conversa illa dicit ei rabboni quod dicitur magisterContext
John 20:14 has already mentioned that Mary had turned around to see Jesus, so why does this verse say she turns again? One school of thought is that unmentioned by the author Mary had turned away from Jesus in the meantime. Kastner argues that she did so because the resurrected Jesus was nude. According to Brown most scholars simply believe that she had not fully turned in John 20:14 and was now fully turning towards Jesus.
Mary earlier did not recognize Jesus. When he addresses her by name she quickly realizes who it is. Some scholars link this to John 10:3, which states that "the good shepherd calleth to him by name every sheep of his flock", arguing that Jesus using Mary's name had deep powers. Some see Mary's transition from ignorance to worship as a metaphor for the adoption of faith.
Other gospels
The three other gospels do not recount this exchange, and give somewhat different accounts of the event. Matthew 28:9, for instance goes:
And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.This passage describes the women having already been informed of the resurrection by the angels in the tomb and leaving to tell the disciples of the event. It also clearly describes more than one woman being present, and omits the period where Mary is uncertain of Jesus' identity. Mark, and Luke agree with Matthew on these incongruities. Some scholars, such as Norman Geisler, explain this by arguing that, unmentioned by John, Mary ran into another group of women after leaving the tomb. This larger group returns goes to the tomb together whence the events described by the Synoptic Gospels unfold.
Mystery play
The York Cycle of English mystery plays has a whole (ten-minute) play about this incident. The word discussed above is Rabony in the original manuscript and Rabbi in one modernized version.