Deuteronomy 10:8

10:8 At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi ¹  to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before the Lord to serve him, and to formulate blessings ²  in his name, as they do to this very day.

Deuteronomy 18:5

18:5 For the Lord your God has chosen them and their sons from all your tribes to stand ³  and serve in his name ⁴  permanently.

Deuteronomy 18:7

18:7 and serves in the name of the Lord his God like his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord.

Luke 10:16

10:16 “The one who listens ⁵  to you listens to me, ⁶  and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects ⁷  the one who sent me.” ⁸ 

John 12:48

12:48 The one who rejects me and does not accept ⁹  my words has a judge; ¹⁰  the word ¹¹  I have spoken will judge him at the last day.

John 20:23

20:23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; ¹²  if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained.” ¹³ 

John 20:1

The Resurrection

20:1 Now very early on the first day of the week, ¹⁴  while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene ¹⁵  came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been moved away from the entrance. ¹⁶ 

John 4:2

4:2 (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were), ¹⁷ 

John 4:8

4:8 (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies. ¹⁸ ) ¹⁹ 

¹ sn The Lord set apart the tribe of Levi. This was not the initial commissioning of the tribe of Levi to this ministry (cf. Num 3:11-13; 8:12-26), but with Aaron’s death it seemed appropriate to Moses to reiterate Levi’s responsibilities. There is no reference in the Book of Numbers to this having been done, but the account of Eleazar’s succession to the priesthood there (Num 20:25-28) would provide a setting for this to have occurred.

² sn To formulate blessings. The most famous example of this is the priestly “blessing formula” of Num 6:24-26.

³ tc Smr and some Greek texts add “before the Lord your God” to bring the language into line with a formula found elsewhere (Deut 10:8; 2 Chr 29:11). This reading is not likely to be original, however.

⁴ tn Heb “the name of the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

⁵ tn Grk “hears you”; but as the context of vv. 8-9 makes clear, it is response that is the point. In contemporary English, “listen to” is one way to express this function (L&N 31.56).

⁶ sn Jesus linked himself to the disciples’ message: Responding to the disciples (listens to you) counts as responding to him.

⁷ tn The double mention of rejection in this clause – ἀθετῶν ἀθετεῖ (aqetwn aqetei) in the Greek text – keeps up the emphasis of the section.

⁸ sn The one who sent me refers to God.

⁹ tn Or “does not receive.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “has one who judges him.”

¹¹ tn Or “message.”

¹² tn Grk “they are forgiven to them.” The words “to them” are unnecessary in English and somewhat redundant.

¹³ sn The statement by Jesus about forgive or retaining anyone’s sins finds its closest parallel in Matt 16:19 and 18:18. This is probably not referring to apostolic power to forgive or retain the sins of individuals (as it is sometimes understood), but to the “power” of proclaiming this forgiveness which was entrusted to the disciples. This is consistent with the idea that the disciples are to carry on the ministry of Jesus after he has departed from the world and returned to the Father, a theme which occurred in the Farewell Discourse (cf. 15:27, 16:1-4, and 17:18).

¹⁴ sn The first day of the week would be early Sunday morning. The Sabbath (and in this year the Passover) would have lasted from 6 p.m. Friday until 6 p.m. Saturday. Sunday would thus mark the first day of the following week.

¹⁵ sn John does not mention that Mary Magdalene was accompanied by any of the other women who had been among Jesus’ followers. The synoptic accounts all mention other women who accompanied her (although Mary Magdalene is always mentioned first). Why John does not mention the other women is not clear, but Mary probably becomes the focus of the author’s attention because it was she who came and found Peter and the beloved disciple and informed them of the empty tomb (20:2). Mary’s use of the plural in v. 2 indicates there were others present, in indirect agreement with the synoptic accounts.

¹⁶ tn Grk “from the tomb.”

¹⁷ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

¹⁸ tn Grk “buy food.”

¹⁹ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author, indicating why Jesus asked the woman for a drink (for presumably his disciples also took the water bucket with them).