The chapter
Simply Mary Magdalene finds the tomb open before dawn and runs to fetch Peter and another disciple, who race there and find the cloths. She stays behind crying, takes Jesus for the gardener, and knows him when he says her name. That evening he comes through locked doors to the others. Thomas is not there and will not believe it; a week later he is there, and says the largest thing anyone says in this book.
Context The chapter is organised by who recognises him and how long it takes. The other disciple believes on the evidence of folded cloth at verse 8; Mary does not recognise him by sight at verse 14 and does by her name at verse 16; the disciples need his hands and side at verse 20; Thomas asks for the same and is offered it. Verses 30 and 31 then close the book, saying what it was written for. That the book continues afterwards is the subject of chapter 21.
Verses 1-18
Simply Mary comes while it is still dark, sees the stone moved, and assumes the body has been taken. Peter and the other disciple run; the other one arrives first but waits, Peter goes in first, and then the other goes in and believes. They go home. Mary stays outside crying, sees two angels, turns, and takes the man behind her for the gardener. He says her name and she knows him. He tells her not to hold on to him, and sends her to the others.
Context Verse 9 is the most honest line in the chapter and it comes immediately after belief: he saw and believed, and as yet they did not know the Scripture that he must rise. The text lets the belief and the not-knowing stand together. Verse 15 is the only place in this Gospel where someone mistakes Jesus for a specific occupation, and the guess fits the setting, since 19:41 put the tomb in a garden. What convinces Mary is not the empty tomb, which she has already seen and read as theft, and not the angels, but one word, her own name, which is the sheep hearing the voice that 10:3 described.
Verses 19-23
Simply That evening the disciples are shut in behind locked doors because they are afraid. Jesus comes and stands among them and says peace. He shows them his hands and his side, and they are glad. He says it again, and adds that he is sending them as the Father sent him. Then he breathes on them and tells them to receive the Holy Spirit, and gives them the power to forgive.
Context The first thing he does after saying peace is show the wounds, so the identification and the injury are the same act. Verse 22 is the only place in the four Gospels where anyone breathes on anyone, and the same verb is used of God in Genesis 2:7, which a reader can open here. The sending at verse 21 uses the pattern set at 17:18, where the same comparison was made in a prayer they were listening to.
Verses 24-31
Simply Thomas was not there, and says he will not believe unless he can put his finger in the nail marks and his hand in the side. Eight days later Jesus comes back through locked doors and tells Thomas to do exactly that, and to stop being unbelieving. Thomas answers, my Lord and my God. Jesus says those who have not seen and believe are blessed. Then the book says why it was written.
Context Thomas asks for exactly what the others were given at verse 20 without asking, which is worth noticing before he is called a doubter. The text does not say whether he touched anything. Verse 28 is the fullest confession in the book, fuller than Martha's at 11:27 and Peter's at 6:69, and it is spoken by the one who held out longest. Verses 30 and 31 read like the last page: they say the signs were selected, that many are left out, and what the selection was for. Anyone reading the book straight through meets an ending here, and then another chapter.