THE NEWS THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING: HE
IS RISEN!
John 20:1-18
Introduction: One
of my great-grandmothers was a Ukrainian immigrant. They came over early in the
20th century. She died around 1970. One thing I remember about her, is
the beautiful eggs she decorated at Easter time. Not just colored eggs, but
carefully, artistically designed patterns. Some of those eggs would be eaten,
others had the egg carefully removed from the shell before it was dyed so that
they could be displayed longer. A strange thing, so beautiful on the outside, it
looked like an egg, but a hollow shell, empty. Paul said a similar thing would
be true of Christianity if it were not for the historical fact of the resurrection
of Jesus…
17 And if Christ
has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen
asleep in Christ have perished. 19
If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be
pitied. 20 But in fact Christ
has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Cor 15:17-20).
The death and resurrection of Jesus
together were the pivotal moment in the history of redemption. In the beginning
of the Letter to the Romans, Paul said that Jesus was “…declared
to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the
resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). Peter wrote in his first letter,
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to
His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and
undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept
by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the
last time” (I Peter 1:3-5).
So, the resurrection both vindicates the claim
that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and it gives us a sure hope
because He has defeated death. We started a series in the Gospel of Mark about
a year ago, but for today, I want to pick up the story of Jesus in the Gospel
of John, where we left off last week on Palm Sunday. In many respects the Cross
is the climax of the story from John’s perspective as Jesus willingly goes to
the cross and gives His life as a ransom for many. He said in John 12:27-28a,
“Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from
this hour? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your
name…”
That is the “lifting up of the Son”
which the entire Gospel had been anticipating. But John won’t neglect to report
“part 2” of the glorification of the Son – His resurrection from the dead. Recall Paul’s summary of the gospel, the “Good
News,” at the beginning of I Corinthians 15:3-4, “…Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and was buried. He
was raised again the third day according to the Scriptures…” That is the
foundation of our faith and the heart of our hope. As Eric Sauer said,
“The present age is Eastertime. It began with the resurrection of the Redeemer,
and will end with the resurrection of the redeemed. In between lies the spiritual
resurrection of those called into new life through faith in Christ. And so we
live between two Easters. And in the power of the first Easter, we go to meet
the last Easter” (Triumph of the Crucified).
It is that part of the gospel story,
as related by the beloved disciple, an eyewitness, one of the first to arrive
at the empty tomb, that we come to today. At the heart of the Gospel message,
the power that works in us and gives assurance, is the truth that Christ “…rose again the third day according to the
Scriptures…” Every other human biography
eventually terminates with the death of the person who is the subject of the
book. There is an indispensable addendum to this story: Jesus is alive! We
serve a risen Savior!
The Big Idea: Our
Hope is sure because the tomb really was empty, and Jesus really is alive. THAT
is really Good News!
I. The Tomb really was empty (20:1-10). Seemingly, it was the last thing that any of them
had expected. Are we surprised that they were so slow to catch on? After all Jesus had repeatedly told them that
it was necessary for him to be betrayed, crucified, and ultimately raised from
the dead on the third day. They didn’t yet have ears to hear or eyes to see.
They had some framework for the possibility of someone rising from the dead in
that Lazarus was raised by Jesus after four days in the tomb. But now Jesus
himself was dead, it was the third day. How could they hope that He
would somehow walk alive out of the tomb on his own? There were no “hooks” to
hang that hat on!
As the passage opens, we see
the Struggle of Faith (20:1,2). We
see that in the struggle of Mary Magdalene to grasp what had happened…
Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early,
while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the
tomb. 2 So she ran and went
to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to
them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where
they have laid him."
John tells us that somehow she arrived at the tomb before the other
women and is the first to see the stone rolled away from the entrance. According
to the other gospels, at some point she met the other women, and apparently at
least looked into the tomb to see that the body was not there. Her immediate
conclusion: someone must have stolen his body and removed it from the tomb. It
wasn’t bad enough that the rulers had rejected Him and that Pilate had gone
along with an unjust execution, but now He is denied the decency of having his
body left in peace in the grave!
Notice a small detail here: Mary came to the tomb while it was still
dark. Besides giving us the obvious time reference, night and day in
John repeatedly also has a spiritual significance. Remember that Nicodemus had
come to Jesus “at night” and we see that he was still in the dark
spiritually as well. He couldn’t understand what Jesus was saying when He talked
about being born again. “How can these
things be?” Jesus asked him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not
understand these things? (Jn 3:10). “Nick at Night” was still in the dark.
Mary Magdalene arrives at the tomb, sees the stone rolled away and the tomb
empty, but she too was still in the dark, she didn’t (yet!) understand the meaning
of the empty tomb. She concluded that someone must have stolen the body! So she
ran to Peter and John with the news.
The prophet Habbakuk said “the
just shall live by faith” and that became one of the key themes in Paul’s
letters. Though at one level faith is “believing God, taking Him at His word…”
it also means trusting Him as His story unfolds in history and in our
lives. Many times, as we are passing through this life we will struggle, as
Mary did, and pray, like the Father who brought his demon possessed son to
Jesus in Mark 9:24, “Lord, I believe,
help my unbelief…” So, we see the very real human struggle of faith…
As the story continues, we see the
Growth of Faith (20:3-9).
3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were
going toward the tomb. 4 Both
of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached
the tomb first. 5 And
stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go
in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following
him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had
been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place
by itself. 8 Then the other
disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and
believed; 9 for as yet they
did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to
their homes.
Peter and John raced to the tomb, John gets there first and stops at the
entrance and looks in, Peter catches up and runs right past him into the tomb. It’s not too surprising at this point to
see Peter go rushing in! No doubt their heads were spinning as they tried
to make sense out of what they had heard, what was happening, and what this
meant. NB. Peter first sees the grave clothes lying empty. But then John sees,
and believes. In this
context, after the resurrection, it seems like this must mean that he came to a
fuller, correct understanding of who Jesus is and that He was alive again. Ultimately, the transformation in these
men is a powerful testimony to the historicity of what happened. How else
can you explain men who ran in fear, and who denied they knew Him, later fearlessly
proclaiming the Gospel at the risk of their own lives? The two responses of these
disciples at this moment serve as a good reminder that God is working in
our midst and we are all different, at different places in our walk of
faith. The tomb really was and is empty!
That is a fact of history. Has the significance of that truth come home to your
heart? It is not only the revelation of that fact historically, but
the interpretation of it verbally that God uses to speak to our hearts.
Notice
the experience of the disciples, we read in verse 9, “For as yet they did not
know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.” Elsewhere Paul reminds us that “Faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ” (Rom 10:13). Somehow, God’s
Word is “activated” in us. As Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice…” The
God who is has spoken! We have the Bible. We need to be reading it. We need to
be under sound teaching. We need to take
God at His Word, receiving the Word which is “living and active and sharper
than any two-edged sword.” It is through the Word that we know that Jesus defeated death and that
He is who He claimed to be. He is worthy of our worship and our obedience. You
see, 1) the tomb really is really because; 2)…
II. Jesus really is alive (20:10-16)! The empty tomb is intriguing, but it needs to be
explained. What happened? Where was the body? What does it mean?
10 Then the disciples went back to their homes. 11 But Mary stood weeping outside
the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in
white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the
feet. 13 They said to her,
"Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken
away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." 14 Having said this, she turned
around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, "Woman,
why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing him to be the
gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me
where you have laid him, and I will take him away." 16 Jesus said to her,
"Mary." She turned and said to him in Aramaic, "Rabboni!"
(which means Teacher).
We have eyewitness testimony to the
resurrection! The early opponents of Christianity attempted to circulate
“explanations” to deal with the problem of the empty tomb (even if they had to
make them up!). We read in Matthew 28:11-15…
“Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city
and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. When they
had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of
money to the soldiers, saying, ‘Tell them, “His disciples came at night and
stole Him away while we slept.” ‘And if this comes to the governor's ears, we
will appease him and make you secure.’ So they took the money and did as they
were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this
day.”
Evidently when Matthew
wrote his gospel there was an ongoing attempt by the Jewish leaders to “explain
away” the empty tomb. There attempts to do so confirm that the tomb was indeed
empty. A made up story is meaningless. The only thing that matters is what really
happened. At first even the disciples weren’t sure.
When we look at Mary Magdalene it
is clear that what we don’t know about the big story, what God is doing
in the world, can bring grief (11-13). Mary returns to the tomb, weeping, heartbroken,
confused. She was hurting, she didn’t
understand, but she didn’t stop seeking.
She bent down and looked into the tomb. The implication is that she
wanted to understand, to make sense out of this story that was unfolding before
her eyes. She was seeking the truth. So,
she looks in… and sees two angels! By the language here it seems as though she
did not realize that they were angels, even as they spoke with her. Morning
had dawned, but Mary, for the moment, was still in the dark. “Why are you weeping?” the angels
ask. She replies, “…They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid
Him…” The tomb is empty, but Mary still hasn’t understood what had
happened. Then the Light of the World shines on her.
In the midst of our pain Jesus
calls us by name
(14-16). That one word, the Master calling her name, opened her understanding,
illumined her faith: “Mary!” He knows us intimately, personally. Have you
had a time of darkness when you were struggling to understand, to make sense of
a difficult moment in your life? Sometimes it’s in those times of tribulation
that God teaches us the most. C.S. Lewis said “God whispers to us in our
pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains.” Mary, confused
and in tears, in pain, hears Jesus speak her name, and replies immediately,
with recognition and assurance, “Teacher!”
It’s rarely an audible voice, but just as surely the Master speaks to us today.
It certainly may be through Scripture, or through the love of Christ that flows
through a brother or sister around us, or maybe a song that brings sound
theology to our heart and moves us closer to Him… He knows our name, and He
wants us to trust Him, to believe Him. That is the Big Idea: Our Hope is
sure because 1) the tomb really was empty, and 2) Jesus really is alive. 3) THAT
is really Good News!
III. THAT Is REALLY Good News! Here, we see that Mary was sent as a “witness” (17-18). Jesus told her to go to the
others and tell what she saw and heard from Him…
"Jesus said to her, ‘Do
not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My
brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to
My God and your God.' " 18
Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that
He had spoken these things to her.” (John 20:17-18).
Jesus said “Go and tell.” So,
Mary, obediently, joyfully, “went and told!” After all, she had met with Jesus and out of
the ashes of her life, sprang hope. Her task now was to bring hope to others around
her who also were hurting, by being a witness to the Truth. And just a few
verses down in that chapter, He appears to the disciples and says, “Peace be
with you. As the Father has sent me, even so, I am sending you” (Jn 20:22).
This is really Good News, it
is the best news ever! And it changes everything.
What is God saying to me in this passage? Our hope is sure because the tomb is
really empty, and Jesus is really alive. That is really Good News!
What would God have me to do in response to this passage? Because Jesus defeated death, we
know He is who He claimed to be. The work is done. He is worthy of our
worship. Do you believe? Will you trust
Him even in the times of darkness?
1) Have you believed the simple truth of the Gospel message? It means first
of all admitting that we are a sinner and acknowledging that our sin
separates us from God (Rom 3:23). Secondly, we have to believe that
Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for our sins on the cross (John 3:16).
And then finally we have to trust Him as our personal Lord and Savior:
He died for you, personally, and rose again (Rom 10:9,10).
2) Will you determine to live by faith, remembering His presence, even
when the trials of life in this sin cursed world try to eclipse the Light? Remember
we know the One who is the Light of the World. We have seen His glory! He is the God of all Creation, and He is
bigger than anything we might be facing.
3) If you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, know that He has placed
you exactly where He wants you. The people in your sphere of influence desperately
need to know Him. Pray, and be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in
you! AMEN.
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