The Question I have for you today is, do we really Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus?
• Put yourselves in the shoes of the disciples for a moment.
• You had just witnessed the brutal death of your personal companion and friend, you literally saw him draw His last agonising breath, then saw Him being carried off to be placed in His rocky tomb, there He then spent three days in a guarded and sealed off grave, and then comes the incredulous news from Mary Magdalene that Jesus’ body was no longer in the grave, would you have believed her?
• This was the dilemma the early disciples faced when Mary Magdalene suddenly rushed in and told them Jesus’ body was no longer in the grave.
• Such was the scepticism, that only two of them, Peter and John were motivated to go down and check the facts for themselves
• John 20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark,
• One of the things you notice in this account is there is a certain amount of confusion as to some of the details, well this is the reason, it was “still dark”.
• Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.
• Mary Magdalene was the woman Jesus had earlier cleansed of seven demons but remarkably she also became one of Jesus’ travelling companions (Luke 8:1-3).
• Sometimes we might have reservations about the type of people we want to associate with or even invite to church.
• Jesus apparently didn’t have this type of reservation. Mary Magdalene could well have been another women about whom the Pharisees would have asked the question, “Does He know what kind of a women she is?”
• Jesus’ response to the pharisees is revealing, Luke 7:37 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”
• So we begin to see the deep connection between this forgiven sinner and Jesus despite the obvious baggage she carried.
• The message fortunately for us is, regardless of our past sins and the baggage we carry, Jesus is more than willing to accept us and to have an intimate relationship with us.
• 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
• Despite Jesus telling those who travelled with him a number of times that He would be crucified but would rise again on the third day, the message still did not register with them.
• It is not only atheists who ridicule Jesus’ resurrection, but there are even liberal theologians in the Christian community who don’t believe Jesus was actually resurrected from the dead and even question His miracles.
• They have been so programmed by a society that bases everything on fact and reason but fail to accept there may be forces and powers at work beyond the physical realm.
• 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.
• Notice what John’s focus was. What caused John to pause at the entrance was the state of the grave-clothes.
• The grave-clothes did not look as if they had been unwound or slipped off Jesus’ body.
• They were arranged just as if the resurrected body of Jesus had simply passed through them without rearranging or disturbing them.
• 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.
• 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.
• The state of the graveclothes confirmed for John that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead and death no longer held any power over him.
• Jesus’ word was not good enough for John, he wanted empirical evidence Jesus had risen from the dead.
• The condition of the graveclothes also indicated that the body of Jesus had not been stolen by His disciples or thieves.
• 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
Now we see demonstrated the deep affection Mary had for Jesus
• Remember what we read earlier, Luke 7:37 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”
• Her sins under the influence of seven demons must have been substantial and there must have been quite a bit of doubt about her rehabilitation.
• Even today, some doubters speculate as to whether or not Jesus and Mary had an intimate romantic relationship.
• We will speak more about this later.
To Mary belongs the honour of being the first person to see the Risen Christ.
• We can speculate she was given this honour because of her deep affection for Jesus.
• Here we see her sobbing over the events of the previous days.
• She had initially come to the tomb with two other ladies to adorn the crucified body of Jesus with spices.
• She was the one who rushed back to the disciples to let them know Jesus’ body was no longer in the tomb.
• Now she had come back to the tomb to grieve and mourn her loss only to believe that Jesus’ body had been stolen.
• 11 But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
• We need to think about this picture of the two angels seated one at the head and one at the foot of where Jesus’ body had laid. What does this description of two angels sitting at the end of another biblical object remind us of?
• Very much like the Ark of the Old Covenant with the Mercy Seat with a covering angel at each end.
• 13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
• It still had not dawned on Mary that Jesus had risen from the dead.
• She like John, could not bring herself to believe that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead.
• 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
• Mary didn’t recognise who it was as she had only half turned, her eyes were full of tears and it was still the half-light of dawn.
• 15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
• Sometimes we Christians have the tendency to awfulize more than we should and forget about our new reality in Jesus Christ.
• Mary’s focus was still on the cold foreboding darkness of the grave in front of her while standing behind her was the One who claims to be the “resurrection and the life!” (John 11:25)
• There is a lesson here for us. Too often we Christian’s cling onto this old physical life forgetting we too are no longer part of this old decaying existence, but have been born again into the new creation initiated by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was the first of the firstfruits! (1 Corinthians 15:20)
• Like the resurrected Jesus, the grave and death no longer have a permanent hold over us.
• We too like Jesus may experience a physical death, but neither the physical nor the second death have any hold over us, and just like Jesus we too will be resurrected to eternal life (Revelation 20:6)
• Even in the midst of our grief at the loss of a loved one, we have the assurance that the old decaying body in the grave is not the new resurrected person who in reality is experiencing the life of the new creation in all its glory sharing fellowship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
• 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
• Jesus by uttering Mary’s name readjusts her focus from the cold foreboding darkness of the grave (the Old Creation) to the new reality of life for believers in the New Creation.
• Now, hearing her name and the way He said it, she finally recognizes Jesus.
• But it wasn’t just the fact that she recognised Him, it was also the recognition that His very presence standing there, demonstrated He had defied and defeated death.
• Even though Jesus had told them numerous times of His impending death and resurrection, and as this had never happened in human history before, we can understand them being a little sceptical.
• She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
• All Mary’s scepticism flies out the window and she too becomes a believer in Jesus’ resurrection.
• Earlier we mentioned that some have tried to link some sort of romantic liaison between Jesus and Mary, but notice what Mary calls Him.
• She doesn’t call Him “darling” but “teacher”.
• And if there were some sort of romantic liaison, He certainly would not have refused her attempt to embrace Him.
• We should not overlook the title Mary assigned Jesus. There is no doubt she regarded Him as her Savior, but also as her teacher and mentor.
• Some Christians are quick to accept Jesus as their grace giving Savior, but a little bit more reluctant to accept Him as their “Savior/teacher”.
• Jesus expects us to do something with the grace He has extended to us, we are to become His disciples or students, imitating the life and love of the Godhead He represents.
• 17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
• Why would Jesus make this comment to Mary especially in the circumstances of this special reunion.
• Well, we need to go back to the Old Testament to understand why Jesus said this to Mary.
• Leviticus 23:9-12 The Lord said to Moses, 10 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. 11 He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath.
• Notice it was a Sunday and we are speaking about an upcoming harvest.
• Here too in the garden we are speaking about a harvest, a harvest of souls, more specifically the firstfruit of this enormous harvest of souls God has planned for humanity. (1 Corinthians 15:20-23)
• But before any more harvesting can be done, the firstfruit has to be brought before God and as this verse says, “accepted”.
• So what is going on here?
• John 17:19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
• This statement by Jesus on sanctification was made at the Passover meal.
• We become both justified and sanctified when the true high priest offers himself as the Lamb of God to be sacrificed to take away the sins of the world.
• On Easter morning, Jesus, now preforming both the role of the High Priest and as the wave sheaf offering, ascends to the Holy of Holies where He is welcomed by the Father, who by His acceptance, acknowledges Christ’s atoning sacrifice on behalf of all humanity.
• Jesus only resists Mary’s attempts to hug Him as there is a more important role He must first of all play as our High Priest by presenting Himself to the Father on behalf of all mankind.
• This aspect of Christ’s role as our High Priest interceding on our behalf is acknowledged in the last part of the next verse.
• John 20:17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
• It is no longer only “my Father and my God” but now “your Father and your God.”
• Our status in regard to God has changed dramatically as a result of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.
• 18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
• Both John and Mary had to experience living proof that Jesus had risen from the dead. John saw the grave clothes and believed. Mary had a personal encounter with the living Jesus Christ.
• But what about those of us who don’t have living proof like you and me?
• Well Jesus had something to say about that as well to the doubting disciple Thomas.
• Thomas was not present when Jesus had appeared to the disciples in the upper room the night of His resurrection.
• John 20:28-29 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God”
• 29 Jesus said to him, [f]“Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
• Like both John and Mary, Thomas wanted empirical proof Jesus had indeed risen from the dead.
• There are about 2.6 billion Christians living today who believe Jesus rose from the dead even though we don’t have the empirical proof like these three disciples.
• We cannot say like Mary that she “had seen the Lord”, but what proof do we have that Jesus rose from the dead?
• So the question is, What proof makes you believe like those other 2.6 billion Christians that Jesus is alive today?
• We have a changed life as a result of being born of God who gives us the mind of Christ and a new heart (1 Corinthians 2:15-16, Ezekiel 36:26).
• This is what changed Mary from being a demon possessed major league sinner to a healed, forgiven, child of God.
• Plus, we have the gift of assurance the Holy Spirit brings to our lives that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit live in us (John 14:23).
• But one last thought on doubters, what do you think will happen at the Great White Throne resurrection when all those doubters rise up and get the empirical evidence that Jesus did indeed die and rise for them?
• I think many like the doubting Thomas will fall down and cry, “My Lord and my God”.
• In the meantime, you and I in Jesus’ words, are blessed to know the risen Lord.
