The Death and Resurrection of Hope

Introduction

October is a month where many celebrate Halloween. For those who where homeschooled, Harvest Time. (maybe)

I don’t particularly care for Halloween. Growing up we did the scare houses when I was in high school… and I hate scary things. I hate scary movies. Pro-tip, if you are like me who hates scary movies, and you have loved ones, friends who like them, plug your ears while you watch… it’s really the music that gets you.

We went to a “haunted house” one time when I was younger and I remember traversing the hallways and finding a shadowy figure who hadn’t yet revealed himself, and I felt like, “Haha, I win today buddy… you’re not going to make me scream 5 octaves higher than my normal voice tonight!”

There are also those times where you just can’t see. I mean this literally or figuratively.

It doesn’t even have to be dark or a scary evening like a haunted house. If you have ever encountered a circumstance where you feel in the dark, you don’t know why, there is difficulty/hardship/pain/hurt it is a disorienting feeling. It can be downright disabling. Then if you are disabled by it, you can have those around you who are shaming you for how you feel. It can also be a situation that you are not in control and you are scared. You don’t know what to do. You feel hurt, you are disoriented, and not sure which way is up. If you know the feeling, it is not desirable.

This is where we find those in our text today.

Jesus is dead. They haven’t been able to travel to the tomb all day Saturday and are now, on Sunday morning able to make their way to the tomb to finish their preparations of the body of Jesus for entombment. They are tired, they are broken, sad, distraught, so many feelings and emotions.

But this day wouldn’t be like any other ordinary day. Hope is alive.

If you have your Bibles, or on your devices, would you turn to John 20:1-8.

Would you stand as we read, if you are able.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Let us pray.

You may be seated.

While it was still dark (vss 1-8)

John bringing us back to the beginning. Dark, chaos, there was little that made sense or had order.

Jesus has been killed, hurriedly buried, and they are coming to the tomb just before the sun rose.

They come to the tomb, find it opened (the huge stone to seal it had been rolled away), and it is empty.

Take pain, loss, hurt, emotional distress and to it confusion, frustration, anger, surprise… they don’t know what happened.

The Bible can easily be taken as an intellectual exercise… however the beauty and the depth is found in God’s word when we connect it to real life. These are real accounts of real people that have taken place. Just like your life, they have experienced joy but as we see in this moment… pain, confusion, sadness, bewilderment, that the most beautiful thing in their lives was taken, abused, and destroyed and they could do nothing about it.

It seems that someone took the body… why would someone have opened the tomb (go through A LOT of trouble) to take his body? (Picture)

Superstitious- In that day, corpses were stolen for their magical properties, Jesus did miracles, maybe if they took his corpse they could have a source of power.

Ransom- maybe they were opportunists and knew that someone would pay a hefty price for his body

Political- They didn’t want to create a rally cry for his followers, so they took the body with the idea that there is no proof as to what happened.

Whatever the reason, they are there concerned, worried, distressed… Mary runs to the disciples.

The other gospels account a number of women going to the tomb but here we are brought to just focus in on Mary Magdalene.

In John’s gospel we are not acquainted with her until we first see her at the foot of the cross with the other women. John tells us nothing of her history, the other gospels tell us a little, but her place here is purposeful and beautiful (more on that later).

Mary goes to tell the others that Jesus’ body is missing. Upon hearing the news they take off towards the tomb to see for themselves.

Tired, blood shot eyes from crying, sleep deprived, worried, concerned, exhausted, afraid, they make their way as fast as they can to the tomb (John makes sure to tell us that he out runs Peter).

When they got there the linens were lying there, the face piece was folded up by itself.

It’s here that we read that John enters into the tomb and he says in John 20:8 “The other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, then also went in, saw, and believed.”

There is a lot here… some think John wants us to come back to Genesis and the creation of all things, others find significance in Lazarus and the interaction they had with him and comparing Jesus with Him, but what I feel compelled for us to understand is that those who were closest to Jesus felt bewildered, undone, broken, crushed… there is power in this.

Now, some commentators will say that John believed that Jesus rose from the dead… but it seems that they are under the auspice that someone took Jesus. I will leave it up to you to decide what John is trying to say here… because the following verse tells us… they did not understand the scripture

Darkened understanding (vss. 9-10)

They did not understand the scripture that He must rise from the dead.

Multiple times, Jesus while with the disciples told them what He must do. Three times in the synoptic gospels (Matt, Mark, Luke) that Jesus tells them that he will die but rise on the third day. John a bit more subtle, but still tells them four different times what must happen.

All of Israel did not understand that the messiah would suffer and die according to scripture. (Slide)

Genesis 3:15 “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Genesis 22:8 “Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two of them walked on together.”

Psalm 16:10 “For you will not abandon me to Sheol; you will not allow your faithful one to see decay.”

Psalm 22 .

Isaiah 53.

Jonah 1:17 “The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”

This wasn’t something that God didn’t reveal. They didn’t believe in faith. They couldn’t see. (slide)

Paul writing to the Romans says this about the Jews, Romans 9:30-33 “What should we say then? Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness—namely the righteousness that comes from faith. But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not achieved the righteousness of the law. Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. As it is written, Look, I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over and a rock to trip over, and the one who believes on him will not be put to shame.”

How I read our text this morning is that the report of the women, they couldn’t believe, they had to see it for themselves. When they saw it, they believed the report. (Slide: Blank one)

Can I say that sometimes our eyes lie to us. That sometimes the things we see are not really what is happening.

While Jesus’ body is not there, it’s not because He’s gone missing.

God has given us the Sabbath… the Sabbath is for us… it so we are reminded, while we are resting, God is still at work. That it is not our work that provides those deeper inner most longings, but it is God. He asks us to take a day and rest and allow Him to provide for what we need.

Let me say this… not only is fear a liar, but so can grief and despair. When our heart and souls hurt we can call all things into question.

God are you really good? God do you even care? God do you even see me? God am I a pawn in your cosmic joke? We find ourselves back in the garden where the serpent is tempting Eve… “Did God really say?”, “God is a kill joy, he doesn’t want you to live life to its fullest”… see look, he’s keeping good things from you… in this case of our story, “If God were good, why would he allow this?” If God loves you, would he allow suffering and hardship?

This is the lie of the enemy. Suffering, difficult circumstances can cloud our judgement. It can darken our understanding.

They went back to their homes.

BUT PRAISE BE TO GOD THAT HE IS GREATER THAN OUR UNDERSTANDING!

The Light shines into the darkness (vss. 11-18)

They all go home, but Mary. Mary lingers. Mary weeps.

The scene is beautiful. The two angels ask Mary, “woman, why are you crying?”

She responds in her distress… “They have taken my Lord… I don’t know where they put Him.”

Jesus is there, Mary sees him turning around supposing Him to be a gardner...

Don’t you think John wants us to reinvision the Garden of Eden?

Where once sin entered into the world in a garden, here the Kingdom of Heaven is inaugurated in the resurrection of Christ from the dead in another garden. Where once man and woman were ushered out of the garden, here Jesus reveals his resurrected self that all those who believe in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

Jesus asks her the same question as the angels did… and she answers Him as she did them.

Jesus says her name… “Mary”

She sees Him!! I love this picture. I love this moment. (Slide)

Isaiah 45:2-3 ““I will go before you and level the uneven places; I will shatter the bronze doors and cut the iron bars in two. I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches from secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord. I am the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.”

You know what is beautiful about this… Jesus knows your name. He meets you in your hurt, despair, heartache, confusion… he’s not mad at you, he’s not disappointed in you. He desires that you would look for Him. If you look for Him you will find Him. You will hear Him call your name and you will hear Him express His great love for you.

Scott Erickson (Slide) in describing this moment says this about Mary… “Mary Magdalen is said to have been one who had seven demons cast out of her, which is to say, for an extended amount of time, she was not herself. She did not have the faculty to take control. She did not have the where with all to curb the lies, gossip, and labeling of her name in the community she found herself. She became one who was put on hold from her innate dignity.

That’s why she was the first one at the tomb that morning. She deeply missed The One who dignified who she really was.  The One who released her of a destructive possession. The One who called her back to herself. The one who knew her name.

Mary was chosen to see the Risen One first because she had the courage to look for life in the grave, for light in the dark. It is only one who understands that the darkness cannot overcome the light who is willing to look for light in the darkest of dark human experiences. Authority never comes through what you are adjacent too. Authority is rooted in what you have gone through.

As you can imagine… She clings to Him… what would you do. Some translations of Jesus’ words say “Don’t cling to me”, some say “Don’t touch me”… but the idea here is Mary is holding and isn’t letting go!

But Jesus says, you have to let go… you have to go tell others

There are times where we experience God and we want to keep it to ourselves. Fulness of Christ is experienced in community. It’s not only personal, but it is also when we are experiencing, learning, and sharing with one another in Christ. It’s is personal AND communal faith.

Jesus sends Mary.

Mary Magdaline, apostle to the apostles. Αποστολος means sent one, messenger and it is where we get our English term apostle. Every time we see “A”postle in the Bible it refers to the 12 men that followed Jesus… however the role and gift of apostle is one who is sent and has a message to tell. Mary is the first apostle to the apostles to share the gospel, the good news, that Jesus is alive, risen from the dead!

Scott Erickson continues his thoughts on Mary and her sent-ness: “Mary is known as the Apostle to the Apostles. The first resurrection preacher. The first to proclaim that the grave is not the end. She was the one chosen to preach this resurrection message because the authority to proclaim light in the midst of ultimate darkness is most poignant coming from the one who has witnessed the transforming love of God.‍

May you SEE that you have been given authority in what you have gone through.”

Without the resurrection, we have no Christmas, we have no messiah, we have no King Jesus. What we have read this morning is central to the Christian faith.

While we might find ourselves at times in the dark, in difficult trying times, filled with sorrow and hurt… May we preach to ourselves and remember that God is the God of the resurrection! Though we may die, though our hopes my die, though our loves may die, though our dreams may die… He is good and He is the God of the resurrection who brings out that beautiful and peculiar treasure for us, bringing light into darkness, and calling us by name because of His great love for us. May we trust Him with our lives and all that is precious to us. For He is worthy.

Let’s stand.

Let us pray.