After Darkness, Light

Intro

There is a famous quote that says, “The darkest hour is just before the dawn.”

And the point of that quote isn’t that it gets physically darker at 3 am than it was at midnight. But rather, that life has a tendency to get darkest right before the light breaks through. I don’t know how true that is in general. But it was certainly true at the turning point of history, 2000 years ago.

Put yourselves, for a moment, into the shoes of Jesus’ disciples. Jesus had just been crucified. The true light had come into the world, had called them to follow him, had announced the arrival of God’s Kingdom, and then in the space of a couple of days had been brutally executed—snuffed out by the powers of this world. And now, his body lay lifeless in a tomb.

The world wasn’t just dark again. It was darker than it had ever been, because the true light had come to redeem it, but had then been violently extinguished. That was the spiritual reality of the world between Good Friday and Easter. And in that dark time, it had filled Mary Magdalene’s heart with sorrow.

But that darkest hour was the precursor to the brightest dawn. That first Easter morning, when Jesus appeared to Mary, it changed everything forever. It was the dawn of a sunrise which could not be reversed. The lighting of a beacon which could not be extinguished—light that shines on your soul as well, if you have believed. And what is that light? Specifically, it is seeing the resurrected Lord.

And that’s John’s point when he recounts Mary’s story: seeing the resurrected Lord changes everything.

Mary’s Sorrow

Story

But when we first join Mary in this story, she’s still living before that sunrise. She had already been to the tomb once that morning. She had seen the stone rolled away, and assuming that thieves had broken in, she had run to tell Peter and John, who had come to investigate. But there was nothing to see except an empty tomb. It seemed that the darkness would not allow Jesus honor even in his burial—that robbers had stolen his body in hopes of finding valuables on it.

After Peter and John left, Mary Magdalene stayed at the tomb, and stood outside, weeping. And there’s something we need to see here: we might accuse Mary, like the other disciples, of failing to understand the Scriptures which predicted Jesus’ resurrection. And that would be true. But at the same time, her sorrow was the overflow of a devout heart. She had believed; Jesus was her King. He was everything to her. And now, he was dead. Her sorrow was an overflow of her faith.

Notice how she acts in vss. 11-13:

John 20:11–13 ESV

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 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.”

So what did she do? She stooped to look into the tomb. The body still isn’t there, of course, but now there’s two angels. And they address her: “Woman, why are you weeping?” She replies, “They’ve taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they’ve laid him.” Notice how she calls him, “My Lord.” The thought is, “At least if his body was here, I could weep over the one my soul loves.” But even his body is now gone. And so, so far, the morning was more bleak even than the night.

Now, there is actually a small hint, here, of glory to come: what was John’s point, telling us that there was one angel at the head, and one at the foot, of where Jesus had lain? He was creating a word-picture. There’s another place in Scripture with an angel on each side: the mercy seat in the holy of holies. It was God, veiled in human flesh, who had lain there.

But for the moment, the glory of it was hidden from Mary.

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And this is not unlike what sometimes happens to believers today. Your heart is devoted to Christ, but some horrific event or inexplicable darkness passes over your heart. You remain in the faith, but his glory is hidden from you.

Story:

What happened next? The same thing again. After she spoke with the angels, in vss. 14 and 15, it says

John 20:14–15 (ESV)

she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 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.”

Again, look at how noble, how devout her sorrow is! She receives the same question a second time: “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you seeking?” Her heart is in the deepest pit of darkness, but we find that she wants nothing more than to recover the body of her Lord, so that she can honor him.

Yet still, she does not see the glory of the resurrected Lord shining right before her very eyes.

John is playing with us here in the way he wrote this—verse 14, “she turned and saw Jesus...” In other words, she saw him, but not really. She saw his physical form, but her heart was still eclipsed by sorrow. Her spiritual eyes were still veiled in anguish

Mary’s Joy

Story:

But then, Jesus spoke her name, “Mary”—and that was the moment everything changed. Sorrow became joy and darkness fled before his resurrected glory. She cried out, “Rabboni” which means, “Teacher”—and she clung to him.

That’s in verse 16. But notice, in verse 18, how she describes this moment when she tells the other disciples about it: “I have seen the Lord.” She saw him—not when she thought he was the gardener, but when he spoke her name, and eyes were opened, and her heart flooded with joy. That was the moment she truly saw him; the moment that changed everything.

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And that is what we all came to celebrate this morning. That moment when the darkest hour of history was suddenly changed to light. When the slain Messiah became the resurrected Lord, and revealed his glory to his disciples. And it is that glory—of the crucified and risen Jesus—that every believer longs to see. And when we gimps it in this life by faith, it changes us from glory to glory.

But what about for the believer caught in deep sorrow, as Mary was that morning? What does this Scripture say to you? On the one hand, it says ‘Look to the resurrected Christ with eyes of faith, and let him be your comfort.’ But on the other hand it says, ‘One day, you will see him face-to-face, and that will be the end of your sorrow forever.’

Mary’s Proclamation

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But there’s one more thing we need to see in this story, before we’re done.And that is, When Mary saw the resurrected Jesus, it filled her with joy… and, it gave her a mission. A mission to proclaim his resurrected glory. And so she went to the brothers and announced, “I have seen the Lord”—and told them how he would soon ascend to his heavenly throne.

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That was her mission, and it is yours as well, if you have believed—first, to speak his glory to your fellow believers, to encourage their hearts. Which, by the way, you really can’t do unless you are committed to a local church. But then that mission spills over into the world: to announce to those in darkness that the Light has come, and that he died to provide forgiveness to sinners, and that he has risen, defeating death itself.

And if you have not believed, this is exactly what we proclaim to you: Right now, you belong to the darkness and death of this world, and to the coming judgement of your sin. But the resurrected Christ summons you: turn to him, be forgiven of your sins, receive the promise of everlasting life, and behold his resurrected glory. It will change everything.