The Dawning of a New Day

Good Morning! He is Risen!!

Pray

This morning we are going to be in John 20:1-18. We are going to look at the empty tomb and the effect it had on the disciples.

I had a pastor friend share a story that D A Carson told about the passover, and I am going to share it with you.

There were 2 Jews in Egypt and it was the day of the passover. They were talking about the upcoming event that was for told them. Their names were Smith and Brown. Good Jewish last names. Smith said to Brown, “aren’t you a little nervous about tonight?” Brown said “God told us what to do through His servant Moses. Haven’t you slaughtered the lamb? Haven’t you spread the blood on the 2 door post and the lentil? Haven’t you done that? Aren’t you ready? Don’t you have everything packed and ready to go? You are going to eat the lamb tonight, the whole passover meal?” Smith said “ of course I have done that, I am not stupid. But it is still pretty scary with all the things that have been happening around here. All the flies, frogs, the river turning to blood. It’s pretty awful. Now there is a threat of the first born being killed. It is all right for you, you have 3 sons. I only have one. I love my Charlie and the angle of death is passing through tonight. I know what God said and I put the blood there, but it is still pretty scary, I’ll be glad when this night is over.” Brown said “bring it on, I trust the promises of God.”

That night the angel of death swept through the land. Which one lost his son? The answer of course is neither! Because death doesn’t pass over them on the ground of the intensity or the clarity of the faith exercised. But instead on the ground of the blood of the Lamb. That is what silences the accuser. That is the foundation of our faith. The work done on the cross and empty tomb. That is the object of our faith. It is not the intensity of our faith that saves! It is the object of it that saves.

Today we are going to look at the object of our faith. Our risen King. Let’s read our verses.

John 20:1–18 (NASB 2020)

1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we do not know where they have put Him.” 3 So Peter and the other disciple left, and they were going to the tomb. 4 The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead, faster than Peter, and came to the tomb first; 5 and he stooped to look in, and saw the linen wrappings lying there; however he did not go in. 6 So Simon Peter also came, following him, and he entered the tomb; and he looked at the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings but folded up in a place by itself. 8 So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb also entered then, and he saw and believed. 9 For they did not yet understand the Scripture, that He must rise from the dead. 10 So the disciples went away again to their own homes.

11 But Mary was standing outside the tomb, weeping; so as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they put Him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and yet she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Thinking that He was the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you put Him, and I will take Him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher).17 Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’ ” 18 Mary Magdalene came and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her.

It was early Sunday morning before the sun came up that Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb. The term while it was still dark, is a Greek technical term used to describe the last watch of the night. The army would divided the night watches into 4 groups. The first watch was from 6-9, the second was from 9-12, the third was from 12-3 and the fourth and final watch was from 3-6. This last watch was the time frame that Mary arrived at the tomb. It was early to say the least. I image that she wasn’t able to sleep well knowing that the body still needed to be taken care of properly.

If we read the same story in the other gospels, we will see that there were at least 4 women who went to the tomb. Matthew mentions Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Jesus. Mark tells us that Salome was present. Luke add that Joanna was there also. So there were at least, probably more than 4 women there that Sunday morning.

I wonder what the women thought they were going to do with the stone that was in front of the tomb? They would not have been able to move it. It is believed to have weighed several tons. That is how love is, it doesn’t think about the details, it just acts. These women loved Jesus so much that they didn’t think about the how, they just went. I think that is something we can take from this. If we love Jesus so much, we should just go and do and not worry about the how or the details. Jesus will take care of those just like He did that day.

When Mary got to the tomb, she saw that the stone was taken away from the tomb. She didn’t even go and look inside. She immediately ran to the disciples and told them what she saw. Peter and John ran to the tomb.I love the humility that John shows here. He calls himself the disciple that Jesus loved. I love that the disciples and Apostles were just ordinary people like you and me. I think that John called himself this to poke at Peter. He is saying Peter you may be the leader of the Apostle, but I’m the disciple that Jesus loved!

They ran to the tomb and we can see that John pokes at Peter again. He makes sure that the rest of the world till the end of time will know that John won the first ever running of the Resurrection marathon, beating Peter to the tomb.

So John gets there first, but doesn’t go in. He looks into the tomb, but doesn’t enter. The Bible says that he looked in and “blepo” saw. It means that he just saw in general without any special thought or insight. He simply saw. Next we see that Peter arrives and goes right in. Good old Peter, no thinking just doing. He pushed John out of the way and straight into the tomb he went. The word used here for saw is “theoreo”. It is the word we get our word theater from. It means Peter took a long, careful, intense look around. For the first time Peter stopped and took in His surroundings. He still didn’t understand, but he looked intensely. Finally John enters the tomb and sees the linen cloths. The word for saw here is “orao” this word means to see with understanding.John is the first person on earth to believe in the resurrected Christ. They didn’t fully understand but they now believed! Our Faith has nothing to do with understanding. If we wait to believe in Jesus til we understand everything that He is and did, we will never believe. We can’t, as finite beings, every fully understand an eternal, omniscient, omnipresent God. The definition of faith is belief that is not based on proof or understanding. If we understand, then we don’t need faith. Peter and John didn’t understand, but they believed.

So what did Peter and John see? They saw the linen wrappings laying there undisturbed. It was as if Jesus just lifted out of them. They still had there form and shape, they were just flat. There was no sign of a struggle or hurriedness. This proves that the body was not stolen. If the body was stolen, then they would have taken the body with the wrappings still on it. They wouldn’t have taken the time to unwrap the body. And if they had, the wrappings would have been all over the place. It was so common, at the time, (for people to rob the grave sites) that the emperor Claudius outlawed it with a capitol punishment. It was already illegal, but now it was punishable by death. So it was highly unlikely that someone would steal the body from this high profile tomb. The way the linen wrappings were left rule out theft.

Then there is the face cloth. It was folded up and left laying by itself. It was not with the rest of the wrappings. There was a Jewish custom back then that when you were invited into someones house and they were hospitable to and treated you well, you would take your linen napkin and wad it up and throw it on the plate. If you were not treated well, you would neatly fold up the linen napkin and place it beside the plate. It was a nice was of saying you were not happy with the way you were treated and you would not come back. According to this custom, Jesus is saying that He is not coming back to the tomb! He is alive. There are several examples of people that were raised from death. There is only one who will never die again. King Jesus! All the other people that we are told about being raised from the dead, they all died again. Jesus’ tomb is the only one that remains empty! He is Risen!

After Peter and John saw the tomb, they left and went home it tells us. But Mary stayed. She had not yet looked into the tomb. She is weeping bitterly. What a week she has had. From the high of the Triumphal Entry, to the low of the Cross, to this, His body is missing! What an emotional roller coaster she has been on! We are about to see another turn in her emotions. She is about to go from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs! As she is weeping, she looked into the tomb. She see’s something different that the other 2. She see’s two angles. Every other time someone sees an angel, they are afraid. Mary is so distraught that it doesn’t even sink in that they are angels. They ask her why are you weeping? Mary is probably like, Duh! I’m here at a tomb to finish preparing a body for burial and it’s gone! After she tells them, she turns and see Jesus, but doesn’t recognize Him. She was pretty upset and distraught to not have been able to recognize Jesus. Although He did not look exactly like He did in His human body. He had His resurrected body, it would be similar to His human body, but different enough to make it difficult to recognize Him. Again she is asked why she is weeping. I imagine at this point she is starting to get frustrated and a little angry. I probably would have said ask them, I just told them the answer. Jesus also asked her who she is looking for. She thought he was the gardener and ask if he had carried him away, let her know and she would take Him away. Really, Mary was going to carry the dead body of Jesus, with a hundred pounds of spices on it away. His body probably would have weighed around 250 lbs. Then where was she going to take it? She’ll just drag Him through town and take Him home with her and set Him in the chair in the living room. Again, love doesn’t deal with the details. Mary had an intense love for Jesus. He had cast out 7 demons from her. If you have 7 demons living in you, you are not going to be a very good, or nice person. Jesus had saved her from a lot, and in turn she loved Him a lot. After she had answered Jesus, He said her name and instantly she recognized Him and embraced Him. Jesus said that He is the Good Shepard and that His sheep know His voice. She called Him Rabboni, which means teacher. Mary probably had a death squeeze on Jesus! She was probably like, He is never getting away again! So much so, that Jesus told her not to hang onto Him. Mary is now on the highest of highs emotional. When things calmed down she probably slept for a week, her body and emotions had been through so much stress and ups and downs.

He gives Mary a task to do. He tells her to go tell His brothers a message. This is the first time that Jesus calls the disciples His brothers. This is the first time that I have noticed this. The relationship has now changed. Because of the work on the cross and the empty tomb, we are now seen as worthy to be called brothers of Christ! How did I miss this all these years. What a life changing truth. We are now children of God! Jesus says He is going to His father and your Father, My God and your God! This is the foundation of our faith. Because the tomb is empty, we are now brother and sisters of Jesus. That God is now our Father as well. The empty tomb is foundational. It is still empty today.

A living Christ is an all-powerful Christ!

A living Christ is a present Christ!

A living Christ is a Christ who gives us life now!

A living Christ is a Christ who gives us life eternally!

A living Christ is a Christ who gives victory!

Because the tomb is empty, we have victory today over the sin that is in our lives. We don’t have to get good enough first, because we can never get there. If we could get good enough, then the cross and tomb were not needed. It is because we can’t that He did! If you haven’t accepted Jesus’ free gift of salvation, His gift of the empty tomb, today is the day. I can’t image a better day, than the day that we celebrate our risen King!

Jesus did appear first to the leaders or the higher ups! He first appeared to Mary.

4 weeks ago Brother Jerry gave us a great message about a new day coming. Today over 2,000 years ago that new day dawned with the empty tomb. That new day will end when King Jesus returns in all His power and glory, riding on His white horse.

If God is calling you, come as we sing and surrender to Him!

Pray.