John 20:1-18

Last week we ended with the burial of Jesus. We talked about how Pilate had allowed Joseph to take the body of Jesus. Then Joseph and Nicodemus took the body of Jesus and prepared the body for burial.

They took the body and rapped it in linen. In Mark it said fine linen. Nicodemus had brought around 100 pounds of myrrh and aloes with him to put on the body to prepare it for the burial. The where giving Him a burial fit for a king.

The Passover was drawing near so they took Him to a tomb that was in a garden near by placed Him in it and rolled a huge stone , between a thousand and two thousand pounds. It went down into a channel to make it harder to remove .

Mary Magdalene was there a long with another Mary{not the mother of Jesus and witnessed where the had buried him.

matt27:62-66

Matthew 27:62–66 NKJV

On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

Now we are at the first day of the week. Sunday

John 20:1–2 NKJV

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

Mary Magdalene: As Christians we have heard this name a lot. She has been refereed to many times in the book of John. The name derives from the Hebrew name Miriam,which was the older sister of Moses. It can also mean “obstinacy” or “rebelliousness”. Magdalene comes from where she was from the city of Magdala on the western shore of Galilee

There are many things that have been written about Marry in other literature besides the Bible, that are unsubstantiated or simply untrue.

There is the story of her being the wife of Jesus and the mother of His children. this came from the gospel of Mary and the gospel of Phillip that are believed to be gnostic gospels and are not in the bible. I would have to say here don’t pay attention to these books that are not in the bible . I know one of the big ones is the book of Enoch.

another one of the story's is that she was a prostitute . She gets depicted this way a lot and there is know evidence that backs that . In ad 591 a pope Gregory the great believed Mary Magdalene to be Mary of Bethany. She was anointing Jesus feet and the Pharisee called her a sinful woman.

I was told at one time she was the woman caught in adultery.

This is what we know

She was a follower of Jesus that Jesus had healed of evil spirits {7 of them] and infirmities. I don’t believe we know the infirmities.

2. We know she was at the foot of the cross and at the tomb the day Jesus died

3. Some think she might have actually been a woman of means. She could have been one of the women that helped support Jesus’s earthly ministry .

mk16:1

Mark 16:1 NKJV

Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him.

we have already heard a few times in the Gospel of John that these spices were not cheap.

4. In all four Gospel’s she is the firs one to share the good news of Jesus resurrection leading to some to call her the first Evangelist.

What we know is she was a blessed woman that Jesus saved from a harsh existence . We know that she did not take that lightly and became completely devoted to Jesus and His ministry and He blessed her and trusted her with much.

Lets get back to the first of the week

Mark 16:1–8 NKJV

Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.” So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Matthew 28:1–8 NKJV

Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.” So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

All through Scripture ,all through the Gospels when an angel appears people get frightened.

In John it just speaks of Mary being at the tomb and when she finds out the body wasn't there she ran and got Peter and John because she was afraid someone had stolen the body.

I think sometimes it can be hard to understand why one Gospel says this an another says this. They synoptic Gospels were giving an account of the events while John was focusing on a relationship between Jesus and His follower . Mary. although in vs two she does say we do not know where they have laid Him.

John 20:3–4 NKJV

Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first.

So here John and Peter run to the tomb. This was not hurried It was run like being in a race

John 20:5 NKJV

And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in.

So John got there first and stooped down to look inside .

So this tomb especially if it was the tomb of a fairly well to do man would have been fairly good sized. he would have had the slab the body was laid on .

It would have been carved out of the rock. They probably would have had a bench in there for people to sit and morn the death of there loved one. You could have stood up in there and moved around a little.

The opening to the tomb would not have been very big. The would secure the tomb with a stone often times it would have been square or rectangle. A cubic foot of limestone would way between 150 and 165 pounds. It gets heavy quick . So if you had a 2 ft by 4 ft opening it would take a stone of about 1200 pounds to secure it. as we learned last week the stone that secured these tombs was in that weight and they would have fit in a grove that it could slide in to make it harder to open.

All that to say when John got to the tomb , even though the stone had been removed He would of kind of crawled in and not walk in . like through a door.

So he stooped down to look inside and saw the bed clothes. The Greek word here is blepei and this means he clearly saw a material object. The burial cloths was there. He saw them but it didn't go in .

This could of been for several reasons . All leading back to fear but what was he afraid of. He was a Jew it could have been being defiled by a dead body. maybe he just feared the Jews.

It probably could have looked like there was still a body there. The process of rapping the body and then putting on this paste made from the spices and fragrances would harden up and look like the shell of a body.

But Here comes Peter

John 20:6–7 NKJV

Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.

Would you expect anything less of Peter. especially how things had been left between him and Jesus

The Greek word for saw here is theorei. This word means “ beheld attentively, to contemplate , observe or scrutinize

This looked odd to Peter. He turned detective here. Here are these death clothes lying there. They had not been cut. They were not all torn and stretched .

The handkerchief that was around His head was lying separate of the linen cloth and folded together by itself. We don't know the exact specifics of this. The would have started wrapping the body around the upper chest . The handkerchief could have been just right above them were the head would have laid. However it worked out Peter knew it wasn't grave robbers. He knew that man could not have accomplished this the way it was. He was not sure what happened

John 20:8–9 NKJV

Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.

So now John goes into the tomb and sees what Peter had been looking at. The word for saw here is eiden. This is to understand to perceive the significant s of.

Can you imagine how John must have felt at this moment. He saw this all laid out in front of him and realized what Jesus had been saying to Him all along. Although He did not have the scripture telling Him of the significance of the resurrection.

How blessed are we to have them? And still people don’t see it a lot of times. Without this moment there is no eternal life. The make great movies about it. Many talk about it on Easter. Some this celebrate a bunny that day. Make sure all the kids get the same amount of candy in each basket. I love this word to perceive the significant of.

Romans 10:9 NKJV

that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

If you believe this in your heart you will be saved.

This might not seem like the best uplifting service on the Resurrection you have ever heard. It is not even where I thought I was going when I started studying it .I was going to bring in other scriptures from other gospels and I might next week but here is the deal. This is an eyewitness account of what three people saw.

There has been lawyers that have wrote books trying to prove the resurrection to be false that have all came to the conclusion that this evidence would stand up in court.

I know all of us believe this but there is many that don't. I talk to a lot of people that say thy believe in God but don’t have passion about God . Seems like Jesus is something the hope is true and don’t know He is true. That is our job to help others believe.

Mark 16:1–7 NKJV

Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”

1 Peter 1:3 NKJV

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,