Day Zero
Easter 2025 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Back in the early 1900’s a guy named Moses Cotsworth proposed we change the calendar.
Instead of our screwy system of 30 days has September, April, June and November
All the rest have 31 except February that either has 28 or 29 depending on if it’s year 1, 2, 3 or 4 of the leap year cycle.
Whoever came up with that obviously had too much sacramental wine before design class.
Cotsworth proposed we have 13 months of 28 days.
Every month would have 4 weeks and each week would be identically numbered.
Some good things about that - if you started numbering with Monday, there would never be another Friday the 13th
So, no more bad luck and black cats get a reprieve.
Anyone born on the 29th, 30th or 31st of a month would never have another birthday.
I’m good with that.
I’m kind of tired of having birthdays - they keep trying to make me older.
Now, a couple of you have figured out already that 28 days times 13 months is 364 days - and a year had 365 or 366 if it’s a leap year.
What do you do with the extra day?
That’s day zero.
New Year’s day - and on leap year we’d get two year zero’s.
The idea is still around but it can’t seem to get traction.
But another idea did get traction.
In 525 AD, a Christian monk named Dionysius Exiguus hated that the calendar was based on an Roman emperor that persecuted Christians
So he came up with a great idea.
He said, why don’t we wrap time around Jesus’ birth?
Anything before his birth is BC - Before Christ.
Everything after his birth is AD - Anno Domini - In the year of our Lord.
Modern scholars have issues with Jesus so they changed it to BCE and CE but they didn’t change Day Zero.
But that’s what I want to do - this morning.
I want to change Day Zero from Jesus birth to Jesus resurrection.
Sure Jesus’ birth was a big deal, foretold by prophets for over 1,000 years.
But if Jesus had died like everyone that has ever been born, well, who would care?
The world changed some when Jesus was born.
But resurrection Sunday was Day Zero.
That’s when everything changed.
Open your Bibles to the New Testament book of John, chapter 20.
If you don’t have a Bible with you, we have some in the racks in front of you
And if you don’t own a Bible, please take one of ours home with you as our gift to you.
While you are looking that up, let me speak to the children for a moment.
Kids, today should be a little easier for you to follow because we’re going to talk about a story.
I’m going to show you some pictures of where this story happened.
The people in the story really lived.
And what happened to them really happened.
Jesus changed their lives just like I’m praying He will change your life one day.
You have a worship guide and in it there are three words you are listening for to help you focus.
Your three words are Jesus, Day and Tomb.
Follow along in your Bibles as I read the final part of John 20:19-22 - Hear now the Word of the Lord.
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Let us pray:
Good Father,
Because of your mercy and grace, you have changed the world.
Cause us right now to see how we have been changed by you
So that we all might give you the praise you deserve.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
John 20:1 “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.”
Magdalene was not Mary’s last name.
She was actually Mary - or Mariam - of Magdala.
This is a picture of the excavation of Magdala in 2023.
I took this picture when you so very graciously sent Austin, Hannah and I to Israel.
Mary walked these streets, shopped in these markets.
And glanced up at these hills every day.
Magdala is on the shore of the sea of Galilee and it was a fishing village.
It was a fish market of sorts and lots of people made lots of money there.
Including, scholars think, Mary.
The Bible tells us she was one of the women who helped finance Jesus’ ministry.
And the Bible tells us something else about her too.
Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him,
and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,
This was the synagogue where Jesus taught.
It’s not a replica - it’s the real deal.
It’s excavated down to the original floor.
Jesus’ feet touched that tile.
As I stood there that day, I wondered, is this where Jesus first met Mary?
Did He walk up to her or did she walk up to Him in the courtyard right in front of this picture
Did the demon recognize Jesus?
Did Jesus rebuke the demon and cast all seven of them out?
And when they left Mary, how do you think Mary felt?
When you were lost and then you met Jesus, how did you feel?
John 20:1 “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.”
Ok, we’ve all taken English in school - some of us might have done better than others - but we all took it.
And we were all trained to ask questions of every story we read - right?
So my first question is, “Why is Mary the star of John’s show?”
And I believe the answer is something Jesus said about another woman one day.
Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
All of the disciples had followed Jesus when Jesus called them - and they loved Him.
But not like Mary.
Mary knew what it like to live life out of control.
God Himself only knows what Mary’s life was like.
What kind of things she did to make her money
Who she swindled, and connived and seduced into making her rich.
Mary knew what it was like to have everything and still know that you need more.
She knew the voices in her head were causing her veto do vile, things - but she couldn’t stop them.
And then Jesus came - and all the evil stopped.
So on the first day of the week, she and a few other women showed up here, right before daylight.
This is the garden tomb in Jerusalem
It’s one of two possible burial sites of Jesus - and I like this one best.
When Mary got close enough to it - this is what she would have seen.
Can you imagine her panic?
How would you feel if you went to the cemetery and your mama’s grave was open
And her casket was gone?
I think Mary peeked into the tomb too. Listen…
John 20:2 “So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.””
How would she have known that Jesus body was gone had she not peeked inside, right?
The tomb was empty.
Grave clothes of some sort piled on the ground.
She didn’t hang around.
So she ran to Peter and John.
They took off running to the tomb.
John is younger and faster but more timid.
He got there first but stopped outside.
Peter is a bull in a china shop - he caught up breathing hard and sweating
And stops in the middle of the room.
I can see him with his hands on his hips.
Puzzled - listen to see if you can figure it out.
John 20:6–7 “Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.”
The linen burial cloths were lying there - like whoever was in them has passed right through them.
But the head cloth - like a big handkerchief that was place over the dead person’s face, was folded up and laid across the room.
See the puzzle?
Something different happened here.
Something that so far at least 5 people have been eye witnesses too
You could get convicted in court if 5 people all testified to seeing something.
5 people so far saw that somehow Jesus passed through the burial cloths which kind of indicates He was a ghost
But then, he folded the head covering, which means He had substance and dexterity so He was not a ghost but rather, that is something that a man would do.
Peter didn’t get it.
But John did - John 20:8 “Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;”
Scripture said this had to happen, and John got it.
But Peter didn’t and neither did Mary.
After a few minutes, there was nothing left to see.
So Peter and John went back home.
But someone stayed behind?
Mary of Magdalene.
Why?
Because she loved much and she was heart broken.
In fact, I think she was distraught.
John 20:13 “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.””
Two angels speak to her and she never bats and eye - “Where’s Jesus?”
Jesus comes and stands right behind her.
Now, I don’t know if something supernatural happened here or not.
She didn’t recognize Jesus - I don’t know if Jesus sort of hid His identity for a moment - He did it later for a few other guys.
But you know, I’ve been so focused on things before that someone walked up and I didn’t realize who it was.
She didn’t pay he a whole heap of attention - you can tell in verses 15 and 16 that after she glanced at him to start with
She turned back around to stare at the empty tomb.
And again, she says, “Where’s Jesus?”
If you are doing the Big Bible Reading, you read this this week: John 10:3-4
To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
Mary might could be blinded by her grief
But her grief could not make her deaf.
Mary belonged to Jesus - she recognized His voice.
I can imagine she fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around his ankles - a basket of emotions.
Then Jesus said the most peculiar thing: John 20:17 “Jesus said to her, “Do not cling 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, to my God and your God.’ ””
A lot of people have made a lot out of this, but I think it’s really quite simple.
Mary, I’m going to ascend to our Father, but I haven’t yet.
You’ll see me again before I go.
Go - now hear His words - Go to my brothers and tell them…
My brothers.
Not my disciples.
Not my followers.
My brothers.
Romans 8:29 “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
Firstborn.
Among MANY brothers - and sisters.
Many. Brothers. And. Sisters.
There is our new relationship with Jesus.
I suspect that Sunday was a long day.
The word spread through Jerusalem faster than a scandal spreads through the city of Gray.
All of the disciples, except maybe Thomas, heard it
Or maybe he heard it and didn’t believe it - whatever.
That evening, they all got together to talk about everything they’d heard.
They locked the doors because they were afraid the Jews would come after them
Like a locked door would really mean anything to someone who wanted to kill you.
But they locked it.
And then - there’s Jesus.
“Peace be with you.” sounds real holy, but basically, in their world, Jesus said, “Hi, guys.”
John 20:20 “When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.”
For those keeping score - so far 3 women and at least 10 men have seen Jesus alive.
He was not a spirit or a ghost.
They could see the nail holes in His hands and the nail holes in His feet.
Later on, Jesus will invite Thomas to touch Him.
And even later on still, Jesus will cook and eat a meal with them.
Something very different has happened here.
D.A. Carson said, “Most of the early witnesses came to faith in Jesus as the resurrected Lord not because they could not find his corpse, but because they found Christ alive.”
John 20:21–22 “Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
That’s what I’ve been working to get us to.
Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
For a few of you at least, you heard the little bell go off in your head.
You’ve heard that line before about breathing.
You are remembering Genesis 2:7
then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
God the Father breathed the breath of life into humanity.
His perfect creation.
The final piece of a wonderful puzzle that made all of creation Very Good.
But the creation rebelled against God
Sinned - as Fleetwood Mac once said, “Go your own way.”
And it broke God’s heart.
How do I know?
Because Jesus talked like this: Matthew 23:37
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
How often would I have gather your children together… but you wouldn’t let me.
How much I have loved you and you won’t even give me a hug.
So Jesus lived life perfectly in spite of us.
He died on a cross instead of us.
And He was raised by the power of the Father on the third day because of us.
When Jesus breathed on them that day and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”
And Jesus gave those men who had been dead in their sins, the breath of life.
When we trust Jesus as our Savior and commit our lives to following Him, He makes us alive.
He makes us “born-again.”
He makes us brand new.
That’s Day Zero.
That’s the day the calendar changed.
Because of that day we can be born again.
We can live
We can be saved.
Day Zero.
All of history revolves around that day, at that place, not with an empty tomb.
But with a risen Lord.
I pray for you today.
I pray that the demons that have their claws in you will be rebuked by Jesus.
I pray you can see yourself as God does so you will want to live like Him
I pray you will commit yourself to following Jesus regardless of what anyone, anywhere, anyhow, any time, any place should say.
I pray you will feel a courage and a confidence you have never felt in your life
Because now you are sure: Romans 8:38-39
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I’ve had my day Zero.
You can have your day Zero too.
We’re going to pray and then we’ll sing.
If today is your day Zero, come tell me.
Come to Jesus - be made new.
I’ll be at the front pew if you want to come talk
or grab someone next to you
But come to Jesus
Let us pray.
