The Road to Pentecost

Introduction

Post Resurrection

John 20:11–18 “Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her. “Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?” She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.” “Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”). “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene found the and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.

NASB 20:17 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.’”

Mary was excited But what does Jesus say?

“Stop clinging to Me”

Is Jesus telling Mary that he doesn’t want her embrace? It seems that way.

But the scripture says “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father”

We find there is another message there.

So it is not that he doesn’t want her embrace but he wants teach her something.

Mary knows him as Lord, Master, and Teacher She cried out Rabboni! And He was already being teacher.

The angels ask “Dear woman, why are you crying?” She replies “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have put him.””

Then Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.””

Mary is looking for a physical body?

She see him and she is excited and he says Stop clinging to me. He wants her to understand that it isn’t his body but the spirit inside her. He wants her to find him in her heart.

1 John 4:4 Greater is he who lives in me that he who lives in the world.

The power isn’t here (outside), it is here (heart)

Matthew 28:20 “Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.””

He remains in here!

And when we find him here, there is power!

John 20:17 ““Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”

See it is his father and your father and his God and your God.

Jesus is trying to transition the way we think, the way we believe.

Not just him but him in us.

And that God is our Father and God. And Because of him we should have the same relationship with God as Jesus did.

Jesus Says in John 16:23–28 “At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name. You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy. “I have spoken of these matters in figures of speech, but soon I will stop speaking figuratively and will tell you plainly all about the Father. Then you will ask in my name. I’m not saying I will ask the Father on your behalf, for the Father himself loves you dearly because you love me and believe that I came from God. Yes, I came from the Father into the world, and now I will leave the world and return to the Father.””

Jesus is explaining that since we love and accept Him we have the right to go straight to God.

But this isn’t just about praying to God. It is also about the authority that Christ being in you is giving you.

This far the disciples have understood their relationship with Jesus and Jesus’s relationship with God. But now he wants them to understand there is a shift. It it there relationship with God through Him.

John 17: Prayer of Jesus

After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you. 2 For you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. 3 And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. 4 I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.

6 “I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you, 8 for I have passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me.

9 “My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. 10 All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. 11 Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are.

12 During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.

13 “Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. 14 I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to this world any more than I do.

17 Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. 18 Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. 19 And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.

20 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

22 “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. 24 Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!

25 “O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. 26 I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”

This is about more than salvation but a unity with Jesus, God, and each other. And the blessing and authority he is bestowing on each of us.

Conclusion

John 20:19–23 “That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.””

What did Jesus come do and make you?