I Have Seen the Lord

Easter | 2026

April 5, 2026.

John 20:11-18.

Question: How did Mary move from desperate grief to confident declaration?

I. Grief keeps her searching [1-10]

In verses 1–10, Mary runs to tell Peter and John. But after they leave, she stays. Perhaps duty, grief, or something else kept her near the tomb.

While others are away mourning, Mary returns. When others come and go (Peter and John), she stays near and keeps coming back.

Application: Mary didn’t yet understand the resurrection, but she kept returning to the last place she knew Jesus to be. That’s not yet faith—it’s grief with a thread of hope. You may be here today: not sure what you believe, not feeling the joy of Easter, but still showing up, still looking. That’s not nothing. The gospel doesn’t shame your searching; it meets you in it. You don’t need to manufacture certainty. You just need to stay near where Jesus is known to be—his Word and his people. The same Jesus who found Mary in her confused searching will find you.

Question: What keeps drawing you back to Jesus even when you don’t feel his presence or understand what he’s doing?

II. Despair distorts her reality [11-15]

In despair over what she found — that Jesus’ body was not in the tomb and perceived as moved away [13b]— she was deeply upset.

Turning, she saw someone standing there, but she did not recognize it was Jesus.

Distorted by her grief expressed in her crying

Distorted by the early morning hours and the dawn of the new day

Distorted by her expectation of a dead Jesus, not a living Jesus

Distorted by a lack of understanding of the resurrection as taught in Scripture

She thought he may have been a gardener (appropriate for the time of day)

Application: She was weeping right in front of the risen Lord without knowing it. That’s good news: your current darkness does not push Jesus away. He doesn’t say, “Fix your life, then I’ll appear.” He shows up in the distortion. The resurrection doesn’t demand that you stop feeling despair—it enters into it. So don’t add guilt to your grief. You don’t have to have it all together for Jesus to meet you where you are. Just keep turning your head (like Mary did twice) toward the one who is already standing there.

Question: Where might your current pain or disappointment be distorting how you see Jesus right now?

III. Jesus’ personal calls changes her direction [16-17]

Mary turns the first time in verse 14 — perhaps out of curiosity in noticing someone; then, in verse 16, she turns again, perhaps out of recognition when He called her by name.

She responded to him, “Rabboni” in Aramaic, a term of endearment more personal than “rabbi” meaning something like “My dear rabbi”

Jesus then gives both prohibitive and permissive instructions:

Prohibitive — Don’t touch or don’t cling to me

Permissive — Go [present] and tell [aorist]

My brothers [Matthew 12:50 “50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.””]

Interestingly, over 100 times in John’s Gospel, Jesus refers to God as “my Father” or “the Father”; yet, only here he refers to God as “your Father” referring to the disciples.

Application: When Jesus calls your name, your deepest identity shifts from “searcher” to “known one.” Direction changes not by effort, but by facing the one who spoke you into being. Mary didn’t pull herself together; she turned toward the voice that already knew her.

Question: When Jesus speaks your name, do you find yourself facing him rather than just facing your own grief or duty? In other words, has your orientation changed—not just your behavior?

IV. Her declaration invites others. [18]

Really, though, it is not her declaration as much as it is Jesus’ command and His invitation.

He calls Mary’s name; her life changes direction; he commands her to go and to tell; she now goes and tells.

Her declaration, “I have seen the Lord!”

Her explanation, “She told them what he had said to her.”

Application: Mary didn’t first do the work of the Lord; she first was with the Lord. Her declaration isn’t “Look what I now do” but “Look who I have seen.” The evidence of resurrection isn’t improved behavior—it’s a person. And that person sends you. Your testimony doesn’t need to be impressive; it just needs to be true: “I have seen the Lord.”

Question: If someone asked you, “What has Jesus actually done for you?”—could you answer with something simpler than a list of your improvements? Could you just say, “I have seen the Lord”?