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Intro
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.
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.”
So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb.
Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.
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.
Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;
for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
Then the disciples went back to their homes.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb.
And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.
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.”
Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
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. 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.” So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 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. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 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.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 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.’ ” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.
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Pray
Pray
[disciplesattomb]
There are moments in life, far too many for some of us - moments when we feel defeated. Beyond defeated really. Moments when everything we have ever wanted. Everything we thought to be true. Everything that we were absolutely sure of. Moments when all of those things fall apart.
In those moments, it can feel like our lives are over. Like nothing matters anymore. We can feel like giving up is the only way out.
In our text today. Mary walks us all through those feelings, and those moments.
You see, Mary Magdalene had lost everything in this moment. This woman had lost the only hope she had in this world. The very one that saved her from a life that was completely controlled by whatever demons lived in her past. She likely bore the scars of severe psychological trauma, and as evidenced by both her consistent appearance in the Gospels, and the traditional historical view of her life, she was likely as close to Jesus as anyone on this earth. All of her hope. All of her life. All of her joy. Everything she was had been invested in living for Jesus, living for this man she claimed as Messiah.
She is one of the few who appears in every Gospel as a witness to His crucifiction. She appears in all the synoptic Gospels as one of those at His burial. And here in John we find her right where we need her the most. Serving as the example to all who are lost. All who hurt. All who see only darkness and death in this life.
[picofmaryattomb] We see her lingering there at the tomb.
It is a powerful image, and a more powerful feeling. After everyone else has come to terms, at least on the surface, with the situation in which they now find themselves, Mary lingers. She isn’t ready. Her world is still crushed! Her hopes dashed. Her life now seems to only be able to be found there among the dead; in the tomb where she last saw the Savior of her life. Her Lord and God, Jesus.
So broken. Alone. Numb from the loss of everything she thought that mattered, and that would be eternal. She stands alone. Weeping.
And there, in that moment, I see myself. I see all of us.
She is us when a child dies. She is us when relationships are torn apart. She is us when everything we thought we controlled falls apart, and even those things we have always had a grip on fall away! She is us when there are no answers that bring comfort, and she is us when pain is the only constant that have known.
She is us. She is me. She is you. She is everyone in this world at some point.
And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?
[]
In Luke’s account of this event, the one that I was using until yesterday God pulled me in another direction, we find this single question. “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” And we, like Mary, sometimes get stuck in those moments of pain and numbness. Even in those moments of lostness! We get stuck not understanding that there is an answer, there is a reason, but bigger than that, there is something greater than whatever we might be facing in that moment. But we can’t find it if we are looking for the wrong thing. If we are looking only for things to make sense, and not for the God to whom we all belong! If we are looking for the living among the dead. If we are looking for the remains of our Savior, and not the Savior Himself!
In Luke’s account of this event, the one that I was using until yesterday God pulled me in another direction, we find this single question. “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” And we, like Mary, sometimes get stuck in those moments of pain and numbness. Even in those moments of lostness! We get stuck not understanding that there is an answer, there is a reason, but bigger than that, there is something greater than whatever we might be facing in that moment. But we can’t find it if we are looking for the wrong thing. If we are looking for the living among the dead. If we are looking for the remains of our Savior, and not the Savior Himself!
[picofkidseasteregghunt]
That reminds me of a old pastor story of a boy named Phillip. Phillip was born with Down’s syndrome and went to a new church. Even though he was a little older he went to the third grade Sunday School class. A class filled with 8 year olds, who while loving, didn’t really understand why he was different, they just saw that he was different.
But the teacher worked hard to make sure they all respected and loved him, and for the most part they did.
Well when Easter came, the teacher had a special task for them. She had brought in some old Panty Hose containers, you know the Legg’s ones from way back. They looked like oversized eggs. Well she brought them in and told the kids to take one and go outside and find a symbol for new life. Something that they could find in nature, and put it in the egg and come back.
So they did. They ran all around the church in search of the perfect thing to represent new life, each one desperately wanting to impress the teacher and the other kids. And as they came back, they all put their egg on the teacher’s table and waiting to open them.
Then the teacher opened them. And one by one the kids oohed and ahhed over them. Some picked out a flow, others a butterfly, some picked out leaves. And then one had nothing in it. And when they saw it, some of the kids laughed. Some were mad, thinking that someone was just too lazy to do the work.
But Phillip spoke up. “That’s mine,” he said.
And while some of the children started calling him names, Phillip stood his ground. “I did it right,” he said. “It’s empty. Just like the tomb.”
What are you looking for? Are you looking for signs of life? For things you understand? Or are you looking for the living Savior? Because church, if you are looking for the living - the God who knows your name and loves you beyond words - you need not look for Him among the dead! That tomb has been robbed of its control over us all!
[]
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
Church, I want you to know a very real and important truth today. Life sometimes seems hopeless. It can seem unfair. Just like that tomb. It can seem empty. Like we are staring into a void; into a great darkness that seems like it will never end. Sure you can fill it with butterflies, and flowers, but still - something just isn’t right.
Church, I want you to know a very real and important truth today. Life sometimes seems hopeless. It can seem unfair. It can seem empty. Sure you can fill it with butterflies, and flowers, but still - something just isn’t right.
Just like that tomb. It can seem empty. Like we are staring into a void; into a great darkness that seems like it will never end.
We all have moments when all we can even think to do is weep and wonder, like Mary, where our Savior is. Those times when we would do anything to know the peace that comes with Christ! JUST TELL ME WHERE HE IS, AND I WILL GO GET HIM!
Toments when all we can even think to do is weep and wonder, like Mary, where our Savior is. Those times when we would do anything to know the peace that comes with Christ! JUST TELL ME WHERE HE IS, AND I WILL GO GET HIM!
I will find Him! I will do anything! Just bring Him to me.
[picofJesusandMary]
And just then, church, just when it feels like there is nothing left to do but give up. When we come to the end of our hope, and the end of our ropes, Jesus shows us why that tomb is empty.
Jesus calls out to Mary. And not just Mary, but to us as well. There in the apparent darkness. In the emptiness of all that we thought we believed to be true! There while we are weeping over the empty tombs of our lives, OUR CHRIST CALLS OUR NAME!
You see, he isn’t just calling to Mary there! No in this moment, that is us! That is our name! That is our call!
It is ours, church, because our Savior waits for us in those moments! He knows the depths of our pain! He knows what we are feeling! After all, He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
He knows that emptiness! He knows that pain! He knows what it feels like to stare into the void of that empty tomb! But know this church - the witness of scripture, and the celebration of this day reminds us that He isn’t dead! Hope isn’t dead! Mercy isn’t dead! His love for us isn’t dead!
Church He is risen! He is alive! And more than that, He is calling our names, desperately wanting us to come to Him and be given the rest and mercy we need in this life!
[resurrectiontomb]
All too often we walk hopelessly through this life! Clinging to the hope of heaven, while wrestling with our doubts and fears! But what we don’t see is that when we do that, we are searching for life among the dead! Or to put it a more practical way, we are finding death in the midst of life!
Church, our faith is living! Our Christ is alive! His death, though real, should now only remind us that the life we now live isn’t an audition for eternity! It is a life that is meant to be lived with the living God of all creation! And it can only be that reminder for us because He lives! The grave is defeated, and the outcome of our lives is assured! So the only question that remains, church, is what we do with the time we have been given! The life in which the ultimate truth is remembered on this day!
CHURCH HE LIVES! AND HE LIVES, NOT TO PROVE THAT HE IS GOD, NO HE LIVES TO PROVE TO YOU THAT YOU MATTER! HE LIVES TO REMIND US THAT OUR LIFE IS MEANT TO BE LIVED WITH HIM! HE LIVES TO SHOW US THAT FORGIVENESS IS POSSIBLE! TO PROVE TO YOU THAT THE OUTCOME OF YOUR LIFE ISN’T DEATH! TO PROVE TO YOU THAT NO MATTER WHAT YOU BRING TO THAT TOMB, OR HOW LONG YOU LINGER THERE, IT WILL ALWAYS BE EMPTY! TO PROVE TO YOU THAT LOVE CAN BRING LIFE, EVEN LIFE AFTER DEATH! AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, CHURCH, TO PROVE TO YOU, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU AND EVERY SINGLE PERSON EVER CREATED, THAT YOU ARE WORTH EVERY SECOND OF IT ALL!
HE LIVES, NOT TO PROVE THAT HE IS GOD, NO HE LIVES TO PROVE TO YOU THAT YOU MATTER! HE LIVES TO REMIND US THAT OUR LIFE IS MEANT TO BE LIVED WITH HIM! HE LIVES TO SHOW US THAT FORGIVENESS IS POSSIBLE! TO PROVE TO YOU THAT THE OUTCOME OF YOUR LIFE ISN’T DEATH! TO PROVE TO YOU THAT NO MATTER WHAT YOU BRING TO THAT TOMB, OR HOW LONG YOU LINGER THERE, IT WILL ALWAYS BE EMPTY! TO PROVE TO YOU THAT LOVE CAN BRING LIFE, EVEN LIFE AFTER DEATH! AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, CHURCH, TO PROVE TO YOU, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU AND EVERY SINGLE PERSON EVER CREATED, THAT YOU ARE WORTH EVERY SECOND OF IT ALL!
YOU ARE WORTH HIS LOVE, AND WORTH HIS SACRIFICE! YOU WERE WORTH EVERY SINGLE MOMENT!
Why else would He give His life for you?
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
ESV
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
No church, there is no point in looking for the living in those tombs. No point in searching out the living among the dead. No point in wondering whether or not Christ died for you, WHEN THE TRUTH IS, HE LIVES FOR YOU! He knows your name! He created you, lived for you, died for you, and lives now forever in and with you!
No church, there is no point in looking for the living in those tombs. No point in searching out the living among the dead. No point in wondering whether or not Christ died for you!
Because the truth is, He lives! He lives for you! He knows your name! He created you, lived for you, died for you, and lives now forever in and with you!
And because He lives, we are free from the bonds of death! Free from the chains that shackle us to the most basic human instincts! Free from the need to judge! Free from the desire to always serve ourselves! Free to take up the causes that Christ took up! Free to forgive! Free to give freely as we have been given! To give life! To give hope! To give freedom! To give healing! To give time! To give everything that we have, if only to then be able to understand the depths of the love that would give up everything for us!
We have been made alive in Christ! Crucified with Christ we no longer live alone, but Jesus Christ lives in us!
And because he lives in us, we can face anything. Because He lives, there is no need to live for myself! Because He lives, we can throw away everything that we know about ourselves, and replace it with the fact that His life, death, and resurrection was done for you! Done so that you might move beyond those things that bring death, and move toward the only one who brings life! And because He lives, church, you can not only face tomorrow, you can be changed and become the very thing someone else needs in order to be able to face tomorrow too!
Because He lives, there is no death. There is only life. Life here. Life in Heaven. Life lived for Christ. And He lives, church, so that we will never be alone. We never need wonder if He loves us. He lives! He knows and loves you! All we need do now is answer when He calls our name, and then turn our life toward the life that Christ offers to us, and to this world.
[invitation]
