Arise!

Liturgy

Guitar and singing to open (Jason)

Announcements (Jason)

Hope Awakens begins April 17 at 7:00 pm. hopeawakens.com

sIan and Alsa Lane have been locked down in their apartment for the last couple of weeks. They have been continuing to do language studies one-on-one with their tutor through Zoom. They’ve been praying for their neighbors who have had a lot of very loud arguments. Their prayers seem to have been answered because over the last week there has been peace. They are praying for an opening to share the gospel with them sometime soon.

The Bible Project’s church at home series at bibleproject.com/church-at-home

Offering emphasis this week is for Christian Record Services. You can give online from bonnersferryadventist.org or mail a check to the church.

Opening Prayer (Jason)

Children’s story (Joelle)

Bible Reading (Zach/Brittney, 1 Cor 15:1-4, 14 NLT if possible)

Special Music (Birgitta)

Message (Jason)

Big Idea

The good news is that Jesus died for our sins, was buried in the tomb, and rose to life on the 3rd day according to the promises in the Scriptures.

Christ’s death and resurrection heals us from our sins and gives us a new life in the spirit today, and the promise of a resurrection and life with Him forever.

Introduction

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul addresses a group of people who doubt that there will be a resurrection for the righteous. Paul explained that the whole validity of the gospel is based on the death of God for our sins, his burial and then his resurrection on the 3rd day.

1 Corinthians 15:14 ESV

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:17–19 ESV

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

The validity of the resurrection of Jesus is the kingpin in the gospel message. If Jesus had not been victor over sin through his perfect life and spotless death, then we could not be saved. If Jesus had not been victor over death in his resurrection, then we could not be raised to life and live with God.

I’m going to explore the story of Mary Magdalene with you today. As we go through her story I want you to imagine yourself in her circumstances. What would it be like to experience the things she experienced? And how did Jesus respond to her? Notice that Jesus is interested in her whole life, not just forgiving her of her sins and not just healing her of her demonic possession. He cherishes time with her, affirms her, helps her through difficult struggles, and renews her when she falls back into old patterns.

The story of Jesus and Mary ends with a dramatic reunion after Jesus’ death, and a demonstration of Jesus promise, “I will never leave you, or forsake you.”

Mary Magdalene’s Story

Mary was one of several women who followed Jesus and helped to provide for the needs of his troop of disciples and followers (see Luke 8:1-3). Her name suggests that she was from the town of Magdala in Galilee. This was one of the centers for the fish trade on the sea of Galilee, and it was a manufacturing center for wool and fabric dyes. Because of its trade the town had a lot of Greek influence and was a much more worldly town than towns in Judea to the south. If you were traveling along the coast of the lake of Galilee from the town of Tiberias you’d pass through Magdala on your way north towards Damascus.

The story of Mary Magdalene is limited to Luke 8, where we are told she was a follower of Jesus, and the story of the cross. Unless we also add the story of Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, to the mix. Some theologians and Bible scholars suggest that Mary of Bethany, is also the woman who was caught in adultery, who is also Mary Magdalene. The story could have gone something like this:

Mary of Bethany was abused as a child by older men—maybe by her uncle, Simon the Pharisee. Her life spiraled into prostitution. By the time Jesus met her she was living in Magdala near where He called Peter and James and John to be his disciples.

What does a life look like when it is driven by a distorted perspective of personal value? When shame and self-hatred distort every aspect of your life? When everything you pursue to try and solve the ache in your soul only makes the burden heavier?

We don’t have any of the details about Mary’s healing, but imagine Jesus walking through the 1st century equivalent of the red-light district of Magdala. It wasn’t a big city, so they only had a couple places that were known for their alcohol and prostitution. As He passed one of them He heard a woman cry out from the 2nd story. Like the demoniacs who ran towards Jesus, He heard this woman’s demon inspired outcry as a call for help. Turning into the establishment he climbed the stairs, faced the demons, and commanded them to leave. Mary was healed from both her demonic possession and the physical and mental problems that accompanied them.

Imagine what it would have felt like to have someone so pure and wonderful to come into the very place that you practice your sin. What shame Mary must have been feeling, and yet calming love. Imagine what you would have felt to be free from the burden of guilt and shame that Mary carried. Did you experienced that kind of relief when you gave your heart to Jesus and knew Him to be forgiving and kind?

After being healed by Jesus, Mary began to follow Him as one of His disciples. Because of her time in Magdala, she was now called Mary Magdalene. She returned home to live with her brother Lazarus and her sister Martha whenever she was not traveling with Jesus and his disciples.

I wonder how long it took her to be confident enough to be near the inner circle of disciples? She likely spent most of her time on the fringes. Helping prepare the meals. Doing the dishes. Staying out of the way. Her past always lingering nearby to remind her of her low value.

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Mary’s story was not a perfect transition from a life of sin to a life of virtue. In John 8 we read about a woman who was caught in adultery. She isn’t named. It is likely that this was some unarmed and unknown woman, but let’s put this chapter into Mary’s story and see what we can learn about Jesus.

The Pharisees, friends of Mary’s uncle Simon, needed a trap for Jesus. So they paid someone to seek out Mary and draw her back into her former life. He intentionally reminded her of her past life, and over the process of some days he simultaneously wooed her and shamed her. I can’t articulate the emotions that draw a person back into addiction and sin. No matter how hard your reason works, shame and self-condemnation can cause a spiral back into old patterns. That’s what happened to Mary. She allowed the demons back in, and went to bed with another abusive man. But this man had an agenda to demolish her life and Jesus’ life too.

As things in the bedroom were winding down, the Pharisees burst into the room and drug her outside with only a sheet to cover her. They marched her down the alley and into the public square where Jesus was teaching. They made such a scene that Jesus turned towards them as they spouted, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” (John 8:4-5)

Imagine what Mary’s heart must have been feeling. The surging adrenaline of rage at being fooled. The pounding heart of being exposed. The melt into the floor feeling of shame at returning to sin. And the ache of dread at the thought that Jesus might condemn you.

What could Jesus do? This is Mary whom He had already called out of darkness. From whom he had already cast out demons. Not only was Jesus in a legal trap, but his heart was also broken for the shameful exposure that Mary was experiencing.

Mary pulled the sheet tightly around her, weeping. She was ashamed that everyone else could see her in such a state. But more ashamed that Jesus, the one who had showed her such compassion and forgiveness, was seeing her like this, again.

Jesus quietly wrote in the sand. The Bible doesn’t say what He wrote, but it seems to have been something terribly convicting to the Pharisees. He stood up and said, “let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). Then he bent down, this time a little closer to Mary, and continued to write. One by one, the pharisees stole away from the square until none of them were left. Mary had been holding her eyes closed, hiding from the piercing gaze of the crowd. She heard Jesus say, “woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” (John 8:10) She opened her eyes to look around, and then looked into Jesus eyes and said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus’ tender response was, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” (John 8:11)

Oh, the compassion. The tender mercy. The love that poured from Jesus. She wanted nothing more than to please Him, except, maybe, to find something better to cover herself with.

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As she traveled with Jesus, Mary saw Jesus heal the lepers, one of whom was her uncle, Simon the Pharisee.

What must that have been like? To see her abuser, a religious leader who was the original source of her feelings of shame and self-hatred, healed in the same way she was healed? Mary must have struggled through the emotions of pain and a desire for justice combined with her love and gratitude for her own healing. I’m sure Jesus continued to minister to that ambivalence as she traveled with Him.

One day, they came back to Mary’s sister’s house in Bethany for a dinner party.

We pick up the story in the last few verses of Luke 10.

Martha was preparing the meal, and bringing out juice to the symposium where Jesus’ followers were listening to Him, She was washing the dishes as people finished with their cups. She set the table, and did all the other things that had to be done to host a large crowd. Mary was not helping her host. Instead, she was sitting right at Jesus’ feet, absorbing every life-giving word.

We often focus on the difference between Martha and Mary—one busy working the other at Jesus’ feet. We read Jesus’ response to Martha’s annoyance in Luke 10:41-42:

Luke 10:41–42 NLT

But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Stop and notice those words: “Mary has discovered it.” This was a hard-fought battle of the soul to get to the point where she was confident enough in Jesus’ love for her to plop herself down at His feet beside Peter, James and John. She was acting as though she was one of the men—as though she were just as called to be Jesus’ disciple as one of the twelve. It was making Martha furious, but Mary had learned not to worry about Martha or the other Disciples. She had learned to value herself based on what Jesus thought of her.

How about you? Do you feel like you’re part of Jesus’ inner circle? Can you plop yourself down at His feet and feel the warmth of his accepting love? Or are you still struggling with questions about your personal value and Jesus’ acceptance? If you are, God sees that, and He’s going to help you through it.

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Mary was at home nursing her brother, Lazarus, through a sickness. One day Martha and Mary sent a message to Jesus that they really needed his help or their brother might die. Jesus didn’t return to Bethany right away. Within a day or so, Lazarus had died. Several days passed and Jesus finally came to Bethany. They had covered the body with embalming spices. The village had carried the body to the tomb. Finally, Jesus showed up during the ritual mourning ceremonies.

Imagine that you’re Mary. Your brother was sick, and the one person you have become so close to and who is able to heal sick people, simply doesn’t show up. Does that jostle your faith a bit?

When Jesus finally arrived, someone told Martha and she went to Jesus. They have a whole discussion about resurrection stuff where Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” We don’t know if Mary had heard about Jesus’ arrival, but I kind of think she had.

Have you ever sat there, angry and fuming that something didn’t go right or that someone has done you wrong? I kind of think Mary was feeling that way.

Finally someone came to Mary and told her that Jesus was calling for her, so she got up and came out of the house. When she saw Jesus the anger she had been piling up just melted away and she fell at his feet weeping. Between sobs she said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

There are very few times in the Bible when we get to see emotion from Jesus. Each time an emotion is highlighted its something that we should pay attention to. It’s like a bold marker calling out this scene as especially important.

This is one of those scenes.

With Mary clinging to Him, crying, Jesus felt her pain. He didn’t defend his absence. He simply cried with her. I can imagine him bending down and touch her shoulder, looking into her eyes, and weeping with her.

The next scenes are happy, hopeful scenes as Jesus calls Lazarus from the dead and Lazarus is reunited with his family.

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At the beginning of the passover week, Jesus found himself in another dinner party; this time at Simon’s house—now called “Simon the leper.” You can read about it in John 12 and Mark 14.

Simon was throwing the party to honor Jesus because Jesus had healed him from leprosy. It was a nice thing to do, but you could tell that while he had been healed of leprosy, his heart was not yet fully convinced that Jesus was his Messiah. Not unlike Mary, he had a ways to go before he was converted.

That week Jesus had repeatedly told the disciples that he would die, and then rise again. The pharisees’ and priests’ conspiracies were growing bolder and more likely to lead to Jesus’ death. But Jesus was at the peek of his popularity with the crowds, so most of his disciples were feeling like things were looking up.

But not Mary.

Mary heard Jesus talking about His death. It broke her heart, but she trusted whatever Jesus’ plan was. She knew that He was her Messiah, and the redeemer of the world. So, if He must die, then she would honor Him while He was alive. She went to a perfumer and purchased a large amount of a very expensive perfume. The value of the perfume was equivalent to a Chanel No5 Grand Extrait perfume that you can purchase today for $4,200 an ounce. She didn’t just get a small amount of it though, she bought enough to mix it for an embalming ceremony—roughy 11 ounces. In today’s money it would have totaled more than $46,000. That’s a big investment.

(Since Mary had been helping to provide for the ministry of Jesus, it seems as though she and Joanna were financially well off.)

The dinner party was progressing, Martha was serving, and Lazarus was reclining at the table with the men. People were making small talk and enjoying each other’s company when Mary snuck to where Jesus was reclining and broke the alabaster bottle that the perfume was held in. The scent filled the room, and halted most of the conversation. She poured the perfume on Jesus’ head and wept as she thought of her love for him and how He would die. As she moved away from Jesus’ head, her tears fell on his feet and she quickly wiped them away with her hair.

Judas, the money keeper, and sometimes thief, self-righteously mused, “why was this ointment not sold for a year’s wage and used for our ministry?” Jesus confronted the dishonesty and said,

Mark 14:6–9 ESV

But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

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That week flew by, and as the passover came Mary saw Jesus become more somber.

She helped fix the meal Jesus ate with the disciples on Thursday night. As the disciples went to the garden, she stayed to clean up. As she was finishing cleaning, she saw the crowd of people leading Jesus to Caiphas’ house. His hands were bound behind him with ropes and the crowd was treating him roughly. Mary hurried to the house, only to witness the worst false accusations she had ever heard. No matter what she said or who she talked to, nothing could be done. She followed them to just outside the court of Pilot and Herod and then Pilot again. Then they led Jesus out, bloodied and beaten, with a cross beam on his back. She followed along all the way up the hill. She watched as he was nailed to the wood, and heard him say, “father, forgive them.”

She cried and cried until there were no more tears to cry.

She heard Him tell the Criminal that he would be with Him in paradise. She heard Him cry out when He felt abandoned by the father. She heard him triumphantly proclaim, “it is finished” and faithfully give His life into the hands of the father. She stayed by while Joseph and Nicodemus took down his body, wrapped it, and took it to the nearby tomb.

I can’t imagine her grief as she watched the only one who had freed her from her sin and given her a new life of value and hope, suffer terrible abuse and die.

It’s possible that through the fog of loss, Mary had forgotten that Jesus had said he would rise from the dead. Or maybe she remembered Lazarus’ resurrection, but wondered who would raise Jesus from the dead. She likely didn’t sleep Thursday night, and probably not Friday night. She cried off and on through the Sabbath.

Behind the scenes, the priests had secured Pilot’s permission to seal and guard the tomb, but Mary didn’t have enough emotional space to know or care what was going on at the tomb.

After Sabbath was over she got together with Salome and Jame’s mother, Mary, and some of the other women to prepare their own embalming spices. Yes, Nicodemus had brought his spices on Friday night, but they wanted to do something themselves. As they worked they talked about all the things that Jesus had said and done. Each precious memory bringing new tears.

They went to bed late, but sleep didn’t come for MarY. Early the next morning she went to the tomb. We don’t know if the other women left with her or if they joined her at the garden tomb. We don’t know if Mary saw the empty tomb first or if the other women were there are the same time. We don’t know if Mary had the embalming spices or if the other women had brought them. The chronology of that day is shrouded in grief, bewilderment, and joy. For our purposes, we’ll follow the story John tells in John 20.

Mary came to the tomb while it was still dark. She couldn’t see well, but she could tell the stone was rolled away and there was no body in the tomb. She ran back to the place where the disciples were hiding and told Peter the stone had been removed.

John 20:2 “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” She wept—her grief pouring out of her again.

Peter and John ran to the tomb with Mary close behind them. Peter looked in and saw Jesus’ graveclothes folded. John looked in and saw them too, and John recognized what was happening and believed. They ran out of the tomb, leaving Mary, weeping, just outside the doorway. She bent down to look in the tomb and was shocked to see two angels in brilliant white robes. They said, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”

She turned around and began to leave. Being nearly blind with her tears she almost bumped into someone and heard him say, “dear woman, why are you crying?” She thought, “maybe the gardener knows where they have taken the body.” So she asked, “where have you laid him?” The man replied, “Mary.” and suddenly she knew it was Jesus. She fell down and grasped his feet, but he said, “don’t cling to me, I haven’t yet ascended to the father. Go find my brothers and tell them, “I am ascending to my father and your father, to my God and your God.”

Imagine Mary’s heart. Broken by loss, but now renewed with hope. His promise that He is the resurrection and the life, had come true. And he was back with her, again.

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Healer and Redeemer.

Jesus, the crucified.

Jesus, the risen Lord.

He sees your heart. Not just the doctrines you believe, but the deeper beliefs that drive your emotions. He’s here to give you truth, and to set you free from your doubt and shame and self-hatred. He’s risen from the dead, and he calls to you:

“Arise! The grave of sin and death no longer holds you. You are mine, and I am yours. I will never leave you, or forsake you. Come boldly into my presence.”

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Let’s Pray