Easter Day - Eyes to See and Ears to Hear

Scripture: John 20:1-18

John 20:1–18 (NLT)

Early on Sunday morning,* while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed—for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. Then they went home.

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 disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.

When Jesus Isn’t There

The Easter story leaves us full of wonder.

What was it like seeing Jesus die on the cross? How could the crowds of people be so cruel to Him after they had celebrated him just days before? What did the 12 disciples do during the 2 days Jesus was in the tomb? What happened to all the other disciples that Jesus had led during His ministry?

Perhaps the big question that affected everyone during those few days was:

What happens when you stop seeing and hearing Jesus?

That might seem like a strange question for us, but that was exactly the kind of question that the disciples were asking themselves that first Easter morning.

Some of them said their goodbyes to Jesus when He died on the cross. A few others waited until they laid Him in the tomb. Most said their goodbyes to him when He was arrested the night before.

One of them said goodbye at the Last Supper.

And then there was Mary. She couldn’t bring herself to say goodbye to Jesus, although she had every opportunity.

The Gospels have several different women named Mary in them and sometimes it is hard for me to keep them straight. The one thing we know about Mary Magdelene is that Jesus removed seven demons from her. (from Mark and Luke) All four gospels place her first at the empty tomb as a faithful follower of Jesus. She may have been wealthy and used her wealth to fund the ministry of Jesus with some of the other women who followed Him. She may have just been industrious and worked to help provide for them. She never seemed to need the spotlight, but she was the last to let go of Jesus.

Rich or poor, she was a woman who was ruled by evil spirits before she met Jesus. She was a strong woman to be there at the foot of the cross. And she was a desperate woman to be there early Easter morning, wanting to see Jesus one last time. She had carried her cross and followed Jesus and was trying to figure out how to do that without Him there with her.

Thesis: Carrying our cross and following Jesus changes us forever.

Point 1: Eyes that See

The Stone was Moved

Mary was looking for trouble. She had known trouble before Jesus, been saved from trouble by Jesus, and now with Him gone, was probably expecting trouble to return again. The trouble she was looking for was a big rock in between her and Jesus. Not just any rock either. It was a tombstone and its name was death.

Death was the wall that stood between her and saying her last goodbye to Jesus. She came prepared to annoint the body as was the funeral custom at the time, but there was no practical way she would be able to do it. Between the stone and the armed guards, she was not going to get anywhere. She was not using common sense. She was not thinking about working smarter. She was acting out of love for Jesus.

What foolish things do you do out of love for Jesus?

She could see that stone clearly in her mind because she had probably seen it two days earlier as they used it to seal the tomb. She had no trouble seeing the obstacle in front of her, until she arrived at the tomb and found that the obstacle had already been moved. It was there, right in front of her, but not in the place she thought it would be.

Her next thought, still looking for trouble, was that someone had stolen the body of Jesus.

The Body was Missing

Mary looked inside carefully at first, but did not stay to investigate. Instead, she ran to get the disciples. There was nothing of value left in the tomb. There was also no end to the cruelty of the Romans or the ambitions of the Jewish leaders. No one was safe and they could have easily been looking for other followers of Jesus.

By the time she returned with Peter and the other disciple, it was probably starting to get much brighter outside. They could see better, but they could also be seen. As Mary peered into the tomb she saw that the body of Jesus was gone and that the nightmare continued on into the morning. Tears filled her eyes and she could not stand to see anything more.

Point 2: Ears that Hear

Then her ears took over.

The Angels

“Dear woman, why are you crying?” she heard.

There inside the tomb, in the morning light she could now see two white-robed angels where Peter and the other disciple at first saw only folded clothes. Her eyes had picked up where her ears had begin to lead her… away from the sorrow and disappointment she expected and into something new that she had never experienced. The woman who spent her life battling demons was now being comforted by angels.

Or they tried anyway. She repeated the same desperation to the angels as she did to the disciples.

“They have taken away the body of my Lord and I don’t know where they put him.” Then she turned away from the angels and left the tomb.

I bet those angels were confused. This was a day of victory and celebration, and poor Mary was not going to be consoled until she found the dead body of her Lord Jesus.

Sometimes we need divine intervention, like when these angels showed up and would speak to the disciples. Other times though, we need a human intervention. Mary did not need a spiritual experience - she had been through plenty of those. She needed an incarnational experience. She needed someone who could relate to her as a broken human being. She needed Jesus Himself, not just to hear about Jesus.

Jesus

Jesus was there! Jesus was right there! We know almost nothing about how He looked on the day of His resurrection other than that the disciples and Mary would have walked right past him with their eyes blinded by grief and confusion. If it were not for the fact that He called her out by name, she would not have recognized Him.

How often do we get so caught up in what we think we are missing that we miss the gift of God standing right next to us?

A Heart that Receives

There are so many questions I have about this story. Why did Mary not recognize Jesus? Did the disciples see the angels? How did the stone get moved? Why was Mary Magdelene the first to see Jesus? And then… what happened to her afterward? This is just about the last we ever hear about this incredible woman. I don’t know the answer to those questions, but the gospel of John shows us something incredible that happens to Mary from this brief instance.

Let me tell you about the transforming power of Jesus.

God took Mary Magdelene, blinded by desperate, horrible grief, set out on impossible task that would only leave her further heartbroken and possibly get her arrested. God took this woman and transformed her into the first witness, the first “sent one” of the Resurrection. She got to tell everyone the news first.

“I have seen Jesus! He is not dead, He is alive, and He is on His way here!”

Without hesitation she got up and left the very one she had been so desperate to be near.

Grace

God always goes ahead of us. He paves our path and removes the rocks that we stumble upon before we even get there.

God meets us right in the midst of our mess and He can heal us from the guilt and shame and power of sin in our lives as simply as calling us by name - because even when we cannot see God, we recognize our Lord’s voice.

So great is the love of God that we begin to overflow and want to share Him with the world after spending only a couple minutes in His presence. God doesn’t have to command us to be witnesses. He only has to point us in the direction He wants us to go. We cannot help but share because we are utterly transformed by the power of His resurrection.

Unless.

Unless.

Unless you choose to try and hide Him away and keep Him to yourself. Unless you make your heart a tomb and seal it shut with the Body of Jesus - your image of Him you keep close to bring you comfort like a security blanket. Unless you try to keep Jesus to yourself and refuse to change. Your own little personal savior you keep around to keep your feet clean.

Be warned. Jesus does not stay in tombs. He doesn’t stay in place. He goes where He will.

So the real question is: Will you follow Him? Will you go where He sends you? Will you carry your cross knowing that it will forever change you?

Communion