John 20: He Is Risen!

John 2 - Jesus predicts His death and resurrection as the proof that He is the only Son of the Father, the true Temple - God with us - who has all authority in heaven and on earth. He owns the earthly temple, owns all of Creation, and has authority over every man, woman, and child

John 2:19 ESV

19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

John 10 - Jesus declares that He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep. He lays down His life of His own accord, and has authority to take it back up again. According to John 10, His death and resurrection are the means by which He saves us from spiritual death and from Satan.

Jesus also tells us the meaning of His death and resurrection in John 12. He says,

John 12:23 ESV

23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

And

John 12:27–28 ESV

27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

Jesus’s death and resurrection are the purpose for which He came. They are the hour when He is glorified, when the Father’s name is glorified, and when He fulfills His mission to redeem sinners and make them sons and daughters of the Father by faith.

<<SUMMARIZE REST OF JOHN>>

And things happened exactly as Jesus had said. He was betrayed by Judas in fulfillment of Zechariah 11. When the soldiers came to arrest him, he was abandoned by his disciples in fulfillment of Zechariah 13.

He was hated without cause in fulfillment of Psalm 35. His hands and feet were pierced in fulfillment of Psalm 22.

In fulfillment of Isaiah 53, He was oppressed and afflicted, numbered with the sinners though he was blameless, cut off from the living, and yet lived.

Jesus, the Word made flesh, the true Temple, the Good Shepherd, the one through whom all things were created, stood before men He made bearing cross beams hewn from trees He made, and though He could have called down an army of angels to wipe out the Roman legions,

Instead the King of kings received the blows of His captors, He instead bore the cross; endured the iron nails driven through his hands and feet. And the Author of Life expired.

John chapter 19 tells us that the wealthy man Joseph of Arimathea and the Council member Nicodemus took charge of the Lord’s body, wrapped him in linens with spices, and laid Him in a garden, in a tomb.

Mary Magdalene stayed close enough to see where they laid him, and returned very early on the first day of the week, intending to complete the process of anointing his body.

This is where John 20 begins. You heard the chapter in its entirety already, divided into two parts.

Here in John 20, we have three distinct moments where fear, sorrow, or unbelief is transformed into joyful faith when people just like you and me encounter the risen Lord.

And those starting points - fear, sorrow, unbelief - those are some of the same things that you might be feeling this morning.

Every single disciple started out on that first Easter morning in one of those places. Not one of them woke up believing. But Jesus knew exactly what each of them needed. So we’re going to look at those three moments in the text, and then we’re going to see that the death and resurrection of Jesus is the answer to your fear, sorrow, and unbelief as well.

I. Jesus puts the pieces in place for John (vv1-10)

EXPLAIN:

The scene opens with Mary Magdalene.

Acc. to Mark 15, she and the other women had followed from Galilee. Luke 8 tells us she had been healed earlier in His ministry. These women had helped to support Jesus’s ministry.

Tomb: Cut out of the rock, large enough to enter, ledge going around the perimeter. Body would have been laid on this ledge. Heavy stone had been rolled across the entrance. But Mary finds the stone rolled away.

Mary runs to find the disciples Simon Peter and the other disciple, which is John’s way of referring to himself.

Mary: “They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve laid him.”

The text tells us that John outruns Peter to the tomb, and he stoops to look in, and sees the linen cloths lying inside. Peter arrives and goes in at once.

Burial traditions involved wrapping a body tightly in linen, and a separate face cloth, rolled, and tied around the face to hold the jaw shut.

But if Mary and these two men thought that Jesus was still dead, and his body stolen, the scene they found spoke of a different event. Tomb robbers don’t unwrap a body. And they certainly don’t fold the linens and set them aside.

Look at verses 8-9. <<READ 8-9>>

Picture the scene with me for a moment. The entrance to the tomb is low enough that John had to stoop to look in. Like the entrance to a dome tent. We’re not told why John was hesitant to go in, but he does now. And what he sees is enough.

In Luke 7, outside the town of Nain, Jesus saw a widow and a crowd following as they carried her dead son, her only son, out of the town to bury him. And Jesus with great compassion, walked up to the widow and said, “Do not weep,” and

Luke 7:14–16 ESV

14 Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. 16 Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!”

And in Mark 5, when the ruler of the synagogue, Jairus, came and pleaded with Jesus to come and heal his daughter, only to find out that she had died while he was on the way, Jesus told him, “Do not fear, only believe.” Jesus took Peter, John, and John’s brother James into the house, and made everyone but the little girl’s parents leave, and then

Mark 5:41–42 ESV

41 Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” 42 And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement.

And in John 11, Jesus took the disciples with him to the home of Mary and Martha, the home of Lazarus, who had died four days earlier. Like the tomb where John and Peter now stood, Lazarus’s grave was in the rock, with a stone against the entrance. And Jesus told them to take the stone away.

John 11:39–44 ESV

39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

And now, John believes. The Man who said, “I am the Resurrection and the Life” really was. The man who said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life” really was. The linens that lay on that ledge in the tomb were proof that He who called the dead out of the grave had conquered the grave with His own life.

Verse 9 tells us that they did not yet understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. At the very least, John believed that He had. But he didn’t yet know that it had to be so.

APPLY:

And that is what makes this first scene one of my favorites.

John didn’t know why it had to be this way. He didn’t yet understand the Scriptures. But that would come later.

Who understands everything when they first believe?

Salvation is the starting point of spiritual insight and understanding.

Here is the man who wrote the words, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God… and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we have beheld His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

And in the moment when faith dawned in his heart, he didn’t even understand why it had happened, even though Jesus had told them - in John 2, in John 10, in John 12, and throughout His ministry, and throughout the Old Testament.

I’ve had many people come to me, afraid that their salvation didn’t count because they didn’t understand enough when they first believed. But it’s really quite simple: Did you believe that Jesus died for our sins and was raised to new life the third day? Because that’s where every Christian starts. Growing in faith and understanding just means you’re tracking with John.

Look at verses 11-18 and

II. Jesus calls Mary by name (vv11-18)

EXPLAIN:

Now, the men exit the tomb and we don’t see them again till the evening. But Mary apparently came back with Peter and John. She stoops to look inside, but she doesn’t notice the linens. Instead, she sees two angels sitting on the ledge, one at the foot and one at the head.

They ask, “Woman, why are you weeping?” and Mary repeats what she said to the disciples.

Verse 14 says <<READ 14>>

And Jesus asks the same question that the angels asked: <<READ 15a>>

Chapter 19 told us the tomb was in a garden, and here in verse 15 we read that Mary thought he was the gardener. She wasn’t exactly wrong. At the beginning of history, He caused every plant and tree to spring up out of the ground. He planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and put the first man there to tend it.

In that first garden, death entered the world through the sin of Adam. But in this garden, Jesus the Second Adam turned the grave into a throne of grace.

Mary responds as she has before - unable to understand, overwhelmed with grief. Desperate, she pleads to know where the body of her Lord is.

But Jesus said

John 10:2–3 ESV

2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

And then the Good Shepherd, who laid down His life for the sheep and then took it up again, calls her by name, and she recognizes his voice. And now she believes.

“Rabboni,” she cries, and verse 17 says, <<READ v17>>

This is the first time that Jesus has called the disciples “my brothers.” Jesus’s death and resurrection has transformed their relationship to Jesus and to His Father forever.

Notice that Jesus’ words show a likeness and a distinction between our sonship and His. He doesn’t say, “Our Father” or “our God.” He says “my Father and your Father,” “my God and your God.”

John 1:11–13 ESV

11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

The eternal Son, the unique Son, the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, makes His Father to be your Father by His death and resurrection.

These words in verse 17 express a depth of grace that is difficult to comprehend. We have been rebels against God since the Garden of Eden. We are God’s creatures, His image bearers, owing every breath and every moment to His sheer grace. And until this moment, every human being related to Him either as an enemy or as a servant. But when the Son took up His life again, from that moment on, everyone who believes in Him, who shares in that life, who belongs to Him, is a son, a daughter.

And because Jesus hung on the cross in payment for your sins, crying out to His Father, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He now invites you to say, “My Lord and my God.”

And Mary does just what her Lord commanded. Her profession of faith is simple: “I have seen the Lord.”

ILLUST:

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And look in verses 19-28.

III. Jesus shows Thomas He knows him (vv19-28)

EXPLAIN:

This is the evening of the same day, and the disciples are together with the doors locked. Jesus came in anyway.

And he says, “Peace be with you,” and then shows them the wounds in his hands and side, and says it again.

Isaiah 53:5 ESV

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

This is the Gospel declared and demonstrated. Peace with God. Shalom. He has won what we could not buy. And just as Mary said, “I have seen the Lord,” now they rejoice to see Him.

And then He gives them a mission. His life is now theirs, His Father is now theirs, His mission is now theirs, and His Spirit is now theirs.

Just as God breathed into Adam’s nostrils to give him life in the Garden of Eden, Jesus breathes His new life into those who believe. The Spirit is the means by which we are born again, the means by which we become children of God, the means by which we are empowered for His mission.

And verse 24 tells us that the disciple called Thomas was not there. The disciples tell him the same thing Mary told them. “We have seen the Lord.” But we call him Doubting Thomas for a reason. <<READ v25>>

And verse 26 tells us that the following Sunday, Jesus came and stood with them again. "Eight days later” in the Jewish way of counting time includes both the day you start on and the day you end on. Just like “the third day” meant that Jesus was in the tomb part of Friday, all of Saturday, and rose before dawn on Sunday, “eight days later” means Sunday to Sunday.

So now, for the second Sunday in a row, the disciples were together, and Jesus was with them.

And Jesus says once more, “Peace be with you.” And then He gives Thomas what he asked for, and gives him a gentle rebuke. It produces exactly the result that Jesus intends. <<READ 27>>

And Thomas believes and understands. His profession of faith is exactly right. “My Lord and my God.” The man standing before him is his creator and redeemer.

And Jesus says, <<READ 28>>

ILLUST:

APPLY:

We’ve focused so far on John and Mary. John believed when he saw the linens, even though he didn’t fully understand. Mary believed when she heard the Good Shepherd call her by name.

Thomas believed when Jesus demonstrated that He knew Thomas completely. “Unless I see,” he said, and Jesus said, “See.” Thomas said, “Unless I place my finger,” and Jesus said, “Put your finger here.”

“I will never believe,” Thomas had said. And Jesus said, “Do not disbelieve, but believe.”

IV. Jesus does the same for you (vv29-31)

EXPLAIN:

Not one of the disciples was able to make sense of Easter on their own. Even though Jesus had told them again and again what must happen.

Before Mary and Peter and John even got to the tomb, it had already ceased to be a place of death. When Peter and John stepped inside, John knew what happened, but not why.

Mary had gone to the tomb under the assumption that she would anoint a dead body and therefore be unclean until evening according to the Law. But before she got there, the tomb had already been transformed into a sanctuary, a holy place. On the Day of Atonement, the high priest would have brought a bowl full of the blood of the lamb into the Holy of Holies, and sprinkle it over the cover of the Ark of the Covenant as a symbol that by the sacrifice, God made propitiation for His people. The cover of the Ark was overshadowed by two cherubim, one at the head and one at the foot. And in the tomb, Mary saw two angels sitting at the head and the foot of the place where her propitiation had lain. The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

But it wasn’t the angels that Mary needed to believe. Because the Lamb of God was also the Good Shepherd, who called her by name.

And Jesus knows how to call you out of unbelief as surely as He knew how to call Thomas.

Verses 29-31 serve as a fitting epilogue for you and me.

Verse 29 has a beatitude in it. If you were here for any of our Sermon on the Mount Series, you’ll remember what we said about blessing. To be blessed is to be favored by God, protected by Him, rescued, and promised His saving presence.

This beatitude said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

And that includes me. I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Not because there’s anything special about me, but because Jesus knew exactly what I needed to believe. And this is true of every Christian everywhere.

APPLY:

God has given us a wonderful gift in these pages through the apostle John. He tells us why he wrote his Gospel here in verses 30-31. <<READ 30-31>>

For some of you, what you need most is for the pieces to come together like they did for John. In the Scriptures, Jesus has given you everything you need. Did you notice how in this one chapter, we saw reminders of Genesis and the Garden of Eden, Exodus and the Ark of the Covenant, Leviticus and the Day of Atonement, Isaiah and the Messiah who was pierced for our transgressions, the punishment that brought us peace upon Him and by His wounds we are healed?

The Scriptures tell one glorious and grand story, woven together over fifteen hundred years and dozens of authors, with a coherence and thematic unity that cannot be matched. Like the linens in the tomb, if you take a look, you’ll find that He has neatly arranged everything so that you can believe.

But some of you are so wrapped up in sorrow that like Mary, you cannot recognize the Lord. And to you, He calls your name. John says, “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

Ever since these words were written, men and women have picked up this book and found that it was written for them. My friend Mike picked up a Bible in a house he was renovating. He didn’t know why he picked it up. He hated God, hated Christianity. He started reading the Gospel of John, and it made him angry. He’d throw it across the room. But he kept picking it back up. He told me that somehow, he knew it was written for him. God was calling his name. And soon, he called on Jesus’ name.

And some, like Thomas, are full of doubts. You want to believe, but you believe you can’t.

To you, Jesus says “Do not disbelieve, but believe.”

And if you are tempted to say with Thomas, “Unless I see and touch, I will never believe,” Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

On the basis of testimony, you can believe. Mary called him Lord and Rabboni. Thomas called him Lord and God. John called him the Word, the Christ, and the Son of God. However skeptical you think you are, they were more skeptical. John and Mary saw Him writhe in torment on the cross, saw Him give up His Spirit, saw the soldier thrust the spear into His side. Mary watched Joseph and Nicodemus wrap His body and lay it in the tomb.

The disciples knew that the Name of Jesus was a surefire ticket to persecution and a similar end, which is why Peter denied knowing Him, and why the doors were locked.

Even the empty tomb, by itself, could not overcome their skepticism. It was the face cloth that changed things for John; the voice of Jesus speaking her name that changed it for Mary; and the hands and side that changed everything for Thomas and the rest.

The message that the Apostles took to the world was not merely that Jesus was a good teacher, or the best teacher. Or even that He was raised from the dead. It was that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, who died and rose again in accordance with the Scriptures. The Lamb of God who takes away our sins. And by believing in His Name, you can have life, too.

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