The Resurrection (John 20:1-18)

Announcements

Bible Study & Prayer this Wednesday at 7pm; we’ll be working through Psalm 22 this week. We’d love to have you come and join us for it.

For those that ordered t-shirts, I have bad news again—despite the fact that UPS said that our shirts should arrive on Friday by 11:59pm, they texted me yesterday to tell me that we won’t get them until Tuesday between 10am-2pm. I’m not entirely sure if I believe them, so, I apologize again, that we don’t have them yet, but hopefully by next week we will.

Please be aware that while we do have Bible Study & Prayer this week, we won’t have it next week on April 27th. We’ll return to our regular worship service schedule on May 1st.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the Lord through your giving. To help you give, we have three ways to do so, (1) cash and checks can be given at the offering box. Checks should be written to Grace & Peace; debit, credit, and ACH transfers can be done either by (2) texting 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or (3) by visiting us online at www.gapb.church. Of course, everything you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Psalm 49:1-13)

Our Call to Worship this morning is from Psalm 49. The psalm itself is a little long, so we’re going to split it in two, with this week being verses 1-13 and next week being 14-20. The whole psalm is a wisdom poem that deals with the problem of the apparent prosperity of wicked people. He speaks of the seeming prosperity of the wicked, but he ends this section by pointing out that the wicked never actually prosper. Please stand and join me in reading Psalm 49:1-13. I’ll read the odd-numbered verses; please join me in reading the even-numbered verses:

Psalm 49:1–13 NASB 2020

1 Hear this, all peoples; Listen, all inhabitants of the world, 2 Both low and high, Rich and poor together. 3 My mouth will speak wisdom, And the meditation of my heart will be understanding. 4 I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will express my riddle on the harp. 5 Why should I fear in days of adversity, When the injustice of those who betray me surrounds me, 6 Those who trust in their wealth And boast in the abundance of their riches? 7 No one can by any means redeem another Or give God a ransom for him— 8 For the redemption of his soul is priceless, And he should cease imagining forever— 9 That he might live on eternally, That he might not undergo decay. 10 For he sees that even wise people die; The foolish and the stupid alike perish And leave their wealth to others. 11 Their inner thought is that their houses are forever And their dwelling places to all generations; They have named their lands after their own names. 12 But man in his splendor will not endure; He is like the animals that perish. 13 This is the way of those who are foolish, And of those after them who approve their words. Selah

Congregational Singing

Christ Arose!

Christ is Risen, He is Risen Indeed

Resurrection Hymn

Scripture Reading (Psalm 16)

Our Scripture reading this morning is Psalm 16, which is a Psalm of David that celebrates the fellowship that David had with the Lord because of his faith. It may seem at first that I selected a random passage for us to read for Scripture reading, but I’m completely intentional with it. The celebration of fellowship with the Lord is exactly how we should feel when we reflect on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We ought to give praise to the Lord for his resurrection because it is only through his death, burial, and resurrection that we can have fellowship with him. Stacey, please read Psalm 16 for us:

Psalm 16 NASB 2020

A Mikhtam of David. 1 Protect me, God, for I take refuge in You. 2 I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have nothing good besides You.” 3 As for the saints who are on the earth, They are the majestic ones; all my delight is in them. 4 The pains of those who have acquired another god will be multiplied; I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood, Nor will I take their names upon my lips. 5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You support my lot. 6 The measuring lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; Indeed, my inheritance is beautiful to me. 7 I will bless the Lord who has advised me; Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. 8 I have set the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely. 10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. 11 You will make known to me the way of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

Sermon

Introduction

If you have your Bibles with you this morning, please turn with me to John 20:1-18.

I think you already know where we are in Scripture this morning with it being Resurrection Sunday and with our current progress through the Gospel according to John. It would be very unusual, if we didn’t speak about the resurrection of Jesus on the day set aside in our calendar for the resurrection of Jesus, so let’s jump straight into our text.

Read with me John 20:1-18.

John 20:1–18 ESV

1 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. 2 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.” 3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes. 11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 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.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 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.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 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.’ ” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

As we study this passage, we’re going to look at it in two parts: (1) The Empty Tomb (1-10) shows us Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter, and John going to the tomb and their initial reactions to Jesus’ body not being in the tomb. (2) Jesus and Mary Magdalene (11-18) shows us Jesus’ appearance to Mary and her response when she realizes who she’s speaking to. The sermon should cause us to reflect on what our initial responses to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus are; and it should compel us to do as these select disciples do and as Mary Magdalene does—we should be strengthened in our belief, we should celebrate the resurrection, proclaim the good news, and worship the Lord.

Prayer for Illumination

The Empty Tomb (1-10)

Our text starts from where we left off on Friday night.

On Friday, we worked through the death and burial of Jesus. We looked at the various Old Testament (and even New Testament) prophecies that Jesus fulfilled in his death and burial.

At the end of our text on Friday, we saw how Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, though previously hid their faith, were open about their belief in Jesus and they prepared the body of Christ for burial in a way that made it clear that they thought of Jesus as their king.

I mentioned repeatedly, that John doesn’t give a lot of details in his account of Jesus’ death and burial, which was intentional because John isn’t trying to provide a more comprehensive view of Jesus’ death and burial, he’s simply trying to convince people to believe in Jesus; and you don’t need all the details to believe.

So, Jesus has been crucified, he died on the cross, and he was buried in the tomb; and in chapter 20:1, we see “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.”

In our modern-day world, we sometimes think of Monday as the first day of the week because it’s the first day of the school week and our work week, but when Scripture speaks of the first day of the week, it speaks of Sunday.

For them, it would be the first day right after the Sabbath—they followed the Torah. From Genesis in the creation account, where you toil everyday for six days and then you rest on the seventh.

In the timeline of the crucifixion, though there’s some disagreement about how exactly this works, the Jewish understanding of the days of the week would’ve went like this: because Jesus was crucified and died on Friday some time around noon, they would’ve understand that as the first day. And in the Jewish understanding, the day didn’t actually start on sunrise, but at sundown the previous day. So, the Sabbath starts on Friday at sundown, which would be the second day; and ends on Saturday at sundown. The third day starting at sundown on Saturday. But of course, if Mary had gone to the tomb at sundown on Saturday, she wouldn’t have been able to see anything, so she waited until the next morning, just before the sun came up.

She went as early as she possibly could to go to the tomb.

Now again, John doesn’t really give much detail, but it is notable from the other Gospels that it wasn’t just her that went to the tomb, Mary, the mother of Jesus and Salome.

Mark 16:1 says “when the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might come and anoint Him”

Matthew 28:1-4 tells us of their confrontation with the angel of the Lord who rolled away the stone.

But despite the lack of detail, it’s clear from John that at least Mary Magdalene went to the tomb while it was still dark, when she saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.

The tomb being rolled away is actually significant. Our modern-day methods of burial don’t include a large stone sealed against the doorway, but in the first century, these stones were rather large and they were heavy.

In fact, in Mark’s account of the resurrection, he records that the women as they were walking to the tomb, “were saying to one another, ‘who will roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb for us?’” And they didn’t mean it in the sense of determining which one of the women were going to roll the stone away.

They were thinking in the mindset that they couldn’t possibly move the stone themselves, even if all three of them pushed with all their might.

The fact that the stone had already been moved would’ve been eye-opening for them. It would’ve been shocking. And Mary shows us that surprise and shock by her reaction in vs. 2.

As soon as she sees that the tomb had been opened, “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.’”

The response of Mary is to be expected, I think most of us would respond in the same way.

Though you might wonder why she didn’t bother to go into the tomb herself before running to get Peter and John.

John says that as soon as she saw the stone had been rolled away, she ran to get the others. Matthew adds to this and mentions that the angel told the women to check where his body was laying before sending them to get the others.

Again, remember that John isn’t trying to give a comprehensive report of the resurrection, he’s only speaking of the main point.

Mary runs to get Peter and John and we see in vss. 3-5 them, “going toward the tomb.” vs. 4, “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.”

Obviously, what Mary told Peter and John was concerning to them and it prompted them to run to the tomb. There have been some who try to make a theological point about John outrunning Peter, but I think to look at this simply would be the best—apparently, John happened to be quicker than Peter.

And he makes it to the tomb to see it open, but doesn’t go into the tomb. Again, I’ve heard people try to make a theological point about why John didn’t go in, but I think to look at this simply would be the best—apparently, though John happened to be quicker than Peter, he wasn’t quick to go into the tomb, but Peter was.

Peter gets to the tomb in vs. 6 and immediately goes into the tomb and “sees 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.”

Clearly, John thinks that these details concerning the linen cloths remaining with the face cloth being separated are important, but the reality is that we simply don’t know why.

The text doesn’t give us the reasoning for these details and there have been all sorts of suggestions, but almost all of those suggestions rely on ideas or details not present in the text.

Quite frankly, I think the only idea that we could possibly get from these details concerns the contrast of Jesus’ resurrection with Lazarus’ resurrection in John 11:44. Lazarus came out from the tomb still wearing his grave-clothes, the additional burial cloth still wrapped around his head. Jesus’ comes out of the tomb without the burial cloths.

What’s most important about this verse concerns the fact that the linen cloths were still lying there.

And the reasoning for that is simple—if someone stole the body of Jesus, why would they unwrap him first? To unwrap the body of Jesus to steal the body is simply nonsensical and adds a significant amount of work when they could’ve just grabbed the body with the linen and left.

The point that’s ultimately being made here is that someone stealing the body of Jesus, wouldn’t have left the burial cloths.

And it is the detail, that the burial cloths had remained in place along with the empty tomb, that convinces the “other disciple” in vss. 8-10 to believe. “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.” There are two details in these three verses that are important for us to remember:

Prior to this point, the disciples themselves didn’t understand the Scriptural prophecy of Jesus rising from the dead. We see this in vs 9, “for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.”

Which means that despite the Old Testament teaching that the Messiah would be killed, buried, and raise; and despite Jesus’ own prophecies concerning his death, burial, and resurrection; they still didn’t understand it.

They didn’t comprehend the fact that Jesus was going to return, which gives us insight to what the time between the death of Jesus and his resurrection must’ve been like for them.

Remember that each of the disciples had given up their lives to follow Jesus—they left their jobs, their homes, and their families to go and follow someone who had no place to lay his head.

When Jesus was arrested, the panic started setting into the disciples, which is why we saw Peter repeatedly deny Jesus.

When Jesus was beaten and crucified, the fear was starting to well up within them, which is why after the death of Jesus, we see the disciples hiding. In vs. 19, we see that the disciples had the doors locked out of fear for the Jews.

That brief time between the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection, would have felt like an eternity for them as they mourned and grieved. That brief amount of time, would’ve been excruciating for them.

And it all would’ve stemmed from the fact that they thought Jesus was dead; he was gone. They didn’t think he was coming back. What should they do now?

When they get to the empty tomb and they see the burial cloths laying there, that’s when it clicks in the disciple’s mind. That’s when he gets it.

And we can almost get an idea of what this must’ve been like for him, because it was probably similar to the moment that you actually got it and believed in Jesus.

Where everything just starts clicking and you start connecting the dots and you finally understand the truth.

For John, he would’ve seen the burial cloths lying there and his mind would’ve started working through Scriptures that he previously didn’t understand. He would’ve thought about:

Psalm 16:10, “For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will you allow your Holy One to undergo decay.”

Psalm 22 in vss. 19-21, the suffering Savior prays for deliverance “from the lion’s mouth” and then immediately goes into praising God for hearing his prayer and delivering. The resurrection of the Messiah is clearly implied.

Isaiah 53 talks about the suffering of the Messiah, but then makes it clear that the Messiah would see his offspring, that God would prolong his days, and that “as a result of the anguish of His soul, He [would] see light and be satisfied.”

John would’ve thought about those passages and they would’ve finally made sense in light of Jesus’ resurrection.

And he would’ve started reflecting on some of the things that Jesus had spoken to them about:

After Jesus feeds the multitude he says that the “Son of Man must suffer many things” that he would be rejected, killed, and then rise again.

While heading toward Jerusalem for Passover, he tells his disciples that he would be mocked, scourged, crucified, and then rise again.

He tells the Pharisees if they destroy the temple, he would build it back up in three days. Metaphorically speaking of his own body, of course.

John would’ve thought about all these instances and they would’ve finally made sense in light of Jesus’ resurrection.

Which causes him to respond with genuine belief in Jesus. He understood and he had faith.

DA Carson, The Gospel according to John (1. Peter and John at the Empty Tomb (20:1–9))

Most of the early witnesses came to faith in Jesus as the resurrected Lord not because they could not find his corpse but because they found Christ alive; but John testifies that he came to such faith before he saw Jesus in resurrected form. And he took this step, not simply because the tomb was empty, but because the grave-clothes were still there. (DA Carson, The Pillar New Testament Commentary, 637)

The Bible then continues in the passage by telling us that the disciples went back to their homes, which almost sounds anticlimactic. They go to the tomb and they see that the body is no longer there, that the tomb is actually empty, but the graveclothes remain. We see that at the very least, John believed though there is an implication that both Peter and John finally understood and believed in the resurrection. And then they go home, but the text continues with the focus returning to Mary Magdalen in vss. 11-18. Let’s re-read those verses together.

Jesus and Mary Magdalene (11-18)

John 20:11–18 ESV

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 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.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 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.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 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.’ ” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

Because of the wording, many assume that this happened right after Peter and John left the tomb. As in, they would’ve walked right by Mary on their way home, but that’s an assumption typically based on the English word but.

The assumption is that this must mean that as Peter and John were standing in the tomb, Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping, but it brings up a significant question:

Why would Peter and John just walk right by her if she was still standing there when they left? Why wouldn’t John express his faith to Mary before leaving? Why wouldn’t they show some compassion to her as they left?

We have to get rid of that idea that Mary Magdalene was standing outside of the tomb while John and Peter were still there and the reason for that is chronology.

The beginning of this chapter starts with Mary going to the tomb with the other women, they all leave to get John and Peter. Notice that in vs. 3, the only two people mentioned going to the tomb at that time is Peter and John, not Peter, John, and the women.

As in, Mary hadn’t returned to the tomb with Peter and John, Peter and John went without her.

The NIV reflects this when it translates the word but as now instead. “Now Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.”

So, in vs. 11, Mary had just returned to the tomb and has an interaction with angels and Jesus himself. She was “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.”

I think, if you’re familiar with how angelic beings in the Bible are usually described, you can tell that there’s something unique going on in this passage.

Most of the time when angels are described in Scripture, they’re described as utterly terrifying and their very presence tends to cause people to fall to the ground—when the angel comes to roll away the stone, we’re told that his presence caused all the Roman soldiers to collapse and pass out.

On very few occasions, do we read about angels and the people not immediately respond in fear. In Mary’s instance here in John 20, it seems as if she doesn’t even realize that they are angels.

And I’m of the opinion that it’s because they, like Jesus does in vs. 14, are hiding their true appearance from Mary.

That’s why Mary doesn’t respond to them immediately in fear. Instead, she sees them and they respond to her in vs. 13, “‘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.’” And then she turns and sees Jesus, but again, doesn’t initially recognizes him as Jesus. She assumes that he’s the gardener and that he had taken Jesus’ body.

In vs. 15, “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.’”

Clearly then, Mary is weeping not just because of Jesus’ death, but because she assumes that his body was stolen. She has yet to believe in the resurrection. Unlike John, who believed based on seeing the burial clothes and the empty tomb, Mary hasn’t connected the dots together.

It isn’t until she recognizes Jesus that she understand and believes in vs. 16-18. Vs. 16 says “Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rabboni!’”

And it is in that instance, when he says her name, that she finally recognizes who he is and she rushes to embrace him, which let’s be honest; this is a logical way of responding to the resurrected Jesus.

The one who had been crucified and buried is now standing before her alive and well—it would’ve been unusual if Mary didn’t respond this way. If she saw the resurrected Jesus and she didn’t shout out and she didn’t embrace him, we would read this account and think that she responded unusually.

But she responds by crying out and embracing him. It’s completely logical for her to respond to Jesus in his resurrected form in this way.

But Jesus’ response to her embracing him might seem a little unusual. He says in vs. 17, “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.’”

First off, let me explain that he doesn’t say this in a “don’t touch me way.” That is the impression that the KJV translation gives and because of that impression, it has caused many people to wonder why he couldn’t be touched.

Jesus isn’t saying that she shouldn’t touch him as in he’s untouchable, but rather that she can’t hold onto him or shouldn’t cling to him. It isn’t a rejection of touching Jesus because he does later invite Thomas to touch his side, but rather that she can’t cling to him because there is something else that needs to happen instead.

He says in vs. 17, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them.”

The reason that Jesus says “do not cling to me” is because he had not yet ascended to the Father, which gives us an impression that the issue at hand, isn’t that Mary wanted to touch Jesus, but that the time for him to physically be in her presence was waning.

And because the time for him to physically be in their presence is waning, there’s something more important for Mary to do.

In the last two verses, Jesus tells her to “go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Then Mary Magdalene and goes and announces to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord” and she tells them all the things that Jesus had said to her.

Jesus’ statement that she shouldn’t cling to him at that moment was because she needed to go and announce his resurrection to the disciples.

Colin Kruse, “Why was this a reason for Mary not to touch him? Perhaps the reason is to be found in the next thing Jesus said to her: Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ Mary Magdalene had an immediate task to perform. She had to inform Jesus’ brothers . . . This was not a time to be dwelling in Jesus’ presence, touching or holding him; there was a job to do.”

It wasn’t that her clinging to him was necessarily a bad thing, it was that in that moment, her role of announcing Jesus’ resurrection and soon-to-be return to the Father was of more importance.

No one in their right mind would argue that this is proof that you should seek busy-ness over dwelling in the presence of God, it’s just that at this moment, Jesus commissions Mary with a mission to fulfill.

Just like Jesus had his mission to fulfill on the cross, Mary now has a mission to fulfill, which she does in vs. 18, “Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’—and that he had said these things to her.”

Now, before we move onto our application, there is one sort of side-note that I want to make you aware of. We live in a period of time in which the veracity of Jesus’ resurrection is questioned. People doubt that Jesus actually was raised from the dead—even people who claim to believe in Christianity make the claim that Jesus wasn’t actually raised from the dead.

They argue that Jesus was only figuratively raised from the dead or that he had been spiritually raised from the dead, but not physically.

And typically the reason for this argument is simple, they’re trying to make the resurrection of Jesus more palatable for people who don’t want to believe in miraculous events.

The issue is that scripturally, it’s clear that this is a bodily, physical resurrection—Mary touches him physically, Thomas will soon put his hands into Jesus’ side.

Paul argues that if this wasn’t a physical resurrection our whole faith is worthless. In 1 Corinthians 15:12-19, he says “Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is in vain . . . For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins . . . if we have hoped in Christ only in this life, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (NASB)

People doubt the truthfulness of the resurrection because they want to believe in the morality of Scripture without the miraculous events of Scripture, but a plain reading of Scripture coupled with Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians makes it clear that Jesus has to have been raised physically from the dead or we would all still be in sin and we would all be headed to death and hell.

The reality is that Jesus had to be raised physically or our salvation would be vain and Paul’s argument is proof for this. The plain reading of Scripture is proof of this.

Even the simple fact that Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene is proof of this. How do we know?

Many today accuse the Bible of being patriarchal—that the Bible is sexist against women and that the teachings of Scripture oppress women.

And yet, the first person who is privileged with seeing the resurrected Jesus is a woman. Do you understand how significant that is?

The first century as a whole was patriarchal—women in many households were treated a little better than a servant in first century Jerusalem. If the New Testament was written by an average first century, non-Christian person; the first person to see the resurrected Jesus wouldn’t have been a woman, the first person would’ve been a man.

The counter-cultural method of revealing the resurrected Jesus to the people is evidence that this wasn’t written to trick people into believing about Jesus. This was written as a legitimate record of the resurrection of Jesus.

Isn’t great that we have not just one legitimate account of Jesus’ resurrection, but four accounts of his resurrection from different perspectives? We serve an amazing God who breathed out the words of Scripture and we should praise him for this everyday.

Application

In the remaining few minutes, I want to focus our time on some direct application that we should gain from this passage. But before we jump into application, I do want to point out that there are many overarching applications that John subtly implies throughout this text, but we aren’t going to spend a significant amount of time working through them because we already have been over the past few weeks. We aren’t going to spend time talking about how Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection shows us his sovereignty—the fact that he was and is completely in control (because we’ve already talked through that in multiple sermons). We aren’t going to spend time talking about how Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection shows us his faithfulness—the fact that we can trust him for the promises that haven’t been fulfilled yet, because he fulfilled his promises in his death, burial, and resurrection (because we’ve already talked about it in multiple sermons). But those two ideas are definitely present in this section as well. Instead, we’re going to look at two specific applications that come directly from this text, though you may have missed them as we worked through the text. And to do so, we’re going to look at the text in the two divisions that we made:

The Empty Tomb (1-10)—from the first section of the text, we see Mary Magdalene go to the tomb early in the morning. John doesn’t tell us, but we know that she isn’t alone and that they’re all going with the purpose of anointing the body of Jesus with spices, which just proves to us that they didn’t think that Jesus was literally going to be resurrected from the dead. Mary goes and tells Peter and John that the body is missing and they both run to the tomb. This is where we see that John believes because of the missing body, but remaining burial linens. The application for this section can really be split in two. One for unbelievers and one for believers:

For those that DON’T believe, John’s whole purpose for writing the book of John was to convince people that Jesus was and is the Messiah and for them to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. John does this by not necessarily giving the most details about every event in Jesus’ life, but by writing a record that focuses on the details that are necessary for one to understand who Jesus is and to believe in him.

In the case of John himself, his belief in Jesus came about because he literally saw the tomb that Jesus was buried in—he saw that the tomb was empty and he realized that the linens that covered Jesus were still in the tomb and then he believed.

For those alive today, clearly you can’t go into the tomb of Jesus and see the linen folded up. You didn’t witness his death and you didn’t experience the sorrow that accompanied his death.

However, God has made it possible for you to read multiple accounts of Jesus’ life, crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John provide four different perspectives about Jesus, his life, his death, and his resurrection.

In many ways, we actually have it better today than those who lived during the first century because we can see everything that happened from four different perspectives, but not only that, we have the epistles, the Acts of the Apostles, and the book of Revelation that completes the Scriptural teachings.

The Bible provides such a significant amount of detail concerning who God is, who Jesus is, and why we ought to believe in him—it’s just a matter of whether you want to believe in him or not.

No, you can’t literally go and see the empty tomb of Jesus (though you can go to Jerusalem today and see something that might be Jesus’ empty tomb). No, you aren’t an eyewitness to his death and his burial, but you have multiple witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection that you can read, you just have to read them.

Read them without trying to nitpick them and without trying to disprove them. Read them plainly with the intent of learning what the Scriptures teach.

And then seriously consider your eternal soul in light of the truths in Scripture. John saw the physical evidence that Jesus had been raised from the dead.

You’re blessed because you can read multiple accounts of Jesus’ resurrection.

So read it, take it seriously, consider Jesus—and then repent from your sins, believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, and follow him.

For those that DO believe: sometimes we can read these passages and sort of skim over them because they are very familiar passages to us. If you’ve been attending a healthy church for any amount of years, you’ve heard the Passion week preached almost every year for multiple years, you’ve heard about Jesus’ resurrection, and you’ve heard how it influences and affects our lives.

It’s very easy to take this all for granted, but let me encourage you not to. You aren’t hearing about the resurrection for the first time this morning, but every time you do hear about the resurrection it strengthens you in your faith.

Sometimes, I think believers assume that once you’re saved, you don’t really need to hear the Gospel anymore at all. We assume that’s just stuff for beginners who either still are on the fence about faith or their new in their faith.

But what does Paul tell the Corinthians? “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Paul tells the Corinthians that the Gospel is foolishness to those who are dying and going to hell, but for those who have accepted the truth, it is the very power of God.

When Paul writes to the Romans, specifically to those that believe, he says in Romans 1:15, “I am eager to preach the Gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written: ‘But the righteous one will live by faith.’”

Paul’s understanding of the Gospel was that it ought to be preached to unbelievers, but it also should be preached to believers. Why? Because the Gospel is how God saves us and every single time we hear the Gospel it should strengthen our faith, compel us to praise, and lead us to worship.

So, this morning, as a believer in Jesus Christ, even if you’ve heard the Gospel a thousand times, your application, your response should be to hear the Gospel, let it strengthen your faith, praise Jesus, and worship God.

Jesus and Mary Magdalene (11-18)—in the last section, we see Mary Magdalene return to the tomb in which she sees the resurrected Jesus and embraces him. Jesus tells her not to cling to him at that moment, but to go to the disciples and tell them that he’s alive and that he will only be there but for a moment before ascending to the Father. Or in other words, dwelling with Jesus isn’t a bad thing, but there’s a mission to accomplish, there’s a commission, which Mary (of course) does. Our last application for the morning stems from that idea.

As believers, we know that Jesus has promised to return. We know that he has assured us that he will be back to judge all mankind, that those that genuinely believe will be taken to dwell with him forever.

And some have been tempted to sort of sit on their hands and wait. We read about Paul confronting the Christians in Thessalonica for this issue.

Pastors today, spend a lot of time trying to convince people that the church isn’t a social club—it’s a body of believers that exists for very specific purposes.

Its a body that exists with a very specific mission; there is a commission given to the church at large—because it’s given to the individuals within the church and we read it in Matthew 28.

Jesus comes to the disciples in Matthew 28 and says to them “‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’ Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you.”

Our last application for this morning concerning Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection is all about what we ought to be doing now as believers.

Do we sit and just twiddle our thumbs? No!

Just like Mary Magdalene obeyed Jesus’ short commission to go and proclaim to the disciples that Jesus was risen, we are to go with the same proclamation.

Jesus lives and he’s calling for all to repent and believe in him and if you aren’t actively proclaiming that Jesus lives, if you aren’t trying to make disciples, if you aren’t teaching people all that Jesus taught us, you aren’t obeying him. You’re in sin and you’ve taken the crucifixion of Jesus Christ for granted.

Put simply, what we learn in John 20:1-18 is this: Jesus is alive! (1) So be strengthened in your faith, praise Jesus, worship God; and (2) proclaim that Jesus is alive to all. Go and make disciples.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

In Christ Alone