An Empty Tomb

John 20:1-18

Jesus has died, He has finished His suffering for the sins of the world. Secret followers of Jesus has openly asked for the body of Jesus and has prepared the body for burial. Placing Jesus in a new tomb, the tomb of a rich man.

Worthy of note, In Matthew 27, the Pharisees were concerned, because of what Jesus said, that He will rise again on the third day. They asked Pilate to place a guard at the tomb to make sure that Jesus’ disciples wouldn’t come and take the body.

I have often wondered if these Pharisees thought that or if they were worried that Jesus would actually come out of the grave.

He had not long ago, brought Lazarus back to life.......so this had to be in their minds as they ask for guards to be placed on watch.

According to Matt. 27:64 “Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.”

The first error being Jesus’ claim of Messiah, and then the last would be the disciples stealing the body of Jesus and claiming it as a resurrection.

Their claim was that this was all false......

I remember Nicodemus, an high up in the Pharisees, saying to Jesus in: John 3:2 “The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.”

Nicodemus references “we” there......maybe there was some discussion amongst the Pharisees....

I just wonder if they might have been on pins and needles, waiting to see if Jesus really could come out of the grave......not that they would of changed their minds about Jesus, but that they would have definite problems explaining His resurrection away.

Which they did.....

According to Matthew 28, the religious leaders bribed the guards and told them to say that the disciples stole Jesus, while they were sleeping...

If they told that to anybody, the first thing somebody would ask is: “how do you know the disciples stole Jesus’ body if your were asleep?”

Now, to Jesus resurrection.......nobody has an eyewitness report of Jesus actually rising except for the angels...........Matthew and Mark tells of the one angel, the one who talked.....Luke tells us that there was 2 angels......the stone had been rolled away by angel through the power of God, this awesome sight overwhelmed the guard and they fell as dead men........

Nobody saw Jesus’ being resurrected, it happened and then the ladies come........

John 20.......

Verse 1......Mary Magdalene came to the tomb.......According to the other Gospels, Mary the mother of James (The other Mary) and Salome (mother of John) was with her.......

This was all right at daybreak......John tell us that Mary M. got there early while it was still dark.

One note on this....one commentator noted that the reports of the other Gospels are similar but not actually the same.....

At dawn, rising of the sun, very early, and while it was yet dark

That commentator stated that this was further proof of the authenticity of the Gospel accounts, because these reports were not rehearsed.

Anyone, that has been up before daybreak can understand these accounts and see there genuine nature!

Mary finds the stone rolled away.......John leaves out what the angel told the women that were there......

“He is not here, for He is risen”............ “Go quickly and tell His disciples” Mark adds “tell His disciples and Peter.”

Verse 2.....So, Mary and the other women go and tell the disciples....John tells us that it was Peter and himself (whom Jesus loved)

At this point, nobody is expecting the resurrection of Jesus, Mary even tells them that they have taken Him, “we don’t where they laid Him”

By the Scriptures upcoming and in other places, it sure seems that at this point everyone was not looking for Jesus alive rather still dead.

Interestingly, the disciples didn’t seem to have a good handle on what Jesus told them about rising on the third day, but the Pharisees knew that Jesus said that. That was the first thing they thought of after His death.

The disciples were hoping but not really expecting until they saw the empty tomb.

Not to fault them or the women, the scourging and crucifixion was devastating and that image of Jesus was too hard to overcome, I am quite sure they wanted to believe but it was hard.......

Jesus told them in John 16:12 “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.”

What has just happened right in front of them was unbearable.....

Verse 3-4.......Peter and John ran to the tomb, hoping maybe that Jesus had actually risen, but still wasn’t confident according to John believing at this moment....

John was younger than Peter and he outrun him.....

Verses 5-7........John wouldn’t go in.......but stooped down and looked in and saw the linen clothes lying as they were put on Jesus ( we will come back to that).....

John didn’t go on in, overwhelmed, out of gas, not sure.......but Peter did!

The description of the linen and the facecloth is a contrast to Lazarus when he had come out of the grave, he was still wrapped in his grave clothes.....

Jesus, according to this report, must of passed through those grave clothes, because if this was done physically there would be no way to come out of them without it being a great mess and there would be no way to wrap them like that without anyone to wrap them around.

Grave-robbers wouldn’t of bothered with unwrapping the grave clothes there.

Jesus just came out of the graveclothes much like He entered the room in verses 19 & 20.

Let me read a commentary on this: “This cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Clearly, John perceives these details to be important, but their exact meaning is disputed. Some have thought that the burial cloth still retained the shape of Jesus’ head, and was separated from the strips of linen by a distance equivalent to the length of Jesus’ neck. Others have suggested that, owing to the mix of spices separating the layers, even the strips of linen retained the shape they had when Jesus’ body filled them out. Both of these suggestions say more than the text requires. What seems clearest is the contrast with the resurrection of Lazarus (11:44). Lazarus came from the tomb wearing his grave-clothes, the additional burial cloth still wrapped around his head. Jesus’ resurrection body apparently passed through his grave-clothes, spices and all, in much the same way that he later appeared in a locked room (vv. 19, 26). The description of the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head does not suggest that it still retained the shape of the corpse, but that it had been neatly rolled up and set to one side by the one who no longer had any use for it. The description is powerful and vivid, not the sort of thing that would have been dreamed up; and the fact that two men saw it (v. 8) makes their evidence admissible in a Jewish court (Dt. 19:15).”

Verse 8........Timid at first, the beloved disciple, doubtless emboldened by Peter, entered the tomb and saw the place where the Master lay—now nothing but linen grave-clothes and the additional burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. With sudden intuition he perceived that the only explanation was that the Jesus who had been crucified, the Jesus who had so recently assigned him his mother, the Jesus who had been buried in this new tomb, had risen from the dead. The beloved disciple saw and believed—

Verse 9......This by John seems to point to what Jesus said and did with disciples right before His ascension in Luke 24:43-47 “And he took it, and did eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

Jesus’ death and resurrection had been foretold by prophets of old....

His resurrection in Psalm 16:10 “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”

Hosea 6:2 “After two days will he revive us: In the third day he will raise us up, And we shall live in his sight.”

Jesus had to open their understanding for this to really sink all the way in......

Verse 10....they went home.......to their own homes......

Believing but still not fully understanding it all!

Verse 11-12.....Mary M’s grief may have drawn her back to the tomb.....apparently she hadn’t crossed paths with Peter and John on their way back home.

She looks in........she sees 2 angels sitting in the tomb....

One writer wrote: “Although the accounts are not identical, the point of the mysterious visitors is the same. The tomb was no longer in the hands of humans”

Verse 13.....These angels ask Mary why is she weeping......

She tells them.........

Certainly the main cause of Mary’s grief is Jesus’ death itself and not merely the fact that His body has been stolen. What Mary means is that, coming on top of all that has happened, the disappearance of Christ’s body is just too much for her. That Mary still refers to Jesus as “Lord” shows that, though the facts are all against it, she has not given up the idea that Jesus is the Messiah.

Verse 14-16......When she turns to leave, she encounters Jesus....

She doesn’t recognize Him.....Why?......

Tears in her eyes......

The vivid memory of Jesus bruised and broken body were still in her mind, not expecting Jesu to look normal......

Some say that Jesus’ resurrected appearance was so dramatically different....

Just don’t know for sure

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:16 “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.”

Jesus asks her the same question that angels asked and then asks her who she was seeking?

She thought Jesus was the gardener....and in some way thought that a gardener moved the body....

Just tell me where you put Him, I will get Him.....

This is so good here.....this is why I believe Mary didn’t recognize Jesus physically........when she heard Jesus say “Mary” she knew Who called her name..........it was her Master!!!

This seems to suggest what Jesus taught us in John 10:10-27......

She knew the voice of her Shepherd, that Jesus gave His for His sheep and He also took His life back and stood before one of His sheep.

In Luke 8:2 we read “And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,”

There is nothing in Scripture that says Mary M. was a harlot, but she had 7 devils and most possibly could of been the source of Jesus’ parable in Matthew 12..........

However, Jesus healed her, delivered her from the demonic presence....

She had thought she had lost her Deliverer.......

Notice back in verse 13 she calls Jesus “My Lord”......her life was dramatically changed by Jesus and at that point she had no other source, Jesus was her Lord, her Master....

Oh, if we all would view Jesus in this way! My Lord, my Master, my Source!

Verses 17-18.........Mary is desiring to hold on to the physical presence of Jesus her Lord, possibly fearing that she would lose Him again.

One writer says that Mary is holding for dear life, because Jesus was her life....Colossians 3:4 “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”

Jesus tells her strongly to not touch Him or “stop clinging to Me!”

I have not ascended........basically, Jesus is saying to her: ““Mary, I can’t stay, I have to go to the Father.” And this is sort of metaphoric. It’s beyond just, “Just let go of Me in this moment.” It’s, “You’re not going to be able to keep Me here, because the plan is I ascend to heaven.”

Many have debated this because we will read that Jesus let Thomas touch Him.........It seems though with Mary looking for the “body” of Jesus, that is important, that she is looking, as I said, to hold on to Jesus physically...

However, since Jesus has risen there is a new spiritual relationship with Jesus, it is no longer known as Paul said in the flesh......we know Jesus in the flesh no more.....our faith is spiritual!

There is something in this verse that links to the writer of Hebrews......Jesus calls His disciples “my brethren”, this is the first time Jesus calls them brethren!

Hebrews 2:9-11 “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,”

After and because of His death and His resurrection Jesus is not ashamed to call us His brethren!

This is not a fleshly relationship, this is spiritual......which is the only relationship that matters in eternity!

Let go of the body because this is not what it is about! Stop clinging to the earthly presence of Jesus!

Mary then left and told the disciples!