April 1, 2018

John 20:1-18: The Source of All Hope

Preacher: Josh Tancordo Series: The Gospel of John: That You May Believe Scripture: John 20:1–18

John 20:1-18: The Source of All Hope

Please turn with me in your Bible to John 20. If you’re using one of the Story Bibles we provide, that’s on page 751. We’ve been going through the Gospel of John passage by passage, and in God’s providence with no alteration or adaptation on my part, the next passage we come to just happens to be a narrative of the resurrection. Not a bad choice for Easter Sunday. So John 20:1-18. John 20:1-18: 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. 

It was a dark day in Jerusalem. Yes, as Mary Magdalene woke up and got out of bed, it was literally dark outside since the sun hadn’t yet risen. But the physical darkness of that early hour was far surpassed by the spiritual darkness that hung in the air. Just a few days before, Jesus the Messiah had been executed in the cruelest way this world has ever known—by being crucified on a cross. Mary had been closely following Jesus’ ministry and had come to believe that he was the promised Messiah sent from God to bring rescue and salvation to the nation of Israel. And not just to the nation but to Mary personally. After all, Jesus had delivered Mary from seven demons. It also seems as though Mary had developed a very close friendship with Jesus and, as a somewhat wealthy woman, had contributed toward Jesus’ physical needs out of her own pocket. But now, all of that was a thing of the past. In Mary’s mind, Jesus was gone, and there was nothing she could do to bring him back. So she grieved. 

If you’ve ever lost someone who was close to you, I’m sure you can understand the grief Mary felt. I remember when Becky was pregnant with our first child, she was having some very unusual symptoms. So we went to the Emergency Room of the nearest hospital, and the physician on duty told us that we had lost the baby. And I can remember leaving that hospital in a state of shock as I tried my best to process what Becky and I had just been told. It all seemed so surreal as I pulled out of that hospital parking lot. And together, Becky and I began to grieve. And I imagine Mary’s grief was very similar to that as she got out of bed at that early hour and made her way to Jesus’ tomb. 

But when she got to the tomb, she discovered to her surprise that the stone that had been rolled in front of the tomb’s entrance had now been rolled away. And immediately, Mary’s heart sunk. She assumed, very understandably, grave robbers had stolen Jesus’ body out of the tomb in order to acquire the valuable spices with which he had been buried. So Mary quickly ran to tell Peter the terrible news about what had happened. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,” she said, “and we do not know where they have laid him.” So Peter and another disciple named John ran to the tomb as fast as they could to see it for themselves. John got there first, but he waited outside the tomb for Peter. Peter then arrived and immediately entered the tomb and discovered something very unusual. The linen cloths that had been wrapped around Jesus’ body were still there, as well as the face cloth that had been on Jesus’ head. The face cloth was even neatly folded up—definitely not the kind of thing you would expect if grave robbers had stolen the body. After all, what grave robbers would take the time to fold up a face cloth? Robbing a grave was an offense punishable by death, so any robbers would have been anxious to get out of there as quickly as possible. And as John put all of this together in his mind, he came to the conclusion that somehow, as crazy as it sounded, Jesus must have risen from the dead. Of course John didn’t yet understand from the scriptures that this was part of God’s plan, but he nevertheless believed that Jesus was alive. So he and Peter had plenty to talk about as they began to walk back home. 

Then after they departed, Mary arrived at the tomb again. Apparently, she hadn’t sprinted back to the tomb like Peter and John, and so she didn’t get there until Peter and John had already left. And she was still grieving Jesus’ death as she approached to the tomb. Of course, she hadn’t yet heard anything about the burial cloths or anything like that, so she was still operating under the assumption that Jesus was dead. But as she bent down to peer into the tomb, she saw two angels sitting where Jesus’ body had been laid. One of the angels then asked her, “Ma’am, why are you weeping?” Mary replied, “They have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid him.” And no sooner did those words come out of her mouth than she turned around and encountered Jesus standing right there behind her. But for some reason, she didn’t recognize him. She actually thought he was the gardener. And Jesus repeated the angel’s question, “Ma’am, why are you weeping?” and she said, “Sir, if you’ve carried him away, tell me where you’ve laid him, and I’ll take him.” But then, Jesus simply said to her, “Mary.” And as soon as Mary heard him say her name, she knew exactly who it was. Only one person could say her name like that. And she ran up to Jesus and embraced him and didn’t ever want to let him go again. Jesus wasn’t dead—he was alive! He had risen! It was the best moment of Mary’s life. The joy she had in that moment was greater than any joy she had ever known before. She had thought Jesus was dead, but in reality, he was alive. 

I remember when Becky and I discovered that the report we had received at the hospital was wrong. Remember, we had been told that we lost our baby. And we went home that evening in a state of shock and grief. But later that week, during a follow up appointment, the OB-GYN heard a sound coming from Becky’s belly through the ultrasound equipment. And it wasn’t just any sound—it was the heartbeat of our baby. And a few months later, Becky delivered a healthy baby boy named Caleb who’s sitting in this room right now. Needless to say, we were excited when the physician head that heartbeat. In fact, that would probably be an understatement. We couldn’t believe it. The baby we thought was dead was actually very much alive. Our joy in that moment couldn’t have been greater. And that’s the kind of joy I’m sure Mary had also. She had encountered the resurrected Jesus.

And that’s where Mary’s story can come together with your story. You may be here this morning with a heavy heart. You may be struggling—struggling with relationship issues, health issues, money issues, or simply life issues. But regardless of where you are in life or what you’re struggling through, I want you to know something: You can have a joy in life that’s just as great as Mary’s joy. And as with Mary, the source of that joy is none other than the resurrected Christ. And I’d like to use the rest of our time this morning explaining exactly what I mean by that. I’d like to explain how you can have a joy in Jesus’ resurrection that’s every bit as great as Mary’s joy. And we’ll look at this under two headings: First, what Jesus accomplished through his resurrection and then, second, what Jesus offers through his resurrection.

What Jesus Accomplished through His Resurrection

So first, what Jesus accomplished through his resurrection. When Jesus resurrected from the dead, he accomplished something of cosmic significance. He didn’t just accomplish something significant for his family and friends and people who knew him. He accomplished something significant for this entire world. Kind of like decisions that are made in the Oval Office. The Oval Office may be a relatively small space. I’m not sure of the dimensions of the office, but it’s not a huge space. And yet, the decisions made in that office have worldwide consequences. Those decisions affect economies, they affect armies, they affect the everyday lives of billions of people across the planet. And likewise with the resurrection of Jesus: this wasn’t just something of local significance; it was something of cosmic significance.

You see, by his resurrection, Jesus brought life into a world that was formerly characterized only by death. Let me say that again. By his resurrection, Jesus brought life into a world that was formerly characterized only by death. Now, in the beginning, God had created a world that was vibrant with life. He had created a beautiful world—a world of perfect harmony and prosperity, a world free from any kind of suffering, heartache, conflict, disease, or death. But it wasn’t long before humans rebelled against God, disregarding God’s instructions and in reality thumbing their nose at their Creator. And as soon as they did that, this entire world became a broken place. The fallout from that rebellion affected everything. So if you’ve ever wondered why there’s so much brokenness in the world around you, that’s why. That’s why we have disease, that’s why we have wars, that’s why we have racism, that’s why we have natural disasters, that’s why we have poverty, that’s why we have clinical depression, that’s why we have death. We can trace all of those things back to the first humans rebelling against God and God judging humanity for its rebellion. And the greatest consequence of our rebellion is a broken relationship to God. Make sure you understand that. All of the brokenness you see on the news and, to one degree or another, in your life is merely a symptom a symptom of a much deeper kind of brokenness—a broken relationship to God. Kind of like fatigue or loss of appetite or a fever are all symptoms of a physical sickness, the brokenness we see around us is symptomatic of a spiritual sickness. We’re cut off from God and under God’s righteous judgment. 

But that’s where Jesus comes in. Through Jesus, God the Father set a plan in motion fix everything that’s gone wrong with this world and with us. God’s making everything new. Or, we might say, he’s restoring everything to the way he originally intended for it to be. Jesus lived a life that was perfect in every way. He didn’t sin even a single time. And then, he died on the cross not for any sins he had committed but for our sins. All the punishment you and I deserved for our sins came down not on us but on Jesus instead. He took it all in our place. And then, in a climactic display of his victory, Jesus rose up out of the grave, defeating death, defeating sin, and defeating all the powers of evil. Jesus demonstrated his supremacy over everything through that glorious resurrection. He is Lord of all. And one day, the Bible says, every knee will bow before him and every mouth will acknowledge that he is Lord. And his resurrection is the key to it all. That’s what makes Easter so special.

Because…think about what happened at the resurrection. For the first time since humanity’s original rebellion, life had entered the world. It was as if this world had been flat-lining for thousands of years. As you may know, flat-lining is what we call it when someone in the hospital has no detectable activity happening in their heart. They don’t have a heartbeat or anything. And so the line on their heart monitor is completely flat and the monitor makes that long continuous noise that alerts everyone that we have a problem. There’s nothing happening in this person’s heart. There’s no sign of life. And that’s the way this world was for thousands of years. It was flat-lining and lifeless. But when Jesus resurrected, it was like that first blip coming onto the screen of the monitor—a blip that symbolized a heartbeat. Finally, at last after thousands of years, life had re-entered the world.

And Jesus’ resurrection, as glorious as it was, is just a foretaste of what God plans to do to this entire world. God will bring renewal to everything. And the resurrection is our first glimpse of that. Kind of like that day that usually occurs around March when we get our first taste of Spring. I love that day. Because as far as I’m concerned, the best part of winter is when it’s over. So when that first thaw comes, that first day when you can finally go outside without a coat, I’m all about it. Because I know that day is the first of many other days in the future that are warm the way I like them to be. That day is a foretaste of what’s to come. And that’s what the resurrection is also. It’s the first installment, if you will, of God’s plan to bring renewal and restoration to everything. That includes the creation itself as God creates what the Bible calls the new heavens and the new earth. And that also includes you and me as God raises us from spiritual death to spiritual life.

What Jesus Offers through His Resurrection 

And that brings us to what Jesus offers through his resurrection. So first, we had what Jesus accomplished through his resurrection. And now we have what Jesus offers through his resurrection. Jesus invites us to share in his victory over sin and death. The Bible says that as we turn away from our rebellious way of living and look to Jesus alone as our only hope of rescue, we’re united with him. That’s the terminology the Bible uses in Romans 6. We’re united with Jesus first in his death as we die to our old way of living, and then we’re also united with him in his resurrection in the sense that we become a brand new person. And that resurrection life is ours forever since we’ll dwell for all eternity with God in heaven. All of that happens when we turn from our sins and look to Jesus for rescue. His resurrection victory becomes our resurrection victory. From that moment on, we’re never the same again.

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