John 20:1-18 (Easter)

Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone

had been taken away from the tomb.

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.

So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb.

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.

Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb.

He saw 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.

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.

But Mary stood 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, one at the head

and one at the feet.

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.

Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing.

But she did not know that it was Jesus.

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.

Jesus said to her, Mary.

She turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rabboni, which means teacher.

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.

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these

things to her.

Why are you here this Easter Sunday?

Perhaps you're here out of respect for a friend or family member who invited you to join them.

Perhaps you're curious about what Christians do when they meet in these odd-looking buildings.

And a major holiday seemed like a good time to visit.

Perhaps you were brought up in the church, and even though over time you have drifted away,

there's still something that draws you back.

Every so often.

Perhaps you come to church every Sunday, and this week is no different from any other.

But let me go one step further with this question.

Not just what brings you here this particular Sunday morning, but deep down, what are you

searching for?

In verse 15, Jesus asks Mary, whom are you seeking?

At the beginning of the Gospel of John, in chapter 1, Jesus asked his first would-be followers

almost the same question.

What are you seeking?

Beyond mere survival, what drives you to get out of bed in the morning, do what you do all

day, come back to where you live at night, and do it all over again?

Who or what are you searching for?

Well, let me begin by suggesting three common answers to this question.

Perhaps you're searching for truth, for a coherent system of beliefs that makes sense

of the world and shows us how to live well.

This is the quest of scientists, who through painstaking experiments seek to understand the

underlying structure and order of the universe.

The quest of students, who stay up until 4 a.m. trying to sort out the meaning of life

in a college common room.

The quest of philosophers, ancient and modern, who have sought out a path to wisdom and virtue.

Luke Ferry, the French secular humanist philosopher, wrote this,

At the heart of every great philosophical system is a quest for salvation without God.

Philosophy, like religion, also claims to save us, if not from death itself, then from the

anxiety it causes, and to do so by the exercise of our own resources and our innate faculty

of reason.

So perhaps you're searching for truth through reason.

On the other hand, maybe you've tried that, but it all seems too abstract, too complex, too

inconclusive.

So instead, you're searching for a spiritual experience.

The world is confusing, full of pain and suffering and injustice.

You're not trying to figure it all out, but you're looking for a spiritual experience that

will replace anxiety with confidence, grief with comfort, restlessness with peace.

Isn't that why we seek out things like music, or sex, or even food and drink?

That they can provide that solace, that comfort in a harsh world.

Perhaps that's what brings you to church this morning.

A hope of being lifted above the weariness of everyday life into the realm of the transcendent.

Or perhaps even more than a spiritual experience, perhaps you're longing for community.

Because even with all the knowledge in the world, and all the pleasant feelings one could

hope for, we might still be alone and unfulfilled.

As human beings, we long to be known and loved.

Isn't that why we pursue friendship, or romantic love, or building a family?

Even though at the same time, we fear the vulnerability that close relationships require of us.

As human beings, we seek truth to satisfy our minds.

We seek comfort to heal our hearts.

And we seek community, where we're known and loved.

What we see in our passage today is that the resurrection of Jesus speaks to us on all three of those levels.

It speaks to our mind.

It speaks to our hearts.

It speaks to our relationships.

So I want to take those three themes in turn this morning.

The first thing that we see is that the resurrection of Jesus speaks to our mind.

It's grounded in objective evidence.

Now, sometimes we think that people in the ancient world were prone to believe just about anything.

They believed in miracles.

They believed in angels and ghosts, or many of them did.

So perhaps they wouldn't find it too hard to believe that, some rumor, that somebody rose from the dead.

But that's actually not true at all.

They might have believed in miracles, ghosts, and angels, but they knew just as well as we do,

that when a person dies, their body decays, and they don't return to life in this world.

In a body.

Now, some Jewish people believed that one day God would raise all the dead to life,

and usher in his everlasting kingdom, but that would happen all at once, at the end of time.

So when Jesus was crucified, and his body was laid in a tomb, no one expected him to rise again.

Not the ruling authorities who had executed him, not his opponents who had accused him,

not his disciples who had followed him.

When Mary Magdalene came to the tomb in the darkness of early morning and saw the stone taken away,

she didn't immediately conclude, he's alive.

She ran away in terror.

She said, they've taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him.

When she found Peter and the other disciple, probably John,

John doesn't refer to himself by name in his gospel,

they didn't immediately believe he was alive either.

They went to see for themselves.

Some people have said perhaps they were mistaken.

In the dim light of early morning, they went to the wrong tomb.

But if they went to the wrong tomb, if Jesus' tomb wasn't really empty,

the Christian movement could never have survived in Jerusalem.

Perhaps it could have sprouted up hundreds of miles away in the Greco-Roman world as a mystery cult.

But it could never have survived in Jerusalem where these events were supposed to actually have happened.

Jesus had been accused of blasphemy by the religious leaders,

accused of treason by the political authorities,

condemned to death under Roman law.

There were all kinds of people who wanted him and his movement to stay dead.

If Jesus' body remained in the tomb,

while his followers were claiming that he was alive and risen,

anyone could have pointed to the body,

discredited the Christian movement,

and plenty of people had a motive to do just that.

But no one ever did.

Instead, the Christian movement survived and grew

and maintained a consistent presence in Jerusalem,

as well as spreading out to the world,

despite frequent persecution and opposition, particularly in Jerusalem.

The Christians maintained their claim that this Jesus,

who was crucified and buried,

had been raised to life by God himself.

And none of their opponents ever challenged that claim,

that the tomb of Jesus was empty.

Now we might ask,

well, is it possible that someone stole or removed Jesus' body,

like Mary wondered?

Well, Peter and John seem to have had this very question.

That's why they ran to the tomb and looked inside.

They had a little race to the tomb.

Interesting details.

John, the younger and more agile one,

got there first.

Peter, a bit older by all accounts,

and perhaps not in quite as good shape,

arrived second, huffing and puffing.

John, the restrained and reflective one,

looked inside and noted the linen cloths lying there.

Peter, no holds barred,

barged right in,

saw not just the linen cloths,

but also the face cloth.

Which had been on Jesus' head,

not lying with the linen cloths,

but folded up in a place by itself.

Now what's the point of all this detail?

Well, when Jesus died,

when he was buried,

his body was wrapped in linen cloths.

Chapter 19, verse 40 says this.

But that was the common Jewish burial custom.

He was embalmed with spices,

his body was embalmed with spices,

and a separate cloth was wrapped around his head,

leaving only the neck exposed.

Now if someone had carried away the body,

they would have carried away the linen cloths,

and the face cloth along with the body.

If you were a grave robber,

or if you were simply transporting the body

to another location for whatever reason,

you wouldn't unwrap the dead body of a man

who had been beaten to a pulp and crucified.

But this is what they saw.

The linen cloths that had bound Jesus' body,

lying there undisturbed.

The face cloth that had been wrapped around his face,

folded up neatly by itself.

In the words of John Stott,

the linen cloths were like a discarded chrysalis,

a cocoon from which a butterfly has emerged.

And so verse 8 says,

the other disciple saw,

and he believed.

He saw the objective evidence,

the linen cloths and the face cloths,

and he concluded,

contrary to all expectation,

that this Jesus had come to life again.

You see, the resurrection of Jesus

is not simply a fairy tale,

like the Easter bunny,

as much as I enjoy eating those marshmallow puffs.

It's not simply a metaphor for the coming of spring,

as relieved as we all are

that it finally seems to have come.

The early Christians were convinced

that Jesus' resurrection had actually happened,

and they testified to what they had seen.

But of course we might think,

well, 2,000 years have passed since then.

Perhaps you wonder,

what if it's not so simple?

I mean, the story we're reading here

wasn't written down until 50, 60 years

after the events it describes.

That's plenty of time for legends to develop,

and by then no one would be able to prove them wrong.

But that's the thing.

This story wasn't made up

50 or 60 years after the fact.

From the very beginning,

the earliest Christians testified to their belief

in a resurrected Lord Jesus,

that the same Jesus who was crucified and buried

was raised from the dead.

Earlier we read from 1 Corinthians 15,

which is one of the earliest letters in the New Testament

written by the Apostle Paul,

written around A.D. 53,

20 years after Jesus was crucified.

And in the passage we read,

he quotes from an early Christian summary of the faith.

He says,

I delivered to you,

as of first importance,

what I also received.

In other words,

he had received this summary from others.

He said that Christ died for our sins,

that he was buried,

that he was raised on the third day,

and that he appeared.

And then he lists a bunch of people

that Jesus appeared to,

who were witnesses of his resurrection.

And this wasn't something that Paul had invented himself.

He says,

I already delivered this to you.

He's referring back to when he had visited the Corinthians in person,

probably around A.D. 50,

a few years before that,

before he wrote the letter.

Previously he said,

I received this,

most likely from the Christians in Jerusalem,

most scholars think.

He had visited Jerusalem,

where some of the leaders of the church were,

and he had received this summary tradition from them.

And by then,

it had already become an accepted summary of belief

within the Christian community.

Now, in any community,

it takes time for traditions to develop.

And accepted summaries of belief

to be actually accepted summaries of belief,

and not just somebody's new ideas.

So many scholars believe

that the statement Paul was quoting

originated from within five years or even less

of when Jesus himself was crucified.

You see, the earliest Christians,

not just the later ones,

the earliest ones,

believed in Jesus' physical resurrection

because they were convinced

that it had actually happened.

That it wasn't merely wishful thinking,

it was grounded in real evidence.

Let me challenge you.

If you are not a Christian,

have you grappled

with the objective claims of the Christian faith?

In particular,

have you considered the historical evidence

for the resurrection of Jesus,

the most central claim of all?

You know, most people haven't.

C.S. Lewis once said,

many people compare

a version of Christianity

suitable for a six-year-old

to a thoughtful, nuanced,

articulate case

for agnosticism,

or atheism,

or another worldview.

Please don't assume

that what you remember,

the tidbits you remember

from being sent to Sunday school

as a child,

or what the major news outlets

portray Christians

as being primarily concerned about,

is the whole story.

Christianity is not primarily

an abstract philosophy.

It's not primarily

a political agenda.

It's not a list of ways

to become a better person

that you can pick and choose from

on and off

if they seem helpful.

The central claim of Christianity

is that God

has decisively intervened

in human history,

in the person of Jesus of Nazareth,

and that these events

that occurred 2,000 years ago,

Jesus' life,

Jesus' death,

and particularly

his resurrection from the dead,

make all the difference,

both for you personally,

and for the destiny

of the entire cosmos.

Now here at Trinity,

we want to take

these questions seriously.

Today in particular,

we've made several books

available for free

at the back.

There are 10-page booklets,

there are 800-page treatises,

take your,

and everything in between.

Start where you want.

There's a book called

The Reason for God.

If you haven't read it,

take a copy

and read it with a friend.

If you don't have a Bible

that you can read,

feel free to take

one of the few Bibles with you

as our gift to you.

So that's the first thing

we see in this passage,

that the message

of Jesus' resurrection

is grounded

in objective evidence.

But second,

we also see

that it was confirmed

by personal experience.

Verse 11,

we see Mary

weeping

beside the tomb.

Now we're not told

exactly when Mary

came back

to the tomb,

whether she had talked

with Peter and John

about what they had seen

or how she reacted

to them,

but we see her

overwhelmed

by grief.

Four times,

just in

verse 11 through 15,

the text refers

to her weeping.

Twice,

she basically repeats

what she said

to Peter and John

back in verse 2.

They have taken away

my Lord,

and I don't know

where they've laid him.

Sir,

if you've carried him away,

tell me where

you've laid him.

She was completely

overwhelmed.

And considering

all that Mary

had been through,

it wasn't surprising

that she was in

such a fragile

emotional state.

Mary had been

a devoted follower

of Jesus

for some time.

According to

the Gospel of Luke,

Luke 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8,

she belonged

to a group of women

who followed Jesus

throughout his public

ministry

and provided for him

out of their own means.

these women

were some of his

most loyal followers.

Even when he hung

on the cross,

while he was being

executed,

they stayed near him.

When he was buried,

they witnessed

the burial.

And for Mary

in particular,

Jesus wasn't just

a respected leader

whom she had followed

and supported.

Jesus had powerfully

transformed her own life.

Luke,

Luke 8:2

chapter 8,

verse 2,

says,

Jesus healed many

of evil spirits

and infirmities.

And for Mary

in particular,

he says,

seven demons

had gone out

from her.

Now,

we aren't told

the details.

Perhaps she had been

plagued by a complex

illness.

Perhaps her life

had been characterized

by addictive

and self-destructive

patterns.

Perhaps she was

literally possessed

by multiple evil spirits.

Perhaps all of the above.

But through

encountering Jesus,

she had been released

from bondage.

She had found

wholeness

and joy

and peace

in her life.

And now it seemed

that perhaps

all was lost.

Not only had her teacher

died a shameful death,

but his grave

had been violated,

his body

carelessly removed.

Mary was a mess.

Have you ever been there?

Overwhelmed

by grief

and shock,

feeling that you've lost

your last friend.

Feeling humiliated,

violated,

alone.

In light of Mary's

emotional state,

Jesus approached her

with tender compassion.

He began by asking

two simple

and yet searching

questions

in verse 15.

woman,

woman,

why are you weeping?

Who are you seeking?

Isn't that what a good counselor

or a good friend

does

if you're an emotional wreck?

Takes the initiative

to come near to you.

Listens

to your weeping.

Perhaps listens to you

saying the same thing

over and over.

and ask simple

yet thought-provoking

questions.

And yet Jesus

didn't stop there.

The turning point

of this story

is verse 16.

Jesus said to her,

Mary.

And she turned

and said to him,

Rabboni,

my very own

dear teacher.

Jesus is the good shepherd

shepherd

who calls

us by name.

Who leads his sheep

and goes before them

and the sheep

know his voice.

Some people come

to believe

in the risen Lord Jesus

like Peter and John.

Through a process

of thinking

and reflection.

Reading,

discussing,

questioning,

observing.

Other people

come to believe

in the risen Lord Jesus

like Mary.

Through a personal

experience

of Jesus'

steadfast love

and mercy.

Meeting them

in their darkest hour.

On the one hand,

Mary's experience

of Jesus

is not a standard

to measure

our experiences

against.

According to the Bible,

Jesus is now

seated at the right

hand of God,

the Father in heaven.

That means you and I

will not touch

Jesus physically.

We are not promised

to hear Jesus' voice

speaking to us

in the same way

Mary did.

If it was necessary

for every believer

to have such a

dramatic personal

experience in order

to authentically

believe,

Jesus' command to

Mary in verse 17

would make no sense.

Telling her to go

and tell the others.

If the experience

was only for her,

he would simply

have said,

Mary,

now I have appeared

to you.

Now you are in the know.

But that will do

no good for anyone

else.

So you may keep

this all to yourself

and I will appear

to the others

one by one

if and when I choose.

But no.

Mary's experience

of Jesus

was not just

for her own benefit.

Her experience

wasn't an end

in itself.

Her experience

of Jesus

was ultimately

for the benefit

of others

who would hear

her testimony

and believe

in the Lord

whom she had

experienced.

Verse 18,

Mary doesn't just

tell the guys

this is what

I've experienced

but she also says

that he had said

these things to her.

She conveys

the message

of who Jesus is

and what he has said.

Now our experiences

of Jesus today

may not exactly

parallel Mary's

but Jesus is still

the same

compassionate

friend

and counselor

who draws near

to us

as we grieve

the loss

of loved ones

who listens

to our fears

and anxieties

as we look

into an uncertain

future

who asks us

probing

questions

simple questions

but profound

questions

in the midst

of our confusion.

He's still

the same

good and

gracious shepherd

who calls

his sheep

by name

who knows

the very details

of our

personal histories

and present

circumstances

and finds

a way to our

heart

in the midst

of them.

He knows

you.

He loves

you.

If you haven't

experienced him

yourself

consider the many

other people

who have.

There are many

people

right here

in this room

with their own

stories of how

they've experienced

Jesus healing,

Jesus presence,

Jesus deliverance,

sometimes in

very dramatic

ways,

sometimes in

very ordinary

but still

life transforming

ways.

If you're curious

ask someone

who's sitting

next to you

after the service.

But whether

we come to

faith through

an intellectual

process or

through a

personal experience

the path to

Christian maturity

involves engaging

both the mind

and the heart.

If you've had

a dramatic

experience of

God

share that

with other

people who

might benefit

from it

from hearing

your story.

But don't

simply try to

live in the

wake of that

experience

forever

because the

feeling may

fade.

And the

reason why it

fades is because

Christianity is

not ultimately

about our

experience of

God.

it's about

the God

whom we've

come to

experience.

And so let

your experience

propel you to

know this

God more

deeply and

fully as he's

revealed in the

scriptures.

On the other

hand if you've

come to

belief in

Jesus largely

through an

intellectual process

let me encourage

you to bring

your heart to

Jesus as well.

Bring your

fears to him.

Let them be

reshaped in

the light of

his promises.

Let the

glory of

God's

kingdom kindle

your imagination

and refine

your desires.

Be open to

all the ways

both rational

and intuitive

that God's

spirit may

choose to

work in

you and

through you

to bless

others.

Christianity

is not only

a matter of

objective evidence

it's not only

a matter of

personal experience

it's both.

It's meant to

engage both

our mind

and our

heart.

But there's

one more

thing.

The

resurrection

of Jesus

is not only

grounded in

historical

evidence

appealing to

our mind

and confirmed

by personal

experience

appealing to

our heart

but it also

results in a

new community.

We see this

at the end

in verse 17.

Jesus said

to Mary

Mary 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.

Now at

first Jesus

words to

Mary might

seem a little

harsh.

Don't hold

on to me.

But I don't

think we should

imagine Mary

recognizing Jesus

trying to give

him a hug and

Jesus saying

don't touch

me.

He says

don't cling

to me.

Which implies

that Mary was

already doing

just that.

She had

embraced Jesus

and didn't

want to let

him go.

What Jesus

is doing here

is redirecting

Mary's focus

from her own

personal comfort

and experience

to the good

of the larger

community.

Don't cling

to me.

But instead

go to my

brothers.

And he

says give

them this

message.

I am

ascending.

In other

words I am

in the process

of being

enthroned as

king over

everything.

Having

accomplished

his great

work on

earth.

Jesus is

now ascending

to the right

hand of God

the father

to reign

over all.

But he

doesn't just

say I am

ascending to

reign as king

over the whole

universe.

He says I

am ascending

to my

father and

your father.

My God

and your

God.

In other

words Jesus

in his

resurrection

has become

not only the

rightful king

over God's

new creation

he has also

become our

brother.

Through whom

we can draw

near to God.

You see by

taking on our

human nature

Jesus the

son of God

fully identified

with us.

By living a

life of

unwavering

trust and

obedience to

God and

steadfast love

of neighbor

Jesus fulfilled

God's calling

for humanity.

In his

death on the

cross Jesus

took our

place.

Dying the

death that we

deserve to

die.

Paying the

price for our

rebellion so we

could be

forgiven.

And through

his resurrection

and ascension

Jesus has

blazed a

trail into

glory.

He has

opened a

new and

living way

from earth

to heaven

from our

flawed and

fallen state

into the

holy and

everlasting

presence of

God.

Through Jesus

we can draw

near to God

as our

father who

loves us.

This is the

message that

Mary was

commissioned to

bear to the

apostles that

Jesus father is

now our

father.

That the

God who sent

Jesus is now

our God.

That together

we can draw

near to God

like Jesus

himself did.

As people who

are deeply

known and

deeply loved and

fully accepted.

Let me close

with two

questions.

First do you

have this kind

of relationship

with God

that verse

17 describes?

For many

people God is

basically a

distant law

giver.

A judge.

God is

and your

goal is to

do your

duty.

Check the

boxes on

his list

and then go

your way and

hope he

doesn't bother

you too

much.

Sort of like

when you

see the

police car

with the

sirens.

And you

hope that

you haven't

been going

too much

over the

speed limits.

For other

people God

is much

more like

Santa Claus

or the

Easter Bunny.

Merely a

projection of

our own

wishes.

Simply an

affirmation of

ourselves as

we currently

are.

And yet that

will never

deeply change

us.

You see the

God that

Jesus describes

is the

holy God.

The

sovereign and

transcendent

creator of

the universe.

The law

giver and

judge.

And yet at

the same

time he is

the God who

has sacrificed

everything.

in order to

adopt you

into his

family.

So that you

could belong

to him.

And King

Jesus the

son of God

himself is

now your

brother who

loves you.

And who

will be

forever loyal

to you.

And who

will never

leave you.

If you

know that

God,

Jesus'

God,

you will

have deep

awe and

great

assurance.

Deep

awe in

light of

God's

majesty and

great

assurance in

light of

God's

love.

You know,

holidays can

sometimes be

painful.

Because our

family relationships

often fall

short of what

they should or

could be.

But through

Jesus Christ,

we can know

that we have a

place in God's

family.

Forever.

the apostle

John wrote

to all who

received him.

To those who

believed in

his name,

Jesus'

name.

He gave the

right to

become children

of God.

Born of

God.

Born into a

new kind of

life that

even death

cannot finally

take away.

Have you

received this

Jesus?

And come to

know this

God?

Second,

have you

joined his

community?

The invitation

that this

passage extends

to us is not

only to consider

the historical

evidence for

Jesus'

resurrection,

not only to

experience Jesus

personally,

ourselves,

but to join

the community

of brothers and

sisters in

Christ who

draw near to

God together.

Knowing that

we are loved,

knowing that

we belong to

God,

knowing that

in Jesus

Christ even

our worst

failures have

been atoned

for.

We have the

potential to

become a new

kind of

community,

where we can

be known

without the

fear of being

rejected,

where we can

extend ourselves

to one another

in love and

to our world

instead of

simply guarding

and fearfully

protecting

ourselves.

Following the

risen Lord

Jesus is not

a solitary

endeavor.

It's not

about privately

clinging to

Jesus, it's

about joining

with his

followers and

proclaiming his

good news to

the world.

Come and join

this new

community that

the risen Lord

Jesus has

created.

What are you

searching for

this Easter

Sunday?

Are you seeking

truth grounded

in objective

reality?

Are you seeking

a God who

knows you

personally and

relates to you

love?

Are you

seeking a

community where

you know you

can belong?

This is what

the risen Lord

Jesus provides.

Let us pray.

Almighty God, we

thank you.

We thank you for

creating us in your

image.

church and

putting in us

the desire for

truth, the

desire to know

you personally,

the desire to be

part of a

community.

We thank you for

the resurrection of

Jesus.

Lord, we pray

that your spirit

would lead us to a

deeper knowledge of

you, deeper love

of you.

We pray that you

would draw near to

us as you drew

near to Mary.

We pray that you

would guide our

minds in our

searching.

And we pray that

you would dwell with

us as we gather as a

community.

Lord, that we may

know your

presence, that we

may be confident in

your truth, that we

may be assured of

your love.

We pray these things

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, as the music

team comes to the

front, please stand

as we sing our

closing hymn.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.