Our Risen King: “Who are you looking for?”

Lord Jesus, I want to thank you so much that you are here in

this place. Lord Jesus, that that you have

met with us as we've, we've been chatting, as we've sung your

praises, Lord God. And I pray, Lord God, that as,

as we talk through this Easter story, Lord God, as we talk

through the amazing events that happened that first Easter

morning, as you appeared to Mary and then to the disciples, Lord

Jesus, I pray, Lord God, that you would speak to us, that you

challenge us. Lord God, I pray for, for the

kids out there as they're, as they're playing games, as

they're reading scriptures, Lord Jesus, I pray, Lord God, that

you would speak to them as well. Lord Jesus, Lord God, I ask you,

Lord God, we invite you in this place.

Amen. Amen.

Right. So I'm going to read from John's

Gospel chapter 20 to read the first few lines it'll come up

with up on there. But if you want to follow along

in your own Bibles, you're more than welcome to.

Otherwise, I'm just going to read So it says early.

On the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary

Madeleine went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been

removed from the entrance. So she ran to Simon Peter and

the other disciple, the one Jesus loved.

She said they have taken the Lord out of the tomb.

We don't know where they have put him.

I'm just going to pause it there.

And so it says early, early on the first day of the week that

for you and I that's Sunday morning.

Sunday was their first day of the week.

And it says that that Mary, before the sun has even risen,

she is on her way to the tomb of Jesus Christ.

See, the last few days for Mary have a been a complete

whirlwind. She's been in complete turmoil.

It's been been a complete roller coaster.

See, Thursday night they were celebrating, They were

celebrating one of the biggest holidays in the Jewish calendar.

They were having fun, they were laughing.

And then all of a sudden, Jesus betrayed.

Not just not betrayed by just anyone, but by one of his

friends. And they've come.

The Jewish priests, they come, they take him.

They they, they take him, they question him.

And surely Mary throughout this time is thinking, surely it'll

end. Surely the Romans will step in.

Surely they'll find that there's nothing wrong with him.

But but it doesn't. He gets passed to the Roman

authorities, the Romans. Surely the Romans will see

sense. Surely the Romans won't do

anything horrendous to him. And then all of a sudden, see,

Pilot, he says, I'm washing my hands of this person.

But what? Don't wash your hands.

Free him, let him out. Pilate brings says.

It's the festival, it's a holiday, so therefore I'll

release 11 prisoner. Surely everyone wants Jesus to

be released. No?

They pick Barabbas. And then she sees in disbelief

as he is, as he is beaten, as he is mocked, as he is forced to

wear this piece of wood on his back and take it up a hill where

he is then nailed hands and feet to a cross and lifted up.

She's watching in complete disbelief as as as the one who

she's followed for the last few years.

Her Lord, her saviour is there breathing his last as life

drains out from his body, all the while thinking surely

someone's got to step in and stop this.

This cannot be happening until he breathes his very last.

She sees that spear thrust into his sight.

She sees as lifeless body pulled down upon the cross, wrapped in

linen and then taken to this very tomb.

She's watching her Lord, her teacher, her friend, her

Saviour, He. He has saved others, but no one

dared stepped in to save Him. When she was around Jesus,

everything seemed possible. There was nothing impossible for

Jesus, but even he didn't seem to be able to stop his own

execution. I wonder if you've ever been in

that situation where you've been watching your life unravel

before you. You've watched the unthinkable

happen all the time, thinking, praying, hoping, longing, just

just something happen, something changed this.

Maybe it's the it's the loss of a dream.

Maybe it's a relationship that dies.

Maybe it's a, it's a friend who who you lose.

Maybe you get passed over for promotion again and again.

You just realise this job isn't going to work.

You see, Mary, she doesn't know what to do with herself.

She, she's broken. There's a void that's in her now

that nothing seems to be able to ever fill.

And so she, she, she leaves that that tomb that Friday night and

she heads home. She probably doesn't sleep.

Saturday is a public holiday. Everyone in the city is

celebrating. There's, there's chat, there's

cheers, there's, there's eating. But not for Mary.

She's probably just curled up in her bed, tears streaming down

her face. I can't imagine that she

probably slept much in that time.

Maybe if she did drift off to sleep, she would have awoke with

that horrible feeling. Surely it was just a dream.

I just imagined that it didn't really happen, only to be hit by

the reality that everything she remembered really did happen.

You see. So as she, as she walks, that

first Sunday morning, as she goes to the tomb and it's dark,

it's not just dark outside because the sun hasn't risen

yet. It's dark in her life.

Her life feels dark. It feels black, and all she

wants to do is be near Jesus. She knows he's dead because dead

people stay dead. That's what they do.

So, so she decides it. The only way to feel the

brokenness, the only way to to to to find some sort of healing

in her life is to be at the place where she last saw her

Lord and Saviour. So she heads over to the tomb.

But as she gets nearer and nearer, she realises there's no

guards there. I remember there were guards

here when Jesus was laid to rest the the tomb, it was sealed by a

stone. That stone has been removed.

And then she gets to the the entrance and she looks in and

horror upon horrors, the tomb is empty.

At this point she breaks, she is hysterical, she runs back to her

friends, she goes and tells the other.

She goes and tells Peter and John he's gone, he's gone,

they've taken him. How could they do that?

All I wanted to do is be near him.

And then we read on. What happens?

It says so Peter and the other disciple that's John started for

the tomb. Both were running, but the other

disciples disciple outrun ran Peter and reached the tomb

first. He bent over and looked in at

the strips of linen lying there, but did not go in.

Then Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb.

He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that

had been wrapped around Jesus heads.

The cloth was still lying in its place, separated from the linen.

Finally, the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also

went inside. He saw and believed.

They still did not understand from the scriptures that Jesus

had to raise, rise from the dead.

Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

So Mary comes back, she's hysterical.

Peter and John, they, they, they don't know what to believe.

So they decide they're going to run to the tomb.

And I love this, right? I love this.

This shows you that, that real people wrote scripture.

Because I can imagine, OK, John's Gospel, we know that from

history. John's Gospel was the last of

the four gospels to be written. And I can imagine John, right?

He's there. He, he's received the letter

that Matthew has written and he reads through it.

He he, he likes it, but it's missing something.

Then he gets Mark's gospel and he reads that.

He likes that too. He's a bit shorter puncture, but

it's missing something as well. Then he reads Luke.

Now Luke was the guy. He wasn't an eyewitness, but he

went round and talked to everyone who was there and did

and got an account from everyone.

So Luke must have put in the really important stuff that

John's looking for. So John reads through Luke's and

Luke doesn't have it in there either, you see.

So therefore, John, this isn't true, by the way, but I like to

imagine this. This is the way I think of

Scripture that John, he then he then starts read, then he's

decides, right, I'm going to write my own gospel.

And in my gospel I'm going to make sure I include, yes, that

Jesus is the risen Lord and Saviour, but also I need to make

sure the whole world knows that I am faster than Peter.

I'm sure he doesn't. He says, I mean, writes that

just just just just putting it in there.

On the day Jesus was resurrected from the grave, I was faster

than Peter. I mean, if Peter was to respond

to that, he probably would have written something along the

lines of, yeah, but you're an absolute coward.

You wouldn't go into the tomb before I did.

But he gets this as he gets there.

He waits, but you know, it's it's he, he runs the tomb.

They run. And I, I love that about it.

And and and then it says that Mary, we're going to read that

Mary. She goes the tomb and she is so

struck by guilt as struck by sorrow, she just lies there and

stays there in the tomb and it says it says.

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying.

As she wept she bent over to look into the tomb.

She saw 2 angels in white sealed where seated where Jesus body

had been, one at the head and one at the foot.

They asked her woman, why are you crying?

They have taken my Lord, she said, and I don't know where

they have put him. See, Mary, she obviously, I

mean, John didn't write this, but obviously Mary arrives there

afterwards. But she, she's there and she's,

she's hysterical, she's weeping. She's so full of grief.

I don't know whether you've ever been there where you've been so,

so down, so full of sorrow, so full of grief that you don't

really recognise what's going on around you.

I mean, it says that she is there weeping.

And then 2 angels of the pier. Now every other time we read in

scripture that angels appear, angels are messengers from God

and what what basically met, they come with a message to tell

someone. But every time in scripture,

before they can tell someone their message, they need to go.

Don't be scared. They need to let you get the

impression that they have to pick this person who this, this,

this Angel who's kind of mighty, who's, who's glowing, who's

who's very intimidating figure. They arrive on the scene and

then before they can tell someone what the message is,

that person's kind of collapsed on the floor, is shaking.

And they're like, don't be scared.

They kind of kind of work them up.

They pick them up off the ground.

This is you're all right. I'm not going to hurt you.

Right, OK, now I'm going to tell you what Jesus has to say to

you. So how it goes, They're here, 2

Angel, 2 angels, not just one, two angels appear.

And Mary's just like she just doesn't care.

She doesn't break stride. She just continues to cry.

And she's just like, where is Jesus?

Where have you put him? And it continues and it says at

this, at this she turned around and saw Jesus standing there,

but she did not realise that it was Jesus.

He asked her woman, why are you crying?

Who is it you are looking for? Thinking he was the gardener,

she said, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where

you have put him and I will get him.

See. So she's there.

The 2 angels are in the tomb. She's unfazed by that.

And then out the corner of her eyes she sees someone else.

So she looks to them and she goes, she goes, she goes have do

you know where Jesus is? Do you know where he is?

You see, it says here that she didn't know yet that it was

Jesus. And you can think, how can she

not know it was Jesus? Jesus.

Jesus is standing right in front of her.

How could she not know what it says?

Actually, she doesn't even look. But also, why would she think it

was Jesus? Dead people stay dead.

Why would she imagine that it was possible for Jesus to be

standing in front of her, talking to her?

Is it? And that might be somewhere some

of you are at today. You may have come here today.

You may have heard people talk about Jesus.

You may have heard people say about going to church.

And your impression of that is that's nice for them.

But honestly, it's a dead religion.

People are worshipping a dead God.

So therefore when when we come and you see people singing and

people singing as if he's really alive, that colour takes you

back a bit because you weren't expecting that because Jesus

isn't dead. Sorry.

Jesus isn't alive. He's dead.

He died. We know he died.

And if that's where you're at, if that's where you're, you

don't expect today to meet with Jesus because, well, he's dead.

Well there's a gardener in this story that has two questions. 2

questions he'd love you to be able to answer.

The first one is he says, he says to Mary.

He says why are you crying? Why are you crying?

Is he? He doesn't say stop crying.

He says why are you crying? He, he validates the fact that

she is in pain, that she is hurting, that she is broken.

And maybe you can identify with that.

You, you know that, that you feel pain.

You know that deep down that you are broken.

And the good news of the gospel, the good news about Easter is

that the gospel meets us in our brokenness.

It meets you in our, in your brokenness.

So what is the source of your pain?

What's causing you pain? Let's be honest, even if you're

at this moment thinking life's pretty good, I don't have much

to complain about, there is something.

There is something in your life reminding you that this world is

broken. Things that people have done to

you, people think. Things people have said to you.

Things that people should have done for you but they didn't.

All a sign that this world is broken, that we live in a broken

nation, in a broken world. And you can blame all sorts of

things. You can blame the government,

you can blame the past government, you can blame the

last generation, you can blame blame the next generation, you

can blame the system. But honestly we are all broken

people making broken choices every single day.

And now when you get to a certain age you start to

remember things slightly differently and some of you may

start harking back to the good old days.

OK the world is broken today, but let me take you back a few

years. And it was good.

The reality is it wasn't. You just look through the you

just looking through rose tinted glasses.

It doesn't matter how far you go back, however old you are, at

whatever era you want to pick, it was not the good old days.

There is only actually one time that we had the good old days,

and you need to go a lot further back than any of us were ever

alive. You have to actually go right

back to the beginning of humanity.

You see, right at the beginning of humanity, a long time ago,

after this gardener had just finished creating all things

because he is a gardener, he planted a garden.

And it says in Scripture, this garden was a perfect place, a

place where there's No Fear, no guilt, no shame, there was no

suffering, no one was causing anyone any pain.

It was perfect. In fact, actually, people and

God lived together in perfect harmony, enjoying one another's

presence. But that didn't last too long.

Actually, we read in Scripture that this thing called sin

enters the world, basically an action born out of a belief that

we don't need God, that God isn't king on the throne, that

he's not real, that we don't need him.

And from that moment, death enters into the world.

And we all know this. We all have a limited amount of

time on this earth. We all are broken.

We live in a broken world and we have a limited amount of time

upon it. And honestly, we're all trying

to do the best, trying to make the best of our time in the

broken world that we live in with the limited time that we've

been given. So that being true, what are you

looking for to make your life a bit more bearable, to give your

life joy? What are you placing your hope

in? To give yourself peace, to give

yourself meaning. Maybe you believe that there's

there really is a God and there's an afterlife.

So what are you putting your hope in that you're going to go

to the good place and not the bad place when you die?

What are you looking for? And that's where the next

question comes in, because the gardener, actually, he doesn't

say what he says. Who are you looking for?

You see, Mary, she arrives that Easter morning looking for a

what? She looks for an object of her

grief. She looks for something that is

going to be able to fill the void inside, something that is

going to help mend the brokenness that she feels.

What are you placing your hope in?

What are you looking to satisfy you?

What are you looking to give meaning to your life, to give

you hope, to give you peace, to give you joy?

So the gardener says it's not about what, it's about who.

Because ultimately there is nothing in this world that you

can receive. There is nothing that you can

get. There's nothing that is of this

world that can give you what your soul needs.

There is nothing that can fill the void inside you, that can

feel that deep longing, that can mend the brokenness that we all

feel. There is no act of charity, no

good deed that you can do that can work your way into God's

good books. So you deserve to go to the good

place when you die. See the answer to your problems,

the answer to the world's problems, to your my brokenness,

the void that we feel. It's not about trying harder,

it's not about being better. The answer is Jesus Christ, John

316 says. For God so loved the world that

he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him

shall not perish. That have eternal life.

You see, the reason why we are broken, the reason why we feel

broken is that we were designed to have a relationship, to find

fulfilment, to find the mending of that void inside us.

We meant to find that through relationship with God.

But through our sin, through our disobedience, through US living

as if God wasn't the most important thing in the universe,

we've broken that. We've broken that relationship

and there's nothing that we can do to fix that, and that's why

Jesus Christ came. Jesus Christ came so that all

who believe in him, not all who do really good, all who believe

in Him will have that relationship fixed and be able

to come to the Father. John 1010 says I have come that

you may have life and have it to the full sea.

Life with Christ isn't boring, It isn't dull.

It isn't isn't it isn't something even that starts when

you die. It is something that starts the

moment that you put your faith in Jesus Christ that you get

life with him. You get life to the full.

You get peace. You get yet security, You get

that void filled beyond any understanding.

That doesn't mean that bad things don't happen to you.

It means even through sickness, even through illness, even

through trials. Placing your faith in Christ

Jesus gives you something that no one else has unless they have

Him. John 14 Jesus said I am the way

the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father

except through me. You see believing when Jesus

says believe in me, he's not talking about just believe.

Do you believe that Jesus was a real person who lived 2000 years

ago, was from Nazareth and died on the Roman cross?

That's not what he's talking about.

Actually, that takes no faith whatsoever.

We know from history that the fact that Jesus died and he

sorry, the fact that Jesus lived and he died of 2000 years ago

was from Nazareth, Diamond Roman cross.

We know that to be proven. That is true.

Actually, we have more evidence of the life and works of Jesus

Christ than we do of of such historical figures like

Hannibal, Budoka, Homer, Socrates, Caesar, and there's a

massive list longer than that, but I haven't got all day to

read it. He, he, we have more evidence

than any of those people in anything that they did.

And you see, all roads do not lead to happiness.

All roads do not lead to heaven, all roads do not lead to

fulfilment. There is one road and one Rd

only and that road goes through Christ Jesus.

He is the one who satisfies. He is the one who mends the

void. He is the one who mends our

brokenness and church. He is calling your name.

He is calling you. You see, Mary, she is in the

garden. She's bawling her eyes out.

She needs healing. She needs her brokenness

mending. She she's talking to this guy

who she's not even looked at. And then all of a sudden after

the questions, one word changes everything, Jesus said to her,

Mary, she turned towards him and cried out an Aramaic Rabboni,

which means teacher. Jesus said, do not hold on to

me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, and go instead to

my brothers and tell them, I'm ascending to my Father and your

father to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went to the

disciples with the news. I have seen the Lord, she said.

She I've seen the Lord, and she told them that he had said these

things to her. So the gardener, he responds as

she's crying, as she's saying, I just want to see Jesus.

Where's his body? The gardener responds.

Mary and that gentle sound of his voice at her name being

called. The scales fall from her eyes,

and she sees who is speaking to her.

It's the one who spoke all things into being.

It is the one who spoke all creation.

It is the voice that the wind, the sky, the seas of Bay.

It was the one who had commanded with His very voice to lame to

be healed, told demons to go, who spoke blind eyes to see, who

opened the ears with a word and fed the multitudes.

It was the voice that many years before had called her name out

of darkness, had told her to follow Him.

It was the voice of Jesus, not dead, but the risen King and at

his voice calling her name, her tears of pain, her tears of

sorrow, her tears of brokenness instantly turn to tears of joy

as she wraps her arms around him so tightly.

Jesus like Mary, you're going to have to let me breathe.

You know you need to go on, you know, be almost says, you know,

Mary, if you keep holding onto me, I'm not going to be able to

float up to heaven. You're holding me so tightly.

He's he, he, she wraps her arms around him so tightly and and

because she he called her name. And for the last 2000 plus

years, Jesus has been calling names as we have been running

away from him, as we've been living our own life.

Jesus had been saying, come follow me, come follow me.

He has called many of your names in here.

And he says if we listen, if we respond to him, then we are

free. Then we are free.

He says, for those who are looking to find satisfaction,

Jesus says I am the answer, come.

And he says your name, follow me and you will find what will

fills you. He says For those who are

broken, he says, Jesus says, he answers.

He says come follow me. He says your name, follow me and

I will make you whole. For those who are looking for

purpose, for meaning in their life, Jesus says, I am the

answer, Come follow me and I will give you life and life to

the full that never ever, ever ends.

You see, you may be sitting there and thinking I don't need

Jesus. Or maybe you're even sitting

there and thinking, oh Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, too good for me.

He'd never accept me if he knew what I did.

The truth is that no one is good enough for Christ, not a single

one of us. But we all need him.

And the good news is that no one is too far gone for him.

So that's why Jesus came not to tell us a load of rules and how

to live. He came to live the perfect life

and die the death that we should have died.

He took the consequences of our sin upon Himself, so that in

faith, if we believe in Him, our dross, our sin, our disobedience

is placed on Christ at the cross and His perfect life is placed

upon us. So we get to have a relationship

with the Father. So our brokenness gets to be

mended so that void gets to be filled.

I see we can all come to Christ through faith in Him.

I see Jesus. He walked this earth.

That's just a fact. He did many miraculous signs and

wonders. He healed many people.

He said he he he feared thousands upon thousands of

people. But all of that was useless and

pointless if after being crucified, he stayed dead.

But he didn't. He didn't.

He rose again, first appearing to Mary.

He called Mary's name and she she didn't believe it because

dead people don't rise from the dead.

Dead people stay dead. So she didn't believe it.

She didn't see it. But in a call of her name, she

looked and she saw and she believed, and her life was

changed forever. She runs back to the disciples.

She runs back to Peter, James, John and the others.

She tells them they don't believe her.

I don't believe her because dead people stay dead.

She's just a crazy woman in their eyes.

Until Jesus appears to them and says their names.

And they looked and they saw and they followed.

Thomas wasn't there. You read on Thomas wasn't there.

They're all of them. There's there's Mary, there's,

there's the other other disciples.

There's there's two others who've just met Jesus on the

road to Emmaus. They're all they're saying Jesus

is alive, he's risen and Thomas is going not a chance.

You're all crazy. Dead people stay dead until

Jesus appears to Thomas and he says Thomas, Thomas.

And Thomas looks, he sees, he puts his fingers in the hands

and the side and he bows down. He says, my Lord, my God, my

Saviour. And he follows Jesus for the

rest of his life. All of them, all of them.

They give up everything to follow Jesus because he really

did raise from the deads. They go around the local city

and the surrounding towns starting telling people about

Jesus, that he was once dead. But he rose again, so much so

that all the Jewish people, they start getting all angry because

dead people stay dead. And if you keep telling people

that dead people raise from the dead, the Romans are going to

think we're crazy. And so one guy called Saul of

Tarshish, who we know is Paul, he decides he's going to kill

anyone who says that Jesus is a alive.

And so he goes around, he starts imprisoning people, killing

people until Jesus speaks his name.

So so he turns, he sees the risen Lord Jesus, and he

follows. He gives his life for Jesus.

All of them gave their life for Jesus because he did not stay

dead. But he is risen.

He has risen. And the fact that Jesus has

risen changes everything. The fact that Jesus said nice

things doesn't change anything. The fact that Jesus chose to

heal a few people, that doesn't change anything for you and I,

the fact that Jesus rose from the dead changes everything.

It changes everything. And guys, every single one of

you, He is calling your name. He is saying your name because

He wants you. He loves you.

He is for you. Stop telling yourself no.

But if he knew, he does. He's God, He knows everything.

He loves you, He wants you. He is calling you.

Can you hear him call you? Can you feel him saying, I love

you and I want to, I want to end and by just praying for us and

what we're going to do is we're going to pray and I want to pray

for a few of you. If you want to for the first

time, say Jesus, I want to follow you.

I want to pray. I want to pray for you.

Maybe you did many years ago. You said Jesus, I want to follow

you. But you know really you've not

lived for him. You've been ignoring his voice.

I want to pray. It's Easter, new start, the Rep,

the past is gone. He wants to start again with you

today. If you want to recommit

yourself, I want to pray. And then as we say Amen, as you

feel ready, I'm going to ask everyone who feels comfortable.

We're going to come forward and we're going to take bread and

wine together. And bread and wine is a symbol

of the fact that Jesus blood and his body wasn't just broken on a

cross. It was broken for you.

It was broken for us so that we can have a relationship with

him. So I want you to bow your heads

and I want you to not just let my words wash over you, but pray

them along. And like I said, if this is for

the first time, that's amazing. Maybe you've prayed to God

before, but you've never prayed that he would save you, that you

would follow him. And we're going to do that right

now. So Lord Jesus, God, I thank you

that you are here in this place. Jesus, I want to thank you that

you didn't stay in heaven, but you came, you were born as a

baby, you lived, you grew, you were perfect.

Lord Jesus, you're the only perfect 1 Lord God.

And you died on a Roman cross for the for my sin, for

everyone's sin, so that all who would believe in you, all that

would follow, you would find forgiveness, would find

satisfaction, would find wholeness.

Lord Jesus, I just want to pray for those in here who don't know

you, Lord Jesus. And then if that's you, maybe

you want to just pray along with me now.

So Lord Jesus, I am I'm sorry for living a life without you.

Lord Jesus, sin, I thank you that you forgive me because of

your death on the cross. You forgive me, Lord Jesus, and

I want to follow you from this day on.

Lord Jesus, I hear you calling my name and I want to give the

rest of my life for you. Lord Jesus, for those who have

gone away and want to start again, I thank you that you

offer a fresh start. And so, Lord Jesus, I just want

to thank you. I thank you, God, that for, for,

for those who have have turned away.

Lord Jesus, there is always a second chance.

Lord God, Lord Jesus, I pray come fill us right now.

Fill us with your presence. Amen.

Amen. We read, read in this passage

that for those of us who Jesus has saved, who have said I'm

following him, what does Mary do?

She goes and tells people about him.

So my encouragement to you is if you have prayed, if you have

said Jesus, I want to follow you.

Tell someone, tell someone, tell someone here, and then go and

tell people out there.