Woman, Why Are You Weeping? | John 20:11-18 | Resurrection Sunday | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

As I was meditating on the resurrection this week, I found

myself exploring all the insights in the Scriptures,

namely in the Gospels, to just refresh my memory and to revisit

some things that we often know. And then skimming through what

the Word of God reveals, specifically about the events

that followed Christ's conquest of death, I encountered the very

first words that Jesus spoke after leaving the tomb empty.

Have you ever wondered what Christ's very first words were

when he rose from the grave? Well, when you consider the

sequence of Christ's post resurrection appearances, you'll

learn that Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene.

That's actually plainly stated at the end of the Gospel of

Mark. And that encounter is disclosed

to us in greater detail in John's writings, where he takes

us to that early Sunday morning and vividly describes it,

focusing on Mary's experience as she arrived at the burial site

of her Master. And it's in that testimony where

we locate the first documented words that Jesus said after

defeating death. And I'm sure that after reading

it, you will never forget it. Turn with me to John chapter 20

John 20 · chapter mention

and let's look together at one verse here, verse 15, John 20,

John 20:15

verse 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. The first recorded words of

Jesus is in the form of a question.

Woman, why are you weeping? That fascinates me.

And it should compel us to pause, to zoom out, and to see

what took place before this and what follows it, to have Christ

approach Mary in this way. And that's what I want us to

consider in our short time together.

So let's read this in its entirety, beginning in verse 11

down through verse 18. But Mary stood weeping outside

the tomb. And as she wept, she stooped to

look into the tomb, and she saw 2 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. Verse 11 May be a little bit of

an awkward place to begin reading this account, so I think

it'll be helpful to just remember a little bit of the

back story here. If you look back at the

beginning of the chapter, we discover that Mary makes her way

to the tomb early in the morning, even before the sun

pierced the horizon. She's there to pay her honors,

but upon coming to that place, she saw that the that the stone

was rolled away, and this alarmed her.

So immediately she makes her way back to Peter and John and she

tells them, assuming the worst, they've taken his body.

Somebody kidnapped the body of the Lord.

Peter and John immediately make their way to this place, and

upon arrival, the Scriptures tell us that they silently, yet

carefully investigate the scene. There are the clothes, but

there's no body. And quite unexpectedly, the

disciples, in a state of confusion, walk away and they go

back home. That is how this section

concludes before we read what we find in verse 11.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.

There's something deeply commendable about Mary choosing

to stay where Jesus was laid while the disciples walked away.

This in no way is an attack on Peter and John, but you cannot

deny that Mary's refusal to leave so quickly speaks volumes

about her yearning for Christ. It's a beautiful demonstration

of how Mary understood her relationship with the Lord.

Her connection to Christ was not reduced to obeying some

commands, adhering to some moral code, joining a community of

religious people, or even signing up for an exciting

ministry. What Mary reveals here is that

her relationship with Jesus Christ was rooted in a sincere

and genuine love for the person. And the rest of the scene

confirms a very powerful truth. Christ honors those whose hearts

yearn for Him. More than anything else, the

fact that Mary was the first person that Jesus chose to

reveal Himself to means something.

It reveals that He blesses those who desire Him.

This precious woman love the Lord.

She had rich affection for him. She's broken.

In fact, I was struck by her reaction when she eventually

looked into the tomb to see what Peter and John saw.

And what does she find? She sees 2 angels in white

strategically seated at the slab where the body of Jesus was

laid, one at the head and one of the feet, invoking the imagery

of the cherubim who are infused on the Ark of the Covenant,

looking down on the mercy seat. We don't have time to get into

that as much as I would like to, because what we want to consider

is what these two angels said or asked Mary while her face was

being stained with tears. Woman, why are you weeping?

And her answer moves me. Look again at verse 13.

They sat her a 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.

Isn't this remarkable saying? What's so remarkable about it?

Mary, standing in front of angels, is not distracted for a

moment. She's unfazed by their

mysterious appearance. No curiosity.

Curiosity is sparked. There's no diversion here.

Where had they taken him? Why is she not moved by what

she's seeing? Because her heart is already

consumed with Christ. She's after Christ.

She wants to find Christ. Oh, how easily our pursuit of

Christ is interfered, is meddled with pivots by things, even good

things. And yet this woman shows us as

an inspiring model that it is possible to not allow anything

or anyone get in the way of what should be our greatest goal.

Getting nearer and nearer to Christ.

I notice she boldly calls him my Lord.

Do you see that in verse 13? They have taken away my Lord,

even though in her mind Christ is dead.

Imagine this for a moment. In Christ's greatest

humiliation, Mary is unashamed to call him my Lord when it was

very dangerous to be associated with Public Enemy #1 Mary is

unafraid to say He is my Lord even in front of these

strangers. And from a human, carnal,

unbelieving standpoint, there is no benefit of declaring Jesus

Christ is Lord because he's supposedly dead.

And yet, Mary is unwavering in her devotion to Christ.

Where is my Lord? I must find him.

This woman loved the Lord Jesus. She adored Him.

And while her standing and her searching is admirable, her

weeping is not. The angels asked a very

important question when they asked Why are you weeping?

Because her answer reveals that her tears ultimately stem from a

misunderstanding of the work of Christ and what he had promised.

There is no reason to weep. If Jesus was still in the tomb.

And that's what you saw, Mary, you have every reason to weep,

and so should we. But the tomb is empty.

So why are you weeping? Here's what this shows us.

Mary's tears, like us, are often because we bring unnecessary

sorrow upon ourselves, and that sorrow is stimulated because we

fail to grasp who Jesus Christ accurately is and what He said

to us. How many times did Mary hear it?

Surely she found herself around the disciples.

Surely she heard what Christ taught about his own death, his

own burial, his own resurrection.

And she missed it. Her and the other disciples

should be at the tomb, rejoicing.

He gave him a play by play. What's going to happen?

Instead, she's there, weeping. Where did that come from?

Unbelief. Where'd that come from?

Missing what Jesus said. And listen, we are much more

like Mary in this than we would like to admit.

Christ's word is right in front of us.

His character is spelled out so obviously, and yet we still weep

for things that we shouldn't be weeping about.

This is a common trait of the disciples.

By the way, do you remember when Jesus sends them off into the

sea and a storm comes in and visits those disciples while

Jesus stays back on the shore and the winds are battering them

and the waves are crashing up against their vehicle?

And all of a sudden that sight we find Jesus walking on those

very waters in their direction? Do you remember what the

disciples said according to Matthew's version of the story?

Let me remind you what they said in Matthew 14.

Here in verse 26 they said something that I think is quite

humbling for us. But when the disciples saw him

walking on the sea, they were terrified and said it is a

ghost. And they cried out in fear.

It is a ghost. And So what we have here is how

we can often miss it, that Christ is present, that Christ

is faithful, that Christ is near.

And we see other things. Mary doesn't see it.

And so she's here confused. She's here trying to solve this.

She's here trying to make sense of this puzzle.

And what's fascinating here is that Christ is going to show his

ultimate patience for this woman.

So she's here showing her love. She's here showing her devotion,

yes, but her weeping is not justified.

And the one truth that is profoundly powerful enough to

purify perception of everything is this Jesus Christ is alive.

That one single reality can stop many tears from flowing if we

really believe it. So let me borrow the the

question of the angels and ask each of you in this room, are

you weeping? And if you are, why?

Why are you weeping? And once you've identified the

cause of your misery and the the pain that seems to be so fierce

and so overwhelming, let me ask you another question.

Have you ever tried taking the object of your sadness and

placing it in the light of this glorious fact?

Jesus Christ is alive? Have you ever consciously done

that? Have you ever intentionally

moved your sorrow to that place in your heart?

Because Mary forgot what Christ said.

She's weeping. And when we lose sight of that

same truth, we too will find ourselves paralyzed, puzzled

unnecessarily. Because if He's alive, that He's

sovereign over all things, including death.

And if He's alive, then He is, yes, governing the entire

universe, but not just the nations, and not just the stars

and not just kingdoms. But He promised to shepherd your

daily life with His infinite wisdom and unstoppable power.

So why are you weeping? I challenge you.

Anything that causes that agony, take it to the Lord and stamp on

it. Well, Christ is alive, so my

body may be sick, Christ is alive.

I may fear death, but Christ is alive.

I may not know the next step in this life, but Christ is alive.

Mary unfortunately didn't see it.

And perhaps you're sitting there today and you're thinking, well,

listen, you're preaching to the choir, brother.

I believe Christ is alive. I showed up here.

OK, maybe you do believe that Christ is alive, but perhaps

your stumbling block is not necessarily that event, but the

character of the one who did race from the grave.

And if that's you today, then I want you to consider what this

risen Savior does for this miserable follower of His.

Look again at verse 14 of John 20.

Having said this, when she said, they've taken away my Lord.

Having said that, 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. Is that something?

Mary? What are you going to do with

the body anyway? So much can be said about these

verses, but let's simply start by acknowledging how Jesus

Christ chose to approach Mary. Notice that He didn't scold her,

doesn't even rebuke her. He shows up and he tenderly and

patiently guides her by way of reflection.

She didn't get it the first time when the angels asked the

question, Why are you weeping? And so he asks it again.

That's patience. That's kindness.

And more than that, he adds to that question to help her

investigate her own heart, examine her own soul.

I need you to think about this with me.

This is the very first encounter that Jesus has with any one of

his fathers after he vacated the tomb.

What does it show that Christ prioritized comforting the one

who is clearly in the most anguish, The one that was

singing about Christ who conquered death is so rich with

compassion for every single one of us in this place.

The first thing that He does is come and clarify the confusion

that is causing internal chaos in this woman's heart.

That's the first thing that He does.

And the Holy Spirit indicates that here, in order for you to

know one of the primary truths that I must embrace about the

resurrected crisis, that He cares about my tears.

He actually cares. Yes, this one who's in control

of all things, this one who defeated death, sin, Satan, one

of the top things to do on his list on that resurrection

morning is I must comfort Mary. That's the heart of Christ.

And yet Mary in this moment shows us, we regularly fail to

recognize the Lord as we should. You notice here that in the

midst of her frantic state, Jesus is right there.

So she's looking into the tomb. She sees the two angels, she

answers their question. And having said this, she

turned, you know, some try to figure out why she turned.

Did she hear the steps? Did the angels motion?

This is all speculation. One of my favorite ones though

is that the angels and seeing Christ stood up and she looked.

You know, Christ is near to us in our pain than we think, but

we often miss it. We fail to believe it.

We're looking for feeling. We're looking for something

tangible. Some write it in the sky, and

yes, this is a resurrection appearance, but it shows us a

principle that is true to this day about the resurrected

Christ. He's close, and you and I must

develop the eyes of faith to see that.

Well, Mary doesn't see that, and there's debate again about why

she couldn't recognize him when she turned around.

Right. She turns around and she sees

him, but she doesn't see that it's Christ.

Was it because it was still dark?

Was it because her eyes were filled and blinded?

Because of her tears? Was it because of her hysteria?

Was it a combination of both? Some say it's because Jesus

cloaked Himself, but it doesn't say He did that.

So let's not distract ourselves from what this is trying to

teach us. She did not perceive Him in the

midst of her confusion and turmoil.

We often do the same. Again.

I alluded to the disciples who were on that water and it was

about to ravish them and destroy them.

And here's Christ coming and they say it's a ghost.

It's a ghost. Hold on.

The one who is sovereign over the waves, the one who is

unmoved by the winds, the one who is for you, the one who sent

you, you see as a ghost. You know, there are many good

hearted believers who are more ready to acknowledge the

presence of demons and Satan in the midst of their problems

instead of acknowledging the Providence of Christ, instead of

acknowledging the power of Christ, we're more ready to say

it's a ghost than it's this. And you fail to see He's there.

He's always been there. He's not surprised by the storm.

You may be, but He's sovereign over it.

And here's Mary where she looks at Jesus.

He's right behind her, touching distance.

And what does the text tell us? She supposed that he was the

gardener. Why?

Gardener of all things, you know, John tells us.

Why are you there in John 20? Go to John 19.

Look at John 19, verse 41. Now in the place where he was

John 19:41

crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in

which no one had been yet been laid.

Jesus tomb was in a garden. And so Mary, turning to see this

man standing there, assumes that in the early hours of the day

the gardener has come to do his job.

And in her desperation she looks at the gardener thinking maybe

the gardener took Jesus away. Do you, do you know where you've

laid him? Can you tell me where you've

laid? I'll take him.

I wonder if you and I can sense a theme that John is trying to

illustrate. Obviously because he is being

led by the Holy Spirit. Think about it with me.

Christ was raised from a tomb in a garden, because long ago sin

entered into the world in a garden.

And in that garden long ago, the Lord walked in the cool of the

day. To do what?

To pronounce a curse, a sentence of death that would impact the

world forever. But now, on this resurrection

morning, the Lord stands again in a garden, not to pronounce a

curse, but to send forth a message of hope and salvation

until the world is fully restored again.

This is a new day not just for Jesus.

This is a new day not just for Mary.

This is a new day for mankind. So Mary thinks it's the

gardener. She's just she's falling apart

and we can applaud it because she loves Jesus so much, but we

also have to come gently say, Mary, there's you don't have to

weep like this. And everything is about to

change. She's about to realize very

quickly this is no gardener. Why?

Because look at verse 16. Jesus said to her, Mary, you

can't be a gardener because you wouldn't know my name.

You're not a landscaper. And I am sure that the way Jesus

said Mary's name had a ring of familiarity.

The tone, the pronunciation, everything about Jesus saying

her name unlocked the revelation and simultaneously flooded her

heart with joy and peace. It's an amazing thing to believe

that this resurrected Christ knows us by name.

Yes, we are sheep, but guess what?

Sheep are named? You don't get A tag on your ear

with a number on it. He knew her name.

She knew how he said her name. So when he said it, she melts.

And once again, Mary's reaction inspires me.

The first thing that she does when she hears her name spoken

in the way only Jesus can is turn her back to the angels and

from her lips cry Rabboni. So the movement here seems to

indicate that when she was looking into the tomb initially

and the angels were there asking the question, she answered it.

She senses the presence of someone else.

She, I, I think this is what's happening.

She turns her head only, but then when she hears her name,

she turns completely and she says Rabboni.

And John helps us in the meaning of this title means teacher, but

it's more than Rabbi Rabboni. It's a, it's a term of yes,

endearment. It's an emphatic way of saying

rabbi. It's like my teacher, my master,

my Lord. Listen, although it's personal,

Mary shows us something so important.

She gives Christ His due a title of dignity, respect and honor.

That's what spontaneously shoots out of her heart and her lips

when she discovers this is Him. And it teaches us something very

important about how we should and how we must relate to Jesus

Christ. Christ is intimate.

Christ is loving. Christ is thoughtful.

Christ oozes with mercy. Christ is very intentional with

each of us. And Mary who experienced the

love of Christ. Understand that this is the same

Mary whom the Gospels tells us Jesus delivered her from 7

demons. She knew the love of Christ.

She knew the power of Christ. She knew the rescuing grace of

Christ, and she in this moment is about to know a fresh

revelation of her, of his personal lover.

And yet none of that diminished her reverence for him.

You know when I first got saved in the early years.

Being a Christian, I notice how some people act as if the

invitation to be close to Christ gives license for us to be

cheeky with Christ, to be a little too casual with Jesus.

Be careful, Praise God, He is incredibly approachable, but

never forget that He is King. He is exalted forever, He's

matchless in His Majesty. He is infinitely holy.

The Seraphim dare not even look at him with their bare eyes.

So he is shepherd, He is friend, He is the lover of our souls.

But Mary shows us as close as Christ can get to us and longs

to be with us. He used to be reverenced, He

used to be feared. Rabbi and I and notice we come

to the end of this story. We see Mary moving merely from

turning her head to turning her body to now clinging to Christ

and we know that because what does Jesus say in verse 17?

Jesus said to her, do not cling to me.

Now I'm aware that the King James, which was really the only

and the most notable and famous Bible in the English speaking

world for hundreds of years, renders this part as Touch Me

Not so people get the idea that what Mary was doing here was

just simply touching him. But the the language and the

context suggests, especially in the original Greek, the word

more accurately means to fasten oneself to.

So you have to understand what Mary is doing here is clutching,

grabbing, not just embracing. But what makes this prohibition

from Christ more difficult is when we factor in the broader

context of the resurrection. Because we heard at the opening

of the service that when the group of women who visited the

tomb were making their way back to the disciples to say what the

angels told them, Jesus appears and he says, greetings.

I love that. You know what that means.

Hello. And that one hello.

Obviously the site of Christ before them makes them drop to

their knees and it and it says that they held fast to his feet.

Why didn't he stop them from doing that?

There's no indication at the end of Matthew that he says don't,

don't, don't grab my feet. What about Thomas when he shows

up in that meeting because he missed the first one when Christ

appeared and Jesus looks at him, he says, Thomas, he extends his

wounds. He says come touch him.

He invites him to touch him. What about the end of Luke 24

when Christ has another meeting with the disciples and he says,

look, I'm flesh and bone here. Touch.

So why in this case, when Mary Magdalene wants to grab him, the

Lord says do not. And we don't have time today to

explore every possible view. But in my opinion, the most

convincing is that Jesus Christ understood the intent of Mary's

action. Here He read the motive.

He understood why she was doing this, and the motive behind her

clinging is that she wanted to restrain him.

She wanted to keep him. She wanted to have him the way

she has always known him before his death.

Physically present, practically accessible.

And Jesus in the same verse, let's Mary know it would no

longer be this way. I must ascend to the Father.

And in doing so, Mary, along with every other true believer,

would experience what Christ taught about and promised after

His ascension and His exaltation, the indwelling of

the Holy Spirit. This is a new era.

This is going to be a big change for marrying the other followers

of Christ. But Christ also assured them

that it would be better. Sure, it's not physical.

Sure it's not tangible. But it's going to be spiritual.

And part of that spiritual blessing is that there is

uninterrupted access to Christ any place, anywhere.

All of us at the same time can have Christ one-on-one.

Mary, this whole thing is not done yet.

Don't think that it's going to be the way it was these past few

years. It's going to be different.

Don't cling to me. But we have to be careful,

because although Christ has risen and he's ascended to

heaven, and though we are enabled to engage with him on a

spiritual level, the Lord Jesus Christ, pay attention, please.

It's still flesh and bone. Understanding that important

theological truth helps us make sense of what Jesus says in this

verse. Notice this.

He tells her to relay this message to the disciples.

I am ascending to my Father, and your father, to my God and your

God. So those who deny the deity of

Christ will often come to this text and corner Christians and

ask the following If you claim that Jesus Christ is God, how

can he claim that he has a God? Resurrection is a very emotional

experience by brothers and sisters.

We have to be able to explain why we believe what we believe.

He says my God. And this statement would have

been easy to explain had he made it before his death and

resurrection. Because we would, I hope, be

able to say that the reason why Christ can say my God is because

the Father is his God by virtue of his humanity.

Jeremiah 3227 tells us the Lord who is the God of all flesh.

And remember that verse, The Lord who is the God of all

flesh. That's what the Lord says.

So when Christ, the second person of the Trinity, takes on

flesh, he assumes that the Father now is his God by virtue

of his humanity. Great.

But here's where people stumble. Jesus made this declaration,

made this statement after his death and resurrection.

If it was before his death, I could just say, yes, he became

man because of that. He relates to God as his God.

But now he rose from the grave. And if you found yourself

troubled by this or maybe confronted, not knowing how to

answer, today's the day where it changes.

It's very simple really, because what we have to understand about

the resurrection is that when Christ did indeed defeat death,

when he did walk out of that tomb, he did not do so

spiritually as some cults claim. He did not ascend invisibly as

some assume He did, both with a glorified body.

Christ physically arose. Christ physically ascended.

You ready for this? Christ is physically seated at

the right hand of God. So that same body that was

pierced, the same body that was beaten, that same body that was

hung, that same body that was prepared to be buried, that same

body that went into the tomb is the same body that came out of

the tomb. What does that lead to?

Well, if he is still flesh, though glorified, then the truth

of God being his God as a man still remains.

And that's why even after his resurrection, that's why even

after his ascension, where we find in Revelation where Jesus

is giving letters to the churches, he still says in some

of those places, my God, why? Because he is flesh forever, the

God man seated at the right hand of power for eternity.

We often think that when Christ came into this world and took on

flesh, He unzipped the flesh and He just moved on as though

things are going back to the way they were in eternity past.

Not so when Christ came in the flesh.

He added to His divinity humanity forever.

That's the extent of the price that Christ paid for us.

I wonder what a sight it was when Christ ascended to heaven

and He went up to those gates and for the first time ever,

flesh and blood glorified, entered into that place, and not

just entered into that place, but walked up to the Father and

sat beside him. And the Father accepts it

because his Son accomplished his will.

Oh, there's more to be said about this.

Let's land it soon. Here.

Notice that Jesus also said, yes, He is my Father, your

Father, my God, and your God. But one might wonder, why didn't

he just say our Father and our God?

That would have simplified the message, right?

Jesus is very careful with his words.

Do you believe that? I believe that with his recorded

words in red and with his entire word from Genesis to Revelation,

he's very precise when he needs to be.

The reason why Jesus makes this distinction, my Father, your

Father, my God, your God, is because he wants to teach

something very important about his status before God and that

of the disciples. He does now invite the disciples

to understand that He is your Father and He is your God.

But he also wants to make clear that God being Father to him has

always been from eternity past. God being Father to Christ is

because of Christ's nature. That has never changed.

But God being Father to the disciples and us is not because

of our nature. It's because of adoption.

He is my Father by virtue of my standing as the Son of God.

It always was. He is your Father because of

grace, and you were invited into that relationship because my

resurrection seals that status. And that's why He can say what

He said to Mary about how He identified these disciples.

Look at it again in verse 17. Do not cling to me, for I have

not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers.

My what? My brothers.

So if you're sitting there today as we wrap things up and you

think to yourself, that's a wonderful, wonderful explanation

of how Christ is so soft and patient towards Mary Magdalene.

But I'll admit, preacher, my devotion to Christ is nowhere

near Mary's. I'm more like those two

disciples on the road to Emmaus who are making their way back

home like, well, I guess he wasn't the hope.

A little bit of sadness there, but I'm ready to move on with my

life. Mary can't seem to function

here. And if that is what you're

thinking in this place, remember where the 12 disciples were at

this point, Judas is gone. Yes, Thomas is.

Who knows where the others obviously fearful.

The greatest failure that the disciples committed was walking

away from Christ in his greatest time of need, denying Him,

walking away from Him, and not believing what he had said about

His own resurrection. This is the lowest of the low

for the disciples. You know what Christ tells Mary

to tell them. Go tell my brothers.

If you said my servants, I would have been happy with that.

If you said my anything, we can praise Christ for his

acknowledgement, but of all things he says, go tell my

brothers. The disciples walked away.

The other disciples are hiding. They're still my brothers,

they're still mine, they still belong to me.

Who is this Jesus? You know, I'm fully aware that

there are people in here who might want to be somewhere else.

It's possible that you're here physically, but your heart is in

a different place because you're perhaps disappointed with God,

angry at God, living in sin, with all that you know about

God. But you know what the

resurrection does for those who believe it and those who have

put their faith and trust in it. It secures a relationship with

Christ that is unfathomable, that even in your distancing and

your separation and your back turned on Him, if you belong to

Him, the Lord looks at you with eyes of love.

Go tell my brothers. He doesn't give up on us, we

give up on Him. He's never failed us.

We fail Him. He's never told us anything that

was untrue. We don't believe Him.

And yet in this pathetic display of devotion on the part of the

disciples, Jesus says, Go tell my brothers, and what does Mary

do? In verse 18, Mary Magdalene went

and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that

he had said these things to her. Can you imagine this woman who

had seven demons living inside of her, delivered from Christ

and because of her love her though, though her faith was not

fully developed, though she didn't have all the answers,

Christ honored her longing. And He came so carefully and so

lovingly to help her get out of this darkness.

And more than that, He gives her a message to give to the

apostles. Everything about Jesus and His

resurrection appearances shows grace upon grace.

Let me think about it. You would think that Christ

might make an appearance to Pilate after he rose.

Hey, Remember Me? What about the religious

leaders? What are you going to say now?

He doesn't do that. What does he go to?

The first person? Mary lost, bewildered, heaving

Mary, what about the disciples? Go tell my brothers this amazing

God that we serve, that we can know, that we can draw near to,

that we can experience, made what I'm speaking about

available because He chose to come into this world, take on

flesh, to be killed and crucified so He can purchase

what we've always needed. Friday we recognize the bread

and the cup. And in God's Providence, as we

always do in the first Sunday of the month, we recognize the

bread and the cup, but with an added reminder that flesh of His

was broken on our behalf. But that same flesh rose,

glorified, and Jesus Christ one day will come back bodily, and

we will be with him forever. I wonder if you know this Jesus

of whom I speak. I wonder if you've experienced

this Jesus. These are not just nice stories

that people put together. These are historical accounts,

and they are meant to show you who Jesus is and what he is

like. Are you not drawn to him?

Are you not moved by Him? Do you not want to have Him?

He is available and the way you access Him is by faith.

The way you experience Him is in a moment you realize I am a

Sinner, I am vile, I am guilty. It was my sin to put Him on that

cross, but He paid for it and so I received this gift.

Lord, forgive me, I repent. If you're willing to make me an

enemy into a brother and to a sister into a child of God, if I

can through you be able to call God the Holy 1 enthroned in

heaven as Father, I receive it. Why would you not?

What's better than that? And believer, maybe today you're

like Mary. You have an intense love for

Christ, but you're confused about some things.

Jesus is near to you than you imagined.

And if you never want to fall into that place again where

you're weeping tears and staying up and losing sleep for things

that you shouldn't get into the Word, know what he has said,

know who he is, and you'll save yourself from unnecessary tears.

Maybe some of you in here are like the disciples.

You're here. You're not really here actually.

So be it. He still loves you and he

summons you. He doesn't want you to live

another moment outside of his perfect will.

Would you respond to his conviction today?

So this is a table of remembrance of what Christ has

done for us. And it is prescribed for

Christians, those who have put their trust in the message that

these emblems represent. So if you are a Christian here,

you were invited to eat at this feast.

But if you're here today visiting us, we're so glad that

you're here. But know this, we honor Christ,

we believe his word, we want to love Him and obey him above all

else. And what he asks is that you

would not partake if you do not belong to him.

However, you can belong to Him, and while you see people taking

these elements and you sit there, realize that these people

are making a declaration. I've been saved by grace and you

can be saved by that same grace. Every person walking up here is

not holier than thou. Every person that's making their

way up here saying I've been forgiven.

Jesus is real to me, and I'm here to remind my own soul that

it's because of what He has done that I am redeemed forever.

So let's prepare our hearts, shall we, and ask Him to make

himself more real to us by faith.

We thank you, Father, for these truths.

Just a glimpse of what you were like.

Because when we see Christ, we see also who the Father is.

Distinct, yes, and persons, but one, an entity, one in being.

And what we've come yet again to the table to partake of the

truth of what Christ has done for us 2000 years ago.

Help our hearts savor these things with the revelation that

the Christ who appeared to marry the Christ who asked for the

disciples, as the Christ who loves us and sees us no

differently, we rejoice in these things together in Jesus name,

Amen. Amen.