Looking for Jesus

Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church

Henley and thanks so much for tuning into our

podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast,

you can have an encounter with Jesus that'll

change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring

message from our preaching team. Last Christmas,

I got, I was given this, this beautiful blue

Yeti drink bottle. It was, there it is. It was

a gift from my sister. Stunning. I was stoked.

It was my favorite color. I'd wanted one for

ages. I could both be hydrated and look cool

at the same time. It was the perfect present.

And I lost it within a week. When you lose something,

you look for it. You check under the couch. You

check under the bed. You check in the shed. You

check at work. You check in the lost property.

box at school you look and you look and you look

and once you have checked everywhere once what

do you do you look again even if you've searched

there before you look again because sometimes

when you look the first time you miss the obvious

thing right in front of you you're rushing around

even though you thought that you had searched

that place thoroughly sometimes all it takes

is to look again And it's in the looking again

that we find what we're searching for. Friends,

it is Easter Sunday. And on Thursday, Jesus served

his disciples and was betrayed. And on Friday,

Jesus was crucified and gave up his life so that

humanity could be reconciled to God. And today

is the third day, and Jesus has risen from the

grave. And this is great news. In our text today,

we see that Mary is before first light heading

to Jesus' tomb. This is not Mary, Jesus' mom.

There are lots of Marys in the gospel. This is

Mary, the brother of Lazarus. She's one of his

followers. And this is her very first opportunity

to even visit the tomb. Yesterday was a Passover

festival. That's a no -go. So she gets to the

tomb so early, it's still dark. And either by

moonlight or first light, she sees the stone

has been rolled away and she must see nobody

on the stone table inside. because she runs to

Peter and John and tells them the body has been

taken. And those disciples, they run, they sprint,

they've got to see it for themselves. And they

reach the tomb to look inside and they see nothing

there but the cloth that was wrapped around the

lifeless body of Jesus lying there on the stone

table. Now if you were stealing a body from a

tomb, you probably wouldn't take the time to

unwrap the cloth from the body. That would be

both tedious and unhygienic. You just wouldn't

do it. And seeing this, the text says everything

clicks for them. They believe. They get it. Jesus

meant what he said when he said, I am the resurrection

and the life. Peter and John, they believe. But

Mary, Mary doesn't believe. She does not believe.

Mary is looking for Jesus, but the Jesus she's

looking for is not life. To her, Jesus is just

a corpse, the lifeless body of her dear, dear

friend. And so there Mary is grieving. She's

remembering. She's distraught. She's weeping

outside the tomb. And then she does what we all

do when we have lost something. She looks again.

She stoops in to look. And there she sees two

angels, one sitting at either end of the stone

table. And they ask her, and you can hear the

compassion, dear woman, why are you crying? She

says, because they've taken away my Lord and

I don't know where they have put him. She turns

around to leave and there's a man standing in

the garden behind her. And we know that it's

the resurrected Jesus, but she doesn't recognize

him. She doesn't recognize him. She thinks he's

a gardener of these garden graves that they're

surrounded by. And he asks her, dear woman, why

are you crying? Who are you looking for? Sir,

she said, if you've taken him away, tell me where

you've put him and I will go and get him. Mary

is overcome. She's distraught and she's determined.

All she wants to do is to attend to the lifeless

body of Jesus, her friend. She wants to mourn

him, to have some kind of closure, to make sure

that he is as honored in death as he was honored

in life. Whatever it takes, she says. Even if

I have to fireman carry away the lifeless body

of Jesus, then let's go. Show me where he is.

I'm going to go and get him. It's great energy.

I love it. And all it takes for Mary To realize

that what she's looking for with all her heart

is standing right in front of her is one word

Mary He speaks her name. He calls her by name

as he has done a hundred times before He doesn't

say dear woman Mary and it clicks for her He's

alive. Everything he said was true. He has risen

from the grave now now Mary believes Mary was

looking for Jesus with all her heart. Even though

all she thought she was looking for was the lifeless

body of her friend and Lord and teacher. And

even, get this, even in her unbelief, she was

looking. But it was when she looked again that

she found him. And he wasn't dead, he wasn't

a corpse, he was resurrected, risen and alive.

There's a sixth century saint called Gregory

the great which is just a great name and he makes

this comment about Mary and I love it she persevered

in seeking and That is why she found him If Mary

does not seek think about it if she doesn't persevere

if she does not look again She does not encounter

Jesus in this way She finds him Because she wants

to find him Perhaps for you this morning, you

are looking for Jesus. Maybe you've been in church

since you were in diapers, and yet you have never

experienced the real living relationship with

God that is available to us in Jesus Christ.

And you're looking, you're looking for the real

risen Jesus behind the routines and the ritual

of the religion that you know so very, very well.

Maybe for you there are circumstances that you're

going through that are so complex, so difficult,

so heartbreaking, that whether you believe or

not, they're causing you to ask, where is Jesus

in all this? Where is God in all of this? How

could this be so? Maybe for you, you might not

say that you're looking for Jesus, but you're

looking for something. Something to make sense

of this life. Something bigger than yourself

that you can be a part of. Something true and

beautiful and eternal. And you're just not finding

it. You're not finding it in your career. You're

not finding it in your family. You're not finding

it in your wealth. You're not finding it in self

-help books. You're not finding it online. You're

not finding it in working for the weekend. The

good news of Easter is this. And it's simply

this, if you want to find Jesus, you will. If

you want to find Jesus, you will. If you look

for him as Mary did, you will not find a corpse.

There is no body. You will find the risen Jesus.

You will find the risen Jesus behind the religion.

You will find where Jesus is in your circumstance.

You will find whatever it is that you are looking

for in Jesus. When I was a teenager, I was looking

for Jesus. I had grown up in the church my whole

life. I loved it. I loved the community. I loved

the stories. But as I got older, it wasn't enough

for me. I wanted to encounter the risen Jesus

behind the religion. I wanted the real Jesus

to please stand up. I knew there had to be more.

I knew there had to be more than just plain church

every Sunday. Jesus says this in Matthew 7, ask

and it will be given to you. Seek and you will

find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks receives. The one who seeks

finds and to the one who knocks the door will

be opened. And as a teenager I asked, I seeked,

I knocked because I really wanted to find Jesus.

And I did. I found what I was looking for. At

15, I had a radical personal encounter with Jesus

that just changed the trajectory of my life.

I would not be standing here today without that

encounter. I met the risen Jesus. And people

all over the world, different ages and ethnicities,

religions, they all have similar stories to tell

of encountering the living Jesus. The good news

of Easter is that if you want to find Jesus,

you will. But there's actually better news. Better

news than that? Yeah, there's actually better

news than that. You see Easter is God coming

to find you. In our sin, our rebellion, our selfishness,

it has estranged us from God. We couldn't be

with God in this life and death was the end for

us. And so Jesus came on our behalf to reconcile

us to God again. And then He was raised to life

so that in Him death is no longer the end. So

that in Him we could have no fear in death. And

God did all of that for you and for me. So that

we could come alive to God. So that it could

click like it clicked for Peter, John and eventually

Mary. So that we could be with God forever. And

why would God go to such great lengths at such

great personal costs? It's because He loves us.

And because He loves you. Mary was looking for

Him. But the reason, risen Jesus didn't have

to take five just to go and comfort Mary. She

would have found out later. But instead He meets

her. with a gentleness and compassion anyway.

And He calls her by her name. Only those who

know you call you by your name. Everyone else

will just call you mate because they've forgotten

what it is. Jesus calls her by her name because

He knows her and He loves her. And friends, this

is who God is. This is the kind of life that

God has made available to us in Jesus To be known

and to be loved to be called by name by the God

who created you The incredible news of Easter

is that God in Jesus Like a shepherd who leaves

his flock to find the one that's lost God has

come to find you God has come to find you. I

haven't found my yeti yet. I keep looking and

looking again and I keep looking because I want

to look cool and hydrated at the same time but

mostly so that my sister will stop being upset

with me for losing her present after a week.

You know if only my Yeti was looking for me.

My dear friends, happy Easter. This is a joyous

day. This day means that if you want to find

Jesus, you will find Him because He has come

to find you. So my friends, look again. Look

again. Thanks so much for tuning into this week's

message. If you felt challenged or need prayer,

we'd love to hear from you on Instagram at encounterhenny.

Or if you're interested in how you can support

this ministry, please go to our website encounteradelaide

.com .au. Thanks again for listening. God bless

you.