John 20:11-18

All right, everybody, thanks for being back with us on this Tuesday

as we continue through Gospel of John in the 20th chapter,

which is the resurrection chapter in the Gospel of John.

Yesterday we saw that two of the disciples had, in the aftermath

of being told by Mary Magdalene that the body was gone, run to the tomb.

They had looked they had not understood what was happening.

Today, that story continues.

Let's do the reading first and we'll come back with some general comments.

Jump in here at verse 11.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb as she wept.

She bent over to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting

where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.

They said to her, woman, why are you weeping?

She said, they've taken away my lord, and I do not know where they've laid him.

When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there.

But she didn't know it was Jesus.

He said to her, woman, why are you weeping?

Whom are you looking for?

Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, sir, if you've carried him away,

tell me where you've laid him, and I will take him away.

Jesus said to her, Mary!

She turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabbi,

which means teacher.

Jesus said to her, do not hold on to me, because 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 she told them that he had said these things to her.

As we

move into the text, one thing that should be said, and this is true

of all the Gospels, it's a very unlikely reality in the story

that Easter, in each case, is first

announced to women.

The Gospels are of one voice

that the resurrected Christ is seen

by or announced to women first,

and they then take the message back to the disciples.

This it's

it's probably hard to overstate how surprising

that is in the context of that world and that culture.

Certainly an affirmation of the role of these women.

I suppose you could say on one hand

that makes sense, because they would be the one dealing with the body.

But the idea that women were literally the first evangelists,

they were the first to be trusted with the with the good news of the gospel

and sent to tell the disciples it is,

I mean, we're comfortable with it, Michael.

We're we're used to it.

But the reality is that it's a stunning twist in the story

with the women have not typically like in this gospel, for instance,

there have been women, they've done some things, washed his,

anointed his feet, and you know, Martha and Mary.

But there's nothing like this where they've been,

the ones that are sent, they've been the ones entrusted to the message.

This is really a surprising twist in the story,

I think, and it's hard for us to realize it.

Yet because a woman in the ancient world is not getting called to court

to offer testimony, that there are so many

cultural connections here that are beyond us.

And, you know, in many ways that's a good thing that we've

well and and always that's a good thing that we've made this progression.

But I think what what we miss in a story like this is

there is a kind of editorial choice

in including these stories, you know, even if you just think, well,

they could have not told this part of the story and instead

only told about the the male witness side of it, which

would have fit the context that these books would have been first received.

And there's a kind of compelling

twist to the way that the Gospels tell the story.

Consistently.

You have Peter denying Jesus three times, which is goes against the idea

of testifying to the reliability of the witnesses who give the story.

And here's another example of picking witnesses

who in some ways undercuts that testimony.

And I think it reflects a kind of confidence from the writers

that ultimate Lee.

These characters matter

even with their flaws and their weaknesses,

and all of the questions it would raise to the to the first audience.

There's also a strength in that, because indeed, we know that the early church

was full of faithful women, disciples who were witnessing to the gospel,

and they were doing the work of the church in so many important ways.

So that that is reflected here even in the story.

But we can't also miss here, Clint,

that Mary Magdalene is not a stranger in the Gospel of John.

Right.

We know, and John's gone out of his way to make sure that we know that Mary's

had close contact with Jesus in his life and ministry.

So all the same, with all of that surprise

we should have about the fact that the women are the ones record.

That's as having these encounters.

We should be even more shocked, absolutely gobsmacked.

I think at the idea that

when she turns around and sees this person, verse 14,

she did not know that it was Jesus I this is an interesting detail

that John's giving us, and I think it's it.

Of course, there's going to be a lot of, you know, discussion about what it does

and doesn't mean I, I just think the idea that you have in your resurrection story

that the person who is resurrected is not even recognized

by one of those close inner circle people is another detail that you just

would be surprised to find in, witness

kind of text, you know, hey, this is what happened.

Well, how is it that you didn't recognize it?

I this John is on a afraid of those details, those bumps in the text.

And it's in there for us to have the whole kit and caboodle.

We don't want to get ahead of the thing of the story, the rest of the story.

But there is a thing that John does,

maybe to some extent it's in all the Gospels,

but I think John really leans on it the most.

The resurrected Christ is

very strange

in the Gospel of John.

Mary doesn't recognize him

in the next part of the story.

He's going to walk through,

apparently walk through a door, or possibly just appear.

He carry scars.

This business in this text about you can't touch me yet.

I'm not back with the father.

But then he's going to tell Thomas, put your hand on me.

There's something.

There's something spiritual.

There's something, there's something that isn't quite

that is impossible to pin down about the resurrected Jesus.

And I think John makes the most of that.

And I think that sets the stage for this beautiful moment where

Mary doesn't recognize Jesus

thinking he's the gardener, and it's the moment that he calls her

by name that she then sees him and more than sees him.

She she praises him as teacher, or she is sort of a gasp, almost.

And I think from a spiritual or devotional

approach, this is a beautiful moment

in the text where it is in being called by name

that she recognizes Jesus as the resurrected one,

that she now sees him for who he is,

if maybe not yet for what he is, but certainly for who he is.

And I think there's just something profound in that, Michael,

this idea that Jesus is a stranger to her

until she hears her name from his lips, and then

and then she's able to witness, she's able to see.

And, you know, that's a great preaching springboard.

The idea that Jesus calls us by name and introduces himself to us.

And it's only then that we kind of see him in a moment of faith

that we call him teacher or rabbi.

I, I just, I think that's really well-written.

I think it's very deep.

It's it's a nice moment in the text.

It's a nice moment in the text.

I think it also provides for us,

I kind of layering understanding of the waves

of belief that happens in the faith itself.

I do think that John is providing a glimpse of each

one of these unique characters response to the miracle of resurrection,

and I think we're going to see in the next chapter, we're going to see

a very different response to the resurrection of Christ.

But here you have someone who is dutifully doing

what is required and and is obviously lovingly seeking

to do care, but by this body that she's looking for,

I mean this idea that where have you put him?

I'll take him away. Just just let me know. Right.

She's she's seeking to do this honoring task.

It was surely filled with grief.

Also, at this point,

we've got to imagine some anxiety and fear about what has happened. And.

And yet it is in that moment.

First of all, thinking, here's the gardener, here's this problem.

Now she turns into this moment and here's her name.

And then suddenly she begins to recognize, oh, the teacher,

the one who has been giving this story this entire time.

That was prefigured then I'm now seeing happening in front of me.

I think this idea that it's not done yet is also powerful in that context, right?

This idea

that Jesus is saying, don't hold on to me, that there's still more to come.

The story is not complete yet.

I think in the Gospel of John, this is an important moment in the story

because it's a it's a changing of the chapter.

It's moving from Jesus Christ, who lived to Jesus Christ, who died.

And then ultimately it's going to be Jesus Christ who reigns and the one

who is now witness to by all of those disciples

who have come after and have received this good news themselves.

There's a a very dynamic movement to a text like this.

And there's a way in which Mary yes, it's about her experience,

but I think it's also a very small and targeted

snapshot of one person's response to resurrection truth.

And just see how for her, it's coming in waves, the reality of it.

And we're going to see with some further snapshots of the the response,

the responsibility, all those kinds of things

are going to follow as we see other characters.

But this character for today, it's enough.

We're seeing how this is playing out

in her awareness and what Jesus Christ is teaching in it.

I think there's an interesting moment in that call it,

you know, I'm sure I'm sure, John, scholars

have a better sense of this, but I've not heard a compelling case.

For what? Do not hold on to me.

I've not ascended to the father means,

in the context of the story.

I think that

I think that

we've talked before, that John is just not only writing,

but there are times that John is preaching,

and I feel like at least it feels to me

like this is one of those moments where John is preaching.

In other words, don't hold on to what I was.

Don't hold on to your previous experience because I'm more than that.

I'm ascending to the father.

Don't not, not don't hold me back.

I don't think that's possible at this point in the story.

But, Mary, don't don't hold on to what you think you know,

because there's so much more to the story that you're about to see that

the disciples are about to learn

that the reader and the church are about to learn. I

maybe at

some point this meant more than that, maybe to the early church.

This had a very concrete meaning, but I think if so,

at least as far as I know, that has maybe been lost to us.

So this is one of those moments I read that John is giving us

a kind of almost sermon treatment of the story.

I don't hold Jesus down as the one who was crucified,

because he's the one who was resurrected

and the past is about to be rewritten by the future.

And and it's not done yet.

So Mary can't stay in this moment

because there's far too much yet to come again.

I'm maybe reaching a little bit, trying to make some sense of this

and broadening the context, but

that's at least part of what I voice or what I hear in it.

Now check me on this help my memory.

But the commentator points out, and I think that this is true

now, this is the first time Jesus has described the disciples as my brothers,

and I think there is a new relational

turn in this text that I think is significant

because the resurrected Christ has done

something that has transformed our relationship

with God, that that Jesus has made us family.

Jesus has brought humanity

into this triune relationship in a way that did not exist before.

So the naming of brothers here may seem like a small detail,

but we've now seen the transformation of relationship, and Jesus has done the work.

And so therefore, these disciples are now my brothers and Clint that matters.

And ultimately my father, your father, my God, your God.

Jesus is explicitly naming this thing that he has done for us,

and the relational language is here to point us towards that.

I do think that's a new wrinkle in the text.

We've had.

We've had the implication my father, your father,

but I don't remember it anywhere being as explicit as this.

And I think that's a very good insight, Michael, that

Jesus is now saying what I've done

has changed to fundamentally

your relationship with me and your relationship with the father.

And he now calls them, calls them brothers.

He is previously the closest I've gotten, the closest

I think we've gotten, as I remember it,

is maybe I call you friends for that's what you are.

But I think you're right.

I think this is another step in that relational language.

And then just. No, that's the ending here.

I think this has really powerful mathematical link when and announced

to the disciples, I have seen the Lord,

and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Mary's love for Jesus is unquestionable, right?

I mean, her devotion.

But the task that she bears in the encounter

with the one who calls her by name and the one who tells her, go,

go, tell the disciples, my brothers, that I'm going back to my God and our God.

She's the one who's going to go do that work.

She is, by nature of this relational encounter with the risen Christ.

Now therefore, given a task which she discharges without question,

at least as John tells the story without hesitation.

And that is such a powerful teaching tool of what happens

at the end of her encounter with the risen Christ.

It's one particular snapshot

of of how that's called her to task.

And friends, make no mistake about

John, is not a sermon in the idea that you sit down

and you hear someone speak for 12, 18, 60 minutes about scriptures.

It's a sermon in that it provides us insight into the lives of real people

and how they encounter the real God, and ultimately, it is not

just for the purpose of information, it's for the purpose of formation.

It's for the purpose of teaching us, therefore, how we too might live.

And I think that this is an example par excellence,

that when you are called by name, when you were reminded of your relationship

with God, it now gives you a task and I think this is one of those

Johannine sections that end with a question implicitly.

And the question is, what will you do with the revealed

revelation of Christ that has happened in your own life and in your own ways?

And I think that that is built into Mary's story.

Oh, absolutely.

Two days on the backside of Easter, we put ourselves in the story.

Jesus calls us by name.

We see him as the Risen One.

He says, go share the good news.

And we have seen the Lord.

I mean, this is very much,

a scene to which we are all invited to take part.

And I think that's part of the power of how it's written.

So we're going to cover this when we continue the study tomorrow.

So I hope you join us for that and continue along with us.

But just note that while this telling of the story

is filled with revelation and in many ways, devotion and faith,

don't miss how big of an up turning event this is.

There's going to be a lot of

quite, quite frankly, conflict created from an event like a body

disappearing from someone who was just executed, by the Roman government.

And so this is a huge seismic moment,

and we're going to see how that plays out as John continues this story.

So I hope you'll join us for that.

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And we'll see you then. Thanks, everybody.