JOHN 20:1-18
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put Him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 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.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward Him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that He had said these things to her.
JOHN 20:1-18 JESUS: OUR RISEN LORD
SPRINGFORD BAPTIST CHURCH: EASTER SUNDAY APRIL 17/22.
Easter Sunday and the truth that we celebrate on Easter Sunday that Jesus is our risen Lord is an amazing miracle!
God infuses our lives with hope when we consider that just two days before Easter it had appeared that all was hopeless. Those who had believed that Jesus really was the Son of God had seen Him put to death on the cross. They knew that His body had been taken down from the cross and sealed in a tomb. The very real question on the minds of His followers was, “Now what”? How could they go on from here without their Lord Whom they had trusted with everything?
“Now what”? is the question we ask when we are faced with a hopeless situation where we feel we have done all that we could think of to solve it and we have come to the end of our capacity. We truly do not know what to do or where to turn and so not really expecting an answer we dejectedly exclaim, “Now what”?
Easter is a powerful reminder that God does have an answer to the “Now what”? question. When we can see no hope at all, we are in the place where we can turn to God and ask Him to show us, “Now what”?
This, “Now what”? question opens the door of possibility to knowing God more fully. “Jesus: Our Risen Lord,” invites us to KNOW GOD BY KNOWING JESUS. The truth of Jesus being raised back to life when it seemed that all hope was gone, replaces despair with life giving hope.
In every area of our lives where we are struggling to find hope, we can meet with God there and listen for what He has to say to us.
Through today’s Scripture from John 20:1-18, we can relive Mary Magdalene’s encounter with Jesus after His resurrection. We can witness how she came to know God in a greatly expanded way when she was convinced that this was Jesus her risen Lord with Whom she was speaking.
Imagine with me when Mary Magdalene came to Jesus’ tomb early in the morning on that first day of the week. She came, “while it was still dark” (John 20:1). It must have seemed to Mary Magdalene that a darkness of hopelessness had settled over everything. Then when she arrives at the tomb and sees that the stone has been rolled away, things seem to her even worse. She concludes that Jesus’ body has been taken from the tomb and she has no idea “where they have put Him.” (John 20:4) Mary Magdalene is not at this point considering any thought of resurrection. It all seems completely hopeless.
When Mary runs to tell Jesus’ disciples Peter and John what she has discovered, they run to see for themselves. For them, this was also a time of desperate hopelessness. They witness the empty tomb as well as the carefully folded burial cloth. (John 20:7) This indicates that what has happened was not a rapid moving of Jesus’ body to escape detection. Hope rises up in John and we are told that when he went inside the tomb, “He saw and believed.” (John 20:8) Peter and John still did not completely understand the, “Now what”? In knowing God, it is possible to trust in Him with hope even when we do not fully understand.
We read that the disciples went back to their homes. (John 20:10) Mary is still left there without hope. She stands outside the tomb crying. (John 20:11)
When the two angels inside the tomb ask her why she is crying, she responds, “They have taken my Lord away and I don’t know where they have put Him.” (John 20:13)
At this point, she is still trying to figure out how to locate Jesus’ body in order to anoint Him for burial in their customary way. Her hope, at this moment, is centered in a very practical matter of following tradition.
Now Jesus in a very beautiful and loving way appears to Mary personally. He comes to bring her a miraculous answer to her, “Now what? question! It is certainly not the answer that she is expecting!
When Mary turns around, Jesus is standing there, but she does not recognize Him. It is only when Jesus speaks Mary’s name that she recognizes that it is Jesus. (John 20:15,16)
When you and I feel as if what is happening in our lives is hopeless, we can know that Jesus is right there with us. At times we may not recognize this truth. Jesus speaks our names and invites us to realize that it really is Him our risen Lord.
Think of that moment of recognition of Jesus right there with us as a moment of hope revealed. While our thoughts were so focused on how utterly hopeless everything seemed, Jesus was longing for us to know that He is with us.
Our God can be known through His risen Son Jesus as a God of hope and compassion. God arranged for Jesus to overcome the hopelessness of death by conquering it forever when Jesus was raised back to life. Knowing God more fully involves knowing that God wants to save us from doubt and despair.
Whatever in our lives is too much for us to bear is not too much for our Lord to bear. Jesus Who was willing to go to the cross for us is our answer to every hopeless “Now what”? question.
Jesus wants the hope of His death defying feat to be shared widely. He commissions Mary Magdalene to go and tell his disciples that He is indeed alive! (John 20:17) Death could not hold Him!
When we encounter “JESUS: OUR RISEN LORD” we too have a message of hope to proclaim! We insist along with Mary, “I have seen the Lord”! (John 20:18)
HALLELUJAH!! The hope filled message of Easter never grows old!
“Now what”?