-The resurrection is the single most important event for every single one of us to believe in. In fact, when I’m tempted to doubt, the empty grave is what I come back to every single time to remind me what’s really true.
-I can still remember the first time I dug into studying 1 Cor. 15,
-especially vs. 14 “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” 19 “we are of all people most to be pitied”
-Some people have gone so far to say that if Jesus’ body was found it wouldn’t change anything about their “faith,” who’s to be pitied now?
-Which option is most likely, makes sense of all the evidence and therefore to be believed? Which book do we rely on as the most accurate representation of what happened in the 1st Century?
-NT Wright
-Friends, the resurrection of Jesus is historically verifiable, it makes the most sense of the evidence given, and to just dismiss that claim is, as Wright say, to enter into a fantasy land! You have to find some way to account for the belief of the early apostles, the sudden growth of the early church, the change in approach by the disciples, and the way both Jews and Greeks responded to this news!
-We’ll see in John 20 – 4 different responses to the reality of the empty tomb, and as we’re looking at them, be thinking about which response you’re most prone to.
READ/PRAY (pg. 963)
- Peter and John (1-10)
-It’s fascinating that Mary Magdalene is the first person at the tomb.
-This is another piece that testifies to the reliability of the resurrection
-Women’s testimonies were viewed suspiciously in the 1st Century (no offense to the females in the room, but it’s a VERY different context than today!) this also served as one of the reasons Christianity was so attractive to the watching world – they honored people regardless of gender, ethnicity, creed, political leaning, sickness, they treated every person with dignity
-Other Gospel accounts share that Mary came with others to the tomb to add spices to Jesus’ body (way of honoring/respecting Him)
-But something unexpected happened as Marry arrived
-As she gets closer (it says it was still dark outside) she sees the stone is gone.
-Maybe she is hallucinating, Luke 8 tells us she had demon possession in her past, is that still affecting her today?
-So she runs to get some other disciples to see if they see the same thing
-Quick note – “The other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved” is most likely referring to John, the son of Zebedee, who wrote this book. We have writings from the 2nd Century that list John as the author of this Gospel, 2 generations down (John – Polycarp – Irenaeus)
-John was so concerned with putting the focus on Jesus, he wouldn’t even list his name in the book he wrote about Jesus! We talked about this at our Maundy Thursday service, we’re supposed to have the same mind as Christ Jesus, always looking to others interest about our own, it’s why I have a tattoo to remind me that Jesus must increase, but I must decrease.
-Getting back to the story – she goes and tells Peter and John. Apparently grave robbing was a pretty serious offense in the 1st Century, so again, first instinct would be that’s what happened here.
-So they take off! Have a footrace to get to the tomb, John wins, scholars believe this is because he’s younger. Gets to the tomb and is so shocked he becomes paralyzed!
-If you’re a golf fan, I picture this a bit like Rory McIlroy last week when he sank his final putt, because remember who the author is here? John! John’s writing in Scripture that he won the footrace. Mic drop on Peter for eternity!
-But don’t worry, Peter’s hot on his tail! Impulsive Peter runs straight into the tomb.
-Something weird about the burial clothes. You’d think if a grave robber came, they’d have just taken everything as quickly as possible, but Jesus’ clothes are still in there, almost as if not even clothing can constrain him anymore
-But notice a couple things about these clothes: linen clothes, and the piece on his head folded up.
-There’s some slight irony here, because Jesus was crucified naked, but John also tells us that when they took Jesus’ clothes off to crucify him, they didn’t tear his tunic. That word is used to describe the priestly clothes in Exodus and Leviticus, and it first appears in Gen. 3:21 as the clothing God uses to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness. The fact that this tunic wasn’t torn is significant because priests weren’t allowed to serve God if their clothes were torn. Jesus, the perfect high priest fulfilled all of God’s laws, but he did it uncovered so that we today could be covered.
-Then John says the burial linens are carefully laid out. First this should make us think of last week where Lazarus needed help with his linens. That’s not the case for Jesus! This tells us the “swoon theory” (passed out but didn’t die) has no merit, Jesus was strong enough to take his linens off. But secondly, this points us back to the Day of Atonement. Aaron is commanded to take off his linens once the atoning sacrifice is done, he’s supposed to leave them behind as he goes back out. This is Jesus’s way of saying the atonement is done! The linens are left behind, just like the sacrifice for sin and death is now left behind.
-After Peter dives in, John follows (and another dig against Peter “who had reached the tomb first) and (as one commentator translated it) “Began to believe” but they hadn’t yet put all the pieces together.
-Maybe this is a good description of you today! You’ve started to believe in Jesus, but haven’t yet put all the pieces together on what it means to follow him. That’s fine! There’s a reason Jesus says your faith only needs to be as big as a mustard seed.
-John then shifts from his focus from himself and Peter and moves on to the first person to witness the risen Lord
- Jesus and Mary (11-18)
-She could have easily followed Peter & John back, then stuck around weeping, grieving.
-Not only had Jesus died, now his body had been stolen and there was nothing she could do about it
-Remember, they don’t have the same privilege looking back that we do! This is totally unexpected, neither Jews nor Greeks thought this was ever going to happen! But at some point Mary leans over again to look into the tomb, but it’s not empty anymore.
12 -The position of the angels is telling – Do you know of anywhere else in the Bible do we see an example of 2 angels sitting at both ends of something? Ex. 25 when God is giving his people instructions on how to build the ark of the covenant.
-Ark of the covenant is to be placed in the Most Holy place
-On top of the ark is to be built the mercy seat, and on both sides of the mercy seat were 2 angels engraved in gold.
-Significant because the mercy seat was where God would descend to meet with His people, where the priest would come 1/year into God’s presence
-These 2 angels are pointing to the reality that there’s now a new mercy seat that’s not dependent on the old sacrificial system.
-But Mary doesn’t know that yet, so when the angels ask her why she’s so sad, she answers the only way she could know how – Jesus is gone, so she doesn’t know what to do.
-And Jesus is standing there and asks her a question.
-Could still be dark, could be the sun shining in Mary’s eyes, could be supernatural (there’s other instances of people spending time with Jesus and not recognizing him), but she thinks he’s the gardener who managed this area.
-Notice how Jesus responds. 1 simple word. He just says her name. But that’s all she needs. How do you respond when someone you love and care about calls your name? It’s not like being at church and hearing “Mommy” and watching 10 moms turn and look, this is more like when you’re growing up and in trouble and your dad calls you by your full name! You know exactly what’s going on!
-And that’s all it takes for Mary, her weeping turns to rejoicing! Her fears disappear, her tears of sadness turn to tears of joy as her Savior is standing right in front of her
-I don’t think it’s too much of a guess to think that she fell at his feet in worship
-But Jesus gently rebukes Mary, who’s trying to desperately cling to Him and not let go. She doesn’t want to lose him again. Jesus is communicating that something is different now than it was on before the resurrection, in fact, it’s something that he had promised previously, in John 16:7 “It is for your benefit that I go away.” His ministry is now shifting from ministering with his disciples to ministering through his disciples, but we’ll get there in a bit.
-Then Mary serves as the first witness to the resurrection and she tells the rest of the disciples this good news.
-Maybe you relate to Mary today! Maybe you feel like you’re trying to hold on to Jesus as tightly as you can, but you feel him slipping away. Even in the midst of her fears, she still is obedient to Jesus.
- Jesus and the Disciples (19-25)
-The first 18 verse take place on Sunday morning, John then skips ahead a few hours to the evening.
-I would conjecture the disciples were wondering if the previous verses actually happened to them. Doesn’t our mind tend to play tricks on us like this? One of my favorite verses in the Gospels related to the resurrection is Luke 24:41. It shows the entire range of human emotions in the way the disciples respond. I don’t think the disciples really believed that Jesus rose from the dead.
-The reason I think they still weren’t convinced was because of the rest of this verse: they’re in a room with a locked door because they’re scared of the Jews
-It makes sense! The Jews just killed their Teacher, wouldn’t it make sense for them to take care of his followers too?
-Suddenly, Jesus joins them!
-Basically 2 Harry Potter options here: either Voldemort where the doors fly open, or he apparates straight into the room
-First words out of his mouth make it seem like he’s oblivious to what’s going on
-“Peace.” Really Jesus? You think it’s peaceful right now? His body was just beaten to a pulp, he was hung on a cross, and he’s focused on peace? This is such an important theme, he mentions it a second time in vs. 21.
-Wouldn’t it be nice if there were true & lasting peace in our world? Can you even begin to imagine what that would look like? Ukraine, China, Taiwan, Houthis, Sudan, Somalia. And what about different wars, like maybe a family conflict, conflict at work, or even internal conflict?
-Jesus came to make peace possible. Apart from him dealing with the sin of the world there’s no hope for lasting peace, lasting reconciliation, or even a smidgeon of hope that peace can come.
-Part of the reason He talks about peace is because He’s aiming straight for the hearts of the disciples, do you think they’re feeling like things are peaceful right now?
-Everything they’d been hoping in had broken, everything they’d banked on disappeared, and then his body was gone! In the midst of all that chaos, Jesus
cuts through it all to bring peace.
-Then he goes for their heads and demonstrates that it’s really him, shows them his scars, this makes the disciples glad.
-Lastly they’re commissioned. Just as Jesus was sent by the Father, his disciples now need to carry on the exact same mission.
-This theme carries through vs. 22-23. There are some weird things in these next couple verses, so it helps to keep the idea that Jesus is sending his disciples out.
–22 First weird thing, he breathes on them. What is Jesus doing here?
-Referencing back to 2 OT passages: Gen. 2:7, God breathes into Adam’s nose and brings him to life. Then Ezek. 37 where Ezekiel is brought to a valley of dry bones and told to prophesy over them, but they’re not alive until the breath of God is in them. Just as in the first creation God breathed into his creatures, in this new creation that Jesus is enacting through his sacrifice, so again God breathes into his people and makes them a new creation, filling them with the Holy Spirit.
-Then there’s another weird verse (23). What Jesus is doing here is getting back to His commissioning of His disciples. Jesus was tasked with bringing the kingdom of heaven down to earth, so now as His disciples share the gospel message in word and deed with the world, the response people give to this message will be as if Jesus was really there. The way God’s message goes out now is through his people, we today have the same authority as Jesus to preach the gospel, to tell the world how to have their sins forgiven.
-Unfortunately, 1 disciple misses this event:
- Jesus and Thomas (26-29)
-Thomas has a normal response. Again, I think there’s a tendency today to miss the shock of the resurrection.
-“Doubting Thomas” doubtless would have thought he was the only one who was clear headed about this whole thing! Everyone else is losing their mind
-He needs to witness it with his own 2 eyes, otherwise he’ll never believe.
-Thankfully, Jesus is accommodating.
-A week later, the disciples are doing the same thing they had done when Jesus appeared the first time. Doors locked again.
-Again, Jesus joined them and began the exact same way, but this time Thomas was with them, and then invites Thomas to fulfill his wish. Then exhorts Thomas to believe instead of faithless. The Greek uses the same word with a negative; “don’t unbelieve, believe”
-Because Jesus himself shows up, Thomas then acknowledges that Jesus truly is God.
-Maybe you’re like Thomas, and you don’t actually believe the resurrection, and you think maybe you’d believe too if you’d seen Jesus come back to life. But did he really?
-This gets us to the last part of this chapter – this reality demands some kind of response.
-Jesus’ last statement in this chapter is a blessing to those who haven’t seen, but have believed. That’s any Christian today! Anyone here who has believed in Jesus did so without seeing him in the flesh. But someday we will see Him!
- Jesus and You (30-31)
-John, the narrator, adds some commentary here, reminding us that not everything Jesus did is recorded in the Gospel stories. John was selective on which stories/signs he used, and the ones he picked were done to either urge you to believe, or if you already believe to encourage you to remain faithful, which will leave to eternal life, a life of peace.
-All of us today are called to be like one of these disciples in this story. Which one are you going to be like, how will you respond to the reality of the resurrection?
Pastor Mike's Musings 