I invite you to turn in the Scriptures this morning to John chapter 20. John chapter 20. This past Friday, we considered John 18 and Jesus' arrest in the garden. And this morning, we come to John 20, looking particularly at Mary Magdalene. We will read the first 18 verses. this is the word of the lord let's give our attention to his holy word now on the first day of the week mary magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb so she ran and went to simon peter and the other disciple the one whom jesus loved and said to them they have taken the lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him so peter went out with the other disciple and they were going toward the tomb both of them were running together but the other disciple outran peter and reached the tomb first and stooping to look in he saw the linen cloth lying there but he did not go in then simon peter came following him and went into the tomb he saw the linen cloth lying there and the face cloth which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloth, but folded up in a place by itself. By the way, if anyone had stolen the body, you don't fold up cloths. So I just wanted to make that point. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed. For as yet, they did not understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead. The disciples went back to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb and she saw two 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. And there ends this morning the reading of God's Word. The concern of John in this passage is to show that now that Jesus is raised from the dead, the relationship has changed somewhat. He's risen. He's no longer in a state of his humiliation. The resurrection has changed everything. The resurrection has changed everything. And that's important for us today because the resurrection has changed everything for the believer. How he looks at everything. How he processes things. And I believe John is showing us this. You'll notice in verse 41. So clearly there in verse 41. Well, that's not verse 41. I wrote that down wrong. Just listen to the verse, okay? Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden. And in the garden, a new tomb. where nobody else had been laid. Interesting. You have a brand new tomb in a garden. I love that. That is so wonderful. John almost certainly, as he does in chapter 18, has the original creation on his mind. Again, if you were here the other night, we picked up on those themes. Because when the first Adam send in a garden, death came, didn't it? Death. But here, Christ has been buried in a garden. John's picking up on all the parallels of the first Adam and what the first Adam lost. And now he's in a tomb that nobody else has been buried in. In a garden. This is what the New Testament writers proclaim. The resurrection came to us as an announcement that Christ defeated death, sin, and the grave. And that changes everything. Everything. no longer is the sentence of death over you do you know that oh i know you die and and we're going to have to face death the process of death but the heidelberg's absolutely correct death is not a payment for sin it's an ending of your sin and an entrance into eternal life that's the one thing that the lord wants from us through this is to believe this he desires faith as we hear the truth of the resurrection he wants us to not be unbelieving but believing john's john's gospel is a gospel of belief believe these things if i had the time said john i'd record all the things but the books couldn't contain all the things that jesus did but these things are written so that you would believe that jesus is the christ the son of the living god and believing that you would have life in his name it's a book of life too now what we have in the gospels following the resurrection are a series of responses to challenge us with that, to challenge us with belief. And Jesus understands how difficult this is. Jesus understands this. You have the apostles, the disciples here struggling to believe the truth of the resurrection. And so it's interesting that the gospel writers really give us a struggle painted for each disciples. The disciples, They're having a hard time accepting this, believing this, understanding this. What are the implications of this now? What does this mean for us now that Jesus is risen? The Lord kept saying it, of course, in the course of His ministry. He kept announcing to them, the Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of sinners and He will die and He will rise on the third day. He kept saying it over and over and over. And the disciples, remember, fought him on this truth. That will not happen. Peter fought him on that truth. Well, here we are, and we have so much grief that has hit them because they didn't listen to his word. And the grief has overwhelmed them. They seem to have had less expectation here of the resurrection than even Jesus' enemies at some times. It's a really interesting moment to study the struggle with belief after the resurrection. The imagery you even have at some points is that they were giving up. Giving up. Which really, in life, if you've ever felt like giving up, if you've ever felt like none of this is working, everything is falling apart, the misery and the sorrow, all of that can be traced to a struggle with is the resurrection true? You see. Do you believe we can learn so much this morning about the challenge of the Christian life through the struggles of these people to receive the truth of the resurrection? For when they received it, it changed everything, as I'm trying to say. And all the struggles then that we see here, the Lord sets for us one of the greatest encouragements. I love to study this because He gives us such a special encouragement, a beautiful encouragement to faith in the story of Mary Magdalene. The first one who had the privilege to see Jesus after the resurrection. Let's explore this and look at some of the responses here and then aim in her response and to see how much this means for us and how helpful this is in our day. If you look at verse 1, you'll notice there in chapter 20, now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb. We read that she came to the tomb. She sees the stone is gone, and it wasn't just rolled away. It really gives the sense of ripped out of its socket. Nobody just can roll this thing. Mary sees this, and so puzzled by the event, she runs to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, this is John, she runs to them and she says to them, they have taken away our Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they've laid him. If you were to compare this with the other accounts, you'll see that the other women had come with Mary Magdalene to the tomb. There were a series of women, a series of Marys, There were a series of women that had come to the tomb looking and paying respects. Mary comes, she sees the stone rolled away, and she alone dashes back to the disciples while the other women stayed there and the angels appeared to them. That's what we read in the other Gospels. Well, it seems that Mary Magdalene wasn't there as those first angels appeared. And as she had come back down the road to run to Peter and John, she then begins the report that the body is missing. The body is missing. The body of Jesus was taken. I can't imagine the expression she ran to tell them. The body of Jesus is gone. Peter and John hear that. And they bolt. And they run as fast as they can back to the tomb. John, of course, outrunning the old man Peter by this point. Why are you laughing? I think that's pretty normal, don't you? Peter is obviously the older here. They get to the tomb. We have John's description of what he saw when he gets into the tomb. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there. But he didn't go in. Can you see the hesitation? You feel it hitting his mind? What is this? They're folded. Simon Peter then shows up. And he goes into the tomb. He sees the linen cloth lying there. And the face cloth that had been on Jesus' head. He saw that face cloth, I suppose. Not lying with the linen cloth, but folded up in a place by itself. The text says something interesting in verse 8. then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in. And you'll see it there. And when he saw the linen cloths lying there, he went in and he saw and believed. He saw and believed. For as yet, now does this make sense to you? This is what I struggled with as I was reflecting on this again this week. He saw and believed And then in the next breath, the next inspiration by the Spirit, it says this. For as yet, they did not understand the Scripture that He must rise from the dead. Huh? That doesn't make sense to me. The disciples then go back to their homes. This is all wrong. This is all wrong. This is all wrong. Commentators want to speak of this positively, but I can't get away from the little statement that they did not understand the Scripture that He must rise from the dead. I think to myself, wait a minute, wait a minute. These guys have been walking with Jesus all along. He's been preaching the Scriptures to them. They still didn't understand this when Jesus even proclaimed it. The text wants you to see that when they saw they believed but not because the scripture said it and jesus was really concerned about that jesus was really concerned so much that on the road to emmaus he would actually blind the eyes of those disciples not to see him and he would open those eyes by proclaiming the scriptures to them because that's what he wanted it to be believed in the scriptures luke says it all seemed like idle tales and they did not believe that's a strong indictment that's a strong indictment the problem was made clear on the road to emmaus when these guys were really struggling and couldn't understand they of course were hoping for a great redeemer of israel to restore israel to glory right are you going to now restore the kingdom to israel was on the disciples' minds in Acts chapter 1, and as they're wrestling with these things, Jesus had come up alongside of them and behind them and asked them, what are you struggling with? Have you not heard the things that have happened these days in Jerusalem? What things? What things? Tell me. Tell me all about it. I want to hear. And they began to pour out their hearts in distress, and he says, oh, foolish ones. And slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken ought not the Christ to have suffered and entered into His glory. And beginning in the law and the prophets, He began to expound in the Scriptures all the things concerning Himself, giving a model for the whole church of what to do after the resurrection and in the ministry. Well, this is a crucial moment in the Gospels. They were slow to believe, And Jesus had been walking with them and training them. But it's interesting here that as the disciples go back to their house and we think, and I look at this and think everything is wrong with this, I start to ask the question, what is Jesus after? What did he want? I believe he zeroes in on Mary for a reason that often we miss. And something that's so beautiful here that I think, I hope today by the time you leave, I see it, I see it. Why did Christ give such a privilege to this woman to be the first one to witness him at the resurrection? The first one. Why did she get the privilege to see first? John puts a spotlight here and if you remember the scene, She has now left the women at the tomb, run to Peter and John. They have left her. Here she is alone, walking back to the tomb, just distraught. Verse 11, she comes back. Everyone's gone by now. Everyone's gone. We read that she's standing outside the tomb weeping. You can picture now that she's looking at the cloths and she's looking at the folded garments. And she is full of emotion. she is full of emotion just a few days ago we know from the gospels that she stood there at the foot of the cross and watched it all you imagine she heard people say crucify him crucify him she saw the spitting she saw the blood she saw the gasps for air she heard the cries on the cross my God, my God why have you forsaken me? she saw a man named Simon help carry up the cross to Mount Calvert to Golgotha the place of the skull she hears him say I thirst how she wanted to quench that thirst I'm sure my God, my God why have you forsaken me? But now, she can't get out of her head. The worst thing has happened. His body's gone. Listen, can you imagine the horror of that? What am I going to do without him? You can't even imagine this happening to one of your loved ones. Less than two months ago, I sat and looked at my dad's body. I wanted my kids to see his body. After the body had been taken, we met at the mortuary. And I remember asking the mortician, is he here? Is he here? Is his body here? I want to know where his body is. You know? It was the strangest experience. I had to know where that body was. Why? Because it's him. the most painful thing was to watch the grave diggers crank and then there goes the body down into the grave lowered the casket into the ground it brought some kind of closure to know where the body was and that now it was in the ground that's part of the closure process of death it's not the last word for the Christian we'll get there I can't imagine the agony of when I was in Arizona and then I had to drive back a few days later of driving back out to the cemetery and going up and walking and seeing that somebody had ripped open the ground and that the thing's open and he's gone. Imagine that? Can't imagine it. You get a sense of the agony of when people lose a loved one in war and never see the body again. Where things happen and the body's just gone. A missing person is a terrible thing. What an awful thing. A missing person. I think you can kind of capture Mary's emotions right now that way. I've preached this passage before, but I look at it a little differently now. I look at it differently because now I'm there. When it's a loved one, you're there. You feel it. You see it. here is why Mary is given a lot of attention. I see it now. I get it. Thomas is hard. I won't believe unless I see. Disciples are back to the house, not believing. Idle tales. The people on the road to Emmaus were giving up. Peter's going to go back to fishing. Here's Mary. She's not leaving that tomb. You see? She's not leaving that tomb. What kind of love is that? Full of emotion and full of tears. Can you feel her pain? You're getting a sense of what love for the Lord looks like. I think that's why the Lord's spotlighting it. Her pain overwhelms her. The weight of the cross, the weight of her loss. In despair, she's breaking into tears. The pain is so great that verse 11 tells us the two angels in white in glory speak to her. She can't even see them. She doesn't even duck. She doesn't even bow and cry. She can't see a thing because of the pain. This is a really important point. Why can't she see? Why can't she see? You can feel her distraught state over the pages. They've taken away my Lord and I don't know where they've laid him. See, she doesn't have a husband. This is her husband. This is her husband. And notice she's struggling. She's weeping. Everything, all reality is clouded by tears and pain and emotions and everything that comes with it. You just feel empty. You feel hollow. Everything that you have has been ripped away from you. And it's at this moment that you have the most tender moment in all of the Gospel. I don't say that lightly. This is the most tender moment in the Gospel. What a compassionate Savior. And turning around, we read that she saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus. She couldn't see Him. And I don't think it was because like the men on Emmaus that the Lord purposely blinded them. I don't think He had to here. It's the pain. She had so loved Christ that fear was gone. She had nothing more to live for without Him. Am I giving her too much? You can answer that. Everyone else is gone. What does life mean now? What is this about? From her point of view, I can't see clearly anymore. I can't go forward. I mean, I know how many widows here have gone through this when their husband's gone. What does it matter now? Nothing's the same. It's all changed. I have to go on life without him. A dead husband. You can go through that pain. All you're doing is trying to find a way to say, it couldn't have happened. it couldn't have happened. He still has to be here. He still has to be here. You who have lost love, have you ever said that? He's still here. He's got to be. You see, what's beautiful about this is that her whole identity was bound up with him. This is what the Psalms are constantly showing us. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there's nothing on earth that I desire more besides you. my flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. And here's where we're confronted with our own superficiality in all of this, aren't we? We come here pretty superficial and look at this. And pretty heartless. How much lack of love, really, have we had for Him? And I think that's the reason this is spotlighted. It is a command to love Him. What a stark difference from if I don't see, I won't believe. what a stark difference in heart, isn't it? I can't go on without him. I'm going to stand at this tomb. Mary's great error, of course, was that she held on to some kind of error that death could hold him. Right? Notice how Jesus directs his love to her now, which is so beautiful, and corrects her. Look at his question. Jesus looks at her, and what does he say? Woman, and that's not a hard, in our day that just comes across hard, doesn't it? Woman, not a hard address. Woman, why are you weeping? And then this question comes out that everyone should pause for a minute. That is here, if you were here the other night, you'll really see it shine. Whom are you seeking? Whom are you seeking? You're weeping, but let me ask you now, just whom are you seeking? Remember last Friday, if you were here in the garden, Jesus, knowing that all that would happen to him came forward, he's stepping to death, and he says, whom do you seek? Same question. They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. When he said to them, I am, they drew back and fell to the ground. if you were here you'll you'll remember i said quoted luther if jesus when he spoke that had not spoken again they would still be there to this day they went flying back on their knees bowing to the king of kings and lord of lords that's how powerful he is i am woman why are you weeping now put it here whom are you seeking he's not throwing her backwards is he her love was real but her love was faulty but his love was everlasting all mingled with pain she can't even see clearly whom are you seeking are you seeking a dead Jesus are you really coming to seek a dead Jesus you should be seeking a raised one you should be seeking a raised savior whom are you seeking what does that question mean to us after the resurrection whom are you seeking jesus asked that today whom are you seeking why'd you come here because it's the one thing you should do yearly i hope no one does that that's not honoring him ought not the christ to have suffered these things was it not all planned that it would go this way she supposing him to be the gardener said and where have you carried him tell me you could just hear the tears tell me where you've laid him and i will i will take him away we hear the fear that the body's been stolen and history has tried to to make that case that the body of jesus was stolen sir if you carried him away tell me tell me where you've laid him and i'll go get him myself mary mary feel it mary look at me i i know i didn't do justice to the way that her name was spoken i don't know how what kind of what kind of call did he give what kind of inflection in his voice came out when he said mary what was it what was it like all i know is his sheep hear his voice and he calls them by name and that has a power unlike anything else and as soon as he said that instead of her falling backwards her heart shatters in love and she sees him what a beautiful section of scripture here's one of his sheep really struggling to believe and jesus was even standing right in front of her and she could not see and and then he speaks her name tenderly as the good shepherd calling his sheep and did you see what happens it's emphasized that after jesus says that after he called her by name she turns and she says rabboni my teacher an extended way of saying with highest regard you're my teacher i see she fell at his feet and clung to him can't even repaint the scene i can't even capture it but in verse 17 jesus says something that is so wonderful here he said to her do not cling to me for i have not yet ascended to my father but go to my brothers go to my brothers and tell them i am ascending to my father and to your father and to my god and your god what just happened in john 16 jesus had made a promise he had said your sorrow shall be turned into joy therefore you have sorrow now but i will see you again and your heart will rejoice and your joy no one will take from you. No one. Mary, I've just given you joy. You've seen me. I need you to go tell my brothers who don't understand and tell them what's happened and tell them what I've done for you. They don't understand. I want you to go tell them. Isn't it interesting? He sends Mary to go tell them. There's a lot of people hurting today. there's a lot of people in pain. There's a lot of separation. There's a lot of awful things that have happened. And some of you sit here and mourn today because of death. He sees your pain. He knows your pain. Death brings it all. But what changes everything this morning and why we're gathering together is that Jesus got up. The Father raised His Son. And He beat this. How do I say it any better? He beat it. He conquered it. This is what the resurrection is all about. This is what needed to happen. All the pain, all the sorrow, all of it which finds its ultimate expression in death, Jesus took death down so that He could say, oh, death, where's your victory? Where's your sting? What is Jesus telling you today as we gather together? Well, He came in AD 30 in the month of Nisan and He died a cruel death that you might be forgiven. But He wants you to know, and this is why we disagree with Rome. We're not putting Jesus back on crucifixes. He's risen. Do you yet believe what I'm telling you? Do you know what that means for you, says Jesus? Do you understand it? He's calling you by name right now. Your sins have been paid for. They have been canceled at the cross. You have no more judgment in me. And the hardships you face and the deaths that you have to undergo, I came down to beat for you. And you know what that means? It says Jesus, because I got up. All who believe will get up too. All who believe will get up too. You know how, just being so fresh in my mind, I'm able to move on from my father's death? You know how I was able to do it when I walked away in Arizona and I walked out and I turned around and I looked over for the last time, you know, at that casket and it was down? I said to myself, he won't be in there very long. He won't be in there very long. This is all so beautiful, isn't it? It's all so wonderful. How does it get better than this? Before the death, I want to leave you with this final thought. And I think to do a little biblical theology in closing. Before the death, Mary of Bethany took this flask of oil and broke it and poured it out on his head. And Jesus said, I want you to study that. That act means so much that wherever the gospel is preached, what she has done will be a memorial to her. Why? because Mary anointed that body for burial, believing he'd get up. After the resurrection, another Mary, Mary Magdalene, the first woman here, is the first woman who Jesus chooses to be a witness to his resurrection. You know why I think this matters? That he braces and brackets the death and resurrection with two women? Because the first fall happened with a woman. Leaving her place, said Paul. Adam was the guilty. Don't hear me differently. But a woman whose sorrow in front of your eyes now is turned to joy. And in a garden, a woman is sent back to tell the brothers he's risen. That's brand new. See what he's doing? It's all a brand new creation in the resurrection. And we celebrate today that Jesus is raised and that He is already making paradise restored and that's coming ultimately in glory when He comes again in a new heavens and a new earth, that which the resurrection declares to us now. If you understand this this morning, if you appreciate this this morning, the Lord says the same thing to you. Do you believe? Don't walk away with the attitude of I won't believe unless I see. Receive this by faith. The gospel's just been proclaimed to you from the scriptures. That's what He wants. Believe the Scriptures. And recognize there are many of your brothers and many of your sisters who are struggling. Go tell them what the resurrection has done for you. Go speak of the beauties of the resurrection and how it's affected you. Go tell how the Lord has turned your sorrow into joy. That gives you purpose to move on, doesn't it? That's what the beautiful resurrection of Jesus brings in our lives. Jesus Christ is risen indeed. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we praise you for such a tender passage this morning. And so beautiful, so wonderful, that you didn't leave us in these awful pains of death to stand before a tomb and weep the rest of our lives, but that that tomb is indeed empty and the Savior is risen. That the Lord Jesus Christ sits enthroned and in the power of His resurrection, we now live. Thank You for comforting us with these words today. May we leave here today. If we have any sorrow in our hearts, would you have turned it to joy? And thank you now that we can live knowing that we belong to you in life and in death and body and in soul, purchased by the precious blood of Jesus and in whose resurrection we are assured that we have life and favor from you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.