If you're a visitor this morning, we have been working through the gospel of John, and in God's wonderful providence, this is where we are today, right at the resurrection. I want to say to the church, what a blessing this has been, and God has given you a gift to be able to study the whole gospel and see the whole picture. As I said before, what we typically do at this time of year is grab one little section and look at the death of Jesus and the resurrection. And sometimes it's hard to, it's not easy to see the whole picture and to fill it all in. And in God's providence, this is where we are. We've looked at all of this record here of Jesus' death in the gospel of John. And today we begin the resurrection in chapter 20. So we'll read the first 18 verses of John chapter 20 this morning. 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've taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they've 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 in the tomb. He saw the linen cloth lying there and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus's head, not lying with the linen cloth, but folded up in a place by itself. 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. Then 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've taken away my Lord and I do not know where they've 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've 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 will end today the reading of God's Word. What a day to come together and to consider John's record of the resurrection. What you have in the Gospels are a series of responses to the resurrection and struggles to believe the resurrection, just as much as there is a struggle today for people to believe the resurrection and understand and appreciate the resurrection of Jesus. Think about that great struggle. Even as a pastor for the longest of time when I first was in the ministry, I don't ever felt like I really comprehended the beautiful thing and what the real meaning was of the resurrection for us. Why did Christians believe this so much? And why was it so important? I mean, it's a remarkable claim. Jesus rose from the dead. How many of you have had loved ones who've died and they're in the tomb to this day? Think of this truth. Think of this amazing truth that Jesus is risen. He's risen indeed. But what does it mean and why is it important? You see, these sort of things the disciples struggled with. The disciples had a hard time accepting and believing themselves. That's what's shown to us in the gospel. The Lord, of course, wasn't quiet about what would happen. all throughout the Gospels, Jesus announced over and over again, listen, I'm going to suffer at the hands of sinners. The Son of Man will be delivered up at the hands of sinners. He will be crucified. And don't forget the third article. He will rise on the third day. He said it all, he said it all the time to his disciples. He kept telling them this. He kept consoling them with that truth. He gave the awful announcement of death, and then he gave the great truth, I'm going to rise. I'm going to rise. And it just went on deaf ears. They didn't really listen to him. They didn't really listen to him. As a matter of fact, we know what they did. They shoved it all aside. You're not going to die is what you're not going to do. We're going to stop that. So the imagery that we have now, Jesus has died. Now that the truth of the resurrection is starting to come out, we're going to see, especially with Peter and the disciples, They're giving up. The death of Jesus and what has happened has caused them to give up. Peter wants to go back to fishing. Of all things. I think there's so much you can learn through the struggle of the disciples to believe the resurrection because it's really your struggle today. This is what I want to help you to see. This is your struggle today. This is not just abstractly theirs who struggled with it and lived it then. This is your struggle right now to all of you who've lost loved ones, to all of you who are in pain, to all of you who are confused. This is your story here captured. And in the midst of it, the Lord sets this great encouragement before us. I think to have Mary highlighted is meant to be a special moment for all of us in the resurrection, a special moment to teach us a lot about what Jesus is after in the resurrection, to look at Mary and to see her as a wonderful example to us, to teach us of what Jesus wants us to live in now because of the resurrection. How we are to respond to the resurrection. How we are to go forward in the resurrection. You see, if you don't understand this, it can be hard to get up out of bed. It can be hard to have real motivation in life, hard to have purpose in life. And the Lord gives us the greatest purpose in life through the resurrection. And we're going to consider this here briefly this morning. Notice here the responses to the announcement of the resurrection John is working with up front. He's giving us the struggle, the struggle to believe this, and the challenges and the confusion that is all here right at the beginning. You'll notice in verse 1, 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've taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they've laid him. You see, John has been showing us the whole time that there's been nothing that anyone could do that was outside of the sovereign power of God. Nobody could take the body of Jesus. If anyone wanted to make that claim later with all these theories that the death really didn't happen and the body was stolen away, nobody had any control outside of the Lord's sovereign will and power through this whole thing. John's been telling us that the whole time. But as we read that she came to the tomb, she saw that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb. It had been really raised from the ground, is what it had been ripped out of its socket, is what John is saying here. And there really is a sense that with the resurrection, there was a bursting out of great power in the resurrection of Jesus. Death could not hold him, we sing. That socket, that big stone that no man could roll away, was removed. And Mary sees this, and she sees that the stone, and there's no body, and she runs to Simon Peter. and the disciple, who I hold still classically as John here as he describes himself, and you could hear her cry in this. They've taken away my Lord, our Lord. The body's not there. We don't know where they took his body. If you were to compare this with the other accounts, we see that the other women who had came with Mary Magdalene to the tomb. When Mary saw the stone rolled away, she alone dashed back to the disciples to have some order with the different gospels. And it was at this time here that the angels appeared. But notice, he's not here. He's risen. It seems that Mary Magdalene wasn't there, and she ran away to Peter and John. So it seems that she didn't hear that when the angels came to the women in the other gospel, she's gone. She's out of the picture. She's gone to tell the disciples exactly what had happened, that the body was missing. She then tells Peter and John that Jesus's body was taken out of the tomb, and they hear that, And what we read next is that they leave Mary in the dust, and they break out into a foot race. Peter's obviously the older of the two. I've heard all these pastors over the years make a big point of this. It would be kind of interesting to watch Peter and John run, wouldn't it? Peter obviously was the slower. It would be like me and Dr. Godfrey in a foot race. It would be embarrassing for him. It would not be flattering for him either. I'd leave him in the dust. This is what happens here. John's a young guy. John's going to live to be an old man. Burst out to the tomb. They take off. They go fast. Verse 5, we have John's description of what he sees when he gets to the tomb. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there. But he did not go in. You can just see him. He's frozen. Peter comes, Simon Peter following him, and he, of course, heads right in. That's Peter's personality, isn't it? Heads right into the tomb. Sees the linen cloths lying there. They're all folded up. What a moment. By the way, if a body's stolen, you don't fold up cloths. that John put that there for a reason. The text says something interesting. Everyone, at verse 8, then the other disciple had reached the tomb, also went in, and this is an interesting moment here in what's included in John. It's confusing a little bit. He first noticed, he saw and believed. But then the next breath, it says, for as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead. then the disciples go back home. Commentators have always wanted to speak positively of this, and they've looked at this, and I can't think positively about it. It doesn't work. They did not yet understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead. That's not a good thing. It's never presented as a good thing. Wait a minute. These guys have been walking with Jesus the whole time. They had sat and listened to a lot of sermons. And you're telling me they didn't understand from the Scriptures yet that Jesus had to die and rise again. This is presenting something to us about our struggle here. Luke tells us very clearly that it seemed to them like idle tales. So it's not really faith from the scriptures. They see the linen cloths, they marvel, and they remain in wonder over it. The problem with the disciples was captured on the road to Emmaus. You remember when the two were rocking on the road to Emmaus and Jesus comes up beside them. And, of course, he had blinded their eyes so that they couldn't see him. And Jesus says to them, what are you discussing on the road? What things are you talking about? Who are you? Have you not heard all these things that have happened in Jerusalem these last days? What things? Well, what they did to Jesus of Nazareth, what they did to him. Tell me about it. Tell me about it. He was a mighty prophet indeed and word before the people and all of our chief priests and all of the rulers condemned him to death and they crucified him. They're in pain over this. You know, going through the crucifixion the last weeks, it's interesting I had a few of you come up to me and say, you know, we're really looking forward to Palm Sunday because that's the happy event. You're meant to feel the pain of that. What an awful thing that we studied of what humanity did to Jesus. What did he bear? Look at the pain of all of this. This was the disciples. They're lost in that. They're lost in the death. They're lost in the sorrow of it all. They're lost in the pain of all of this. And then as they're working all of this out, Jesus says, oh, slow to understand all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things that to enter into his glory. No amount of evidence will ever prove this today. No amount of evidence will ever prove it to us, even though we have evidence in terms of a witness from people who saw it. The Gospels through and through say he has to open your understandings to believe this. You have to have your understandings opened. I think that's captured in verse 10, where what we have is all the disciples head back home. How are you going to head home today after this? What are you going to do? What's it going to matter? What about this glorious truth of the resurrection? Does it matter to you? What does it do for you? Are we back to the same old routine tomorrow of hardly getting up and having purpose? They had here evidence, but it wasn't enough. Jesus had said, even if one rise from the dead, you still wouldn't believe. What is Jesus after? What is Jesus after today? I think that's why Mary is so important. I think that's why Mary becomes the focal point. You know, she gets the great privilege of being the first witness of Jesus after the resurrection. This woman, Mary Magdalene, why? What a choice. Why did Christ give that to her? Why would he want this studied for generations to come? For thousands of years? Well, John puts a spotlight right here on this woman. What a special woman. She's been abandoned by Peter and John. She's already been to the tomb. She won't go back home. You get the sense of, now that this death has happened, I have no purpose. I don't know where to go or what to do. I can't move. How many of you have lost spouses here? You felt this. You felt this. I can't just go back home. I can't. I have no idea how to go forward right now. This is exactly where Mary is. She loved Jesus. He was her Savior. She is in absolute pain here. Everyone's gone. Verse 11, we read that she stood outside the womb, the tomb, weeping. You can picture this. They've all gone home. She has to go stand there. She cannot handle this. She's full of emotion. Just a few days ago, we know from the gospel, she stood at the foot of the cross. She was there watching him die. She heard and saw all of this. She heard and saw all of this. Crucify him. Crucify him. She saw the crown of thorns. She saw the beatings. She saw the awful death. I thirst. Mary's thinking, I can't move on. What am I going to do without him? There's something about the presence of the body we all know about. You've got to know where the body is, don't you? You've got to know. I had that experience with my father. You all have experience with that. I mean, one of the hardest things is when you see, I think somebody from a body from a captain from Vietnam was just found, and they finally brought the body back. And the little son who was, when his dad died, they never found the body. And they had this ceremony, and they brought the son back. And you know what that does for you. It brings some kind of closure. You've got to know where that body is. And to watch that body lower down into the grave. And this is why we visit grave sites at times, don't we? Because there's an emotion to that. There's a power to that. You've got to know where that body is. The body's not just a shell. We don't believe that about the body. That's what Christianity said. No, we believe something very important about the body. We'll get to in a minute. What am I going to do? Can you imagine coming to the tomb of your loved one and a big hole is in the ground and the body's gone? I can't imagine the agony of walking back and the casket's empty. You get a sense of that agony, don't you, here? Here's why I think Mary gets so much attention. This is why I believe the Gospels wanted to focus in on this. Thomas is hard, you know. Thomas, I won't believe unless I see. I know those kind of guys in the ministry. Tough. Tough. Some of you are here right now with that kind of tough spirit. You're a tough guy. Then you've got the other guys. Men are just different than women, aren't they? That's not a brilliant statement. It's just the reality. Peter goes back fishing. They get a sense that the guys are just giving up. Her pain overwhelms her. The weight of the cross, the despair. She breaks into tears. The pain is so great in verse 11 that two angels in white appear to her and they ask her the question, woman, why are you weeping? You get the sense that she's just in full weeping condition. She can't even process much. You feel her, how distraught she is. They've taken away my Lord, and I don't know where he is. I don't know where they put him. See? I don't know where the body is. Notice how she's struggling and weeping, having the reality cloud everything so that she can't think and process by her tears, her emotions, to the point where she's getting to the point of having no hope. And turning around, we have the most amazing moment in the Scriptures. John says she saw Jesus standing there. But she didn't know that it was Jesus. I think this is one of the most chilling moments in the Gospels. This is utterly chilling. notice she didn't fall to the ground notice she when the angel spoke she didn't fall down she couldn't see anything really the pain of grief the pain of loss the suffering the hardship she may have been blinded like Jesus did to the other disciples I don't think so she loved jesus so much her fear of anything else in life was gone some of you know this after you've lost a loved one that you don't really fear anything else the things that you held tightly to in life are just doesn't matter anymore it doesn't matter anymore she has nothing without him when you go through this pain all you're doing is trying to find a way to say it and get through it but then you come back to the painful reality of the emptiness Mary has no other drive no other purpose Mary captures I think for us sort of all the sorrow and pain and hurt and hardship that happens in this life that sin has brought, Mary captures for us kind of all culminating in one figure here. And I think there's a specific theological intention of this in John, like I've been trying to tell you the whole time, that just as Jesus has been in a certain place, that Jesus came to a garden, an old garden, and in that old garden, he was buried, you know, that old garden, then he would be buried here in a new garden. You notice that in verse 41, now in the place where he had been crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden, a new tomb in which no one had been laid, a brand new tomb and a brand new garden, where he had entered in the old garden and had been taken away in judgment. Now he's in a new garden and in a new tomb. It's not insignificant. John almost certainly has been working with the original fall scene in the narrative, and he has wanted us to think about the original fall scene. When Adam sinned first in the garden, death came to all. And remember now, who is the first one in that first scene whom Satan seduced and brought all this sorrow to? Eve. And who's the first one he appears to? The fall began with a woman. The restoration of all things in Christ in a new garden begins with a woman. And that's important. But here Christ has been buried in this garden and a tomb no one had been buried. And what do the New Testament writers proclaim? The resurrection came as an announcement to us that bursting from that garden, Christ defeated sin, and Christ defeated death, and Christ defeated the grave. That's the announcement today. Sin, death, and the grave has all been defeated by him. Jesus looks at her with an appropriate question. Why are you weeping? and then comes another great question. Whom are you seeking? Now, last time he asked that question, here's my test. Anybody remember what happened in the garden? When he said, I am, they all flew backward and bowed the knee. Now he asks it after the resurrection, just like we saw from the wounded side, mercy. And notice here what happens. She doesn't fly backward. The resurrection has changed everything. She's supposing him to be the gardener. Interesting. See, John has something on his mind. Where have you carried him away? Tell me where you've laid him, and I will take him away. You hear fear. The body's been stolen. Sir, if you've carried him away, I will take him away myself. Where have you laid him? Mary. complete silence can you imagine the facial moment here we see in verse 16 she bursts into emotional rambling and tears Jesus said her name so powerfully I would imagine she probably went stone cold knowing Jesus had already said in John's gospel my sheep will hear my voice and I will call them by name. He just did it. And do you see what the resurrection just brought? It emphasized something, that after he called her by name, she turns and says, Rabboni, an extended way of saying, my teacher with the highest regard of devotion and love. She falls at his feet and clings to him. And in verse 17, Jesus says, do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father. Notice that. Your Father. Jesus had been saying the whole time, when I am lifted up, I'm going to tell you something about your Father that He loves you. Go and say that to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. What just happened? Well, everything that the Bible's talked about from sorrow comes in the night, but joy comes in the morning. You will have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you. This is the heart of it today. You're the happiest people on earth. If you have Jesus and you believe the resurrection, think of what has happened. You're free. and he's promised. He's risen indeed. He's going to fix all of this. When we talk about the beauty of the resurrection, we say from the Heidelberg, there's a few different benefits of this, why we believe this. First, do you know what he's achieved for you? By his resurrection, he's overcome death so that he could make us share in the righteousness which he obtained for us by his death. Do you know right now what the resurrection declares is your sins are completely wiped out and that the receipt has been handed, it has been absolutely accomplished, and that righteousness has been attained for you. There's no more that you need to do to be right with God. Do you understand that? That's the announcement. Second, by his power, you're raised up to a brand new life. This is what I think we need to be thinking about today. This is what Jesus is saying to Mary. this is what he's calling her to. You're new now. You're mine. And life is given to you. Power is given to you. Joy and happiness is given to you. It doesn't mean it's going to be, I'm going to be hard and there's going to be difficulties. Of course there are. I'll get there in just one second. But you've got a brand new existence now because of the resurrection. It's all answered. It's all answered. Everything's going on in the world right now. You know what it all is, to be honest? It's all a utopian endeavor. Everything going on, every cause in the world, all the divisions, all these groups are all looking for a utopia to find a beautiful new humanity that will finally get along and love one another. And I'm going to tell you right now, it'll never happen. It'll never happen in this world. The world cannot produce that. It's a utopian endeavor. And everyone's fighting. And it's full of death and misery and sorrow. Jesus, in the resurrection, has secured that. And that's why the third point of the resurrection is, Christ's resurrection is a sure pledge of our glorious resurrection. You know what that means. Everything everyone's looking for is found in the resurrection. He is promising he's going to fix all this. No more sin. No more sorrow. No more death. No more suffering. What is the thing he wipes away in the resurrection, the final resurrection? Tears. It's gone forever. That's what the resurrection secured. See what a glorious celebration this is today for us? This is what is ours in Christ. and it changes everything. It changes everything. Those of you who've lost loved ones who in the Lord you know this is not the end of the story. But I'm amazed here as we close today. Mary, I need you to do something. I need you to go tell my brothers who don't understand this. Tell them what's happened. Tell them what I've done for you. You know, there's a lot of people hurting today. There's a lot of people hurting today. There's a lot of people in pain today. There's a lot of people confused today. Some are so clouded by sin and darkness in their life and blindness and hardness of heart. They're living a lie and they're weary. Some just pull the weariness of life right now are burdened beyond what they can handle, they think. All the hardship that people are going through, nothing's really going well in the world. Well, God won't let it go well in the world because it doesn't offer the solution. The great question of the text is, who are you seeking? Who are you seeking? You see, we seek Jesus. He's the answer today. And Jesus is telling Mary there's a whole bunch of people who still need to hear that. There's a whole bunch of people who still need Jesus. There's a whole bunch of people who still need this answer. Who he has specifically planned to go get. What does that question mean after the resurrection? Who are you seeking? We're not seeking a dead Jesus. We're not seeking a Jesus in the tomb. We're not seeking a crucifix with Jesus still hanging on it. We're seeking a resurrected Jesus. One full of victory and power. One who's answered us and given us, as Psalm 18 says, salvation. Give us success today, Lord. That's what this is about. When Jesus came here in A.D. 30, the month of Nisan, and died a cruel death so that you might be forgiven. He wants you to know he's no longer on that cross. He's risen. He beat it. And your sins have been dealt with. And God loves you. And God's not going to let you go. She goes back and tells the sons of Adam, death's been defeated. Death has been defeated. That's what we celebrate today. If you understand this, the Lord is saying the same thing to you today as we close. Tell them all, and I tell you today what Jesus told Mary to tell them. I beat it. I did it. What are you sorrowing about? What are your tears? I defeated death. I have the power to change life. I am the Lord of life. I am risen indeed. Tell my brothers, that's what we do. Tell them that by the power of the resurrection, there is life that is now given. And that life is given abundantly. So I'm going to say something right now. He is risen, and you're going to all say, He is risen indeed. He is risen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for so great a salvation. Thank you for the gospel. Thank you for the truth of the resurrection that we celebrate today. We're free. All of our sorrow and pain has been answered. Our sins have been forgiven. Atonement has been made and people need to know. May the power of the resurrection, resurrection power be evident in our lives. And may, Lord, you give great grace today so that many would hear and many would believe and many would be saved from the misery and sorrow that we all brought upon ourselves when we chose in Adam to rebel against you. Thank you for the last Adam. Thank you for appearing to the daughter of Eve. And thank you for giving us life. We give you our sincere thanks today. May our sorrow be turned to joy. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.