John 20:1-18 (ESV)
The Resurrection
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 taken away from the tomb. 2 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.” 3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’[a] head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 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.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 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.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic,[b] “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 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.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.
Dear Friends in Christ,
Have you ever had the experience of reading something numerous times, only to read it one more time and have an entirely new insight hit you that you’d never noticed before? This is something that has happened to me many times over the years as I have read and studied the Bible. For example, a few days ago we commemorated the darkest day this world has ever known, a day that we interestingly and nonchalantly call Good Friday, a term that I always feel kind of guilty using because it was only good in a selfish sense. It was good for us because of what happened that day and because of what it meant for us and our salvation, but it was hardly a good day for Jesus – beaten, mocked, scourged, crowned with thorns, pierced with nails and spear. Would you call that a good Friday if you were Jesus? Probably not.
Well, Matthew tells us in his account of what happened that day that after the Roman soldiers had scourged Jesus, they placed a scarlet robe on his shoulders. It was their way of mocking him, dressing him up to look like the king he claimed to be. Now I’d read that many times before, but some years ago something jumped off the page as I read it, and that was the color of that robe: scarlet. Right away I thought of that familiar verse out of the Old Testament, Is. 1:18, where it says, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
Scarlet is used there as a color or symbol for sin. So as Jesus was mockingly draped in that scarlet robe, I now see that as a symbolic act that God allowed to signify what was really happening that day as Jesus was draped or covered with the sins of the whole world.
Well, as I read the Easter story again in preparation for today, I had another one of those epiphanies, one of those interesting insights that really gave me the idea for my message today. And that insight came while I was contemplating the resurrection appearances of Christ and I began to take note of those to whom Jesus did not appear. Putting myself in his place, I suspect I would have first and foremost wanted to make a grand appearance to the members of the Jewish council because they were the ones who had condemned him to death and then pummeled him with their fists following his trial. And don’t you think it would have made sense for Jesus to appear to Pontius Pilate? I mean, what else could have possibly persuaded this skeptic to become a believer in Christ than an appearance by the One whose death sentence he’d handed down? And don’t you think it would have been great had Jesus appeared to those Roman guards who had scourged him and then taken such pleasure in dressing him up with that scarlet robe and that crown of thorns? That would have put the fear of God into them, wouldn’t it?
But Jesus refrains from such appearances and instead shows himself alive really to only a handful of faithful followers. And I believe there’s a good reason for that that will become clear to us today as we ponder the theme “The One Who Shows Up.”
Now in our text for today we find Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene in the garden where Jesus’ tomb was located. Notice how she is described in v. 11: “Mary stood outside the tomb crying.” Mary was heartbroken. She was devastated by the events of the past few days and understandably so. After all, Jesus was her rescuer. Now I realize that in most of the movies that Hollywood produces about the life of Christ Mary Magdalene is almost always portrayed as a prostitute, but there is no evidence in the Gospels that that’s what she was. Instead we’re told that she was the one out of whom Jesus had once cast 7 demons. So she literally owed her life and her sanity to Jesus. But on Friday she had watched as he died that horrible death on Calvary’s hill. She watched as his limp and lifeless body was taken down from the cross and placed in a cave-like tomb. She watched as the stone was rolled in front of that grave, sealing all of her hopes and dreams inside of it.
But then came Sunday. Mary and some of the other women had gone to the tomb to finish preparing Jesus’ body for burial. But when they arrived, things were not as they had left them just a few days before. For the stone was rolled away, the tomb was empty, and Mary was confused. Where could Jesus’ body possibly be? After running back to tell the disciples what they’d found, she returned to the tomb where even an appearance of angels inside of it didn’t seem to faze her and bring her out of her grief. Only one thing could do that and that is the one thing that God provided. For after seeing the angels, our text says: “At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there.” And though she didn’t recognize him at first for reasons we are not told, Jesus engaged her in conversation until finally he revealed his true identity to her, thus turning Mary’s unbearable sorrow into unspeakable joy.
And from that encounter we discover the first thing that we want to note about Jesus today and that is that he is one who shows up in our sorrows. He’s there when that precious loved one dies. He’s there when your spouse informs you that he or she no longer loves you. He’s there when that best friend betrays you. He’s there holding your hand, cradling you in his arms, wiping away your tears, walking with you through the deepest, darkest valleys you may find yourself in. Like David says in Ps. 34:18: “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
But not only does our risen Savior show up in our sorrows, he also shows up in our doubts. If anyone should have been expecting the resurrection miracle on Sunday morning, it should have been who? The disciples! How many times had Jesus told them that he was going to go to Jerusalem and be betrayed into the hands of sinful men who would mock him, scourge him, and crucify him? But he always added that on the 3rd day he would rise again. So you’d think the disciples would have been waiting at the tomb on Sunday morning with bated breath for the instant that the resurrection miracle would occur. But they weren’t there. Instead, where were they? They were hiding behind locked doors like a bunch of frightened church mice, fearful of the big cat that might pounce on them if they left the safety and security of that upper room.
Put simply, the disciples were full of doubts – doubts about whether Jesus was the real deal or just a Messiah-wanna-be; doubts about their future and what was going to happen to them now after they had invested 3 years of their lives in Jesus; doubts about Jesus’ power to come back to life after the brutal death he’d experienced on Friday. Those doubts were exemplified by Thomas who wasn’t present when Jesus first appeared to them on Easter evening to alleviate their doubts. And when the disciples told him what had happened, Thomas stubbornly dug in his heels and refused to believe. He said: “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”
So what does Jesus do the following week for Thomas? He shows up. He shows up in the midst of all those doubts and all that confusion that must have been swirling around in his head all week long. And the good news is, he does the same for us, my friends, for there are times when we too are plagued by doubts, aren’t there? Doubts about our past (“How could God ever forgive me for that?”); doubts about our future (“How long will the effects of the Coronavirus interrupt our lives?”); doubts about our finances (“Will the stock market ever recover?”); doubts about our marriage (“Where has all the romance gone?”); doubts about so many things. But in the midst of all those doubts the risen Lord shows up and in Phil. 4:6-7 he tells us through the Apostle Paul: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
So the risen Christ shows up in our sorrows, he shows up in our doubts, and then lastly, he shows up in our failures. When you think of failure in the story of Christ’s Passion, whose name immediately comes to your mind? It would have to be Peter, wouldn’t it? Bold, brazen, boastful Peter. Remember him in the upper room the night before Jesus was put to death and how Jesus tried to warn Peter of how he would deny him later that night 3 times? Peter was offended, wasn’t he? He couldn’t believe that his Lord so underestimated his allegiance and loyalty. Sure, the others might do something like that, but Peter proclaimed that he was willing to go to prison for Christ, to even be willing to die for him.
But switch the scene to a few hours later where Peter is warming himself by a fire in the courtyard of the high priest’s palace. Jesus is being tried on the inside of that palace and Peter is about to be tried on the outside. Up walks a harmless servant girl. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she says. But Peter lies. Peter denies. He says, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He makes a quick exit from that area and heads out to the entryway to the courtyard, probably doing all that he can to conceal his identity. But he’s spotted by another girl who points him out to the others and says, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.” Again Peter denies, this time with an oath: “I swear to you, I don’t know the man!” And you know the rest of the story. He does it a third time, the rooster crows, and the big bold fisherman goes out and cries like a baby.
Now I want you to put yourself in Peter’s place for a moment here. Can you imagine how he must have felt when Jesus was rejected by the multitudes the next day, beaten beyond recognition, scourged by the Roman soldiers, crowned with thorns, nailed to the cross, and mocked by all who passed by? Can you imagine the incredible guilt Peter must have felt? Can you imagine the overwhelming sense of failure that must have consumed him and the unbearable regret that must have tormented him as he felt in his mind anyway that he would never have the opportunity to apologize to Jesus or make up to him the horrible things he had done?
Maybe it’s not so tough to imagine how Peter felt because there have probably been times when you’ve felt the same way as you realized that you too have miserably failed your Lord, having done things you knew you shouldn’t have done or having failed to do things you knew you should have done. But in the midst of all those failures, guess who shows up? Jesus! He did for Peter. A few weeks after his resurrection Jesus appears to Peter and 6 other disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and prepares breakfast for them. Then after that meal he takes Peter aside and through a series of painstaking questions, Jesus forgives Peter and reinstates him as a disciple.
And he does the same for you, my friends. He’s the one who shows up in the midst of our failures, not to condemn us, not to crush us, not to curse us, but to save us. Now if we resist his offer of grace, if we think we know better than he does and continue to choose our way over his, then yes, we may very well find ourselves on the receiving end of his corrective discipline. But if we repent of our failures, if we receive the grace and mercy that he offers us, then the slate is wiped clean and our failures are tossed into the sea of his everlasting forgetfulness.
So my friends, this is the message that I want you to take home with you this Easter morning: Jesus is not only alive, he’s not only risen from the dead, but he’s the One who shows up. In fact, this is one thing that sets Christianity apart from all other religions in the world. Mohammed doesn’t show up. Buddha doesn’t show up. Confucius doesn’t show up. And the reason these founders of other world religions don’t show up is because they had no Easter miracle. Their corpses are still in their tombs. But Jesus is alive and because he is alive, we have his word and promise that we will one day share in his resurrection victory and enjoy an eternity in his glorious and perfect presence in glorious and perfect resurrected bodies. But until then, we can be sure that he will always be there for us no matter what we have to face in life, that he will always show up in our sorrows, in our doubts, in our failures. No wonder our Easter celebrations are filled with such unspeakable joy! No wonder this day of the year is unlike any other day of the year! No wonder we’re able to sing with such confidence and conviction the words of that great Easter hymn: “Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know he holds the future. And life is worth the living just because he lives.” Amen.