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A New Day John 20:1-18
The Resurrection is an essential part of the Gospel message and a key
doctrine in the Christian faith. It proves that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God and that His atoning work on the cross has been completed and is
effective. The empty cross and the empty tomb are God’s “receipts”
telling us that the debt has been paid. Jesus Christ is not only the
Savior, but He is also the Sanctifier and the Intercessor. One day He
shall return as Judge.
From the very beginning, the enemies of the Lord tried to deny the
historic fact of the Resurrection. The Jewish leaders claimed that the
Lord’s body had been stolen from the tomb. And we looked last week at
how absurd that statement was and still is.
The glorious truth of the Resurrection was not understood immediately by
even His closest followers. It gradually dawned on these grieving people
that their Master was not dead, but alive! And what a difference it made
when the full realization of His resurrection took hold of them! For
Mary Magdalene it meant moving from tears to joy; for the ten disciples
it meant going from fear to courage; and for Thomas it meant moving from
doubt to assurance. With Mary, the emphasis is on love; with the ten,
the emphasis is on hope; and with Thomas, the emphasis is on faith.
As we consider Mary Magdalene’s experience that Lord’s Day morning, we
can see three stages in her comprehension of the truth of the
Resurrection. Peter and John are also a part of this experience.
Faith Eclipsed (John 20:1-2)
Mary Magdalene and several other women agreed to go to the tomb early on
the first day of the week, so that they might show their love for Christ
in completing the burial preparations. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus
had been forced by circumstances to prepare His body hastily, and the
women wanted to finish the task. Their great concern was how to get into
the tomb. Perhaps the Roman soldiers would take pity on them and give
them a hand.
What they did not know was that an earthquake had occurred and the stone
had been rolled back by an angel! It seems that Mary Magdalene went
ahead of the other women and got to the tomb first. When she saw the
stone rolled away from the door of the tomb, she concluded that somebody
had broken into the tomb and stolen the body of her Lord. We may
criticize Mary for jumping to conclusions; but when you consider the
circumstances, it is difficult to see how she would have reached any
other conclusion. It was still dark, she was alone, and, like the other
followers of Jesus, she did not believe that He would return from the
dead.
She ran to give the news to Peter and John, who must have been living
together at a place known to the other believers. Perhaps it was the
Upper Room where they had met with Jesus. Mary’s use of the pronoun “we”
is interesting, for it included the other women who at that moment were
discovering that Jesus was alive! The women left the tomb and carried
the angels’ message to the other disciples.
It is significant that the first witnesses of the resurrection of Christ
were believing women. Among the Jews in that day, the testimony of women
was not held in high regard. “It is better that the words of the Law be
burned,” said the rabbis, “than be delivered to a woman.” But these
Christian women had a greater message than that of the Law, for they
knew that their Savior was alive.
Mary’s faith was not extinguished; it was only eclipsed. The light was
still there, but it was covered. Peter and John were in the same
spiritual condition, but soon all three of them would move out of the
shadows and into the light.
Faith Dawning (John 20:3-10)
John 20:3 suggests that Peter started off first to run to the tomb, but
John 20:4 reports that John got there first. Perhaps John was a younger
man in better physical condition, or perhaps John was just a better
runner.
When John arrived at the tomb, he cautiously remained outside and looked
in. Perhaps he wanted Peter to be with him when he went into the burial
chamber. What did John see? The grave clothes lying on the stone shelf
without any evidence of violence or crime. But the grave clothes were
empty! They lay there like an empty cocoon, still retaining the shape of
Jesus’ body.
Peter arrived and impulsively went into the tomb, just as we would
expect him to do. He also saw the linen clothes lying there empty and
the cloth for the head carefully rolled and lying by itself. Grave
robbers do not carefully unwrap the corpse and then leave the grave
clothes neatly behind. In fact, with the presence of the spices in the
folds of the clothes, it would be almost impossible to unwrap a corpse
without damaging the wrappings. The only way those linen clothes could
be left in that condition would be if Jesus passed through them as He
arose from the dead.
John then entered the tomb and looked at the evidence. “He saw, and
believed.” When John wrote this account, he used three different Greek
words for seeing.
In John 20:5, the verb simply means “to glance in, to look in.”
In John 20:6, the word means “to look carefully, to observe.”
The word “saw” in John 20:8 means “to perceive with intelligent
comprehension.” Their Resurrection faith was now dawning!
It seems incredible that the followers of Jesus did not expect Him to
come out of the tomb alive. After all, He had told them many times that
He would be raised from the dead. Early in His ministry He had said,
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. After His
resurrection, the disciples remembered that He had said this; however,
His enemies remembered it too.
He compared Himself to Jonah, and on two occasions clearly announced His
resurrection after three days. On Thursday of His last week of ministry
He again promised to be raised up and meet them in Galilee.
What kind of faith did Peter and John have at that stage in their
spiritual experience?
They had faith based on evidence. They could see the grave clothes; they
knew that the body of Jesus was not there. However, as good as evidence
is to convince the mind, it can never change the life.
Those of us who live centuries later cannot examine the evidence, for
the material evidence (the tomb, the grave clothes) is no longer there
for us to inspect. But we have the record in the Word of God and that
record is true. In fact, it is faith in the Word that the Lord really
wanted to cultivate in His disciples. Peter made it clear that the Word
of God, not personal experiences, should be the basis for our faith.
The disciples had only the Old Testament Scriptures, so that is what is
referred to in John 20:9. The early church used the Old Testament to
prove to both Jews and Gentiles that Jesus is the Christ, that He died
for sinners, and that He arose again. The Gospel includes “and that He
arose again the third day according to the Scriptures”. What Scriptures?
Paul saw the Resurrection in Psalm 2:7 (Acts 13:33).
Peter saw it in Psalm 16:8-11 (Acts 2:23-36).
Peter also referred to Psalm 110:1 (Acts 2:34-35).
After His resurrection, our Lord did not reveal Himself to everyone, but
only to selected witnesses who would share the good news with others.
This witness is now found in Scripture, the New Testament; and both the
Old Testament and the New Testament agree in their witness. The Law, the
Psalms, the Prophets, and the Apostles together bear witness that Jesus
Christ is alive!
Peter and John saw the evidence and believed. Later, the Holy Spirit
confirmed their faith through the Old Testament Scriptures. That
evening, they would meet the Master personally! Faith that was eclipsed
has now started to dawn, and the light will get brighter.
Faith Shining (John 20:11-18)
When I think of Mary Magdalene lingering alone in the garden, I recall
Proverbs 8:17—“I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early
shall find Me.”
Mary loved her Lord and came early to the garden to express that love.
Peter and John had gone home by the time Mary got back to the tomb, so
they did not convey to her what conclusion they had reached from the
evidence they had examined. Mary still thought that Jesus was dead.
Another verse comes to mind—Psalm 30:5, “Weeping may endure for a night,
but joy cometh in the morning.”
Mary’s weeping was the loud lamentation so characteristic of Jewish
people when they express their sorrow. There is certainly nothing wrong
with sincere sorrow, because God made us to shed tears; and weeping is
good therapy for broken hearts. The sorrow of the Christian, however,
must be different from the hopeless sorrow of the world, because we have
been born again “unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead”. We weep—not because our believing loved ones have gone
to heaven—but because they have left us and we miss them.
When Mary looked into the sepulcher, she saw two men in white. Their
position at either end of the shelf where the body had been lying makes
us think of the cherubim on the mercy seat. It is as though God is
saying, “There is now a new mercy seat! My Son has paid the price for
sin, and the way is open into the presence of God!” Mary apparently was
not disturbed at seeing these men, and there is no evidence that she
knew they were angels. The brief conversation neither dried her tears
nor quieted her mind. She was determined to find the body of Jesus.
Why did Mary turn back and not continue her conversation with the two
strangers? Did she hear a sound behind her? Or did the angels stand and
recognize the presence of their Lord? Perhaps both of these speculations
are true or neither is true. She was certain that the Lord’s body was
not in the tomb, so why linger there any longer?
Why did she not recognize the One for whom she was so earnestly
searching? Jesus may have deliberately concealed Himself from her, as He
would later do when He walked with the Emmaus disciples. It was still
early and perhaps dark in that part of the garden. Her eyes were
probably blinded by her tears as well.
Jesus asked her the same question that the angels had asked, “Why are
you weeping?” How tragic that she was weeping when she could have been
praising, had she realized that her Lord was alive!
Then He added, “Whom are you seeking?” It is encouraging to us to know
that “Jesus knows all about our sorrows.” The Savior knew that Mary’s
heart was broken and that her mind was confused. He did not rebuke her;
tenderly, He revealed Himself to her.
All He had to do was to speak her name, and Mary immediately recognized
Him. His sheep hear [recognize] His voice and He calls them by name.
Apparently Mary had turned away from Jesus, for when He spoke her name,
she had to turn back to look at Him again. What a blessed surprise it
was to see the face of her beloved Master!
All she could say was, “Rabboni—my Master, my Teacher.” The title
Rabboni is used in only one other place in the Gospels, Mark 10:51.
“Rabbi” and “Rabboni” were equivalent terms of respect. In later years,
the Jews recognized three levels of teachers: rab (the lowest), rabbi,
and Rabboni (the highest).
Mary not only spoke to Him, but she grasped His feet and held on to Him.
This was a natural gesture: now that she had found Him, she did not want
to lose Him. She and the other believers still had a great deal to learn
about His new state of glory; they still wanted to relate to Him as they
had done during the years of His ministry before the cross.
Jesus permitted the other women to hold His feet, and He did not forbid
them. Why did He say to Mary, “Do not cling to Me”?
One reason was that she would see Him again because He had not yet
ascended to the Father. He remained on earth for forty days after His
resurrection and often appeared to the believers to teach them spiritual
truth. Mary had no need to panic; this was not her last and final
meeting with the Lord.
A second reason is that she had a job to do—to go tell His brethren that
He was alive and would ascend to the Father. He had called His own
servants and friends, but now He called them brethren. This meant that
they shared His resurrection power and glory.
It would have been selfish and disobedient for Mary to have clung to
Jesus and kept Him to herself. She arose and went to where the disciples
were gathered and gave them the good news that she had seen Jesus alive.
“I have seen the Lord!”
Mark reports that these believers were mourning and weeping—and that
they would not believe her! Mary herself had been weeping, and Jesus had
turned her sorrow into joy. If they had believed, their sorrow would
also have turned to joy. Unbelief has a terribly deadening effect on a
person.
Mary not only shared the fact of His resurrection and that she had seen
Him personally, but she also reported the words that He had spoken to
her. Again, we see the importance of the Word of God. Mary could not
transfer her experience over to them, but she could share the Word; and
it is the Word that generates faith. The living Christ shared His living
Word.
It is good to have faith that is based on solid evidence, but the
evidence should lead us to the Word, and the Word should lead us to the
Savior.
It is one thing to accept a doctrine and defend it; it is something else
to have a personal relationship to the living Lord. Peter and John
believed that Jesus was alive, but it was not until that evening that
they met the risen Christ in person along with the other disciples.
Evidence that does not lead to experience is nothing but dead dogma. The
key is faith in the Word of God.
Dr. Robert W. Dale, one of Great Britain’s leading theologians, was one
day preparing an Easter sermon when a realization of the risen Lord
struck him with new power.
“Christ is alive!” he said to himself. “Alive—alive—alive!” He paused,
and then said, “Can that really be true? Living as really as I myself
am?”
He got up from his desk and began to walk about the study, repeating,
“Christ is living! Christ is living!”
Dr. Dale had known and believed this doctrine for years, but the reality
of it overwhelmed him that day. From that time on, “the living Christ”
was the theme of his preaching, and he had his congregation sing an
resurrection hymn every Sunday morning. “I want my people to get hold of
the glorious fact that Christ is alive, and to rejoice over it; and
Sunday, you know, is the day on which Christ left the dead.”
Historical faith says, “Christ lives!”
Saving faith says, “Christ lives in me!”
Do you have saving faith?
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