Resurrection Confidence - John 20:1-18
Several years ago, I was trying to share the gospel with an atheist friend of mine, and I asked him, do you believe that when you die it’s all over? You just cease to exist? He said, “yes, but I don’t want to.”
That moment has stuck with me over the years because he was reiterating what the Scriptures clearly teach, that God has “put eternity into man’s heart.”
Despite the denials, everyone knows in their heart of hearts that life is eternal. And the resurrection of Jesus Christ proved that to be true. Jesus defeated sin, death and the grave which is the best news of all. We all need to be reminded that life doesn’t end at death. There is even hope in death.
Over the last two months we’ve been walking through John’s passion narrative, everything has been building to the cross.
And last week, Doug reminded us all that Jesus literally, physically died there on the cross.
Have you ever wondered, what if Jesus’ story ended right there? We’d have nothing more than another unjust death. It would certainly be a sad story, but those have happened for all of human history! Unfortunately, tragedies occur all of the time. Our faith would be meaningless wouldn’t it? Paul says that Christians are to be pitied if Christ didn’t rise from the grave.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the backbone of Christianity. The Christian faith is hopeful, optimistic, positive, because Jesus Christ’s body did not remain in a grave. He rose three days later, just as he said.
The fact that Jesus died for your sins is only good news if he rises from the grave. Without the resurrection there is no good news, there is no gospel. All the ancient creeds and confessions of the Christian faith make it a point to emphasize the resurrection.
The Apostles’ Creed says, “the third day he rose again from the dead.” The Nicene Creed says the exact same thing “and the third day he rose again.”
The glorious good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is rooted in his literal bodily resurrection.
Remember Jesus’ hopeful words to Martha after the death of Lazarus?
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
And of course, his resurrection proved that statement to be true.
Your body will die, but your soul will live forever. By the way, that’s true for Christians and non-Christians alike. Every human is eternal.
C.S. Lewis made this point in a way that only he could in The Weight of Glory. He wrote:
“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
Every person will live forever, but the most important question is, where? Where will you spend eternity?
The resurrection of Jesus Christ proves that life doesn’t end at death.
There are three things that I want us to see this morning from this text: First, I want us to see the reality of the resurrection. Second, I want us to see the joy of the resurrection. Lastly, I want all of us to declare the resurrection. The points are the reality, the joy, and declaration of the resurrection.
The Reality of the Resurrection (vv. 1-10)
Throughout the history of the church there have been a variety of theories developed in order to deny the literal, bodily, resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Louis Berkhof in his Systematic Theology mentions a few of these theories: there is the falsehood theory, which is the belief that followers of Christ stole his body. Interestingly enough, this is precisely what the Jews believed. Then there is the swoon theory which states Jesus didn’t really die on the cross - he merely passed out. I’m not exactly sure how he moved the stone but nevertheless, that is a theory that has been promoted over the years.
Then there is the vision theory, which is that those who saw the risen Christ were having visions or hallucinations. But that of course is problematic as well because how do you explain so many different people all having the same vision or hallucination?
Again, people want to find ways to deny the literal, bodily, resurrection of Jesus Christ, because if he rose from the grave, then it validates everything he ever said or did!
And I bring this up because in the first ten verses John emphasizes that Jesus literally, physically, rose from the dead. He wants to press home the reality, the factuality, and the historicity of the resurrection by describing it in minute earthy detail.
Notice a few different things with me about these first ten verses: first, when Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb, she’s clearly confused and shocked. She went there to grieve and anoint his body along with some other ladies as the other gospels report, but they’re stunned to see the stone rolled away and the tomb empty.
In fact, she assumes that someone has stolen Jesus’ body. She almost fell for the falsehood theory… But she tells John and Peter that the tomb is empty!
She can’t seem to make sense of what she's seeing even though Jesus said that he would rise three days later, no one fully understood or remembered that.
And of course John’s point in relaying all of this is that no one expected him to rise from the dead! They should have expected it because Jesus told them about it countless times, but after his crucifixion everyone thought it was all over.
John and Peter run to the tomb when Mary tells them that Jesus’ body had been taken, and of course, John wants us and every believer to remember that he was faster than Peter, but Peter was the bolder of the two - so while John waits outside the tomb, Peter marches right in.
But John’s description of the inside of the empty tomb is so puzzling isn’t it? We’re told, “He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.”
Jesus’ body isn’t in the tomb, but the cloths are. The linen wraps have been removed and the face cloth, was neatly folded up. John really belabors the fact that the tomb was left decently and in order.
But in all seriousness, what are we supposed to do with that information? Okay, Jesus had burial cloths over his body just like everyone else did at this particular time.
If someone snatched his body, why on earth would they have neatly folded everything up? They wouldn’t have worried about any of that - they would have snatched his body and ran out of there!
Additionally, John reiterates the point that no one was expecting the resurrection which is of course why in verses 8-9, “…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.”
They believed in Jesus, but didn’t know or understand that it was absolutely necessary for him to rise from the dead.
And of course John’s point in these first ten verses. Everyone is confused and reacting naturally. No one expected the resurrection which makes his testimony more credible!
Which can only lead to one conclusion: that it actually happened! But the resurrection of Jesus Christ is different.
And I say that because when you reflect upon the Bible generally, you’ll quickly realize that there are several examples of people rising from the dead.
The prophet Elijah raised a widow’s son in 1 Kings 17 by stretching himself over the boy. The prophet Elisha raised the Shunammite’s son in 2 Kings 4:18-37 by having his staff touch the child’s head. Then Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter in Mark 5 by taking her by the hand and called Lazarus out of the tomb in John 11.
So what makes this story any different? Why the fuss about Jesus?
No one stretched themself out over him. No special staff touched his head, no one grabbed him by the hand or called him out of the tomb.
The Father, Son, and Spirit, operating alone miraculously raised Jesus from the grave.
You can’t help but see the distinctions that are made between Jesus and Lazarus. Lazarus came out of the grave still wrapped in linen cloths! Jesus had to instruct those around him to “unbind him.” Jesus unbound himself and neatly folded everything up.
But what’s important for all of us to remember this morning is that it actually happened. Jesus literally, physically rose from the grave.
The resurrection isn’t a myth, metaphor, or allegory. It’s not something that didn’t literally happen that we can learn or glean from. Quite the contrary! It literally happened. It had to happen! And it is glorious, wonderful, joyful news!
The Joy of the Resurrection (vv. 11-16)
I can’t help but think about Psalm 30:5 as I read of Jesus meeting with Mary. Psalm 30:5 which says, “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”
Mary Magdalene was undoubtedly weeping through the night after the crucifixion of Christ. We’re told it was still dark outside when she first arrived at the tomb. She was heartbroken over the death of Jesus. And in her sadness, she goes to his tomb only to discover the stone had been rolled away and his body was gone!
Look at verses 11-13:
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?”
There seems to be some incredible imagery going on here, because if you remember cherubim, which are angelic creatures, were on either side of the ark of the covenant, which was the mercy seat where the presence of God dwelled.
Which of course communicated the idea that the presence of the Lord was with his people, but remained in the tabernacle and upon the mercy seat.
And now consider the image that we have at the resurrection: we have two angels where the presence of Jesus Christ was, however, the resurrected Savior is not localized to one particular place - he has left the tomb in order to visit his people.
They don’t have to come to him, rather, he’s going to go to them. He’s going out to his people.
But of course, Mary isn’t picking up on any of this - she’s just reacting in the moment. She still thinks someone has taken his body. And then she’s so caught up in the moment and in her grief that she doesn’t recognize Jesus. She mistakes him for the gardener.
And Jesus repeats the angels’ question to Mary: “Woman, why are you weeping?”
The implication is of course, that she has nothing to cry about! She has no reason to be sad! It’s been three days since the death of Jesus and she’s being told not to cry, because Jesus isn’t dead, he’s alive.
Mary initially didn’t recognize Jesus until he said something that she did recognize, her name: “Mary.” And she responds with “Rabboni!”
“Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” In the blink of an eye, her grief and sadness turned into joy.
The sadness and pain of Jesus’ death is reversed! No longer is she sad, she’s overjoyed! Jesus isn’t dead, no he’s alive!
And of course every Christian should share in that joy! Why? Because life doesn’t end at death. The Christian shares in Jesus’ glorious resurrection. Do you remember what he told his disciples in John 14:18-19?
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.”
O death where is your string? The resurrection of Christ redeemed the most tragic story of all time. Christ’s life is your life. Christ’s resurrection is your resurrection. Which should be a tremendous source of joy!
The Declaration of the Resurrection (vv. 17-18)
When Mary recognized Jesus she held on to him. You can’t help but think she probably dropped to her knees and held on to him tightly - after all, just a few moments ago, she believed that he was dead, but now, here he is alive. But Jesus tells Mary not to cling to him.
But Jesus tells her that she must let him go, because he hasn’t yet ascended to the Father. He’s going to ascend to the Father, but he will remain with them on earth for forty days.
Notice that Jesus gives Mary a very specific mission: “... go to my brothers [disciples] and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
He will eventually ascend to the Father, but for now he’s going to be with them, but Jesus tells Mary to go and tell everyone that she has met with the resurrected Lord!
One of the rather remarkable aspects of the resurrection account is that women play such a prominent role. Culturally speaking, women’s testimony was not valued in the same way that a man’s testimony would have - which gives more credibility to the whole resurrection account, right?
If you were going to make it up, you certainly would not have written it this way! You would have had the most powerful and credible men tell everyone that they saw the Lord, right? But nevertheless, in God’s holy providence, he chose to have Mary Magdalene among other women be the first to report the resurrection of Christ.
She told the disciples, “I have seen the Lord.”
If you were going to peel back the onion that is the Christian faith and plainly ask, what makes the gospel - good news, what would you say? Reconciliation with God, forgiveness of sins, but again, isn’t the backbone of those glorious doctrinal truths the resurrection?
Without the resurrection how do we know that we are reconciled to God? Without the resurrection how do we know there is forgiveness of sins?
The resurrection is inherently good, isn’t it? And like Mary, we should look for those opportunities to share our resurrected hope!
Confucius is still in the grave. Mohammad is still in the grave. Buddha is still in the grave. But Jesus’ grave is empty.
The other day, I found myself watching a video about a man named Byran Johnson who is obsessed with staying young and living forever. Maybe you’ve heard of this guy, he’s 46 years old, takes 60 pills every morning, and has had blood transfusions from his son under the theory that his son’s young blood will help him stay young too. The stuff that this guy is doing is incredibly creepy and weird.
In one place he said, “I don’t trust anything in reality. Not authority, not my mind, not perception, the only thing I trust is data and numbers, and the only thing I believe is that I don’t want to die.”
No one wants to die, but in the deepest irony, spending your entire life trying to avoid death is no way to live either.
Living your life trying to avoid death strips your life of all meaning. That is a depressing way to live your life, isn’t it? That’s a real tragedy isn’t it? He truly believes that life ends at death, but the resurrection proves that it doesn’t.
And here’s the wonderful truth - if you trust in Jesus and believe that he died for your sins, then death will have no power over you. Life will not end at death.
Because for the Christian the sadness of death is overcome by the joy of being with Christ!
I’m often reminded of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians - he has that long passage where he wrestles with whether it is better to live or to die?
Remember his famous statement in Philippians 1:21? “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” How can he say that death is gain?
Because he’ll be in the presence of the Lord for all eternity. We all know dear believers who have gone before us who, on their deathbed, say things like, “I’m ready to go be with Jesus.”
But notice what Christ’s resurrection does: it takes the very thing we’re all the most afraid of and strips it of its power.
This is the glorious message Christians believe and take to the world! The hope of the gospel is the antidote to the hopelessness of this world.
Again consider the words of Jesus to Martha from John 11?
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
What about you? Do you believe this?
Remember that when the devil is assaulting your mind or when you receive a discouraging medical diagnosis.
You will die, but your life will not end at death, rather eternity in the presence of your risen Lord begins.
