I Have Seen The Lord!

1 Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 2 She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

3 Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. 4 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. 8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— 9 for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. 10 Then they went home. 11 Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. 12 She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.

“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

14 She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. 15 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?” She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”16 “Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”). 17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”18 Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.

This is the narrative of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This was such a radical event in human history that it turned the world upside down. What makes it so radical? Because it can completely change the way we view life and death today. If we are honest, I believe all of us think about death from time to time and some here may think that this life is all there is and that death is the end of the road. Some think there must be something more than this life, an afterlife but that we can’t be sure. But the physical, literal resurrection of Jesus is a testimony that the power of death has been conquered, that the promise of eternal life in heaven is a reality, and is available for anyone who places their faith in Him.

We can see a lot of things happening in this resurrection passage in John 20 but there are some things that John wants us to consider:

The Empty Tomb

The Empty Grave Clothes

The Risen Savior

Let’s look at the:

The Empty Tomb

When Jesus died at sunset on Friday, He was:

? quickly taken down from the cross

? Hastily anointed with burial spices

? wrapped in a linen garment and

? placed in the tomb owned by a rich Jew named Joseph of Arimathea.

This historical event is quite consistent with how the Jews treated their own in such circumstances. The four Gospels recorded that on Sunday morning, the 3rd day after Jesus’ crucifixion, Mary Magdalene along with other women were the first ones to come to the tomb because they were planning on properly preparing Jesus' body for burial. For some reason the gospel of John focuses on Mary Magdalene, who as some of you may know had a pretty dark past. But that had all changed when she met Jesus who had set her free from her old life.

Just before the women arrived at dawn they were talking about who was going to help them roll away the 2-3,000 lb stone from Jesus’ tomb (Mark 16:3). There had been an earthquake (Matt 28:2) and those that were guarding the tomb woke up, saw the angel at the tomb and ran for their lives.

So when the women arrive, what do they see? That the guards were gone and that the stone had been moved away from the tomb. Can you imagine how everyone’s minds are spinning, trying to take in the totally unexpected circumstances? Mary’s first thought is that someone must have stolen the body and so leaves the other women and runs to tell Peter and John what they saw. What we know from the other gospels is that while Mary is running to find Peter and John, the other women went into the tomb and met the angel who says to them, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen! He isn’t here! Look, this is where they laid the body.” These women were afraid and in shock and didn’t know what to make of all of it.