Easter Message Scripture passages: Acts 10:34-43 Colossians 3:1-4
A WOMAN’S REPORT John 20:1-18
Acts 10:
34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. 36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Now Peter, speaking to Cornelius and a Gentile crowd, preaches that God is no respecter of persons…that Jesus is Lord of all, the judge of both the living and the dead. He is a witness to the bodily resurrection of Jesus because he not only saw him, but ate with him and heard him speak.
Colossians 3:
1. Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Here Paul is saying that the way a believer participates in Christ’s death is that we become dead to the things of this world and because of his resurrection we become more alive to the eternal things in the world to come.
We are not trying to live a Christian life by discipline, but by faith in the finished work of Christ on our behalf. We know that Christ living in us is the hope of glory. This all happens because our new relationship to the living Christ has resulted in a transformation in us that is similar to a resurrection from death to life.
Not that we are so “heavenly minded” we are no earthly good, in fact, quite the opposite. We live in the “nasty now and now” so that others see a glimpse of what life will be like in the “sweet by and by”: caring for individuals as Christ did, alleviating suffering, being socially responsible, mending broken relationships and pointing the way to God.
Now in our focal passage we look at what happened on that first Easter morning:
(John 20:1-18)
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
In Matthew and Luke’s version we are told that Mary came to the tomb with some other women, so now she says “we” can’t find him, mentioning additional witnesses to the fact that his body is indeed not there in the tomb.
3 So Peter and the other disciple (who was John himself) started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, (John) who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.
This bit of information about the condition of the grave clothes is given to help us understand that what they saw was not a scene of grave robbery in which case more than likely the body would have been snatched up still wrapped in the grave clothes or with at least some sign of disturbance in which the face napkin would have been probably dropped on the ground rather than neatly folded up. But instead, this confirmed instantly that there had indeed been a resurrection.
Jesus’ material body substance had changed into a super-natural body and simply rose up through the grave clothes. Then He simply folded his face napkin and walked out of the tomb. (Remember, the stone was rolled away so that they could go in and see that he was no longer there. It didn’t prevent Jesus from passing through it the same way he appeared later that day in the upper room where the disciples were huddled behind locked doors).
Compare this to when Lazarus came back from the dead. He was still wrapped in grave clothes because in his situation it was a resuscitation in which life came back into his mortal body. He had no power to even unwrap himself. He would still get sick again and grow old and die. He would not get his super-natural body until the same time we all do when Jesus returns and we are all resurrected.
Then our passage says in verse 9
(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
Some things can only be understood from the scriptures in hindsight.
Now the Old Testament passages about him took on new meaning.
Such as in Psalm 16:10 where it says, “You will not let your Holy one see corruption.” This meant Jesus’ body would not stay dead and decay.
They had been on an emotional rollercoaster since he was arrested and taken from them. They thought all was lost, but now they had hope again.
Amazingly the next verse says:
10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
Were they just in a state of shock and didn’t know what else to do?
Did they think the high priests would come looking for them now?
Probably both of these might explain it.
They needed time to process it all.
11 But Mary stood outside the tomb crying. (She just wanted to stick around where she saw him last)
As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
Notice that what Mary saw now was different from what Peter and John had seen. The angels hadn’t been there when they looked inside.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
A lot of people try to make a big deal out of the fact that Mary didn’t recognize Jesus now at first. But two arguments come to my mind. One is that our expectations cloud our interpretations of an incident.
Mary was looking for a dead body, not the living Christ so she didn’t pay any attention to the fact that a man was standing beside her now.
She just sort of looked around like yeah, maybe you are curious too but I just want to know who came and got him.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
See? She is lost in her own thoughts here and has already made up her mind that someone took him away and all she wants to do is find him.
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
Now you see that it says she turned again. This time she didn’t just glance at this man beside her, she turned and looked him straight in the face and she didn’t have any trouble recognizing him at all.
She cried out , “Teacher!” (It’s really you, it’s really you)…and she grabbed him for dear life!
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.”
Mary had lost him once and she certainly didn’t plan on letting him get away from her again. She must have had a real wrestler’s grip on him.
But he told her not to cling to him now because this would not be his permanent return. She would have to let him go. He was going to ascend to the Father and he would be sending the Holy Spirit to be with her (and with us) to comfort us and teach us until his second coming to set up the kingdom.
“Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Somehow she obeyed and tore herself away and ran to tell the rest of the disciples he was not dead, but alive.
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news:
“I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Wow! Don’t you know now they wished they had stuck around, too?
What an eyewitness report she had to share!
So I ask you today, do you know Christ as just a historical man who lived in Palestine 2000 years ago and did some impressive teaching and healing?
Have you just half-heartedly looked at him as though he were just another man…like the gardener?
Or do you recognize the LIVING CHRIST whose bones are not in a tomb anywhere?
He knows you by name and died in your place and rose again and calls you to hear him and believe in him today.
Peter had denied him. Mary had been a scarlet woman going from man to man. Jesus died for their sins and ours and rose again to clear the way to the Father. All is forgiven.
If you know and believe Him, then you must not stay here and absorb it all, but go out there with the good news, “Jesus is alive” and share it!
