RACE TO THE EASTER TOMB!
John 20:1-9 - April 11, 2004
JOHN 20:1-9
1Early 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. 2So 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!"
3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
On this Easter Sunday our focus is fine-tuned, isn’t it? You and I gather together realizing that as we come and visit the Easter tomb we find it the same as we have every year--the Easter tomb is empty. It is easy to have a fine-tuned focus on a day like today. But what about our fined-tuned focus the rest of the year? What about the week that is yet to come and the rest of the month? Sometimes we forget that fine-tuned focus on the empty tomb. Sometimes we get caught up in all of the things of this life so that this fine-tuned focused joy of Easter is snatched away from us, not completely, but just a bit.
It is this morning that we are reminded of racing to that Easter tomb. Our focus is not just for today, but also for every day and every week of every month of every year. The Lord reminds us in Scripture: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" (HEBREWS 12:1). Christ reminds us to keep our focus on this empty Easter tomb. That is our theme this morning as we RACE TO THE EASTER TOMB, and discover
I. Jesus’ tomb is empty
II. Scripture is fulfilled
I. Jesus’ tomb is empty
We notice in our text this morning how intent the followers of Jesus are. They had been there on Good Friday, just a few hours short of three days and had seen Jesus breathe His last. They were there to take Jesus’ body down from the cross and hastily prepare Him so that He might be placed in the tomb before the Sabbath. Now, it is Easter Sunday. 1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. She couldn’t wait until it was light, but went while it was still dark arriving at the tomb when it became light. Mary was ready to follow Jesus suffering, to see Him die and now to make sure that He was prepared to lie in state in that tomb. So Mary races to that Easter tomb.
What do we find out and discover? Mary went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. In the other Gospel account of Mark that was a concern of the women. As they went to that tomb they wondered who would roll away that large stone that was in front of the tomb. As you may also remember, the enemies of Jesus went to Pilate and said, "We need to make that tomb secure because His followers might come and steal that body out of that grave." So they rolled a heavy stone in front of it, sealed it, and posted a guard. The women were wondering how and who was going to roll away that stone. But as Mary arrives at the tomb the stone had been rolled away. We are also told this fact Luke. The other women came and found the stone was rolled away.
2So Mary came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. We are not given a name here of the other disciple. In the Gospel of John and other portions of Scripture we are told that Jesus loved John. This is John -- the other disciple as he calls himself, the one Jesus loved. John does not refer to himself by his given name. The disciples here are Peter and John. 2So 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!" Mary had come with spices. She had come to prepare that body. It was a shock to her that that Jesus’ body was not there. The tomb was empty. Even though the angel told them what happened, it still was hard for her and the women to comprehend that Jesus had risen. They could only assume that His body was stolen. It wasn’t there so someone must have taken Him.
Jesus’ tomb was empty. Jesus’ followers had expected to find something there. They expected the tomb would be sealed up. They expected the guards to keep them away. The tomb was empty. They had come to the tomb and raced back to Simon Peter and to tell them. 3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. We are told they started out for the tomb of Jesus to see for themselves whether it was empty. They need to know if what the women said was true. 4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. You can almost picture Peter and John running to that tomb. When John got there, 5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. John arrived first, but he was still in shock. He didn’t want to go in, but saw the linen strips lying there. He just scanned them quickly. 6Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. John stayed outside but Peter is going to rush in. He always rushes in. When Simon Peter rushed into the tomb, he saw the strips of linen lying there. He looked at it very closely. Peter went in. He did not stand outside and peered in. Peter examined the fact that the strips of linen were there. There was no body. The tomb was empty. The race to the Easter tomb found something that just didn’t make sense – no dead body -- the tomb of Jesus was empty. For them there was sadness and heartache and more emptiness. That was then.
But today and over the years, Christians have understood and celebrated the focus on Easter that the tomb is empty. For us it does not give us an emptiness or sadness or sorrow, but instead gives us joy and rejoicing. The empty tomb means for us that Christ is arisen and lives so that we also live. We heard Paul in Corinthians, chapter 15 (known as the Resurrection Chapter) in the first eleven verses today state how important it was to understand this resurrection, that it wasn’t something made up, that no one stole this body. Even though the guards tried to spread the rumor that someone had taken the body of Jesus, it was not true. Instead Jesus came back to life to give us life and immortality. Paul reaffirms that vital fact of faith in Corinthians and also in Timothy: "This grace...has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (1 TIMOTHY 1:10). What a powerful statement!
Some today still say that the Gospels made up the story that Jesus came back to life, but we also heard how He appeared to many. We read in the Epistles (New Testament letters) how people later on understood, believed and knew in their hearts that life and immortality were brought to light through the Gospel because of Jesus who was placed in the tomb and rose again. As you and I as believers, Jesus’ empty Easter tomb reminds us of God’s grace to us. For you and I who deserve to be buried forever, who deserve to be punished in hell forever because of our sins, instead are forgiven. We have that same comparison in Romans that our sins are buried and now we are brought back to life. Romans 6 tells us: "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (ROMANS 6:4). Paul states by that same power that raised Jesus from the dead and as we race to the tomb that began on that first Easter Sunday when it was empty, we are raised to live a new life.
Yes, many in this world are going to lose this fine-tuned focus and purpose of Easter Sunday by tomorrow, or maybe by this afternoon. But you and I and believers throughout the world realize that this empty Easter tomb begins to focus our race in this life. This is a fined-tuned focus we need to concentrate on evermore because of the simple fact that the world around us grows ever darker with sin. We race to the Easter tomb and the tomb is empty. No sadness, but joy! As we finish up that resurrection chapter in Corinthians in chapter 15: "When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable (He is referring to us and our perishable bodies), and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "’Death has been swallowed up in victory’" (1 CORINTHIANS 15:54). Today, we know that death has been swallowed up in victory; and no matter when our last day on this earth, our mortality will be clothed with immortality and our perishable with imperishable.
The eternal victory is ours, not waiting for us on the last day, but here today—now. For we race to the Easter tomb and this tomb of Jesus is empty. The reassurance we also have is that Scripture is fulfilled.
II. Scripture is fulfilled
As you read these Gospel accounts, you can almost feel the sadness of the followers of Jesus. You can almost feel the sense of doom and gloom that is upon them. From Good Friday until Easter Sunday they did have much time to mourn and grieve. Jesus’ followers came with only one purpose on that first Easter Sunday--to finish preparing the body to stay there and roll the tomb shut on the dead body of Jesus. Now that it was not there, they could only think of one thing--that a despicable deed and unspeakable crime had been committed. Someone had stolen that body. So the women ran back and told the disciples. The disciples came and see if such a thing could really happen. 6Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. Peter was looking over that tomb quite closely. He saw those strips and no body and he saw the burial cloth that had been placed over Jesus face. But what does he do? The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. But what does he notice? The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Peter begins to think. This wasn’t a grave robbery. Tomb raiders would have taken the body, the linens and everything else with it. They would not stop to leave the linen cloths lying there. Thieves wouldn’t have stopped to fold up the burial cloth from His face and put it aside. The strips of cloth would have been taken or the cloths would have been in a heap, in a pile.
What happens? 8Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. Peter and John begin to understand that the body had not been stolen. Instead, the Christ is alive. He has risen. The exit from the tomb was peaceful. The exit from the tomb was a miracle. The exit from the tomb was an example God’s divine, great power. The exit from the tomb was the fulfillment of all the promises of God. But as a side note, verse 9 tells us: 9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) It still was too close to that death. They were still steeped in sadness. With tears of sorrow, they still did not quite grasp it that Scripture said that all these things were to come to pass. They knew that the body had not been stolen and that it had come back to life, but it was still hard for them to comprehend that full meaning of Scripture.
Today, we have the privilege of looking back over hundreds of years, thousands of years, and understanding how all of Scripture fits together perfectly. It is like a puzzle that gives us the complete picture. Around us of course, there are people who are not going to accept Scripture. Some people attack the fact that maybe Christ did not come back to life; maybe someone did steal His body. This is not strange because we are told the Roman soldiers were told to spread that rumor. Paul said in his day that rumor was still spreading around. In Corinthians when he writes to those believers, he also reminds them that some of them had given up on the fact of Jesus’ resurrection. Paul then added that their faith would be futile.
The resurrection, the empty tomb, if the people paid attention was not to be so shocking. It had been foretold. The people of Israel and the people of New Testament times sang Psalms as part of their worship. Those were their hymns. We find in Psalm 16 the fact that as they sang that Psalm during their worship, they sang about the empty tomb. Psalm 16 tells us: "Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay" (PSALM 16:9,10). Jesus the Savior, put to death on Good Friday, and His body did not see decay. Jesus was brought back to life, out of the tomb, by early Easter Sunday. It was then that Scripture was fulfilled. The prophecy of the Psalm came true. Scripture is fulfilled.
In Isaiah we have already heard a few passages from that prophet. In chapter 53, Isaiah talks about Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross. Isaiah describes the facts that Jesus was to be rejected by men and the fact that our punishment was placed on Him. Toward the end of that chapter, Isaiah writes in verse 11: "After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities" (ISAIAH 53:11). These words were written as prophecy hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth. Scripture is fulfilled. The Lord Jesus came back to life and saw the light of life. By believing in Jesus as the Light of life Christians are given the victory of Jesus’ resurrection. By seeing the Light of life Jesus has covered up our iniquities. We race to the tomb understanding the tomb is empty, because Scripture is fulfilled.
When Adam and Eve first sinned, God said to them that He would promise them a Savior who would crush the head of Satan. Two thousand years later that Savior came. Scripture is fulfilled. Approximately two thousand years after that fulfillment we still celebrate Jesus’ empty tomb today. We focus in this morning on the fact that the tomb is empty. We race to the Easter tomb today. We understand the words of God when He tells us: "We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him" (1 THESSALONIANS 4:14). In our lifetime, by today or tomorrow for some of us, we have to race back to our homes from which we came. By tomorrow we race back to the callings in life into which the Lord has blessed us. Sometimes in that racing around, we forget about the race to the empty tomb. Sometimes that joy is lost. The Lord reminds us as we are racing and running around in this life to also concentrate and think about that race to the empty tomb. We are to constantly remind ourselves that Jesus tomb is empty. It is empty not because anyone stole the body, but because Christ came back to life. We race to the Easter tomb and realize that it is empty, because this is what Scripture told us would happen. Then the joy in our race in this life is that we know that our future is certain, safe and secure because the tomb is empty. We know what joy there is in our lives that we might share it with others.
The Apostle Paul, after he quit putting Christians to death, became the great proclaimer of Christ. (We have been studying that in the Book of Acts where we looked at his life and realized that his life had changed.) We heard it in Corinthians that there was nothing more important in life except to know the resurrection of Christ. There is nothing more important than to share the eternally meaning and joy of the race to the empty tomb as Paul says in Acts: "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace" (ACTS 20:24). You and I are the Apostle Pauls for today. You and I are the Peters and Johns and Marys of yesterday who are to race to the Easter tomb. When we discover when it is empty, our hearts are lifted because Scripture is fulfilled. You and I get to proclaim the Gospel of God’s grace that He who lived in heaven, came and lived here on earth and died and rose again so that we would live with Him forever. Therefore in our daily race in this life remember to race to the Easter tomb – it is empty – Scripture is fulfilled. Amen.
Pastor Timm O. Meyer
