Mary Magdalene at the Empty Tomb
Fortifying the Foundation # 44
John 20:1-18[1]
8-22-04
In 1588 the Spanish Armada was defeated by a change in weather and a much weaker English navy.[2] That one event profoundly affected the future of America. On June 6, 1944 the Allied forces under the command of Dwight D. Eisenhower invaded Normandy. The weather was good and the invasion was a success.[3] That success on D-Day led to the defeat of Hitler. Can you imagine how different our lives would be had Hitler won World War II? On August 6, 1945 the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan and shortly after that they surrendered to the Allied forces. Some of you may not know that Japan was working on an atomic bomb as well.[4] What if they had developed it first? I am intrigued by the way history can turn on a single event—an unexpected weather development—an upset on the battlefield. All of the incidents that I have mentioned were highly consequential in their impact upon world history.
But this morning we come to the greatest event in human history. Two thousand years ago a battle was won that affected heaven and earth forever. Something happened just outside the city of Jerusalem that determined the future of the world and the destiny of mankind. When Jesus rose from the dead the way of salvation was opened for all mankind who would receive it[5], a new order of creation was launched[6], and the archenemy of the eternal Godhead was utterly defeated.[7] The resurrection of Jesus is the greatest event in human history.[8]
With that in mind I ask you who (besides Jesus) is the central figure in our text this morning? It is not Caesar or Pontius Pilate. It is not Caiaphas, the high priest. It is not Mary the mother of Jesus or even the apostle Peter. The central figure in our resurrection story this morning is a woman named Mary Magdalene. John’s account of the greatest event in human history here in our text revolves around Mary Magdalene.
We know very little about her. She was from the village of Magdala in Galilee.[9] She had serious problems before she met Jesus. In fact Luke tells us Jesus had cast 7 demons out of her.[10] Could you conceive of any more unlikely heroin than this Mary Magdalene?
As we examine her experience here in our text consider with me
1st Her Discovery of the Empty Tomb.
It was still dark that Sunday morning when Mary headed for the tomb of Jesus. There were other women with her[11] but Mary Magdalene was leading the way. I doubt any of them had slept much the night before. They had obeyed the commandment and had rested on the Sabbath.[12] That had to have been the worst Sabbath those poor women had ever experienced.
Just prior to the Sabbath, which began Friday at sunset, they had watched Joseph of Armathaea and Nicodemus lay Jesus’ body in the tomb and roll the great stone over its entrance.[13] In their overwhelming grief they wanted to do something to express their love for Jesus. So they prepared spices and had brought them to the tomb to anoint his body. But when Mary got there she was shocked to discover that the stone had been removed[14]. Perhaps without even looking into the tomb she concluded that Jesus’ body had been stolen. and reacted immediately. Mary reacted immediately and ran to tell Peter and John what had happened.
When she got to John’s house[15] she was probably out of breath and in one quick sentence exclaimed, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don’t know where they have put him.” Everybody was operating on pure emotion. Peter and John did not say, “Now, Mary, calm down. Tell us exactly what you saw.” They reacted just as she had reacted. They immediately began running to the tomb. John, the younger one, outran Peter and got there first. As he stood at the entrance gazing into the tomb, Peter ran right past him to the place where Jesus’ body had been laid.[16]
They had both taken Mary’s report at face value. She had assumed that the body of Jesus had been stolen. They ran with that assumption. But when Peter and John got inside the tomb they saw something they were not expecting to see. They way the grave clothes were arranged clearly dispelled any idea this was the work of grave robbers. The clothes were lying there in an orderly fashion. A grave robber would not have even removed the grave clothes let alone taken time to lay them out like this. It is likely that the strips were not unwrapped but had simply collapsed when Christ’s resurrected body passed through them. That certainly would have been convincing proof that Jesus had been resurrected. The exact condition of the grave clothes is not completely clear. But Peter and John knew this was not the messy work of grave robbers. When they saw those grave clothes lying there in that manner they knew Jesus had risen from the dead.[17]
John even tells us in verse 8 that when he saw this he believed. Even though he and Peter did not understand from the scriptures that Jesus had to rise from the dead, their experience told them that it had happened.[18] The beginning point of faith is not always the Bible. It can begin that way and certainly that revelation is the more sure word of prophecy that we rely upon. But sometimes people experience God and then later understand that experience in the light of scripture. The day I received Christ I had almost no theological knowledge. The gospel had been preached but I couldn’t tell you one word that preacher said. I vividly remember the conviction of sin and the voice of the Holy Spirit in my soul calling me to Christ. I vividly remember the struggle I experienced while making a decision to come to the Lord. I remember well that moment I surrendered my life to Christ and His Spirit bore witness with my spirit that I had become His child.[19] Today I understand the scriptural basis of what was happening. But at the time I was simply responding to what God was showing me in my experience.
I’m saying all that to say this. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead you into truth however He chooses to do it. He will never lead you into anything contrary to Scripture. But He does not always begin with an intellectual understanding of Bible verses.[20] What is God trying to show you right now in your life? Are you open to Him bringing you beyond your current level of understanding? Do you want to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? “...when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.”(John 16:13a). Many Christians stop learning; stop growing, because they somehow conclude that they already have it all. They are not receptive to the fresh experience God has for them. They have all their knowledge of God solidified in a creed and are just hoping others can come up to their level of understanding. That kind of thinking leads to complacency and lethargy. God has more for you—much more. In fact, we will be discovering the everlasting, infinite God throughout eternity.
Look with me for a moment at the assumption Mary made in this situation. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don’t know where they have put him.” That was a reasonable assumption but it was contrary to what Jesus had told her and the other disciples. Jesus had taught them that as Messiah he would suffer and die and rise from the grave.[21] Why did the enemies of Christ remember that[22] and his followers forget it? It was so contrary to their preconceived ideas that it really didn’t soak in. The Jews had an understanding about the resurrection in the last days. But that was this far off event as far as they were concerned.[23]
Here was Mary in deep sorrow over the death of Jesus. She saw everything through the lens of what she had just been through at Calvary. She was not expecting good news. She was expecting more bad news. Have you ever been in that state of mind? We tend to get that way if enough things go wrong. For Mary nothing had been going right. The person she cared about more than anything or anyone else had just been brutally murdered and there was not one thing she could do about it. Can you imagine how you would feel if you had to stand and watch your child be brutally murdered and there was nothing you could do about it? She felt like Jesus was a victim. She also felt like she was a victim. And in that victim mentality here is just one more thing to break her heart. It wasn’t much but surely they could allow her the comfort of caring for his dead body—after all that had happened surely they could at least let him lie in peace with the honor of a decent burial.
Now here is what we must see from Mary’s experience. Our assumptions may be as logical as Aristotle. They may be consistent with what has been happening to us and we can see no good reason to expect anything different. But even with all that they can be totally wrong. The Bible says in Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Are you trusting the Lord with all your heart or are you leaning upon your own understanding? I’ve got a couple of things going on in my life right now that require faith. When I look at it and analyze it I get very discouraged. But when I remember that God is big enough to handle it—that He is my Shepherd and I shall not want—when I make a conscience decision to trust instead of fretting and worrying, then I have peace and then I can see things in a better light.
I recently read this story, it was told by “Dear Abby” in a response to someone’s question. A young man from a wealthy family was about to graduate from high school. It was the custom in that affluent neighborhood for the parents to give the graduate an automobile. "Bill’ and his father had spent months looking at cars, and the week before graduation, they found the perfect car. On the eve of his graduation, his father handed him a gift wrapped Bible. Bill was so angry that he threw the Bible down and stormed out of the house. He and his father never saw each other again. It was the news of his father’s death that brought Bill home again. As he sat one night going through his father’s possessions that he was to inherit, he come across the Bible his father had given him. He brushed away the dust and opened it to find a cashier’s check, dated the day of his graduation - in the exact amount of the car they had chosen together.[24] That young man was robbed by a false assumption.
There is Mary thinking the worst, assuming the worst, when the plans God has for her are altogether wonderful. In reality she is about to have the experience of a lifetime. In reality the absence of Jesus body in that grave is the most glorious thing that could ever happen. If the body had still been there, that would have been cause for sorrow. That would have meant that all her hopes and dreams were over for sure. Aren’t you glad God didn’t give Mary what she was insisting on? Aren’t you glad God gave her a resurrected Christ and not a dead body?
Could it just be that in your darkest hour, in my darkest hour, the light is about to break forth like never before! “Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.” ( Ps 30:5 NKJV) Mary is in for the time of her life.
II. Her Devotion to the Crucified Christ is about to pay off.
Peter and John see that Jesus body has not been stolen. They realize something awesome has happened. But what do they do. They return home. Verse 11 “but Mary stood outside the tomb crying.” I know that Peter and John loved the Lord. But Mary desired his presence so desperately that she could not bear to leave the last place she saw him. She had come there to see Jesus and she would not leave without see him. We can fault her for her wrong assumptions. But we can see no fault in her passionate devotion to the Lord.
There are people like Mary in this congregation. Sorrow and disappointment will not deter you. You come to the prayer meetings and will hardly leave because you long for Christ. You will not be satisfied without him. You have counted the cost and decided to follow Jesus with all that is in you. Like Mary you may have made some mistakes, some wrong assumptions, along the way. You may have run and told other disciples the wrong thing like Mary did when she said to Peter and John “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him.” There she was sincere but wrong.
Peter and John have left. She stands there alone outside the tomb filled with grief. Her weeping is not gentle tears streaming down her cheeks. She is sobbing with deep sorrow.[25] Watch her as she stoops down and looks into the tomb. There sitting[26] where the body of Jesus had been are two angels—one where his head had been and the other where his feet had been.[27]
Why had not Peter and John seen those angels? They were in too big of a hurry to get back. Their devotion to Jesus had not held them to the place where he had lain. Those angels had been there all along[28] but were invisible to Peter and John.
Because of their lack of devotion—they missed something. When we pull back from the Lord it is not always some whale like Jonah encountered that is the judgment we experience. Most often it is what might have been. It is what we might have experienced in God but gave up too quickly. “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you.” Sometimes we ask and simply fail to follow through. Before his ascension Jesus appeared to five hundred believers on one occasion (1 Cor. 15:6). His instruction was to wait in Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. But on the Day of Pentecost we don’t see five hundred. We see a hundred and twenty. Three hundred and eighty missed out on something big that day.
But here is Mary persistent in her search for Jesus. And she is the one who sees the angels and even sees the risen Christ.[29] When the angels ask her why she is weeping she is like a broken record. “They have taken my Lord “(very personal—my Lord) “and I don’t know where they have put him.” Suddenly the Lord is standing there behind her. “Woman,” he says, “why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”
Something absolutely wonderful is about to happen! Here comes another assumption. Who would be there that early in the morning besides the gardener?[30] She just assumes this is the grounds keeper. She tells him the same thing she has just told the angels. Wrong assumption but her commitment is unfailing. She is even willing to retrieve Christ’s body alone if necessary. “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him and I will get him.”
Her persistent search, her unfailing devotion is about to pay off. Now we will see
III. Her Delight in the risen Lord.
Jesus says only one word to her, “Mary.” The voice is unmistakable. No one ever said her name with such tenderness and affection as Jesus did. She instantly knows it is him and answers “Rabboni” (my dear Master[31]). We know from the construction of the Greek in the next sentence that she probably grasped him at that moment. Jesus tells her to not cling to him or more correctly don’t keep holding on me. (The present imperative with a negative normally means stop doing something you have already started doing).[32] Don’t keep holding on to me in this way—because I am ascending to the Father.
Mary was still making her assumptions. She was probably assuming that Jesus had risen to resume life as it had been, much like Lazarus had done.[33] But Jesus is helping her to understand that his resurrection means that we will be returning to the Father and she will need to relate to him on those terms.[34]
In John 12:26 Jesus said, “My Father will honor the one who serves me.” Mary is about to receive an honor from above beyond her wildest dreams. She has been the last one to leave the crucifixion. She has been the first one to the grave on Easter morning. She is now the first one to see the resurrected Christ. And she is the first person to be commissioned to preach his resurrection. Verse 17 “Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Here is a woman preacher with ordination papers out of this world. “Go...and tell them...”
And so she did. “Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: ‘I have seen the Lord!’” She is preaching out of personal experience. She is preaching under the commission of Christ himself. That is where real spiritual authority comes from. It comes from a personal encounter with Christ. It comes out of intimacy with him. It comes when he says, “Go...and tell them...”
What an awesome moment that must have been when she heard Jesus speak her name, “Mary”. What a flood of emotion must have filled her soul as she transitioned from the depth of grief and sorrow to the height of ecstasy and joy.
I want to leave you with two thoughts. First, if Jesus could turn Mary’s world around in one split second, he can also fix it for you. Keep pressing in. Do not give up. Let your love for the Lord keep you hanging around searching for him. Mary’s persistent devotion permeates this story.
The second thought is this. When you experience his grace it will not just be for you alone. Oh, how it will turn your darkness into light. Just one word from our risen Lord can change everything for us. But our experience with God is also for the encouragement of others. He spoke her name in a most personal way. But then he added, “Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” You may not see him physically the way Mary did in our text. But have you seen him at work in your life? Have you seen him with the spiritual eye of faith? Has he spoken to your heart? There is power in our message when we can say from personal experience, “I have seen the Lord.” If you have not experienced the risen Christ in your own life, then today is your opportunity to do that. He invites you to open your heart to him and receive his love. But if you have encountered him—if he has spoken your name in loving forgiveness and grace, then your call is to go into all the world and tell the good news: He is risen. He is risen indeed!
Invitation
TEXT: John 20:1-18
20:1Early 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.) 10Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13They 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." 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15"Woman," he said, "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." 16Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher). 17Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, `I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’" 18Mary 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. NIV
Richard Tow
Grace Chapel Foursquare Church
Springfield, MO
www.gracechapelchurch.org
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[1] Text was presented earlier in the service using DVD from Visual Bible International (www.gospelofjohnthefilm.com). Text is provided at the end of this message for easy reference. All quotes are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.
[2] http://www.britainexpress.com/History/tudor/armada.htm accessed 8-20-04
[3] http://search.eb.com/normandy/week2/invasion.html accessed 8-20-04
[4] http://www.vikingphoenix.com/public/JapanIncorporated/1895-1945/jbmbibl.htm accessed 8-20-04
[5] Romans 4:25; 5:18; I Cor. 15
[6] Romans 8:29; Col. 1:15-18; 2 Cor. 5:17
[7] Gen. 3:15; Heb. 2:14; I John 3:8
[8] At the close of The Jesus Film this comment is made. In our early service we concluded the message with a brief video clip from that narrative.
[9] MARY (from International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1996 by Biblesoft)
[10] Luke 8:2 and Mark 16:9
[11] Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:10
[12] F.B. Myer, Gospel of John (Ft. Washinton, PN: Christian Literature Crusade, 1983) p. 360 says they probably slept outside the city gates, which only opened at daybreak. For a reconciliation of John 20:1 and Mark 16:2 See Leon Morris, p. 688.
[13] Matthew 27:59-61
[14] John uses the perfect passive participle of airoo which means “lift up” (John 20:1from Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft & Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament. Copyright (c) 1985 by Broadman Press). See Matt. 28:2 for the supernatural manner in which this took place and where the word for rolled away (apekulisen) is used.
[15] We know that from Calvary John had taken Mary the Mother of Jesus into his home. But Bishop Ryle points how the kind of friend John was to Peter. Where could Peter go after he had denied the Lord? We find him here with John. See Campbell Morgan p. 308.
[16] Both men behave consistent with their character: John is more contemplative which Peter is more impulsive.
[17] Morris (p. 692) (following Westcott’s lead) says that that if the body had simply passed through the material, then the napkin (towel) that had been wrapped around his head would have been lying with the other cloth. However, Pink (p. 263) references Pierson in his argument that Christ had passed out of them without their being un-wrapped. F. B. Myer (p. 362) and G. Campbell Morgan (p.309) both take an unequivocal stand that the body had simply passed through the grave clothes, which then slumped into the vacuum.
[18] Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Vol. II (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1884) p. 634.
[19] Romans 8:16
[20] I John 2:27
[21] Mark 8:31; Luke 9:22; John 2:19-22
[22] Matt. 27:63
[23] Edersheim p. 624
[24] Bob Groves, Sermon entitled“Easter – Celebration of Emptiness” in March 2002 at Faith Alive Ministries in Chesapeake, Virginia available accessed at Sermon Central.
[25] G. Campbell Morgan, The Gospel According to John (Los Angeles: Fleming Revell Co.) p. 311. Also see NT:2799 klaio (Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
[26] According to Pink (p. 272) this is the only place in scripture where we see angels sitting.
[27] Bishop Andrews says “He that sat at the feet was as well content with his place as he that sat at the head.” Pink, p. 273.
[28] Psalm 91:11 (Pink, P. 273)
[29] Author Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John Vol. III ( Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975) p.275, 278-279
[30] Morris, p. 700.
[31] The Greek is didaskalos, the word normally used for teacher. However, the context would lend itself to the possibility that this was a term she affectionately used often in her previous interaction with the Lord.
[32] John 20:17 (from Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft & Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament. Copyright (c) 1985 by Broadman Press)
[33] Morris, p. 702
[34] Campbell, p. 314
