John 20:1-9 – Fools Rush In
Today, as we are continuing our series called He is Risen Indeed, where we have been studying Jesus’ resurrection and what it means to us, we turn our attention to the men of the story. We have studied Jesus’ female disciples, but now we look for inspiration from Jesus’ male disciples. Turn with me to John 20 and we’ll read the 1st 9 verses.
Now, let’s recap what has already happened on that 1st Easter Sunday. The women disciples – Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna, Salome, and more – have come to the tomb to anoint their leader with burial spices. It turns out that the stock, blocking the entrance to the tomb, has been rolled away. The tomb is not empty, though. There are 2 angels in there, telling the women that Jesus has been raised from the dead.
It’s likely that when John’s gospel says that Mary Magdalene discovered the empty tomb, it’s only because John was focusing on Mary Magdalene specifically. After all, she becomes the 1st one to see Jesus. So even though John only mentions her, he does refer to others in v2: “We don’t know where they have put Him.” We, as in, more than just herself.
So, at this point Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, presumably John, both run to the tomb. The distance between where the disciples were camping out in Jerusalem and the tomb that Jesus was buried in, belonging to the religious aristocrat Joseph of Arimathea, was not very far. And John outran Peter to get to the tomb when the women brought back the news of Jesus’ missing body.
Now, I want to focus this morning on the fact that John beat Peter in a footrace, but Peter went in the tomb first. I think there’s something there that we can hang our hats on, something that will spur us on in our faith.
In my study for today, I found different sermons on John outrunning Peter. Sometimes they rang true with me, and sometimes they didn’t quite seem to fit.
For example, I read one sermon that said John outran Peter because John was younger. That much is probably true. John sat at Jesus’ right hand at the Last Supper. That’s a Jewish tradition, that the youngest at the table sits or reclines next to the leader of the Passover meal. Jesus was the leader or course, so it’s likely true that John was the youngest at the table. Youth won the race that day, beating out the apparently older Peter. But you know, that’s not necessarily true. Youth does not always win a footrace. I don’t think a person can say that John won because he was younger.
Someone else wrote that John beat Peter because John had stronger convictions. John believed that Jesus had risen from the dead sooner than Peter, and his simple faith and beliefs had driven him faster than Peter’s legs had carried him. Well, again I say, I don’t buy it. After all, even if John got there 1st, once he was there, he didn’t rush right into the tomb for a better view of the situation. John peeked his head in, but Peter took it full force and went in. No, John’s stronger convictions don’t sit with me either.
And then I read that John got there 1st because he was more confident of Jesus’ love than Peter was. After all, John called himself the disciple that Jesus loved. John was so confident of Jesus’ love for him that it shaped his whole identity. Peter, on the other hand, had stumbled and fallen just 2 days earlier. Perhaps Peter was less confident of Jesus’ forgiveness than John was. That’s why, of course, that the angels singled out Peter to the women messengers, making sure that they let him know especially that Jesus was alive.
This explanation sounds good, but it still doesn’t explain why Peter rushed in before John. To tell you the truth, I don’t think there is a good reason why John beat Peter in a footrace. I don’t think the Bible tells us or even hints why it happened. I don’t think it’s about being younger and faster, or having stronger convictions, or being more confident of Jesus’ love. Frankly, I don’t think there is a point to John beating Peter.
I think the point of this part of the story is that Peter ran into the tomb first. Even though he got there 2nd, he went in 1st. I think that’s what John is trying to get at here. I do not know why John only arrived at the tomb and peeked in. Apparently the entrance to a tomb was smaller than the inside, kind of like an igloo. If that’s true, then picture with me what happened: John arrived at the tomb. The stone had been rolled away, and he approached the entrance. He bent down, looked in, and noticed the tomb was empty. Then Peter arrived, bent down and looked in also. Then he got on his hands and knees and crawled in. John followed him in, and that’s when they saw the grave clothes and so on.
I think what this passage is saying is that Peter had the courage to do great things. John arrived and thought about it, while Peter arrived and acted on it. Yes, John was able to understand and believe what had just happened, that Jesus had risen from the grave, before Peter understood, but that doesn’t mean that what Peter had done was less important. Peter showed a great deal of courage and character by crawling in 1st.
What this means is that Peter had recovered from his failure the other night. From being too afraid to tell the truth to a servant girl to running into the empty tomb first… Peter had picked himself up well. And later in the day, he was the 1st of the male disciples to see the risen Jesus, the only one of the male disciples in fact to get a one-one-one visit. I’m not saying that courage is the only thing that matters. I’m saying that God blessed Peter’s courage.
You’ve heard me say these thoughts quite often lately, but I guess I’m preaching from where I am. You’ve heard me say that God’s plans may not be safe, but they are good. You’ve heard me say that safety is in the destination – that is, heaven – but it’s not in the journey – that is, life on earth. Now, I’m not saying a person should always be on edge; I’m saying that as followers of the almighty, all-powerful, way-making captain of all the armies of heaven, we should be able to step out from time to time and do something that requires a little faith and courage. Eddie Cantor once said, “Why not go out on a limb? That’s where the fruit is.”
Paul wrote to the young pastor Timothy, “God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” Now, he said “timidity”, not stupidity. He didn’t say that a person should have a defiant spirit, or a spirit that scoffs at danger. What he said was, God’s spirit inside believers gives us courage in difficult times. He said that as followers of Jesus, we should be able to step out in courage and be brave when we need to.
I think there is a difference between doing things with what they call a devil-may-care attitude and doing things knowing that God is leading you and guiding you. Maybe they sometimes look the same, but the attitude is different. One is about pushing your limits or playing with fire, and the other is about living life to the full.
The problem is that often other people won’t understand. They’ll think you’re crazy, as plenty of people have told me these past few months. Quitting a decent and rewarding job, applying to go to another school with no guarantee of acceptance or rejection for several months, looking for another job somewhere, living who knows where… do you think that people haven’t thought we’re nuts?
Well, we’ve wondered, for sure, but we have really believed we have been doing what God wanted for us. Nonetheless, when a person decides to step out in faith, and lay his future and security on the line, other people will question it.
But that’s OK. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church: “If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.”
What that means is that sometimes what other people call foolishness, God approves, even applauds, and calls wisdom. It is never foolishness to act on what you believe God telling you to do. That’s what Paul meant when he wrote to the Ephesians: “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” There is a kind of foolishness in the eyes of others, but there is another kind of foolishness in the eyes of God, when you know what God is leading you to do, but you are too afraid to do it.
We look at Peter and we criticize him: his failure to stand up for Jesus, his “act-first-think-later” mentality, his outright bluntness… But yet, there is something that is so endearing to Peter. It was the fact that over and over he got up again. He did not let his failures and his weaknesses hold him back from following Jesus all over again. Even though I’m sure his failure was on his mind, he still had the courage to press on to find Jesus anyway. Peter is a great example for us of perseverance and following Jesus anyway, no matter how many stupid things we’ve done.
So what about you? What do you feel the Lord is leading you to do? What limbs do you feel He is asking you to step out on? What desires beat in your heart that you would do if you were not limited by location or finances or responsibilities? I’m not saying throw all those other things away – I’m saying, perhaps you should pray about those desires and get a sense of where God might be leading you.
I’m saying, as Christians with new hearts, the desires you have deep within probably find their origins in God. The things you really want to do, not the impulses to satisfy yourself for a moment, but the deep, heart-felt longings you have – it’s very likely God put them there, and He wants you to follow them. But the reason they are only longings and not reality could very well be due to lack of courage. You don’t have them because you can’t see yourself changing your life around enough to make them happen.
Well, this takes wisdom, but not what most people call wisdom. For most the bottom line is money, and then convenience, and so on. That’s not heavenly wisdom. In case you haven’t noticed, God isn’t too concerned with costs – He owns the whole world. And He certainly isn’t too concerned with how easy your life is. He wants to make you fully alive, wide awake to what He wants to do with you and through you, but that doesn’t mean convenience, comfort, ease and luxury.
So take some time today to pray. Ask what God wants you to do, no matter how hard it might be. When you get a sense of His direction, follow it, pursue it, hunt it down like prey. Ask Him for the courage to chase His plans for your life.
