John 20:10-18 – Distractions
Today we are continuing our series called He is Risen Indeed, messages about Jesus rising from the dead and what that means for us some 1976 years later. Today we are in John 20:10-18. We are looking at the 1st appearance Jesus makes after rising from the grave. He appeared to Mary Magdalene, but at first she didn’t quite get it. We are going to look at this story from the angle of things that distract us from really seeing Jesus. Let’s read our passage today.
A magazine called the Christian Science Monitor carried the story of a woman in northern Greece who was traveling on an inter-city bus with her child. Apparently, she was so deep in conversation on her cellphone that when the driver of the bus reached her stop, the woman got off the bus, leaving her 4-month-old son behind. Fortunately, she quickly realized her mistake and hired a taxi to chase the bus back to its terminal, and the baby was still where she had left him 30 minutes before – on the bus’ back seat, crying, but otherwise OK.
You know, we look at this story and we say one of 2 things: “Stupid woman – horrible mother”, or we say, “What? It could happen to anyone.” Well, it’s so easy to find the fault in someone else’s glaring mistakes, but we aren’t so keen on spotting our own mishaps. Yes, this woman was distracted from something that was very important, but we all face the temptation daily to turn our attention from what should matter the most to us.
Let’s look at this story, along with 2 others that sound somewhat familiar too. Mary has been to the tomb already once that morning with the other women, they’ve returned to tell the disciples that the tomb is empty and 2 guys who might have been angels said that Jesus is alive, and now Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John have returned to the tomb. Peter and John left, the other women haven’t trickled back yet, so it’s just Mary at the tomb. She goes into the tomb, 2 angels ask why she’s been crying, and she has trouble believing that Jesus is really alive.
While she’s crying, Jesus appears outside the tomb. She turns around just enough to see Him in her peripheral vision, and just assumes he’s the gardener. Now, Jesus speaks to her, but she doesn’t recognize His voice. I’m about to elaborate on that. Jesus asks why she’s crying, and Mary says this: “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
At that point Jesus speaks her name – Mary – and then she turns obviously all the way around and faces Him. Then she realizes that it is indeed Jesus, alive and very well, and all her disappointments and loss become joy and gain.
So there was a spiritual reason and a physical reason that Mary at first did not recognize Jesus. The spiritual reason was that Jesus hadn’t opened her eyes to see Him, and the physical reason is that she didn’t really turn to look at Him. She was lost in her own sorrows and heartache that she didn’t give her heart fully to seeing Jesus.
Now, the next story that will sound familiar. It’s the story of Jesus appearing to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and it’s found in Luke 24. Two disciples were walking along discussing the events of the previous days and Jesus appears with them along the road to the town of Emmaus, not far from Jerusalem. Luke mentions the name of one of these disciple: Clopas, or Cleophas or Cleopas. The other one doesn’t get a name. Perhaps it was Mary the wife of Clopas, who was Jesus’ mother’s sister, the mother of James, one of Jesus’ 12 disciples. Church tradition has said that it was Nathaniel, or Nicodemus, or even Luke himself.
Whoever it was, the 2 of them were discussing the current events on their Sunday afternoon stroll when Jesus started walking with them. V16 of Luke 24 says, “they were kept from recognizing Him.” Again, Jesus’ true identity was hidden from the disciples, so they didn’t know who it was that they were talking to, but it’s more than that, too. Obviously they were very caught up in the things going on – Jesus’ death and missing body from just that morning.
And what’s more, what do you think were their mental and emotional states? V17 says, “They stood still, their faces downcast.” At some point they stopped walking and just stood still, but maybe they didn’t even make facial contact with Jesus. Their words were dripping with sorrow, too. “The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.” WE HAD HOPED.
The disciples were lost in hopelessness, and because of it they may not have even made eye contact with the stranger who had met them on the road to Emmaus. And of course, when a group of people are walking, there isn’t much eye contact made, anyway, because people are facing in front of them.
So there was a spiritual reason and a physical reason that these disciples at first did not recognize Jesus. The spiritual reason was that Jesus hadn’t opened their eyes to see Him, and the physical reason is that they didn’t really look at Him. They were lost in their own hopelessness that they didn’t give their hearts fully to seeing Jesus.
OK, last story. Some time has passed by the time John 21 rolls around. It’s some time later, and the disciples are back in Galilee, some 70 miles north of Jerusalem. This was where Jesus had found many of them to begin with. I don’t want to speculate in the context of this message why they were fishing again – that might be another sermon in a few weeks. But they were. Seven of them, anyway – Simon Peter, Nathaniel, Thomas, the brothers James and John, and 2 more. They were fishing on the Sea of Galilee, or as John calls it, the Sea of Tiberius. They had fished all night and caught nothing.
Now, Jesus appeared on the shore and hollered out to them. They didn’t recognize Him, though. There were probably spiritual and physical reasons. Even though the spiritual reason is not given, the fact that instantly John realizes that it really is Jesus leads me to think that they were kept from recognizing Him this time, too.
But it was more than that. There was the distance factor. These guys were out on a boat, and a person from shore was calling out to them. Likely it would have been hard to recognize anybody. And what’s more, these guys were fishing. They were doing what they usually did well, and so they were probably caught up in it. And since they were not very successful on that particular night/morning, they likely were not in the best of moods. They likely would not have been too keen to listen to idle conversation or advice from the shore.
Well, Jesus called out to them, "Friends, haven’t you any fish?" I can hear them muttering, "No." Then Jesus said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they got a huge catch of fish, almost more than the nets could bear, and they finally recognized Jesus.
So there was a spiritual reason and a physical reason that these disciples at first did not recognize Jesus. The spiritual reason was that Jesus hadn’t opened their eyes to see Him, and the physical reason is that there was a distance, and they were also wrapped up in what they were doing. They were lost in their own busyness that they didn’t give their hearts fully to seeing Jesus.
Personally, I see a pattern. Three times people did not recognize when the Risen Savior was speaking to them. So yes, He had to open their eyes, but it was more than that. They were distracted. They did not see Jesus partly because they were distracted by other things: emotional difficulties or busyness.
Now, I can’t help but think that we are no better than Jesus’ first batch of disciples. After all, honestly, how well do we pay attention to Jesus? How easily are we distracted from seeing Him move in our lives, from hearing his voice as He gently guides us through life’s hurdles, from sensing His presence as we go perform our mundane and boring activities each day? Distractions are all around us, and as human beings they present a regular challenge for us to recognize Jesus as He tries to break into our hearts.
We come to church. We pay attention to song choices and preaching messages and noise from other people and who’s here and who’s not here and what we will eat when we get home or how we will entertain ourselves when we get home or responsibilities that await us when we are done and so on. Understand that there will always be “stuff” that wants to distract us. Why do you think it’s that sometimes the church is the hardest place to think about spiritual things? Because Satan will do anything to throw your mind off important things. It’s not that your emotions or your responsibilities aren’t important – they are – but Satan will use anything he can, especially worthwhile things, to distract you from really seeking Jesus.
It isn’t just the internet or TV or computer games or radio or music or reading that distract us. They do, but we can turn those off. It’s the things we can’t escape that are the biggest distractions. It’s the busyness, like the fishermen, that seems so hard to get away from. I mean, you can’t just drop everything. Well, no, but I bet you can chisel some time out of every day for something you enjoy, even if it’s just a few minutes at a time. That’s the thing right there. Making the time to seek the Lord, not just hoping you’ll find it.
And as for the emotional issues, you can’t just turn them off either. So those are the things you need to pray about. “Lord, you know how I really want to please You, but it’s so hard to concentrate. That’s why I’m going to pray about this thing that is hurting me so bad. That’s why I’m going to lift up this person in prayer, because they are really causing me stress.” That’s prayer. That’s taking your distractions before the Lord and praying for them. That’s seeking the Lord in spite of everything else going on around you.
Distractions are real and present real problems. Yes, it takes the Lord to open up our eyes to who He is and what He wants to do, but stuff we can do something about will distract us from seeing Him better. Busyness will steal our joy. Sorrow will steal our joy. Hopelessness will steal our joy. But we can press on and we can get glimpses of Jesus in our everyday lives. I encourage you to keep focused on the Lord.
