Will You Discern Him? Series

- WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH JESUS-

WILL YOU DISCERN HIM?

John 20:1-18

Introduction

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead represents the crescendo of human history. It is the assurance that the promises of God are true. It gives certainty and clarity to the reality of eternal life. It shakes our confidence in this world and builds our hopes on a world yet to come.

The world is talking and thinking about resurrection today -but will it make a difference? For some, it will. For others, it will not. It all depends on whether or not we discern the living presence of Jesus among us!

Our theme, What Will You Do With Jesus? now takes a dramatic turn. No longer are we considering the painful suffering of Christ as he experienced trials, beatings, humiliation, death, and burial. Now we are considering a powerful, victorious, Risen Savior! Will we discern Him? Will we know and acknowledge Him?

Although we know the end of the story, the truth of the resurrection is dawning slowly on the disciples, and John leads us deliberately through this time of realization. It begins early on the morning of Resurrection Day! Mary Madalene goes to the tomb early; sees the stone taken away. Peter and John run to the tomb, find it empty, go home. From here, John places his focus on Mary Magdalene. Everything we know about Mary Magdalene is contained in a dozen mentions of her in the four Gospels. She is often portrayed as a prostitute; or some saying she was the wife of Jesus - but these are unsubstantiated. We know little about her but we do know that she follows Jesus throughout his ministry. While most disciples fled from the cross, she was there. Four words describe Mary’s Resurrection Experience.

1. Mary’s Resurrection Experience

A. Devotion

John 20:1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.

It is not hard for us to imagine the trauma that the disciples have been through at the cross. The brutality of his death had to weigh on all of them. Peter and John have returned to their home. Peter is post-denial, pre-repentance, not in good place. John takes in the details. John notices the folded up face cloth (John’s Gospel alone mentions it.). Peter and John go home, Mary stays behind.

John 20:11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb.

“…loud, unrestrained weeping …” -Lipe. Mary had been rescued from seven demons by Jesus, and she devoted her life to serving him. What did she witness at the cross? How long did the sights, sounds, smells stay with her? Was she still numb after that experience?

J. C. Ryle “Of all our Lord’s followers on earth, none seem to have loved Him so much as Mary Magdalene. None felt that they owed so much to Christ. None felt so strongly that there was nothing too great to do for Christ.”

Nothing could keep her from the tomb, nothing did. Her tears a demonstration of her devotion to Jesus.

B. Angels

John 20:12-13 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”

Whenever people in the Bible usually see angels, they faint! Not Mary. My impression is that her life experience have left her tough and not easy to shake. In all four Gospel accounts, the angels are said to have appeared only to the women and not to the apostles. Instead of being afraid, she asks the question she asks ?three times in this text: Where is the body of Jesus? The angels did not answer. “Jesus may have been crucified between two thieves, but He had been raised between two angels from heaven.” - Lipe

C. Jesus (John 20:14-17)

John 20:14-15 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

We are privy to the amazing and thrilling reality that this is Jesus, but Mary is still focused! What is she going to do with a dead body?

20:16-17 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic,[b] “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”