[0:00] Let's turn back for a short time to the chapter we had, John chapter 20. John chapter 20.
[0:14] Looking really at verses 1 down to verse 18 of the chapter. For the sake of a text we can take the first verse of our chapter.
[0:25] 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. We're of course carrying on our series, probably ending our series next week.
[0:42] We'll see how this evening goes first. Of course last week we finished two weeks in the garden of Gethsemane, the garden where we saw so much tears and so much pain.
[0:54] And we saw, as we said, the last few weeks, we won't go over again, but we saw eternal levels and literally eternal amounts of pain.
[1:07] But this evening we find ourselves in one more garden. But this time it's a garden of resurrection, we could say. It's a garden that is full of joy, peace, excitement.
[1:21] But also at the start, we'll see just now in a second, there is also still pain and confusion in this garden. Even for a short time, there is pain and confusion for the disciples and of course for Mary.
[1:34] When we come to these few short verses, these 18 verses, we know the account so well, don't we? We say this last week, we say this every week.
[1:46] We know these verses so well, we know the account so well. In a sense, we know where the account is going. We know that Jesus has rose again from the grave. We know the story.
[1:58] But as we read these verses, we spend some time in these verses, taking it bit by bit, let's try very hard to put ourselves, as we were, in the mind of Mary, in the mind of the disciples.
[2:12] See, they don't know anything more than we do about tonight or tomorrow. They are going about their normal lives as best they can. At this point, at this moment, their minds are still very much in the garden of Gethsemane.
[2:26] Their minds are still very much seeing their saviour, their friend, the Messiah, the promised one who would come and save them and destroy the enemies.
[2:37] The one they had followed and believed in and trusted for years, at least for them, and we see that in a second. They've seen it all just fall to bits. The one who promised them so much, who promised to be their saviour, to be with them till the end of the age, they've seen them captured, killed, dead, carried away to a tomb.
[3:04] Although we're saying we come to a garden of resurrection, where there's peace and there's excitement, at this point of the verse 1 we have here, when Mary goes to the tomb, she's not going, hopping and skipping, no.
[3:18] The disciples aren't going, hopping and skipping. They're going, thinking their saviour, their friend, their Messiah. He's gone. He's dead. The dream is dead.
[3:30] The hope of Israel, the hope that this is the one come to save them. It's all fallen to bits. You can imagine the confusion, pain, the disappointment.
[3:43] But still, we find Mary going to the tomb. We know from, of course, the other accounts, she's going to, with the other ladies later on, they're going of her mind to anoint the body and to do the funeral preparation.
[3:56] They couldn't do, of course, on the Sabbath, so they waited until the Sabbath's done, to go and to anoint the body and do the various rituals and rites that they did to the ones who passed away, who they loved so much.
[4:10] So she goes, and what does it say is here, she'd have been laid in heavy, we're sure, with all the equipment, all the oils and outmines and all the bits and pieces she had to anoint her beloved saviour.
[4:22] Here she is walking to the tomb. As her brother prayed, because we live in the light of our risen Christ, because we are what we are, because we believe in our risen saviour, I think perhaps, maybe to our shame, but it should be perhaps to our shame, myself very much included, we lose sight of what it is that we worship our risen saviour.
[4:45] As we come, as we read the account of our resurrection, as we hear that our saviour rose from the grave and he now lives forever at the right hand of the Father, it rolls off our tongue.
[4:55] We can put our amen to believing that, to trusting in that, and we praise the Lord that's true. I'm not speaking on your behalf, I'm speaking on my own behalf, but have we lost perhaps, not just the excitement, but the joy that she gives us, that we are resurrection people, that we worship our risen saviour, that our gospel is not just Jesus came, but our gospel is that Jesus rose again.
[5:23] Again, as our brother prayed, as we know ourselves, he rose again proving all he said was true. He rose again to show that he has defeated death. He rose again to show that the enemy has no hold on him.
[5:35] As we come to this section, which is so laden with the beauty of resurrection, we should come to it ready to be excited once more, to be filled with love, and to be filled with encouragement once more, as we remind ourselves, and hear again the resurrection story.
[5:51] The resurrection account should never be dry to us. The preaching might be dry, and that's the preacher's fault, but the story itself should never be dry for us. Always give us peace and hope.
[6:02] So it's a short time this evening. It will be a short time. As we see the account of the disciples and of Mary, let's try our best to see this story, this account through their eyes.
[6:14] I hope by doing that, we'll share in some of the joy that they had when they, this resurrection morning in the garden, when they saw the risen saviour. Two very broad headings for us.
[6:26] First of all, seeing confusion in the garden. Confusion in the garden. And then seeing comfort in the garden. So first of all, confusion in the garden.
[6:40] So let's set the scene. When Mary arrives in verse 1, it's a quiet morning, of course, peaceful morning. This is not the place where Jesus was, was so brutally murdered.
[6:52] We're somewhere away now. Still close enough, but away now. And of course, the tomb that was gifted, given to the saviour. A rich man's tomb, we know.
[7:03] A tomb that was hewn out of rock. A tomb that had been cost a small fortune to buy. And because it was a rich man's tomb, this would be a nice place. We see later on, of course, there was a gardener in this area.
[7:17] One who tended to the area around the tomb. I mean, some things haven't changed. We have ourselves, of course, our own graveyard committee, who will do a similar job.
[7:27] He'll look after the area around the graveyard. This was a rich man's tomb. This is a garden area, made to be as beautiful, I'm sure, as possible.
[7:41] Day hasn't broken yet. It's still dark in the morning. Morning's come, but it's still dark. And Mary on her own, in the peace and in the quiet of this still morning. They've had a whole day.
[7:53] Think yourself. They've had a whole day. They've seen their saviour killed. They've seen him taken to that tomb. They've had the whole Sabbath then to do nothing but think and be distraught and be disappointed and be brokenhearted.
[8:06] And now, the second she can, she goes to the tomb. First of all, we see the first instance of confusion in our account here.
[8:18] 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. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and so on.
[8:33] Can you imagine yourself as Mary Magdalene? You arrive to see your, well, see the tomb closed and hope the stone will be rolled away for you.
[8:43] You arrive to see a closed tomb where your friend, your saviour, Messiah, the one you hope so much in, is lying there. You've come to anoint him.
[8:54] You've come to do the best you can with what you have to show your love to this man who has cleansed you of your sins and who has forgiven you and has given you value as he did to poor Mary.
[9:06] And you arrive. It's bad enough what's happened. Bad enough he's died. But you arrive and now the stone's gone. This massive stone is gone. Worse than that, the body has been gone.
[9:21] Think yourself of a horror of who has taken away my saviour. I came early in the morning, still dark. I came to see him, to show my love towards him, to anoint his body.
[9:36] And he's gone. He's gone. He's gone with no idea where he's gone. No idea who's taken him. Our saviour's body's gone.
[9:48] Taken by the Romans, taken by the Jews. You can imagine yourself thinking all the enemies he had, all the ones who wanted to destroy the legacy he had built for himself, who wanted to disprove who he was.
[9:59] Was it the Jews? Was it the Jews come back to take away the body of this man who caused him so much trouble, who said he'd rise again on the third day? Have he taken the body to make sure that that wouldn't happen?
[10:12] Was it the Romans? The Romans who had hated this man so much because he caused so much uproar and upheaval to their peaceful takeover of this place.
[10:25] She doesn't know, does she? Of course she doesn't. We wouldn't know, would we? What's the first thing she does? She sees the stone is gone. And she runs.
[10:36] Poor Mary. She runs back. And she runs, of course, straight to the disciples. Verse 2. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, John, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.
[10:56] Again, the they there, they have taken. She assumes a group's done this, the Jews or the Romans. And we do not know. She's talking in plural, and there's no time tonight.
[11:07] This is not a time for this discussion, but we said this last Sunday. There's some verses in Scripture which either atheists or friends who are of our faiths or friends who are JW or Mormon who'll say that our Scriptures are wrong, who'll say that there's parts in the Bible that contradict our parts.
[11:27] We've said on Sunday, very often, we just have to read a bit more of the Bible and let God's Word interpret the Word itself and things are made clear to us. Quite often, the woman arriving at the tomb is used as an example of Scripture not being consistent.
[11:42] Of course, the Gospels have different accounts, apparently different accounts, of who arrived at the tomb when. It's interesting, though. Nothing in Scripture is wasted. See Mary here speaking in the plural.
[11:52] They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. Presumably, in the way back to the disciples, she met the other woman, the other woman who came to the tomb, and she told them what's happened, and they've all gone back.
[12:05] Well, she's gone back and they've stayed. Either way, simple to say, that the Gospel accounts all harmonise together. There's no discrepancies that can't be solved, at least in the Gospels, with more reading, a bit of peace, a bit of study, a bit of prayer.
[12:21] God's Word is not to be mocked, and God's Word is not to be taken apart by us. Either way, she tells the disciples, she tells these trusted men, they've taken him away.
[12:33] We don't know where he is, but they've taken the body. And she runs to get help. She runs to these men, first and foremost. We'll come back to that in a second. You then see the horror and confusion.
[12:44] First of all, we saw the confusion of poor Mary, but now the confusion spreads. She tells them. What's their first reaction? Simon, Peter and John, Peter and John, what do they do?
[12:57] Verse 3. Well, they run. Verse 3 and verse 4. Both of them are running together. Again, I think we just imagine a scene as if they just went and walked and they walked.
[13:11] They've heard their Saviour is gone. Mary's told them, they run to the tomb. The wording is so immediate. And we saw this in Mark again and again and again that it ends immediate.
[13:22] John's a lot slower usually. Everything in John happens at a slow pace. John's more concerned with the theology at times rather than the exact story of what took place and when. But here's one of the few instances in John where we see things happening quickly.
[13:36] Mary's gone and seen. She's come back. The disciples have been told and they run. Of course we do. You and I would too. The panic is spreading. As they hear the account that their Saviour, the Messiah, he's gone.
[13:49] The body's gone. What do we do? What do we do? So they went and they run to the tomb. Both of them running together. Here's some of this detail. But the other disciple, John, we assume, outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
[14:06] Why do we need to know that for? Why do we care that John beat Peter to the tomb? Apart from the fact that John, of course, wrote this, did John include that to show he's somehow a better runner than Peter?
[14:19] That's silly, but why did John include this? Why did the Lord allow John, through the guidance of the Spirit, to include these wee details of what took place? Because they are wee details of what took place.
[14:30] This is not just some cold retelling of the account. This is John. John, who sat there in his home early morning, but woken up by Mary, knocking on his door, by Peter knocking on his door and saying, he's gone, Jesus is gone, the body's gone.
[14:46] This is John, who's writing this, who's thinking back and who's remembered hearing this, who's remembered running to the tomb. He's remembered then that he beat Peter to the tomb. And for us, it's a silly, perhaps, it's a strange detail.
[15:00] But it's a detail because John wrote this, because John actually beat Peter to the tomb. So he just tells the story, the account, as he remembered it happening. All these wee things aren't wasted.
[15:10] These wee things are there to encourage us, to remind us that these are real men. Real people who experienced these real events. Not just stories in our Bibles. And because we often read it so much and because it feels at times perhaps so long ago, we forget that John and Peter were men who were fast asleep early morning, having probably grieved the whole day before, their whole world collapsed, their knackered, their exhausted, a whole Sabbath spent in mourning.
[15:37] And then to have this woman knocking on the door, Mary of all people, there she is again, knocking on the door and saying, the body's gone. You think, what now? And John and Peter then run to the tomb.
[15:49] John remembers it. He remembers it clearly and he writes it as it happened. They stoop in, of course, Peter being Peter, he went into the tomb.
[16:24] He saw the linen cloths lying there and the face cloth which had been on Jesus' head, not lying of linen cloths but folded up and placed by itself. Note the detail, the exact detail of what took place, again reaffirming to us, these are eyewitnesses.
[16:40] Not just stories being told hundreds of years on as some will tell us. Not just stories written hundreds of years later by some unknown author making things up. These are eyewitness accounts of men who were there who saw it, who even saw the details of who went in first, who saw what first, who got there first.
[16:59] Even the detail, and it has much importance theologically, but even, for us just now, even the detail of the face cloth, the face covering being folded away apart from the rest.
[17:10] Detail is important and detail matters. And the Lord includes these details to remind us that this is His holy, His perfect word, plus that God uses His people.
[17:24] God spoke through John. The Holy Spirit inspired John as John recounted and recalled and wrote down his account of what took place. We see the cloths lying there.
[17:37] We see the face cloth apart from the rest folded up and there's many avenues we can do anything about that, but just quite simply, the image of that is not just one of, not confusion, not chaos.
[17:52] The body wasn't stolen and the clothes ripped off. No. The cloths are lying there. The face cloth. That face cloth, which you think properly, which represents the corpse so finely.
[18:05] It's the last piece to be added on the funeral shroud that we would wrap the corpse up first and the face cloth would go on last. This face cloth was represented, really, the end.
[18:16] Face cloth on, tomb closed and that's it. Folded nicely, folded squarely, we could say, folded neatly. This is not a chaotic robbery of a body.
[18:28] This is, of course, as we know, but as they, as of yet, do not understand, this is the planned, eternally planned, resurrection of our Saviour, who, as aware, had the time even to fold the face cloth before he leaves the tomb.
[18:48] But, as we see, they don't yet know what's happening. John himself says that in verse 9, for as yet, they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead.
[19:04] They didn't know what was happening. They were men, they didn't understand it, they were just trying their best. In the odd detail of verse 10, then the disciples went back to their homes to think, it's a strange thing to do, but think to yourself, what else do you do?
[19:20] Who else do you go to? Still dark in the morning. Still, who knows what I wear in the morning. Four in the morning, maybe five in the morning, perhaps. What else do you do? Do you sit there all night and wait for morning to come and see what?
[19:33] An empty tomb. The body's gone. It's actually very dangerous to be there. What if the Romans come? What if the Roman guards come back? What if they come and they see what's happened?
[19:46] What if the Jews come? The Pharisees come? You're going to be blamed for it. You, the disciples, who caused so much disruption, you're next on the line. So, they go home.
[19:57] These poor men, they just go back home. Probably exhausted mentally, exhausted physically, I'm sure. They run, I'm sure, quite a distance there. But note who doesn't go home.
[20:09] Poor Mary. Verse 11. But, and that but is very grammatically important. It really underlines what the difference is. They've gone home. They've had enough. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.
[20:24] She stays there. She's so distraught. The grief is so much for her what's taking place. The confusion is so much for her. She doesn't leave.
[20:35] Even though there's nothing left there, there's no body left, she doesn't leave. And note just how strong her confusion and her grief is. She sees two angels in front of her.
[20:47] There's two angels now in the tomb. They appear. The disciples left and she's there. And she's there. She lifts her head up and looks once more into the tomb. It's perhaps kind of a wee bit brighter, but it's still dark.
[21:00] There's two angels. What happens every time we see angels in Scripture? What's the first thing they say? Do not be afraid. Do not fear. Because it's a frightening thing we can be sure to see the angelic beings in front of you.
[21:16] They always say do not be afraid or do not fear because naturally we fear when we see that. They don't say that to Mary. She's so overtaken by grief.
[21:28] She's so lost in her confusion and her sadness. She doesn't even seem to be fazed, does she? In the slightest by what's taking place. She's just seen two angelic beings appeared in front of her sitting on the stone slab we can see of a slab that the body was laid on.
[21:47] And these angelic beings speak to her and the angel said to her woman, why are you weeping? And she doesn't say who are you? Why are you here? Where did you come from? She asks for him quite simply.
[22:00] She says to him They've taken away my Lord I do not know where they have laid him. Look at the love of Mary in this resurrection garden where all is still peaceful all still quiet apart from the silent perhaps weeping of Mary.
[22:16] As the angels ask the question she answers them. Again, there's no fear here of the angels there's no horror for her. She's so determined her mind's on one thing only where is Jesus?
[22:30] Where is my Saviour? Where is my Lord? And look at the compassion and the gentleness in her language. They have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him.
[22:43] She's so worried to get the body back it's all she wants to see her Lord to look after her Lord to anoint him as she knows she should be doing. No fear just sadness no fear just as it were confusion.
[23:02] At this point it's a truly dark morning isn't it? Literally it's dark it's still early but dark it feels so heavy these poor men this poor woman these poor disciples they've gone back home to tell their families what's happened.
[23:18] She's planning to go back home I'm sure and tell all the other women what's taken place as if seeing their saviour tortured and killed isn't enough they now have to face this confusing situation which compounds their grief.
[23:37] So at this point we see the the beauty take place in the garden she tells him she doesn't know where the Lord is having said this in verse 14 she turns around did she hear a noise perhaps whatever she turned around and saw Jesus standing but she did not know that it was Jesus.
[24:05] There's darkness in the garden real darkness and perhaps the darkness for the media and for the disciples felt like the darkness of death and the darkness of evil but really as we see here this is the darkness that we have before the dawn this is the darkness we have before the sun breaks and light begins to pour into the situation and she turns around and she sees the man behind her of course she doesn't know who it is we'll get more to that in a second here we see the comfort we have in this garden of resurrection and there is comfort there's three main areas of comfort we have here first area is right back to the start again Mary and the disciples see although she's lost and confused she runs straight to Peter and to John she finds comfort in the brothers these men who perhaps would have once joined in the rest to mock her and to call her a sinner and everything else that she was but now they are brothers in the Lord they are saved she has served alongside them she has served them she has walked alongside them she has seen the miracles of the saviour all together she's been faithful to the Lord from her days she has saved them now these men have been faithful to the Lord to this point they're still following their saviour here's the first element of comfort the comfort we find in our brothers and sisters even when things it feels like when things have gone just to pot when our life is just beyond understanding
[25:44] I'm not going to speak for yourselves but you yourselves know your own situations and the times I'm sure there's been plenty of times in your lives when you think what do I do what do I do I can't understand what's happening I can't understand what the Lord perhaps is doing what his providence is for being honest we have these times and we find ourselves at a loose end I can't understand this what do I do where do I go have we like Mary have we gone to our brothers and our sisters to the church to our family she runs straight to them she knows or she hopes that somehow they can help her and they do we then go back together well actually they almost leave her behind they almost run at themselves but she goes to them and she knows that they will help her somehow that there will be some use to her in the darkness of even the most confusing of nights when perhaps even the Lord's providence seems dark to us and seems confusing to us and seems perhaps being honest at times almost unbearable to us the Lord has given us the church he has given us brothers and sisters in the faith and like Mary here we must be willing to run to them as brothers and sisters ourselves as sons and daughters ourselves we must be the type of people who our brothers and sisters must be willing to come towards we must be able to be known as ones who are friendly who are approachable who if a brother or sister is in trouble who would come to us and know that we'd at least try and help them
[27:29] Mary trusted Peter she trusted John she goes straight to them she knew that they were men of integrity they were men who at least would try their best to help the situation there's comfort in the church we'll see the strange thing of the angels appearing and really the angels perhaps don't add too much comfort but they do in a sense they get her to speak once more comfort sent by God these angelic beings appear out of nowhere they appear before her and we might think it's a bit harsh the wording they use first of all verse 13 they said to her woman why are you weeping but the word woman there it's not a harsh word they're speaking to her with respect it's more of a shiv rather than a shoe kind of thing in Gaelic or whatever it is in French my French has long since left my brain but it's not the formal it is a formal but it's a polite word they're using they're talking to her with respect it's not woman as in woman it's woman as in a gentle way to address someone with respect the angels speak to her kindly simply carefully and they give her the chance once more to go over her feelings to let out what it is she's trying to understand they gently ask her once more what is bothering her they have taken away my Lord
[29:01] I don't know where they have laid him here we have a final level of comfort we see the comfort of the gardener the comfort of Jesus Jesus said to her woman why are you weeping whom are you seeking verse 15 supposing him to be the gardener she said to him sir if you've carried him away tell me where you laid him and I will take him away why doesn't Mary or why didn't Mary know who he was she spent so much time with Jesus why doesn't she know who he is again verse 14 she did not know that it was Jesus well there's I think we're wrong to say there's one exact reason I would love to give you one exact reason but there are various many reasons that the church and greater men and I and greater scholars and I have not come to conclusion and there's space for us all to have our own thoughts on this but there's several ideas and one I think is the strongest and I'll leave you with that but you can decide for yourself there might be a combination of all these reasons there's at least three reasons often put forward first of all of a simple reason and it sounds almost silly at first but think for a second it's dark and she's crying it's dark and she's been crying for some time her mind is not on the situation around her she turns around in a dark morning eyes filled with tears and streaming and she's exhausted and grieving and confused her mind is not on who's speaking to her she's just
[30:42] I mean she didn't react when she saw the angels if angels did nothing to her then how much less impactful of this man a random man appearing behind her that won't bother her she assumed he's a gardener who else would be here but a gardener maybe it's one theory just grief from the darkness the other theory is of course Jesus is now in his resurrection body this is a theory that is most popular and more common we could say of course it is still Jesus but his resurrection body is different in many ways perhaps to his body the Jesus they saw the body they saw I should say was one of course was a man of sorrows a body that had endured a lifetime of weight and grief and pain and misery and burden as we said the last few weeks now he is in his resurrection body of course there is a mark on his side we see all that with Thomas still has the marks in his hands and his wrists and his side he is still very much Jesus as we one day will very much still be us and there is great mystery here not for tonight but our resurrection body if you have time it is 1 Corinthians 9
[31:56] I think it is if I am wrong I will correct it next week we will actually look at this next week where we see that our bodies are the same but also they are not and there is mystery here and we can't understand the mystery because we haven't yet seen it but there is obviously something different with the resurrection body my own personal and it is not often as a minister you are not supposed to give your own personal views but just take it or leave it I think it is a combination of both things personally she has been crying all night it is dark and the body of our saviour is obviously different to how she saw him he has at least been relieved of the heavy burden he was suffering under all the days of his life here right away she doesn't understand who he is she begs to him again again the beauty here of comfort in the garden what makes her click who she is talking to what makes her understand she is talking to the Lord Jesus said to her Mary she turned to him in Aramaic
[32:59] Rabboni which means teacher the simple beauty is when he sees her name that's all it takes he says her name all of a sudden the scales fall from her eyes there's something familiar now for her is it the tone he says it in is it the name itself whatever it is maybe it's both these things how he says it the love of what she says it she then either understands sees or is shown to her finally whatever it is praise the Lord she saw it out of her way she is speaking not just to her gardener speaking to the Lord the risen Lord here we see the real comfort taking place and it's a simple illustration to make but simple connection to make but it's a connection I'm sure we all are thinking of just now is this not our story Jesus perhaps was something to us perhaps he was of vague interest to us at one point perhaps he was of good interest to us perhaps he was nothing more than a gardener to us he was just someone in the background we just tried to ignore most days of the week but the day came for the brothers and sisters here the day came the Lord as a word said our names we heard our names being called perhaps not literally but we heard our names being called and we heard the
[34:24] Lord calling out to us and he showed himself to us he showed his love towards us his grace his peace shown towards us and he saves us and he's no longer just a background figure he is now like Mary sees here he is now once more to her fully and completely Rabboni her teacher but it's not just teacher the term Rabboni it's used to encapsulate all that he was to them Rabboni our leader the one she followed for years teacher yes but reality is it's it's a closeness only disciples would call the Rabboni the ones who followed him she's here saying you're the one I followed and now I know you're still here it's all true in that second of him calling her name all the confusion all the tears the whole late well early morning late night of weeping it's all gone as the dawn now breaks as Jesus stands before her and she sees him properly it all makes sense it's all almost worth it isn't it all the tears all the confusion all the sadness it's all okay now and she exclaims
[35:42] Rabboni and then we see she must grab onto him now depends how your view of these things but she obviously grabs onto him somehow because he says to her in verse 17 do not cling to me and some will say she grabs his feet I will say she just gives him a hug whatever the scripture doesn't tell us when scripture is silent we perhaps often should be too but I have a way she's holding onto him somehow and Jesus says to her do not cling to me for I have yet not 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 and you think well that's a bit of a harsh moment after all the confusion Jesus is now saying don't touch me he's not saying don't touch me is he he's saying don't cling to me why because Mary's job isn't done yet Mary's got a future and eternity with our saviour we know that at this point at this moment Mary has the most glorious of jobs been given to her and here we see just very briefly this doesn't really impact our text but it's very important for us just now to note the very first person here of course to see the risen saviour is a woman a woman now we read it and think well yes okay but think of the impact of this to the first hearers of this the messiah is alive and as
[37:19] Mary was on and those who didn't know and those who didn't believe Mary that sinner a woman even worse who says before think a woman's testimony according to the Pharisees really wasn't to be believed a woman could not be believed in the courts of law at this time and if you had to use a woman I feel bad looking up that wasn't me saying this if you had to use a woman then her testament would be backed up with more than three witnesses was the biblical precedent but a woman also usually had to have five witnesses her story to be true some accounts have more than that a woman was not to be believed or trusted she was a lesser creature lesser brain power and so on and so on and there's secular accounts of that being preached and taught and believed and all that the lesser creature with less brain power who can't be believed is the first person that Jesus shows that he's alive that he is well the first is aware missionary of the resurrected
[38:24] Jesus is this sinner the saved sinful woman who now has the most glorious of tasks and jobs she goes to tell the disciples verse 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced I love that word announced she proclaimed I think we word that perhaps quite formally the Greeks a bit more strong than that she didn't announce it Mary Magdalene let the disciples know literally she told them she proclaimed it but the sense is that she you can imagine herself she tells them she shouted to them Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples I have seen the Lord I've seen the Lord there is in this garden confusion and there is pain and there is darkness but all that is dispelled in a second it's all dispelled even in one word as Jesus calls out to Mary and calls her by name for Lord's help next week we come to see the final garden we find in scripture perhaps we see week after that the reality of the new heavens and the new earth for all the confusion and all the pain and all the sadness we may face as Christians and we live of course thrusting in our resurrected saviour but we still face sadness we still face times like
[39:54] Mary and the disciples where we don't understand what is going on the truth is that we have a saviour a risen saviour an ascended saviour who sits at the right hand of the father on high making constant intercession for us who just like he shows here to Mary a saviour who knows our name that is the hope we have as we see the resurrection garden here for we have a resurrected saviour who is close to his people who loves his people who tells us and shows us that he has risen for us to claim us as his own to show us that all he said about himself was true as evidence that he is truly the son of man come to save his people but he is truly the one who has been predicted from before time itself who we saw from the garden who God said would come would destroy stamp on would tread on the snake that threading was done death has been defeated and now he is risen again to call his people by name that is the hope we find in this glorious garden of resurrection we thank you Lord for the gift of your word we thank you Lord for the promises and the hope we find in it we do thank you despite the burdens of this life we come to you knowing that you are a God who promises to love and to keep us thank you for the account we have so carefully written the account we have so clearly through that a saviour is not remaining in the grave he is not still remained in grave somewhere in the
[41:35] Middle East but no he rose from the grave triumphant he was seen and talked to by so many witnesses he ascended to your right hand in the very second this very moment making intercession for us Lord until he comes again to take us home help us to serve him well to serve him faithfully the one who knows our name and who calls us each by our names our glorious risen friend brother Lord and Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ in his name we ask all these things Amen let's sing that resurrection psalm psalm 16 psalm of hope that our saviour had psalm 16 verses 8 to 11 psalm 16 verses 8 to 11 to God's praise life南 tigers
[43:08] I shall not know the way Because of this my heart is bad And joy shall be expressed In by my glory and my flesh In confidence shall rest Because my soul and gifted man Shall not be held by you
[44:13] Nor will thy dead, thy holy one Caught on the stone to see Thou wilt me show the power of life Of joy's best for store Before thy gifts and thy items And pleasure shall evermore May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ And the love of God the Father And the thirst of the Holy Spirit be with you now And forevermore Amen