Joy and Hope in the Risen Jesus | Easter Sunday

[0:00] The sermon text for today is John 20, 11 to 18. At the conclusion of the reading, I will declare, this is the word of the Lord.

[0:12] And the church, in joyful response to his revelation given to us, will together say, Thanks be to God. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb.

[0:24] And she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 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.

[0:38] 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.

[0:57] Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rabboni, which means teacher. Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.

[1:09] But go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her.

[1:22] This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this word. We thank you for the resurrection of Christ from the grave.

[1:36] We ask as we attend to this story that you have given to us, this true story from 2,000 years ago, that you would work this truth into our hearts today.

[1:47] We would not leave here unchanged. We want to be changed by you. So, Father, do that work through the risen Christ, through his empowering and indwelling spirit today. We pray this in Jesus' name.

[1:59] Amen. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Amen. I'm so glad that we could join together this morning. Whether you've been here for 10 years, no one's been here that long, actually.

[2:12] Whether you've been here almost 10 years, or you're new this morning, it's such a privilege to be able to worship the risen and reigning Christ together. Kids, there are sheets on the back table if you didn't grab any of those.

[2:27] And when the kids are done grabbing them, if any adults want to grab them, there's a crossword puzzle, fill in the blank, help you follow along this morning. Well, my name's Mike. I'm one of the pastors here at Shoreline.

[2:38] Am I loud enough? I feel like I'm not loud enough. All right, great. Cool. One of the pastors here at Shoreline. And again, just so glad that you're all here this morning. There we go.

[2:51] Yeah, people in the back. People in the front shouldn't be answering that question. This is from the back. Goodness. Goodness. Well, yesterday, I spent hours mowing, dethatching, and raking my lawn so that I could finally spread some new grass seed.

[3:08] And, you know, it gave me great joy. It's kind of like, you know, prepping to paint. You do all the prep work. When you finally get to put paint on the wall, when I finally got to apply the grass seed, it just gave me this great joy to watch the seeds spreading out into the prepared soil.

[3:23] And I have great hope that in, say, a week from now, maybe two weeks from now, I'll start to see beautiful little blades of grass, you know, stretching towards the sun.

[3:35] You know, our lives are filled with all kinds of occasions for joy and for hope. Most of them, honestly, very mundane, like my lawn example. Some of them, far more significant, like getting accepted to college or offered a new job or beginning a marriage or having a child or buying a new house or a car or joining a church.

[3:59] Each occasion, it brings with it new joy and then also new hope in what's to come. But, you know, I couldn't help but ask myself yesterday, what if, God forbid, my joy is stolen and my hopes are shattered when after three weeks, my lawn is just as patchy as before?

[4:20] You know, what then? What if that new job is way more demanding, way more stressful than you expected that it would be? What if marriage doesn't actually lead to the blissful life that we once imagined while dating?

[4:34] What if parenting feels impossible, the house and the car are always breaking down and church life is not the utopia that it was supposed to be? You say, well, Mike, that's just life.

[4:48] Life is hard. Life is filled with disappointments. Yes, yes it is. And, you know, I have the privilege this morning of reminding all of us today that in the midst of our stolen joys and shattered hopes, when life is hard and disappointing, we have, in the risen Savior Jesus Christ, access to everlasting joy and hope.

[5:14] Amen? And that's what we see in our passage for today, in John 20, 11-18. Please turn there in your Bibles if you haven't already done so.

[5:25] There are Bibles on the back table. They're bookmarked to today's passage. You're welcome to grab one of those if you don't have one and keep that. And the title of today's sermon is Joy and Hope in the Risen Jesus.

[5:39] Joy and Hope in the Risen Jesus. In today's passage, we find ourselves alongside Mary Magdalene at the tomb where on Friday they had laid a crucified and dead Jesus.

[5:54] You know, if you don't know, Mary Magdalene, she was an early follower of Christ. She had had seven demons cast out of her by Jesus. And then after that point, she devotedly followed him even to his death on the cross and now even to his grave.

[6:10] You know, Mary believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the Lord and Messiah. She believed that he was the promised one from of old, the hope of Israel and the nations, the one who would free them from bondage to Rome and usher in an eternal reign of peace.

[6:30] That's what she believed. But now, the one who had healed her of demonic influence, the one who had loved and led her for a few years and proven himself in mighty words and works, he had been arrested and mocked and beaten and crucified and buried in a tomb.

[6:53] Her joy was stolen. her hopes shattered. And at this point, when we find Mary, all she wants to do is give Jesus the proper burial that she believed he deserved.

[7:06] And so that's what we find her seeking to do in her blinding sorrow. And the first point that we see in these few verses is just, we're going to focus on Mary's blinding sorrow.

[7:18] So look in your Bibles, John 20, verse 11. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. And as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb.

[7:31] Well, there's actually more backstory that I want us to have. You see, this is Mary's second time now at Jesus' tomb. We learn in verse 1 that Mary came early while it was still dark.

[7:44] And what is she doing? She's completing the burial preparations only to find the stone is rolled away and Jesus' body is missing.

[7:55] So she runs to tell the apostles Peter and John who were staying together and they engage in a foot race to the tomb and upon arriving they find what? Jesus' body is gone.

[8:06] The linen cloths that would have wrapped his dead body were just lying there. The face cloth was neatly folded up by itself. You know, not the scene of grave robbers. That's a whole different side of things.

[8:18] There's some good apologetics in the first section in John 20 that if you have questions on come talk to me. So Peter and John find these things to be so and John records that he saw and believed.

[8:32] John knew that the only explanation based on the evidence before him was that Jesus had risen from the grave. Now we're not told why but Peter and John return home.

[8:44] Perhaps there's still inwardly wrestling with the evidence. Maybe not bold enough to share what they think is true and then Mary arrives back at the tomb weeping in her sorrow.

[8:56] So she stoops to look into the tomb in verse 12 and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain. One at the head and one at the feet.

[9:09] You know, angels had heralded the birth of Jesus to those shepherds in Bethlehem and now angels are commissioned again to announce his resurrection. One commentator writes that like the grave clothes their presence witnesses that the powers of heaven have been at work here.

[9:29] Powers of heaven indeed have been at work here. But you know the empty tomb and the linen cloths lying in place and now the presence of angels are not enough to cause Mary to perceive the reality of Christ's resurrection.

[9:50] And so they said to her woman why are you weeping? Thank you. Now surely the angels are not looking for an actual answer to the questions.

[10:04] Here's where we are right here. Mary's blinding sorrow despite the empty tomb despite the linen cloths despite the presence of angels. The angels here they're not asking the question to get an answer.

[10:16] They're gently confronting Mary in her grief. They know why she's weeping. And she doesn't need to grieve. That's the point. They're suggesting to her gently you don't need to grieve.

[10:28] And she said to them they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him. So despite now also the question of the angels Mary here remains blinded by her sorrow.

[10:42] And she's also she remains fixated on Jesus' missing dead body saying to the angels the same thing that she had said back to Peter and John in verse 2. And yet it's worth noting in spite of Mary's sorrow in spite of her ignorance to the reality of Jesus' resurrection notice here she is unwavering in her devotion to Jesus.

[11:04] They have taken away my Lord she says. Remember Mary believes that he's dead. Mary does not understand what is happening.

[11:17] Mary has lost reason for joy and hope and yet still she upholds Jesus as her Lord. I just want to pause and say how instructive is this for us when we don't understand what the Lord is doing in our circumstances.

[11:35] Have you been there before? Not knowing why things are happening? We can follow Mary's example right here. Undeterred in our faith. Upholding Jesus still as the Lord of our hearts and lives and of the universe.

[11:53] But listen church we have a far far greater reason than Mary right here to have joy and to have hope and to have faith in Jesus. And she's about to find this out. Now verse 14 having said this she turned around and saw Jesus standing but she did not know that it was Jesus.

[12:12] Okay enter stage left the risen Lord Jesus Christ. He just got done dying for the sins of the world descending into hell where he proclaimed his almighty kingship and now he appears back in resurrected body from the grave and he appears first to Mary.

[12:36] Now perhaps she hears his footsteps or perhaps the angels you know turn and look into his face and so she turns around and now she's looking into the one that she's looking for right into his face but she doesn't recognize him.

[12:52] So we can add that to the list despite the presence of Jesus. You say hold up seriously Mary still doesn't get it even though Jesus is right in front of her.

[13:05] Now before we give Mary a hard time more we should note that if you read the gospel accounts there are many others recorded in the gospels who do not recognize Jesus after his resurrection.

[13:17] Now we don't know how much his appearance had been altered but it was apparently enough that people did not recognize him at first and actually Paul we're getting to 1 Corinthians 15 eventually Paul talks about our resurrected bodies and they're going to be of another nature entirely so that might give us a clue.

[13:36] Now on top of that though this is important Mary's not expecting a risen Jesus so she's not actually looking for an alive Jesus but a dead Jesus right?

[13:48] Because dead people don't normally rise from the dead. Sometimes we think in our 21st century minds oh yeah they would have believed that easily they were dumb back then they weren't dumb back then and dead people didn't rise from the dead.

[14:01] Nobody not the disciples not anyone was expecting a risen Jesus and on top of that Mary here is drowning in sorrow.

[14:12] Her eyes are likely filled with tears so literally and figuratively her vision is clouded. Look at verse 15. Jesus said to her woman why are you weeping?

[14:27] Whom are you seeking? Jesus repeats the question of the angels. He's gently confronting Mary in her sorrow. If only she recognized her identity that she would know there's no more need for weeping.

[14:43] but then Jesus adds a question he says whom are you seeking? Now on the surface it's a pretty basic question to ask but you know if you've read through John's gospel Jesus is after something deeper with this kind of question.

[14:59] Jesus asked this as a heart searching question. It's intending to elicit self reflection. Whom are you seeking? In the depths of your heart what is it who is it that you're seeking after?

[15:13] Now I'm sure that Mary later would look back on these two questions of Jesus and see the beautiful irony of the scene. But in the moment says next 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.

[15:33] So still Mary remains blinded by her sorrow despite now also the questioning of Jesus.

[15:45] He is now spoken with his voice and she's blinded by her sorrow and she's still fixated on his supposed dead body. And yet again we see this even in her sorrow she continues to show herself to be loyal to be dedicated to Christ.

[16:02] she's willing to do whatever it takes to honor Jesus in his death and that's commendable. But I just want us to pan out for a second and I want us to consider the fact that Mary's blinding sorrow here is a representation of something far greater.

[16:21] Mary's sorrow represents here the sorrow of all of Israel before her. The sorrow of all humanity and the world of all the stolen joys of all the shattered hopes experienced by mankind.

[16:36] Here in John's gospel we are standing with Mary on the edge of a precipice. A cosmic transformation is taking place but we don't yet know it because we're surrounded in this smog of sorrow.

[16:52] You know this is the reality of living in a sin infected world in which every aspect of life has been corrupted. And you know the Bible if you read the Bible it does not sugarcoat this dark reality.

[17:07] It actually gives expression to it time and again. Particularly in the Psalms of lament and you know in these Psalms and in other places of scripture those who are experiencing pain and grief they honestly bring that pain they bring that grief to the Lord in that place of sorrow.

[17:28] sorrow. Are you in a place of sorrow this morning? Your joy stolen? Your hope shattered?

[17:40] Whether low level sorrow in some mundane disappointment or acute sorrow in something far more significant does it feel like that disappointment or that failure or that trial or whatever it is is all that you can see.

[17:59] You know as Paul describes in Romans 8 verses 18 through 22 life in this present world involves suffering he says and futility and bondage to corruption and pain as in childbirth and we are powerless to free ourselves from this reality and in the dark moments of life we like Asaph one of the psalmist of Israel cry out in sorrow asking will the Lord spurn forever and never again be favorable has his steadfast love forever ceased are his promises at an end for all time has God forgotten to be gracious has he in anger shut up his compassion that's Psalm 77 but that's not where Psalm 77 ends and you know Paul has more to say in Romans chapter 8 doesn't he and this is not where the story in today's text ends does it you know if Mary Magdalene had been given the thing that she was looking for namely the dead body of Jesus

[19:11] I fear that we wouldn't even want to know the rest of the story but that's not what happens Mary's sorrow is turned to joy okay so here's Mary blinded by her sorrow despite all these signs of a different and better reality including the very presence of the risen Jesus and look at verse 16 Jesus said to her Mary she turned and said to him in Aramaic Rabbani which means teacher finally after Jesus speaks her name likely in the same personal way that she had always said her name finally Mary comes to the recognition that the man before her is in fact the risen Lord Jesus Christ and so she addresses him likely in the way she's always addressed him the Hebrew Rabbani which John translates for us as teacher so in this personal this intimate moment

[20:19] Mary's sorrow and her weeping give way to the joy of Christ's physical presence with her now it's difficult for us in the 21st century to really appreciate the magnitude here so I want to help us out we need to remember first of all that in the first century women were not regarded highly okay Jesus when he was talking to the woman at the well in John chapter 4 John records that the disciples marveled that he was talking with a woman and yet there at the well of Samaria that woman was the first one to know that he was the Messiah he revealed his identity to her and now at the empty tomb Mary this lowly woman in the first century is the first one that Jesus reveals himself to in his resurrected state second I want us to consider not only Mary's lowly state societally but Jesus is exalted state Jesus is the king of kings and the lord of lords yeah these are all good spots for an amen thank you

[21:25] Tyler Jesus is the king of kings and the lord of lords Jesus is Hebrews 1 3 the radiance of the glory of God who upholds the universe by the word of his power and remember he just got done conquering sin and death and the grave and hell itself now what kind of announcement do you think is merited by a feat like this you know there were two men most responsible humanly speaking for Jesus death on the cross now we know ultimately Jesus laid down his life of his own accord humanly speaking there were two men most responsible Roman governor Pilate and the Jewish high priest Caiaphas now Jesus had every right to burst into Pilate's palace right or to burst into Caiaphas council with a legion of angels and with flashes of lightning and say ha I win that's what I would have done that's not what

[22:28] Jesus does is it Jesus he shows himself to truly be gentle and lowly in heart Matthew 11 29 he lovingly pursues the person least likely by the world standard to be the first one to see him in his resurrected state and he meets Mary in such a humble unassuming way he doesn't bulldoze over her emotions he gently personally draws her out and then leads her into a rich experience of his presence this is the way church of the good shepherd he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep to him the gatekeeper opens the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out I am the good shepherd Jesus says I know my own and my own know me it's

[23:30] John 10 brothers and sisters in Christ has Jesus not shown himself to be this same good shepherd for each one of us you and I were helpless little sheep stuck in a pit of eternal sorrow stuck in a pit of sin and shame unable to climb our way out but Jesus in tender pursuing love he reached down and he pulled us out of that pit and to do so what did he have to do he laid down his perfect life upon the cross the shepherd becoming the lamb slain for sins once and for all and by his spirit he has led each one of us personally individually to a saving faith in him he is the good shepherd now not only in an ultimate eternal sense but in a daily continual sense

[24:31] Jesus shows himself brothers and sisters to us to be the good shepherd all the time every day Jesus is calling us by name he's leading us out of the little pits that we get stuck in whether of sorrow or of grief or of fear or anxiety or of questioning or of doubt even when we're blinded by what's in front of us like even when we think that Jesus presence is gone from us like Mary here he is there he will not leave us or forsake us no no instead he is patiently beckoning us to himself he's gently asking us why are you weeping whom are you seeking you know Jesus doesn't just lead us out of something but he also leads us into something

[25:34] I came Jesus said in John 10 10 that they may have life and have it abundantly and what characterizes that life that abundant life many things to be sure but there's one thing that Jesus repeats over and over again in John's gospel that he wants to fill his disciples there's one fruit that will surely grow in the aftermath of his resurrection now listen to this the night before Jesus' death he said these words to his disciples in the upper room John 16 verse 20 truly truly I say to you you will weep and lament but the world will rejoice you will be sorrowful but your sorrow will turn into joy I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you now this text in

[26:37] John 20 doesn't use the word joy but Mary's joy is leaping off the page at us and considering those words in John 16 just a few chapters earlier there is no doubt that Jesus wants us to understand that his resurrection has turned Mary's sorrow and weeping and lament into everlasting joy weeping may tarry for the night David says in Psalm 30 verse 5 but joy comes with the morning and you know this is not just some fleeting feeling of momentary happiness like when you know you see the first blades of grass shooting up when you cross the finish line at the 5k some of you ran that recently no no that's a fleeting feeling of joy of happiness this is an unshakable happiness deep down in the soul and you know that that's what joy is according to the bible joy is a lasting soul deep happiness and delight in christ produced in the believers by the holy spirit that's what biblical joy is and yes this means brothers and sisters that god does want us to be happy do you know that god wants us to be happy and he sent his son jesus christ to die on the cross for our sins and to rise triumphantly from the grave so that we could find ultimate unshakable happiness in him so we now have access to this everlasting joy through the spirit each and every day no matter what earthly sorrows we're facing pain listen though our present earthly circumstances often bring pain they often bring grief our ultimate circumstances our eternal circumstances those have been irreversibly altered for the best through the risen jesus christ so this means that if my joy over a luscious lawn is stolen like i have a deeper abiding joy in the risen christ and that can't be stolen and when your real job or your real marriage fails to be the idyllic one that you had imagined even then the inexpressible joy of eternal life in christ belongs to you that's the joy that god wants us to have now this is the joy that flooded mary's heart replacing her sorrow when she finally realized that jesus had risen from the dead and not only was she filled with joy but she was also filled with hope we see mary's sorrow turned to hope look at verse 17 actually before i read verse 17 i want to say we we can't really separate joy and hope from each other right and the reasons for joy and hope and i want to give you a working definition here of biblical hope here's biblical hope the confident expectation and desire that all of god's promises will come to pass that's biblical hope confident expectation and desire that all of god's promises will come to pass and because some of them have come to pass and then some of them will certainly come to pass we're filled with joy as we are also filled with hope so with that caveat

[30:37] because all these things also bring us joy that i'm about to talk about they filled mary with hope look at verse 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 you know jesus's command do not cling to me implies that that mary's probably holding on to him in some way perhaps to just assure herself that he's real or perhaps simply to express her love and devotion and jesus is telling her look i'm really here and also i'm not leaving yet and at the same time i think he's suggesting to her like look i i am leaving soon and this relationship is changing so you don't need to hold on to me physically so he's pointing here towards his ascension and in this pointing to his ascension he's also pointing to two great reasons for hope and here's the first one jesus's presence abiding with us in the spirit now how do i get that from this text well this is why because only a few chapters earlier jesus had told his disciples that it is john 16 verse 7 it is to your advantage that i go away for if i do not go away the helper holy spirit will not come to you but if i go i will send him to you now the fulfillment of that promise is symbolized when a few verses later jesus breathes on the disciples and says receive the holy spirit and that promise comes to pass on the day of pentecost seven weeks later when the spirit falls in power upon all the disciples so what for mary right here is a is a future reality of spirit indwelling spirit outpouring for us is a present reality the spirit has been poured out the spirit fills the hearts of all believers jesus's presence abides with us in the spirit that's the hope that mary has here jesus referring to his ascension and you know jesus promised that this helper this spirit would be with us forever again god god had always promises children that i will never leave you nor forsake you and now through the death and resurrection and ascension of christ that promise finds a new and greater fulfillment in the abiding presence of the holy spirit so that's the first hope jesus's abiding presence with us in the spirit now there's another reality another hope to which jesus is pointing when he speaks to mary of his ascension it's jesus's preparation of our heavenly home now how do i get this again going back to context is really important going back to the upper room this is what jesus had said to his disciples john 14 let not your hearts be troubled believe in god believe also in me in my father's house are many rooms if it were not so would i have told you that i go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and will take you to myself that where i am you may also be jesus's resurrection from the grave his ascension back to glory it not only means that he sends his spirit from heaven to dwell in us but that he goes to heaven to prepare a dwelling place for us and someday he's going to return and he's going to bring us to be with himself in endless glory this is our

[34:38] great hope saints jesus is preparing for us an eternal home in heaven and right now we have the spirit abiding in us we have a heavenly home right here and a heavenly home to look forward to in glory there's a third great hope in this same verse and it's this jesus's purchase of our belonging our place in god's family jesus tells mary so far in john's gospel jesus has referred to his disciples as servants and then as friends now they're also brothers of christ and sons of god the death and resurrection of jesus has resulted in a new reality for those who believe in him now this is a reality that fills us with joy that fills us with hope and it's this our reconciliation to god and our adoption into his family jesus has done away once and for all with the sin that separated us from god amen he has died in our place and he has nailed those sins to the cross and his resurrection from the grave that was god's divine certification that his sacrifice was sufficient debt paid in full you know if christ has not been raised paul says this in first corinthians 15 if he has not been raised then what are we doing here that's basically what paul says our faith is futile we're still in our sins but christ has been raised and therefore we know that his once for all sacrifice was sufficient god's just wrath has been satisfied in jesus and therefore with that separation removed we can be reconciled we can be united to god restored to relationship with god that's why we were made and also we could be adopted into his family given isaiah says in 56 verse 5 an everlasting name that shall not be cut off this is this is the glorious joy this is the glorious hope of all those who believe in jesus that we belong in god's family now and forever we are sons and daughters of the living god and we're going to experience the fullness of that adoption in the age to come because christ is risen so those are three magnificent realities that just burst forth from the resurrection of christ and they ought to cause hope to just spring up from our souls i want to ask do you know this hope do you know this hope are you experiencing this hope as your reality if you have not trusted in jesus christ as your and the only lord and savior who died in your place who rose mightily from the grave i long that you would trust in him today this unshakable joy this abiding hope can be yours today salvation life in jesus name can be yours today if you trust in him saints we should be asking ourselves today are we experiencing this hope as our

[38:38] daily reality let's take heart this morning christ has risen from the grave he has overcome every power of darkness sin and satan death and hell lie defeated at his feet and because of this we have these great reasons for hope as anchors for our souls this hope of what's to come as we talked about in first corinthians seven this hope it relativizes all of our earthly sorrows and struggles it dwarfs them in comparison this is what paul says in romans eight that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that's to be revealed to us that's because jesus took on flesh and he died as the substitute for sinners and he rose from the grave so saints let us this morning step back from those struggles and those sorrows you know they're the foothills that crowd out our vision we need to step back and we need to look up to the majestic mountains of what god has done for us in christ of what is now ours in him namely paul says in ephesians 2 7 an eternity experiencing the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in christ jesus that's our future now and forever the immeasurable riches of god's grace in kindness toward us in christ jesus so let's let our ultimate reality our ultimate eternal circumstances the ones that have been altered for the best let's let those fill us with joy and fill us with hope today in the midst of whatever we're facing even if parenting has been one discouragement after another even if it feels like your housing situation will never change even if a relationship feels beyond repair even still you have access to soul deep abiding joy and hope in the risen jesus and you know what as we see here he the good shepherd will lead you there he will lead you to that place time and again he will call your name he's beckoning you he's leading you into a real experience of joy and hope a real experience of his abiding presence with you if you can't see him he's there if you are a child of god if you believe in jesus christ he is there even if you don't think he is and you know this gets at the main point of this whole sermon if i could summarize this in one phrase here in the risen jesus sorrow is eclipsed by everlasting joy and hope into which he lovingly leads each of his sheep that's the whole point here there's one final verse in this passage one final point to be made we see here mary's joy and hope filled response in verse 18 look at verse 18 mary magdalene went and announced the disciples i have seen the lord and that he had said these things to her that word announced it has the same greek root as the word for angel angels are messengers they're heralds that's what mary is in this text and in being a herald mary becomes an apostle to the

[42:38] apostles that's how the early church talked about her she is here joyfully heralding the glorious good news of christ's resurrection to the other disciples what a complete reversal from the mary that we saw weeping at the tomb she was sorrowfully searching for the dead body of jesus and now she is filled with joy she is filled with hope she is gushing forth with this confidence and she is proclaiming i have seen the lord and this becomes the pattern for all of jesus's disciples this is the pattern we first come and see we come and see for ourselves we by god's grace through faith in jesus we experience for ourselves the joy and the hope of salvation come and see and then what do we do we go and tell go and tell testifying to the world of this glorious gospel come and see go and tell saints how can we keep this good news to ourselves through christ's death and resurrection he has ushered all of human history into a new and lasting age abounding in joy and hope we must go and tell we must go and tell so that sinners can find forgiveness in christ so they too can be reconciled to god and adopted into his family we must go and tell we must go and tell so that other sufferers who have had their joys stolen and their hopes shattered by life's disappointment so that they too can be filled with joy unshakable so they can be filled with resurrection hope that cannot be taken away we must go and tell we must go and tell for the glory and the honor of the risen and reigning lord jesus christ i want to close by just reading one verse and the refrain from an old hymn called thine be the glory lo jesus meets us risen from the tomb lovingly he greets us scatters fear and gloom let his church with gladness hymns of triumph sing for the lord now liveth death hath lost its sting thine be the glory risen conquering son endless is the victory thou or death hast won heavenly father we give you glory we give you praise jesus christ we give you glory and we give you praise you lay down your life of your own accord for your sheep and you have taken it up again because nobody could take it from you it wasn't ultimately pilots spinelessness it wasn't ultimately the plots of the jewish leaders it wasn't ultimately the betrayal of your disciple judas it was ultimately your boundless love for your sheep that's what led you to the cross that's what kept you there and it was your power that took your life back up raised to newness of life what joy and what hope we have in you jesus we give you glory we give you praise you are worthy and would you fill us today with the unshakable joy the abiding hope that comes that explodes from your resurrection we pray this in christ's name amen

[46:29] Thank you.