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 the other disciple, 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.
So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb.
Both of them were running together.
But the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.
Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb.
He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head,
not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up in a place by itself.
Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed.
For as yet they did not understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead.
Then the disciples went back to their homes.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.
And as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb.
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.
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.
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, 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.
Why are you here this Easter Sunday?
Perhaps you're here out of respect for a friend or family member who invited you to join them.
Perhaps you're curious about what Christians do when they meet in these odd-looking buildings.
And a major holiday seemed like a good time to visit.
Perhaps you were brought up in the church, and even though over time you have drifted away,
there's still something that draws you back.
Every so often.
Perhaps you come to church every Sunday, and this week is no different from any other.
But let me go one step further with this question.
Not just what brings you here this particular Sunday morning, but deep down, what are you
searching for?
In verse 15, Jesus asks Mary, whom are you seeking?
At the beginning of the Gospel of John, in chapter 1, Jesus asked his first would-be followers
almost the same question.
What are you seeking?
Beyond mere survival, what drives you to get out of bed in the morning, do what you do all
day, come back to where you live at night, and do it all over again?
Who or what are you searching for?
Well, let me begin by suggesting three common answers to this question.
Perhaps you're searching for truth, for a coherent system of beliefs that makes sense
of the world and shows us how to live well.
This is the quest of scientists, who through painstaking experiments seek to understand the
underlying structure and order of the universe.
The quest of students, who stay up until 4 a.m. trying to sort out the meaning of life
in a college common room.
The quest of philosophers, ancient and modern, who have sought out a path to wisdom and virtue.
Luke Ferry, the French secular humanist philosopher, wrote this,
At the heart of every great philosophical system is a quest for salvation without God.
Philosophy, like religion, also claims to save us, if not from death itself, then from the
anxiety it causes, and to do so by the exercise of our own resources and our innate faculty
of reason.
So perhaps you're searching for truth through reason.
On the other hand, maybe you've tried that, but it all seems too abstract, too complex, too
inconclusive.
So instead, you're searching for a spiritual experience.
The world is confusing, full of pain and suffering and injustice.
You're not trying to figure it all out, but you're looking for a spiritual experience that
will replace anxiety with confidence, grief with comfort, restlessness with peace.
Isn't that why we seek out things like music, or sex, or even food and drink?
That they can provide that solace, that comfort in a harsh world.
Perhaps that's what brings you to church this morning.
A hope of being lifted above the weariness of everyday life into the realm of the transcendent.
Or perhaps even more than a spiritual experience, perhaps you're longing for community.
Because even with all the knowledge in the world, and all the pleasant feelings one could
hope for, we might still be alone and unfulfilled.
As human beings, we long to be known and loved.
Isn't that why we pursue friendship, or romantic love, or building a family?
Even though at the same time, we fear the vulnerability that close relationships require of us.
As human beings, we seek truth to satisfy our minds.
We seek comfort to heal our hearts.
And we seek community, where we're known and loved.
What we see in our passage today is that the resurrection of Jesus speaks to us on all three of those levels.
It speaks to our mind.
It speaks to our hearts.
It speaks to our relationships.
So I want to take those three themes in turn this morning.
The first thing that we see is that the resurrection of Jesus speaks to our mind.
It's grounded in objective evidence.
Now, sometimes we think that people in the ancient world were prone to believe just about anything.
They believed in miracles.
They believed in angels and ghosts, or many of them did.
So perhaps they wouldn't find it too hard to believe that, some rumor, that somebody rose from the dead.
But that's actually not true at all.
They might have believed in miracles, ghosts, and angels, but they knew just as well as we do,
that when a person dies, their body decays, and they don't return to life in this world.
In a body.
Now, some Jewish people believed that one day God would raise all the dead to life,
and usher in his everlasting kingdom, but that would happen all at once, at the end of time.
So when Jesus was crucified, and his body was laid in a tomb, no one expected him to rise again.
Not the ruling authorities who had executed him, not his opponents who had accused him,
not his disciples who had followed him.
When Mary Magdalene came to the tomb in the darkness of early morning and saw the stone taken away,
she didn't immediately conclude, he's alive.
She ran away in terror.
She said, they've taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him.
When she found Peter and the other disciple, probably John,
John doesn't refer to himself by name in his gospel,
they didn't immediately believe he was alive either.
They went to see for themselves.
Some people have said perhaps they were mistaken.
In the dim light of early morning, they went to the wrong tomb.
But if they went to the wrong tomb, if Jesus' tomb wasn't really empty,
the Christian movement could never have survived in Jerusalem.
Perhaps it could have sprouted up hundreds of miles away in the Greco-Roman world as a mystery cult.
But it could never have survived in Jerusalem where these events were supposed to actually have happened.
Jesus had been accused of blasphemy by the religious leaders,
accused of treason by the political authorities,
condemned to death under Roman law.
There were all kinds of people who wanted him and his movement to stay dead.
If Jesus' body remained in the tomb,
while his followers were claiming that he was alive and risen,
anyone could have pointed to the body,
discredited the Christian movement,
and plenty of people had a motive to do just that.
But no one ever did.
Instead, the Christian movement survived and grew
and maintained a consistent presence in Jerusalem,
as well as spreading out to the world,
despite frequent persecution and opposition, particularly in Jerusalem.
The Christians maintained their claim that this Jesus,
who was crucified and buried,
had been raised to life by God himself.
And none of their opponents ever challenged that claim,
that the tomb of Jesus was empty.
Now we might ask,
well, is it possible that someone stole or removed Jesus' body,
like Mary wondered?
Well, Peter and John seem to have had this very question.
That's why they ran to the tomb and looked inside.
They had a little race to the tomb.
Interesting details.
John, the younger and more agile one,
got there first.
Peter, a bit older by all accounts,
and perhaps not in quite as good shape,
arrived second, huffing and puffing.
John, the restrained and reflective one,
looked inside and noted the linen cloths lying there.
Peter, no holds barred,
barged right in,
saw not just the linen cloths,
but also the face cloth.
Which had been on Jesus' head,
not lying with the linen cloths,
but folded up in a place by itself.
Now what's the point of all this detail?
Well, when Jesus died,
when he was buried,
his body was wrapped in linen cloths.
Chapter 19, verse 40 says this.
But that was the common Jewish burial custom.
He was embalmed with spices,
his body was embalmed with spices,
and a separate cloth was wrapped around his head,
leaving only the neck exposed.
Now if someone had carried away the body,
they would have carried away the linen cloths,
and the face cloth along with the body.
If you were a grave robber,
or if you were simply transporting the body
to another location for whatever reason,
you wouldn't unwrap the dead body of a man
who had been beaten to a pulp and crucified.
But this is what they saw.
The linen cloths that had bound Jesus' body,
lying there undisturbed.
The face cloth that had been wrapped around his face,
folded up neatly by itself.
In the words of John Stott,
the linen cloths were like a discarded chrysalis,
a cocoon from which a butterfly has emerged.
And so verse 8 says,
the other disciple saw,
and he believed.
He saw the objective evidence,
the linen cloths and the face cloths,
and he concluded,
contrary to all expectation,
that this Jesus had come to life again.
You see, the resurrection of Jesus
is not simply a fairy tale,
like the Easter bunny,
as much as I enjoy eating those marshmallow puffs.
It's not simply a metaphor for the coming of spring,
as relieved as we all are
that it finally seems to have come.
The early Christians were convinced
that Jesus' resurrection had actually happened,
and they testified to what they had seen.
But of course we might think,
well, 2,000 years have passed since then.
Perhaps you wonder,
what if it's not so simple?
I mean, the story we're reading here
wasn't written down until 50, 60 years
after the events it describes.
That's plenty of time for legends to develop,
and by then no one would be able to prove them wrong.
But that's the thing.
This story wasn't made up
50 or 60 years after the fact.
From the very beginning,
the earliest Christians testified to their belief
in a resurrected Lord Jesus,
that the same Jesus who was crucified and buried
was raised from the dead.
Earlier we read from 1 Corinthians 15,
which is one of the earliest letters in the New Testament
written by the Apostle Paul,
written around A.D. 53,
20 years after Jesus was crucified.
And in the passage we read,
he quotes from an early Christian summary of the faith.
He says,
I delivered to you,
as of first importance,
what I also received.
In other words,
he had received this summary from others.
He said that Christ died for our sins,
that he was buried,
that he was raised on the third day,
and that he appeared.
And then he lists a bunch of people
that Jesus appeared to,
who were witnesses of his resurrection.
And this wasn't something that Paul had invented himself.
He says,
I already delivered this to you.
He's referring back to when he had visited the Corinthians in person,
probably around A.D. 50,
a few years before that,
before he wrote the letter.
Previously he said,
I received this,
most likely from the Christians in Jerusalem,
most scholars think.
He had visited Jerusalem,
where some of the leaders of the church were,
and he had received this summary tradition from them.
And by then,
it had already become an accepted summary of belief
within the Christian community.
Now, in any community,
it takes time for traditions to develop.
And accepted summaries of belief
to be actually accepted summaries of belief,
and not just somebody's new ideas.
So many scholars believe
that the statement Paul was quoting
originated from within five years or even less
of when Jesus himself was crucified.
You see, the earliest Christians,
not just the later ones,
the earliest ones,
believed in Jesus' physical resurrection
because they were convinced
that it had actually happened.
That it wasn't merely wishful thinking,
it was grounded in real evidence.
Let me challenge you.
If you are not a Christian,
have you grappled
with the objective claims of the Christian faith?
In particular,
have you considered the historical evidence
for the resurrection of Jesus,
the most central claim of all?
You know, most people haven't.
C.S. Lewis once said,
many people compare
a version of Christianity
suitable for a six-year-old
to a thoughtful, nuanced,
articulate case
for agnosticism,
or atheism,
or another worldview.
Please don't assume
that what you remember,
the tidbits you remember
from being sent to Sunday school
as a child,
or what the major news outlets
portray Christians
as being primarily concerned about,
is the whole story.
Christianity is not primarily
an abstract philosophy.
It's not primarily
a political agenda.
It's not a list of ways
to become a better person
that you can pick and choose from
on and off
if they seem helpful.
The central claim of Christianity
is that God
has decisively intervened
in human history,
in the person of Jesus of Nazareth,
and that these events
that occurred 2,000 years ago,
Jesus' life,
Jesus' death,
and particularly
his resurrection from the dead,
make all the difference,
both for you personally,
and for the destiny
of the entire cosmos.
Now here at Trinity,
we want to take
these questions seriously.
Today in particular,
we've made several books
available for free
at the back.
There are 10-page booklets,
there are 800-page treatises,
take your,
and everything in between.
Start where you want.
There's a book called
The Reason for God.
If you haven't read it,
take a copy
and read it with a friend.
If you don't have a Bible
that you can read,
feel free to take
one of the few Bibles with you
as our gift to you.
So that's the first thing
we see in this passage,
that the message
of Jesus' resurrection
is grounded
in objective evidence.
But second,
we also see
that it was confirmed
by personal experience.
Verse 11,
we see Mary
weeping
beside the tomb.
Now we're not told
exactly when Mary
came back
to the tomb,
whether she had talked
with Peter and John
about what they had seen
or how she reacted
to them,
but we see her
overwhelmed
by grief.
Four times,
just in
verse 11 through 15,
the text refers
to her weeping.
Twice,
she basically repeats
what she said
to Peter and John
back in verse 2.
They have taken away
my Lord,
and I don't know
where they've laid him.
Sir,
if you've carried him away,
tell me where
you've laid him.
She was completely
overwhelmed.
And considering
all that Mary
had been through,
it wasn't surprising
that she was in
such a fragile
emotional state.
Mary had been
a devoted follower
of Jesus
for some time.
According to
the Gospel of Luke,
chapter 8,
she belonged
to a group of women
who followed Jesus
throughout his public
ministry
and provided for him
out of their own means.
these women
were some of his
most loyal followers.
Even when he hung
on the cross,
while he was being
executed,
they stayed near him.
When he was buried,
they witnessed
the burial.
And for Mary
in particular,
Jesus wasn't just
a respected leader
whom she had followed
and supported.
Jesus had powerfully
transformed her own life.
Luke,
chapter 8,
verse 2,
says,
Jesus healed many
of evil spirits
and infirmities.
And for Mary
in particular,
he says,
seven demons
had gone out
from her.
Now,
we aren't told
the details.
Perhaps she had been
plagued by a complex
illness.
Perhaps her life
had been characterized
by addictive
and self-destructive
patterns.
Perhaps she was
literally possessed
by multiple evil spirits.
Perhaps all of the above.
But through
encountering Jesus,
she had been released
from bondage.
She had found
wholeness
and joy
and peace
in her life.
And now it seemed
that perhaps
all was lost.
Not only had her teacher
died a shameful death,
but his grave
had been violated,
his body
carelessly removed.
Mary was a mess.
Have you ever been there?
Overwhelmed
by grief
and shock,
feeling that you've lost
your last friend.
Feeling humiliated,
violated,
alone.
In light of Mary's
emotional state,
Jesus approached her
with tender compassion.
He began by asking
two simple
and yet searching
questions
in verse 15.
woman,
why are you weeping?
Who are you seeking?
Isn't that what a good counselor
or a good friend
does
if you're an emotional wreck?
Takes the initiative
to come near to you.
Listens
to your weeping.
Perhaps listens to you
saying the same thing
over and over.
and ask simple
yet thought-provoking
questions.
And yet Jesus
didn't stop there.
The turning point
of this story
is verse 16.
Jesus said to her,
Mary.
And she turned
and said to him,
Rabboni,
my very own
dear teacher.
Jesus is the good shepherd
shepherd
who calls
us by name.
Who leads his sheep
and goes before them
and the sheep
know his voice.
Some people come
to believe
in the risen Lord Jesus
like Peter and John.
Through a process
of thinking
and reflection.
Reading,
discussing,
questioning,
observing.
Other people
come to believe
in the risen Lord Jesus
like Mary.
Through a personal
experience
of Jesus'
steadfast love
and mercy.
Meeting them
in their darkest hour.
On the one hand,
Mary's experience
of Jesus
is not a standard
to measure
our experiences
against.
According to the Bible,
Jesus is now
seated at the right
hand of God,
the Father in heaven.
That means you and I
will not touch
Jesus physically.
We are not promised
to hear Jesus' voice
speaking to us
in the same way
Mary did.
If it was necessary
for every believer
to have such a
dramatic personal
experience in order
to authentically
believe,
Jesus' command to
Mary in verse 17
would make no sense.
Telling her to go
and tell the others.
If the experience
was only for her,
he would simply
have said,
Mary,
now I have appeared
to you.
Now you are in the know.
But that will do
no good for anyone
else.
So you may keep
this all to yourself
and I will appear
to the others
one by one
if and when I choose.
But no.
Mary's experience
of Jesus
was not just
for her own benefit.
Her experience
wasn't an end
in itself.
Her experience
of Jesus
was ultimately
for the benefit
of others
who would hear
her testimony
and believe
in the Lord
whom she had
experienced.
Verse 18,
Mary doesn't just
tell the guys
this is what
I've experienced
but she also says
that he had said
these things to her.
She conveys
the message
of who Jesus is
and what he has said.
Now our experiences
of Jesus today
may not exactly
parallel Mary's
but Jesus is still
the same
compassionate
friend
and counselor
who draws near
to us
as we grieve
the loss
of loved ones
who listens
to our fears
and anxieties
as we look
into an uncertain
future
who asks us
probing
questions
simple questions
but profound
questions
in the midst
of our confusion.
He's still
the same
good and
gracious shepherd
who calls
his sheep
by name
who knows
the very details
of our
personal histories
and present
circumstances
and finds
a way to our
heart
in the midst
of them.
He knows
you.
He loves
you.
If you haven't
experienced him
yourself
consider the many
other people
who have.
There are many
people
right here
in this room
with their own
stories of how
they've experienced
Jesus healing,
Jesus presence,
Jesus deliverance,
sometimes in
very dramatic
ways,
sometimes in
very ordinary
but still
life transforming
ways.
If you're curious
ask someone
who's sitting
next to you
after the service.
But whether
we come to
faith through
an intellectual
process or
through a
personal experience
the path to
Christian maturity
involves engaging
both the mind
and the heart.
If you've had
a dramatic
experience of
God
share that
with other
people who
might benefit
from it
from hearing
your story.
But don't
simply try to
live in the
wake of that
experience
forever
because the
feeling may
fade.
And the
reason why it
fades is because
Christianity is
not ultimately
about our
experience of
God.
it's about
the God
whom we've
come to
experience.
And so let
your experience
propel you to
know this
God more
deeply and
fully as he's
revealed in the
scriptures.
On the other
hand if you've
come to
belief in
Jesus largely
through an
intellectual process
let me encourage
you to bring
your heart to
Jesus as well.
Bring your
fears to him.
Let them be
reshaped in
the light of
his promises.
Let the
glory of
God's
kingdom kindle
your imagination
and refine
your desires.
Be open to
all the ways
both rational
and intuitive
that God's
spirit may
choose to
work in
you and
through you
to bless
others.
Christianity
is not only
a matter of
objective evidence
it's not only
a matter of
personal experience
it's both.
It's meant to
engage both
our mind
and our
heart.
But there's
one more
thing.
The
resurrection
of Jesus
is not only
grounded in
historical
evidence
appealing to
our mind
and confirmed
by personal
experience
appealing to
our heart
but it also
results in a
new community.
We see this
at the end
in verse 17.
Jesus said
to Mary
Mary 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.
Now at
first Jesus
words to
Mary might
seem a little
harsh.
Don't hold
on to me.
But I don't
think we should
imagine Mary
recognizing Jesus
trying to give
him a hug and
Jesus saying
don't touch
me.
He says
don't cling
to me.
Which implies
that Mary was
already doing
just that.
She had
embraced Jesus
and didn't
want to let
him go.
What Jesus
is doing here
is redirecting
Mary's focus
from her own
personal comfort
and experience
to the good
of the larger
community.
Don't cling
to me.
But instead
go to my
brothers.
And he
says give
them this
message.
I am
ascending.
In other
words I am
in the process
of being
enthroned as
king over
everything.
Having
accomplished
his great
work on
earth.
Jesus is
now ascending
to the right
hand of God
the father
to reign
over all.
But he
doesn't just
say I am
ascending to
reign as king
over the whole
universe.
He says I
am ascending
to my
father and
your father.
My God
and your
God.
In other
words Jesus
in his
resurrection
has become
not only the
rightful king
over God's
new creation
he has also
become our
brother.
Through whom
we can draw
near to God.
You see by
taking on our
human nature
Jesus the
son of God
fully identified
with us.
By living a
life of
unwavering
trust and
obedience to
God and
steadfast love
of neighbor
Jesus fulfilled
God's calling
for humanity.
In his
death on the
cross Jesus
took our
place.
Dying the
death that we
deserve to
die.
Paying the
price for our
rebellion so we
could be
forgiven.
And through
his resurrection
and ascension
Jesus has
blazed a
trail into
glory.
He has
opened a
new and
living way
from earth
to heaven
from our
flawed and
fallen state
into the
holy and
everlasting
presence of
God.
Through Jesus
we can draw
near to God
as our
father who
loves us.
This is the
message that
Mary was
commissioned to
bear to the
apostles that
Jesus father is
now our
father.
That the
God who sent
Jesus is now
our God.
That together
we can draw
near to God
like Jesus
himself did.
As people who
are deeply
known and
deeply loved and
fully accepted.
Let me close
with two
questions.
First do you
have this kind
of relationship
with God
that verse
17 describes?
For many
people God is
basically a
distant law
giver.
A judge.
God is
and your
goal is to
do your
duty.
Check the
boxes on
his list
and then go
your way and
hope he
doesn't bother
you too
much.
Sort of like
when you
see the
police car
with the
sirens.
And you
hope that
you haven't
been going
too much
over the
speed limits.
For other
people God
is much
more like
Santa Claus
or the
Easter Bunny.
Merely a
projection of
our own
wishes.
Simply an
affirmation of
ourselves as
we currently
are.
And yet that
will never
deeply change
us.
You see the
God that
Jesus describes
is the
holy God.
The
sovereign and
transcendent
creator of
the universe.
The law
giver and
judge.
And yet at
the same
time he is
the God who
has sacrificed
everything.
in order to
adopt you
into his
family.
So that you
could belong
to him.
And King
Jesus the
son of God
himself is
now your
brother who
loves you.
And who
will be
forever loyal
to you.
And who
will never
leave you.
If you
know that
God,
Jesus'
God,
you will
have deep
awe and
great
assurance.
Deep
awe in
light of
God's
majesty and
great
assurance in
light of
God's
love.
You know,
holidays can
sometimes be
painful.
Because our
family relationships
often fall
short of what
they should or
could be.
But through
Jesus Christ,
we can know
that we have a
place in God's
family.
Forever.
the apostle
John wrote
to all who
received him.
To those who
believed in
his name,
Jesus'
name.
He gave the
right to
become children
of God.
Born of
God.
Born into a
new kind of
life that
even death
cannot finally
take away.
Have you
received this
Jesus?
And come to
know this
God?
Second,
have you
joined his
community?
The invitation
that this
passage extends
to us is not
only to consider
the historical
evidence for
Jesus'
resurrection,
not only to
experience Jesus
personally,
ourselves,
but to join
the community
of brothers and
sisters in
Christ who
draw near to
God together.
Knowing that
we are loved,
knowing that
we belong to
God,
knowing that
in Jesus
Christ even
our worst
failures have
been atoned
for.
We have the
potential to
become a new
kind of
community,
where we can
be known
without the
fear of being
rejected,
where we can
extend ourselves
to one another
in love and
to our world
instead of
simply guarding
and fearfully
protecting
ourselves.
Following the
risen Lord
Jesus is not
a solitary
endeavor.
It's not
about privately
clinging to
Jesus, it's
about joining
with his
followers and
proclaiming his
good news to
the world.
Come and join
this new
community that
the risen Lord
Jesus has
created.
What are you
searching for
this Easter
Sunday?
Are you seeking
truth grounded
in objective
reality?
Are you seeking
a God who
knows you
personally and
relates to you
love?
Are you
seeking a
community where
you know you
can belong?
This is what
the risen Lord
Jesus provides.
Let us pray.
Almighty God, we
thank you.
We thank you for
creating us in your
image.
church and
putting in us
the desire for
truth, the
desire to know
you personally,
the desire to be
part of a
community.
We thank you for
the resurrection of
Jesus.
Lord, we pray
that your spirit
would lead us to a
deeper knowledge of
you, deeper love
of you.
We pray that you
would draw near to
us as you drew
near to Mary.
We pray that you
would guide our
minds in our
searching.
And we pray that
you would dwell with
us as we gather as a
community.
Lord, that we may
know your
presence, that we
may be confident in
your truth, that we
may be assured of
your love.
We pray these things
in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, as the music
team comes to the
front, please stand
as we sing our
closing hymn.
Amen.