WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.839 Thanks for having me and for inviting me to come speak to you all this Sunday. 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:12.839 Whenever somebody from Scotland comes and speaks to in America, half the fun is the 00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:13.839 accent. 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:20.199 And I've been told that the American accent coming the other way is not quite as lovely. 00:00:20.199 --> 00:00:21.199 So I'm sorry. 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:22.760 I don't know what else to say about that. 00:00:22.760 --> 00:00:27.440 But instead I like to look at a passage that's near and dear to my heart, which is here. 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:30.839 This is John 20, verses 11 through 18. 00:00:30.839 --> 00:00:35.600 And I like this passage because a lot of folks, particularly in New York, but in Edinburgh 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:42.880 and a lot of the West, there's lots of questions about the historic Christian faith, serious 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:44.159 questions. 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:49.640 We look around our lives and we see suffering, we see brokenness, we see poverty, we see 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:55.000 disease, we see death, we see it outside in the world, we see it inside in our own hearts 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:56.560 in our lives. 00:00:56.560 --> 00:00:59.679 When questions come up, why is there so much hurt here? 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:03.440 Why is there so much brokenness out there? 00:01:03.440 --> 00:01:05.159 Why is there so much going on in my own life? 00:01:05.159 --> 00:01:09.560 And supposedly we live in a post-resurrection world. 00:01:09.560 --> 00:01:12.120 And then here we are, we're still crying, but we're still crying. 00:01:12.120 --> 00:01:17.560 And what I like about this passage is Mary is also in the same exact space as us, is 00:01:17.560 --> 00:01:23.040 that she's living in a post-resurrection world and yet she's actually crying. 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:26.120 And so we have to ask, what will heal her tears? 00:01:26.120 --> 00:01:28.400 What will heal our tears? 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:33.200 And the answer Christianity consistently gives us over and over and over again. 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:34.960 What will heal the tears of the world? 00:01:34.960 --> 00:01:38.960 What will heal our own tears is transformation. 00:01:38.960 --> 00:01:42.240 And that Christianity says it happens to Mary in this text and it can actually happen to 00:01:42.240 --> 00:01:43.840 us. 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:47.840 You might this morning not be a believer at all and so you're just, the tears are there 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:51.439 and the questions are there and there's no answers. 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:55.800 Some of you have believed in Christianity intellectually for a long time and yet we're 00:01:55.799 --> 00:02:01.640 still crying because it hasn't transformed us yet. 00:02:01.640 --> 00:02:04.719 It's more than just having head knowledge, it has to be heart knowledge as well. 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:06.560 It's more than just reading this text. 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:11.240 The text, there has to be some sort of experience of Jesus that happens as well. 00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:14.400 And so when I do this morning I want to look at the transformation and how it might work 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:19.400 and I think we can look at Mary's story here and we can break it up in three headings. 00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:24.800 We're going to look at Mary crying, then she's seen and then she's going. 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:26.840 So Mary's crying scene going. 00:02:26.840 --> 00:02:33.520 So first crying, the Greek verb to cry is the word chaleion which happens about eight 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:36.120 times in the book of John. 00:02:36.120 --> 00:02:43.400 Three times during the Lazarus sort of death scene, one time elsewhere but most of the 00:02:43.400 --> 00:02:47.600 verbs to cry happened actually in this passage here, to weep. 00:02:47.600 --> 00:02:48.880 It's translated to weep here. 00:02:48.880 --> 00:02:50.120 Why are you weeping? 00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:57.840 Or Mary stood verse 11 weeping outside the tomb and clearly John's focusing on her crying. 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:03.640 Look at verse 11, it says Mary stood weeping outside the tomb and as she wept she stooped 00:03:03.640 --> 00:03:06.080 to look into the tomb. 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:12.159 And the first thing that's asked of her is by these angels in white, they're sitting 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:17.319 where the body of Jesus had laid, one at the head and one at the feet. 00:03:17.319 --> 00:03:22.400 And they said to her, woman, why are you weeping? 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:26.519 Now I don't know about you but this is probably one of the most offensive things that you 00:03:26.519 --> 00:03:29.120 could ask somebody. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:34.120 There's not like a book of things not to say at funerals but if there was, you should 00:03:34.120 --> 00:03:37.319 never go up to somebody and say, why are you crying? 00:03:37.319 --> 00:03:44.719 When I first showed up here in Scotland, Neil, one of the, at Cornerstone, one of your pastors 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:45.919 that you support. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:49.359 I asked him, I said, how can you offend Scottish people? 00:03:49.359 --> 00:03:52.159 And he goes, oh, we Scots, we're not very offensive. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:54.079 And I said, how's Brexit going? 00:03:54.079 --> 00:03:56.799 He goes, okay, you're right. 00:03:56.799 --> 00:04:00.359 And then I looked around at Edinburgh and I said, well, England looks really nice today. 00:04:00.359 --> 00:04:04.799 And he goes, okay, okay, okay, case in point. 00:04:04.799 --> 00:04:07.560 So what was the reason why I was offending him? 00:04:07.560 --> 00:04:10.399 I think I was just trying to. 00:04:10.399 --> 00:04:15.799 But why were these angels, why would they say to Mary, why are you weeping? 00:04:15.800 --> 00:04:19.480 It's a pretty, it's a pretty offensive thing. 00:04:19.480 --> 00:04:24.240 When I was in uni dating now my wife, Sarah, I used to, she would cry sometimes and I'd 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:28.319 say, why are you crying as if that was really helpful? 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:32.480 I now learned that 18 years after marriage, you shouldn't ask that question. 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:37.080 So then, which makes us wonder, why are they doing it here? 00:04:37.080 --> 00:04:43.600 And then it actually gets, actually, there's an intensification because Jesus in verse 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:47.000 15 repeats the exact same question word for word. 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:49.320 He says, woman, why are you weeping? 00:04:49.320 --> 00:04:51.120 Why are you crying? 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:56.480 And I think the reason why both these questions are here is it's trying to hyper focus our 00:04:56.480 --> 00:05:01.240 attention that Jesus is paying attention to these tears. 00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:07.240 And this is a big deal because, you know, in some respects, this is the first time Jesus 00:05:07.240 --> 00:05:08.800 shows up after the resurrection. 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:10.560 He doesn't say, hey, I'm back. 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:12.520 He doesn't say, surprise, look at me. 00:05:12.519 --> 00:05:16.519 The first thing he says is, why are you weeping? 00:05:16.519 --> 00:05:20.719 Which means that at the most momentous moment in all of human history, probably at the most 00:05:20.719 --> 00:05:25.680 important inflection point of if the resurrection is true, this is the most important thing 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:27.599 that's ever happened in humanity. 00:05:27.599 --> 00:05:32.319 And instead of focusing us on that, he's focusing on her tears. 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:35.519 In New York City, I get a lot of people that, you know, we think God doesn't care about 00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:37.439 our tears seriously. 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:42.560 And yet this text is almost screaming at us, telling us that's not true. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:46.800 And so I want to just stop here for a little bit because I think at this moment, what we 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:51.560 need to see is the God that we worship is so in tune with our pain. 00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:57.079 He so cares about what we're going through that nothing else is more important to him. 00:05:57.079 --> 00:06:02.879 He is laser focused and honing into this exact emotion and feeling and experience that she's 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:07.040 going through, that he's going to pay attention to that more than the most momentous thing 00:06:07.040 --> 00:06:08.520 that's ever happened in life. 00:06:08.520 --> 00:06:12.120 It'd be like something really, really, really important, like maybe the biggest thing that's 00:06:12.120 --> 00:06:18.360 ever happened in your personal life and your friend or just a loved one, you see them going 00:06:18.360 --> 00:06:21.480 through something instead of like spilling out everything that's happened to you, you 00:06:21.480 --> 00:06:23.920 focus on who they are and what they're going through. 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:28.040 That's exactly what we have in the God of the universe doing this here in the person 00:06:28.040 --> 00:06:29.560 of Jesus. 00:06:29.560 --> 00:06:31.720 He's thinking about her tears. 00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:33.720 He's thinking about our tears. 00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:40.320 A few chapters before this one, chapter 16 verse 33 of John, Jesus says what I think 00:06:40.320 --> 00:06:43.560 is the most uncontroversial thing that he's ever said. 00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:46.440 Everybody wants to look at what are the controversial things that Jesus says. 00:06:46.440 --> 00:06:48.320 Well, let me give you the least. 00:06:48.320 --> 00:06:53.240 He says in four words, the world has many sorrows. 00:06:53.240 --> 00:06:55.360 It's not controversial. 00:06:55.360 --> 00:06:56.880 We pass right over that. 00:06:56.880 --> 00:06:57.880 The world has many sorrows. 00:06:57.879 --> 00:07:04.439 And we go, well, of course, we know that, but him identifying that as people, as we 00:07:04.439 --> 00:07:11.159 cry, as we struggle, why bring it up unless Christianity has an answer for those tears 00:07:11.159 --> 00:07:14.000 and has an answer for what we're going through. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:19.079 Paul in the first letter to Thessalonians, chapter four verse 13, he addresses Christians 00:07:19.079 --> 00:07:20.759 who die. 00:07:20.759 --> 00:07:26.360 And as they die, he feels it's important to address this matter. 00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:27.360 Whether you're a Christian or not here. 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:29.280 I think when people die, we cry. 00:07:29.280 --> 00:07:30.280 Everybody does. 00:07:30.280 --> 00:07:35.240 But Paul felt it important to clarify what's happening with a Christian. 00:07:35.240 --> 00:07:36.240 And so he says this in verse 13. 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:40.360 He says, I do not want you to be uninformed about those who die. 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:41.360 Okay. 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:42.879 What is he going to inform us with? 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:43.879 Well, he goes on. 00:07:43.879 --> 00:07:48.400 So that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind who has no hope. 00:07:48.400 --> 00:07:50.120 Now, listen carefully. 00:07:50.120 --> 00:07:51.240 He's not saying don't grieve. 00:07:51.240 --> 00:07:52.680 He's not saying don't cry. 00:07:52.680 --> 00:07:53.680 Everybody cries. 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:54.680 We all cry. 00:07:54.680 --> 00:07:58.639 He's not saying that I don't want you to cry as if you have no hope. 00:07:58.639 --> 00:07:59.639 Okay. 00:07:59.639 --> 00:08:00.639 Why is that? 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:01.639 Well, he goes on. 00:08:01.639 --> 00:08:05.280 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again. 00:08:05.280 --> 00:08:09.439 And so what he's saying here is he's saying if Jesus died and rose again, if the resurrection 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:14.600 is true, then that actually transforms our tears. 00:08:14.600 --> 00:08:20.319 It doesn't get rid of them, but it changes them through hope. 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:22.199 Hope is like a salt into meat, right? 00:08:22.199 --> 00:08:26.000 If you leave meat just sitting out for a little bit, it'll rot, it'll go bad. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:28.719 But if you put salt in it, and not just on top, right? 00:08:28.719 --> 00:08:30.159 You put salt on top, it flavors it. 00:08:30.159 --> 00:08:34.840 But if you work it into the meat, sometimes you have to pound it into the meat. 00:08:34.840 --> 00:08:39.840 Sometimes you have to slam it into, get it into the deep inner workings of the meat, 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:41.639 and that meat will get preserved. 00:08:41.639 --> 00:08:43.240 It won't go bad. 00:08:43.240 --> 00:08:50.000 In the same way, we need hope smashed into our tears, worked deep into what our tears 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:55.159 are, and that'll keep us from falling apart, as I think is what Paul's saying here. 00:08:55.159 --> 00:09:00.240 It'll keep us together, and I think this is what Jesus wants to focus in on and reveal 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:01.240 to Mary. 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:04.600 And so, yes, she's crying, but he's going to go into, I think, two other things that 00:09:04.600 --> 00:09:08.399 I think we need to look at here, which is both the scene and the going that I think 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:12.480 will change and transform the tears through hope. 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:16.519 And so instead of making us weaker and more hopeless, it can actually make us wiser and 00:09:16.519 --> 00:09:17.519 deeper. 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:19.519 So let's look at those quickly. 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:27.360 Grieving, but sowing hope into that grief can lead us to see. 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:28.879 Look at the text again. 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:31.399 Notice she doesn't see Jesus at first. 00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:35.360 Eventually she does, but it takes time. 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:39.759 And I think for modern people, we're in the same boat, that it'll take time for us to 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:41.439 actually see him. 00:09:41.439 --> 00:09:44.559 The first step to see, and I think is trusting the account that you have before us, that 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:45.559 this actually happened. 00:09:45.559 --> 00:09:46.919 There's a lot of scholarship. 00:09:46.919 --> 00:09:51.279 There's a lot of people that have gone into this text and said, no, this is lies. 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:52.779 This is legends. 00:09:52.779 --> 00:09:53.779 This is myth. 00:09:53.779 --> 00:09:55.279 This is not real. 00:09:55.279 --> 00:09:58.279 And this is where you all, we all have to do our homework. 00:09:58.279 --> 00:10:03.399 We have to ask ourselves, if John's number one goal is to get people to believe this 00:10:03.399 --> 00:10:06.599 account, then why would he write it this way? 00:10:06.599 --> 00:10:11.039 Why would he put himself as the author and the main leaders of the church running around 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:13.399 looking like they don't know what they're doing? 00:10:13.399 --> 00:10:20.039 Why would he make the, this is I think the most pivotal seminal moment in the text, which 00:10:20.039 --> 00:10:23.799 is the first eyewitness of the resurrected Jesus. 00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:29.679 And he puts a woman here as the most important witness when her eyewitness testimony at this 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:33.120 time 2,000 years ago would have been inadmissible in a court of law. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:36.759 If you want people to believe you, you would pick somebody else than that. 00:10:36.759 --> 00:10:41.759 And even more so, not just any woman, he picks Mary Magdalene, who in Luke chapter eight 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:46.519 were told was demon possessed, which you know then in the community around, she would have 00:10:46.519 --> 00:10:50.840 been considered, her reputation would have been less than credible to other people. 00:10:50.840 --> 00:10:54.200 So she had a soiled character. 00:10:54.200 --> 00:10:59.639 If you're writing to convince people that this is true, you don't do it this way. 00:10:59.639 --> 00:11:05.279 You don't write it where the people who knew Jesus the longest, you know, actually looked 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:07.960 like they know the least about him. 00:11:07.960 --> 00:11:13.160 If you want people to believe you, you say here, the tomb is empty and therefore Jesus 00:11:13.160 --> 00:11:15.040 rose from the dead. 00:11:15.040 --> 00:11:16.440 What do you see in this text? 00:11:16.440 --> 00:11:20.200 The tomb is empty and Mary says, where have you taken them? 00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:21.200 What did you do with them? 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:22.200 You're the gardener, you took them. 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:23.400 I know you did something to them. 00:11:23.400 --> 00:11:24.639 You don't do that. 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:25.639 Right? 00:11:25.639 --> 00:11:31.920 Why even place that potential possibility in the minds of the readers like ourselves? 00:11:31.920 --> 00:11:35.040 If you're trying to convince, you don't write a story like this. 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:40.639 And I think other scholars, many scholars have said that it increases the chances that 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:43.159 they probably weren't lying because it was written this way. 00:11:43.159 --> 00:11:49.120 That Mary's inability to understand the evidence is actually evidence for us. 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:51.319 And so I think we need to stop here as well because I think a lot of you sitting here 00:11:51.319 --> 00:11:52.919 go, oh, evidence. 00:11:52.919 --> 00:11:54.159 I would love some evidence. 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:56.319 That would actually help me in my Christian faith. 00:11:56.319 --> 00:12:00.719 If I had some evidence, if I had some real solid evidence, then I can believe. 00:12:00.719 --> 00:12:01.719 So what kind of evidence? 00:12:01.720 --> 00:12:09.440 Well, maybe an empty tomb would be nice, maybe an angel or two to talk to, some sort of supernatural 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:11.240 paranormal activity. 00:12:11.240 --> 00:12:13.120 I've had people in New York say that. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:18.399 They say, if I could just have some sort of miracle happen, then I think I could believe. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:21.399 Others of you would say, just let me talk to Jesus. 00:12:21.399 --> 00:12:27.759 If Jesus could just appear and maybe in a genie smoke, and hello, I'm here to answer 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:29.720 your questions. 00:12:29.720 --> 00:12:32.639 Some of us would say, I'd love to just talk to Jesus for a bit. 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:36.440 And I think that would actually go a long way for my belief. 00:12:36.440 --> 00:12:39.200 But again, look at the text. 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:41.480 Mary Magdalene has an empty tomb. 00:12:41.480 --> 00:12:43.040 She doesn't just talk to one. 00:12:43.040 --> 00:12:45.240 She talks to two different angels. 00:12:45.240 --> 00:12:46.519 She talks to the risen Lord. 00:12:46.519 --> 00:12:48.279 She talks to Jesus. 00:12:48.279 --> 00:12:51.120 Everything that you and I would have said I would have needed, you would have needed 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:54.360 to actually have the evidence to believe in Jesus. 00:12:54.360 --> 00:12:58.639 And it did her no good. 00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:00.199 It wasn't enough. 00:13:00.199 --> 00:13:04.240 That kind of evidence, these are not the things that you're going to need to actually see 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:05.740 Jesus. 00:13:05.740 --> 00:13:06.740 It won't be enough. 00:13:06.740 --> 00:13:08.720 And I think this is important to realize. 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:11.279 She sees Jesus and she doesn't see Jesus. 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:12.279 Right? 00:13:12.279 --> 00:13:16.279 She's looking at Jesus and she's not really able to look at Jesus. 00:13:16.279 --> 00:13:17.279 Because I think, why? 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:20.919 Because I think she had an idea of Jesus as an example. 00:13:20.919 --> 00:13:24.200 I think she had an idea of Jesus as a good person. 00:13:24.200 --> 00:13:25.879 She obviously loved him. 00:13:25.879 --> 00:13:28.720 But she wasn't looking for him in this way. 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:32.439 So she saw him but she didn't really see him. 00:13:32.439 --> 00:13:34.639 And that's why it didn't change her crying. 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:36.320 It didn't change her tears. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:39.480 That wasn't a hope that worked into her life. 00:13:39.480 --> 00:13:43.039 If you think an example of Jesus, just Jesus is a good person. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:45.120 I should look like Jesus. 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:48.399 If you think that's going to be enough for your life, it wasn't for Mary. 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:51.759 There's a lot of people out there that think, you know what, if I just read my Bible, if 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:56.840 I pray, if I'm a good person, I do some good deeds, then I'll go to heaven, then the world 00:13:56.840 --> 00:13:58.600 will be a better place. 00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:00.919 That's actually bad news. 00:14:00.919 --> 00:14:01.919 Right? 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:05.679 That can't be how it works because then that means only the good people get into heaven. 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:10.120 And if only the good people get into heaven, well, as we know from statistics and sort 00:14:10.120 --> 00:14:15.120 of just public policy, a lot of what makes somebody good is their circumstances and what 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:17.480 they were born into and what they were given. 00:14:17.480 --> 00:14:23.200 Right, what we have been able to basically document is that if you're born into a family 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:28.560 with two parents and you have money and you go to uni and you get a good job, you can 00:14:28.560 --> 00:14:32.600 become an upstanding member of society. 00:14:32.600 --> 00:14:35.159 But that's salvation by works. 00:14:35.159 --> 00:14:36.480 That only the good people are in. 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:40.120 If Jesus is just a teacher and he's just an example, wanting to tell you how to live and 00:14:40.120 --> 00:14:44.120 how to be good and you have to earn your way in, then that's not good news. 00:14:44.120 --> 00:14:49.039 It's actually exclusive news because only the people who sort of won the lottery when 00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:52.600 it comes to being a good person actually gets to be in. 00:14:52.600 --> 00:14:57.840 But if, here's the if, if he's the Son of God, if he died for our dead, if we actually 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:03.320 are sinners but for the grace of God go I, if that's actually true, then we're saved 00:15:03.320 --> 00:15:06.720 by grace and the resurrection is just proof that it happened. 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:13.000 And if that's true, then Mary, notice Mary can't see Jesus on her own. 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:14.919 Jesus has to reveal himself to her. 00:15:14.919 --> 00:15:16.559 Jesus has to speak to her. 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:18.360 And then that's salvation by grace. 00:15:18.360 --> 00:15:19.360 Right? 00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:20.360 It's in our text. 00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:23.759 It's not, it doesn't say salvation by grace, but you can just tell that there's no way 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:26.519 for her to actually procure that on her own. 00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:28.120 And so it's not the evidence of Jesus. 00:15:28.120 --> 00:15:30.159 It's not the example of Jesus. 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:33.080 It's only the truth of seeing Jesus for who he is. 00:15:33.080 --> 00:15:35.879 And so here's my question to you this morning. 00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:37.320 Where are you seeing Jesus right now? 00:15:37.320 --> 00:15:40.279 You're not really seeing Jesus. 00:15:40.279 --> 00:15:47.879 Where are you looking for Jesus and you're not really looking at Jesus in your life? 00:15:47.879 --> 00:15:48.879 Right? 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:53.399 I think a lot of us are actually there to heal our grief, to so hope into our tears, 00:15:53.399 --> 00:15:55.279 to move it into that meat. 00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:59.879 The first thing that Jesus brings into her life is the ability to see. 00:15:59.879 --> 00:16:03.279 Where are you, you need to see the risen king first. 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:04.959 So where are you looking for him in the wrong places? 00:16:04.959 --> 00:16:09.240 Where are you experiencing him and not, where do you want to experience him and you're not? 00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:12.840 So there's a little bit of introspection we have to do on the front end. 00:16:12.840 --> 00:16:18.399 Secondly, he doesn't just bring seeing, there's a going here as well. 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:22.399 And I got to this because I started looking at this text and I started wondering, have 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:26.080 you ever thought, why does Jesus show himself to Mary first? 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:27.080 Right? 00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:28.360 He's clearly risen from the dead. 00:16:28.360 --> 00:16:30.799 He's waiting around the tombs, waiting for her to show up. 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:32.680 Why go to her first? 00:16:32.680 --> 00:16:35.480 I can think of a couple other people I would have gone to see first. 00:16:35.480 --> 00:16:36.480 Right? 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:39.639 If I had come back from the dead, I think I'd have gone to King Herod first and said, 00:16:39.639 --> 00:16:41.200 hey, King, remember me? 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:43.840 You put me to death, I'm back. 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:45.039 Something like that. 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:46.800 Or maybe I would have gone to the Sanhedrin. 00:16:46.800 --> 00:16:52.000 I would have gone to the body of Jewish leaders and said, hey, you thought you could get rid 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:54.000 of me, you know, boo. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:56.440 You know, kind of, I'm back from the dead. 00:16:56.440 --> 00:17:02.000 There's a lot of other people I might have gone to first. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:07.079 And yet he shows up to Mary and we have to ask, why is that? 00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:10.400 And I think the answer is that he's trying to make a point, he's revealing himself to 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:15.480 her to give her something that she needs. 00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:19.140 When you're grieving, and maybe think about this for your own life or think about it for 00:17:19.140 --> 00:17:23.000 people you know, when you're grieving, it's really hard for you not to look at yourself. 00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:27.359 Because you can only, you can only experience, you can't get out of your own experience. 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:31.400 It's hard for you to care for or serve others because you're just thinking about, well, 00:17:31.400 --> 00:17:35.080 you're always me, you're thinking about that you're hurt, you're thinking about your suffering. 00:17:35.080 --> 00:17:39.759 You're sort of, you're inwardly focused and it's really hard to get out of yourself. 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:45.620 And so what Jesus does is he comes into her life and there's this inevitable self-absorption. 00:17:45.620 --> 00:17:46.880 And what does he say to her? 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:51.120 Does he say, hey, you got me back, now hold on tight and we're going to be good? 00:17:51.120 --> 00:17:52.120 No. 00:17:52.120 --> 00:17:53.120 He doesn't do that. 00:17:53.120 --> 00:17:54.120 Look at verse 17. 00:17:54.120 --> 00:17:57.600 Verse 17, he says, do not cling to me for I have not yet ascended. 00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:02.359 Now, it's nothing about the physicality because we know just in a couple of chapters he allows 00:18:02.359 --> 00:18:05.359 Thomas to touch him, like he said, here touch. 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:08.240 So there's nothing about the physicality about it. 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:10.759 So there's something about the ethos of clinging. 00:18:10.759 --> 00:18:14.399 He says, no, don't hold on to me because why? 00:18:14.399 --> 00:18:16.959 Because I'm going to send you on a mission. 00:18:16.959 --> 00:18:18.399 Why, what does he say in verse 17? 00:18:18.399 --> 00:18:24.079 He says, but go and tell, go to my brothers and say to them. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:26.199 So he's giving her a mission. 00:18:26.200 --> 00:18:31.400 So I think what's happening here, the reason why he selects Mary by picking her as the 00:18:31.400 --> 00:18:37.240 very first representative of a messenger to go speak about the resurrection is he's actually 00:18:37.240 --> 00:18:41.240 saying, it doesn't matter what status the world has given you. 00:18:41.240 --> 00:18:43.240 It doesn't matter what the world thinks about you. 00:18:43.240 --> 00:18:47.759 It doesn't matter how low you think you are, how high you think you are, no matter where 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:51.000 you are in this world, you've been given a mission. 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:52.000 You've been given a purpose. 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:55.080 You've been given a direction to go out and to change the world. 00:18:55.079 --> 00:19:01.359 If his vision and mission is to give hope to the tears of the world, then as ambassadors 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:06.399 and believers of his vision, of his nature, of his resurrection, then we are to go out 00:19:06.399 --> 00:19:07.720 and tell others as well. 00:19:07.720 --> 00:19:10.159 In our ways, everybody's here is different. 00:19:10.159 --> 00:19:12.799 In our forms, everybody's different. 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:15.119 But there's still a purpose here. 00:19:15.119 --> 00:19:20.519 We have something to live for beyond just making it and breaking it and living in this world. 00:19:20.519 --> 00:19:23.639 Now I could like say, okay, it's time to be done. 00:19:23.640 --> 00:19:25.440 Let's pray and send out and go. 00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:27.720 But there's a little problem now, right? 00:19:27.720 --> 00:19:29.400 Is that two problems, I think? 00:19:29.400 --> 00:19:31.160 Now that I think about it. 00:19:31.160 --> 00:19:34.960 On one level, some of you are still suffering and it's hard to just feel like I can go out 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:38.480 and serve because you're inwardly sort of focused. 00:19:38.480 --> 00:19:40.360 You can't get outside of yourself. 00:19:40.360 --> 00:19:41.560 Others of you are like, let's do it. 00:19:41.560 --> 00:19:42.560 I'm going to go serve. 00:19:42.560 --> 00:19:46.000 But there's sometimes a self-salvation. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:48.680 There's a naivete. 00:19:48.680 --> 00:19:54.200 I'm doing this because potentially I'm going to serve folks and then I'll know that I'm 00:19:54.200 --> 00:19:56.560 a good person or then God has to save me. 00:19:56.560 --> 00:19:58.440 Then I know that I'm loved and cared for. 00:19:58.440 --> 00:20:01.440 There can be a self-salvation in there. 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:04.440 So either way, either I can't go out and serve. 00:20:04.440 --> 00:20:10.880 I know I have this vision and mission, but I'm too hurting or you're almost naïve about 00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:15.720 it and you don't realize that you're actually doing it for the wrong motivations. 00:20:15.720 --> 00:20:16.720 What if? 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:18.600 That's a play scenario. 00:20:18.600 --> 00:20:23.039 What if we actually felt unconditionally loved? 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:27.319 I know that's a real hard question to ask you all because I don't know if anybody in 00:20:27.319 --> 00:20:32.200 this world has actually to each other been able to give unconditional love. 00:20:32.200 --> 00:20:40.600 But for a second, just imagine if you were 100% fully, actually assured of the love, 00:20:40.600 --> 00:20:46.039 not just from God, just the period, love to you from others. 00:20:46.039 --> 00:20:47.039 You wouldn't have to earn it. 00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:48.279 You wouldn't have to get it. 00:20:48.279 --> 00:20:52.159 You wouldn't have to wring your hands daily and wonder, like, am I going to make it? 00:20:52.159 --> 00:20:55.879 Am I going to be this or that? 00:20:55.879 --> 00:21:03.599 If you felt fully loved, accepted, validated in who you really were, there'd be freedom. 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:07.279 Freedom to serve, freedom to move out, freedom to not just navel gaze and look down but look 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:09.680 out. 00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:15.480 If we had that from the God of the universe, I don't think we would stay where we are. 00:21:15.480 --> 00:21:17.640 I don't think we would stay just sort of settled. 00:21:17.640 --> 00:21:22.000 Go to Genesis 12, when God makes a people with Abraham, he says, I'm going to bless 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:23.319 you. 00:21:23.319 --> 00:21:25.240 But the blessing's never meant to just stay there. 00:21:25.240 --> 00:21:30.880 If you read on, I'm going to bless you so that you will be a blessing to all nations. 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:33.440 God never brings you in without sending you back out. 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:40.680 As soon as Mary gets her savior back, that she knows that she's infinitely fully 100% 00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:43.960 accepted and loved and cared for. 00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:46.319 She sent out to go and tell and do. 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:47.319 Here's the mystery. 00:21:47.319 --> 00:21:51.519 I can't put my finger on this, but there's something about the going and the telling and 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:56.799 the doing that actually makes you more secure about the love and the grace and care that 00:21:56.799 --> 00:21:58.759 you have from him. 00:21:58.759 --> 00:22:02.480 I can't put my finger on it, but it's here that there's something about the sending that 00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:07.120 reminds us about the love and about the grace and about the care. 00:22:07.120 --> 00:22:10.559 It all is centered about the name, the identity. 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:16.679 When Jesus says to her, Mary in verse 16, there's an identity move. 00:22:16.679 --> 00:22:22.159 There's a change where she feels that love and that care that I think if we had in our 00:22:22.159 --> 00:22:25.599 own lives, it would change us as well. 00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:29.639 But the mark of being filled with this love and this care, isn't that you just say, oh, 00:22:29.639 --> 00:22:32.039 great, my life's great, and I'm going to live my life? 00:22:32.039 --> 00:22:33.440 No, there's a sending nature. 00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:38.440 There's a going nature that happens here that's sort of paradoxical. 00:22:38.440 --> 00:22:41.600 But the more that you give up, the more you kind of get. 00:22:41.600 --> 00:22:43.759 I think C.S. Lewis talks about this once. 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:46.360 I wrote the quote down here. 00:22:46.360 --> 00:22:50.759 He says, your real new self will not come as long as you're looking for it. 00:22:50.759 --> 00:22:54.920 If you come, it will come when you're looking for him. 00:22:54.920 --> 00:22:59.400 And he goes on to say, this is why if you want to make a good impression on somebody, 00:22:59.400 --> 00:23:02.960 the thing not to do is to try to think about making a good impression. 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:06.360 It's only when you stop thinking about making a good impression that you actually could 00:23:06.359 --> 00:23:09.039 make a good impression on somebody. 00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:13.679 This is why people who only want friends can never have them because they just sort of 00:23:13.679 --> 00:23:16.199 squash anybody that they latch onto. 00:23:16.199 --> 00:23:18.359 You have to want something more than friendship. 00:23:18.359 --> 00:23:22.959 And friendship is the relationship you have with others along the way towards that thing. 00:23:22.959 --> 00:23:26.159 And so this is why he says it's only when you give yourself up that you find your real 00:23:26.159 --> 00:23:27.159 self. 00:23:27.159 --> 00:23:30.719 It's only when you lose your life do you gain it. 00:23:30.719 --> 00:23:35.479 It's only when you go and keep nothing back that you get everything here. 00:23:35.480 --> 00:23:38.480 And that's why I think it's incredible to meditate on this. 00:23:38.480 --> 00:23:49.000 Mary, before Jesus calls her, she's standing at the pinnacle moment in human history. 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:55.120 When Jesus has actually triumphed over history and all she can think is that this is a travesty. 00:23:55.120 --> 00:23:58.519 She's sitting in Jesus' triumph over sin and all she can think is that he's failed. 00:23:58.519 --> 00:24:03.360 He's up and she thinks that everything is down because she can't see him. 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:08.599 But when her identity has changed with the simple phrase, Mary, when her identity is 00:24:08.599 --> 00:24:14.240 given to her, when her name is given, that's where the tears are transformed. 00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:18.679 That's where the hope is moved into her heart where she can actually be different. 00:24:18.679 --> 00:24:21.959 And I think this is why at the end of the Bible, you have Revelation where it says 00:24:21.959 --> 00:24:27.919 every tear will be healed, every sadness turned into joy. 00:24:27.919 --> 00:24:30.919 There's a healing there that converts our tears. 00:24:30.920 --> 00:24:36.880 I think we really need to compare and contrast that with what our modern world is saying. 00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:41.240 The modern secular world in New York here as well basically says you can't have that 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:42.519 hope. 00:24:42.519 --> 00:24:43.759 One day you're going to die and that's it. 00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:45.200 And then by the way, you'll be forgotten. 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:48.480 Oh yeah, and by the way, the people who forgot you millions of years from now when the sun 00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:52.120 dies, they'll be forgotten too, that there is no hope. 00:24:52.120 --> 00:24:55.600 There is no greater joy. 00:24:55.600 --> 00:24:58.200 I try to tell this, I used to work with uni students. 00:24:58.200 --> 00:25:01.039 You can't say you're going to come from nothing and then when you die you go to nothing but 00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:02.240 then have something in between. 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:04.440 That makes no logical sense. 00:25:04.440 --> 00:25:07.240 You can't say I'm coming from nothing, I'm going to go to nothing, but yet right now 00:25:07.240 --> 00:25:08.240 we have something. 00:25:08.240 --> 00:25:10.000 That's impossible. 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:11.840 Just follow your own logic there. 00:25:11.840 --> 00:25:15.200 All you're doing is delaying the inevitable void of nothingness that awaits us. 00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:21.559 But if the resurrection is true, if this is real, then when he says why are you crying, 00:25:21.559 --> 00:25:25.400 what he's saying is there's something that can transform your tears. 00:25:25.400 --> 00:25:30.600 There's something that can actually, there's a salt that you can rub into your heart that 00:25:30.600 --> 00:25:34.160 will preserve you, that will change you and actually remake the tears. 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:35.160 Not get rid of them. 00:25:35.160 --> 00:25:41.120 The hurts will be there, the sufferings will be there, but the truth of the resurrection, 00:25:41.120 --> 00:25:42.600 you can rub those in the tears of your life. 00:25:42.600 --> 00:25:46.640 And I'm worried that you and me in this, we're not doing that. 00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:51.759 We're not rubbing this truth into every situation of our heart. 00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:55.240 For instance, are you rubbing the hope of the resurrection into the tears of your work 00:25:55.240 --> 00:25:56.839 right now? 00:25:56.839 --> 00:26:03.799 Are you rubbing the hope of the resurrection into the tears of your relationships? 00:26:03.799 --> 00:26:10.720 Are you rubbing the hope of the resurrection into the tears of your family and the issues 00:26:10.720 --> 00:26:13.480 there and what's going on? 00:26:13.480 --> 00:26:17.799 A couple of years ago, I had a student, this is hard to talk about, I had a student, he 00:26:17.799 --> 00:26:19.559 killed himself. 00:26:19.559 --> 00:26:26.440 And a couple of weeks before that, we were on a retreat together and he won one of these 00:26:26.440 --> 00:26:30.720 games we played and there was hundreds of kids just screaming his name, just praising 00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:31.720 him. 00:26:31.720 --> 00:26:33.079 He's gone. 00:26:33.079 --> 00:26:39.319 My cousin, a couple of months ago, she was 36 years old and she died suddenly. 00:26:39.319 --> 00:26:41.879 She left two boys behind. 00:26:41.879 --> 00:26:45.960 My mom, my dad, my brothers, they went to the funeral. 00:26:45.960 --> 00:26:48.240 I had a preach on Sunday, so I didn't get to go. 00:26:48.240 --> 00:26:52.599 I haven't actually still haven't to this day, grieved. 00:26:52.599 --> 00:26:53.599 How do you grieve? 00:26:53.599 --> 00:26:58.079 And I think what Paul is saying here, and I think this whole text is saying here, is 00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:03.359 saying, we do not grieve like the rest of mankind as if we have no hope. 00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:07.120 I have hope I'm going to see that student again and there might not be 100 students 00:27:07.120 --> 00:27:11.319 around him, but there'll be 100 angels around him actually screaming his name. 00:27:11.319 --> 00:27:15.200 I have hope I'm going to see my cousin and I'm going to be able to look at her and say, 00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:19.120 I miss you and I'm so glad to see you again. 00:27:19.120 --> 00:27:20.120 Why? 00:27:20.120 --> 00:27:23.920 Because the resurrection changes our hopes. 00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:25.720 Death is real, but it loses its sting. 00:27:25.720 --> 00:27:30.319 All death can do to you and me now is bring us closer to the one who saved us and we'll 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:32.799 be back with each other again. 00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:38.799 That this is not, at a funeral of a Christian, it's I'll see you again. 00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:43.039 That's utterly different and it doesn't take our tears away, but anyone who does it transforms 00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:45.120 those tears. 00:27:45.119 --> 00:27:50.519 It moves them and it allows us to then move out into the world. 00:27:50.519 --> 00:27:55.559 Mary before this encounter thought Jesus had left her and Jesus was staying right beside 00:27:55.559 --> 00:27:57.079 her. 00:27:57.079 --> 00:28:01.399 And I wonder for you and me, how many of us in our daily lives, we think Jesus has left 00:28:01.399 --> 00:28:05.239 us and he's actually staying right beside us right now. 00:28:05.239 --> 00:28:07.599 I think there's a lot of us there. 00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:08.599 We think God isn't there. 00:28:08.599 --> 00:28:10.319 We think he's abandoned us. 00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:14.119 Something's gone wrong and we're in this despair, but maybe we just can't see him. 00:28:14.119 --> 00:28:17.879 He's right in front of our face and he's not just using our tears. 00:28:17.879 --> 00:28:21.559 It's through our tears to bring us back to him. 00:28:21.559 --> 00:28:24.879 Where you place your tears, it shows us where our hearts are. 00:28:24.879 --> 00:28:28.879 And I guess the last question I want to ask you all is where are you placing your tears? 00:28:28.879 --> 00:28:30.959 Where are you sowing them right now? 00:28:30.959 --> 00:28:33.199 Are you dipping them into the salts of the resurrection? 00:28:33.199 --> 00:28:37.119 Are you dipping them into the salts of something else? 00:28:37.119 --> 00:28:41.000 Are you placing them in the hope of the resurrection? 00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:43.039 Are you placing the hopes of something else? 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:45.519 There's so many hopes out there that you can trust in. 00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:48.240 I can guarantee you they won't work like this. 00:28:48.240 --> 00:28:50.599 They can't work like this. 00:28:50.599 --> 00:28:54.440 Place your tears and your hopes into this and it'll change your life. 00:28:54.440 --> 00:28:59.000 You might be crying and missing Jesus today, but Jesus has called you and you can come 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:00.480 to him because he first came to you. 00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:04.960 I know everybody in this room comes from different walks and in different places, but take inventory 00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:08.879 and ask yourself what will allow you to do this. 00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:13.240 If you're a Christian, at least you say you're a Christian and you're quiet times or you're 00:29:13.240 --> 00:29:18.440 affectless, you have a generalized view of God, slam it into this hope of the resurrection. 00:29:18.440 --> 00:29:22.480 And if you're not a Christian, just do the introspection. 00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:23.480 Think about it. 00:29:23.480 --> 00:29:24.480 Work through it. 00:29:24.480 --> 00:29:29.400 And I promise to you, if you seek him even in the confused state, she's clearly confused. 00:29:29.400 --> 00:29:31.760 He'll still come to you. 00:29:31.760 --> 00:29:34.120 Let's pray. 00:29:34.120 --> 00:29:38.480 Heavenly Father, there's so many tears out there. 00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:39.720 And I know we don't want to think about it. 00:29:39.720 --> 00:29:45.200 We'd rather just think about breakfast or tomorrow or lunch today or the things we need 00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:49.000 to go through just to get through the next day. 00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:53.360 And I think we might be, we might be missing you through our tears. 00:29:53.360 --> 00:29:56.599 We're seeing you without seeing you. 00:29:56.599 --> 00:30:01.079 I pray that the hope of the resurrection becomes the transformation that it really is, that 00:30:01.079 --> 00:30:07.960 if this is true, that it changes every minuscule action that we do from here on forward, that 00:30:07.960 --> 00:30:09.559 there's no way for us not to go and tell. 00:30:09.559 --> 00:30:12.120 And there's different ways to do that. 00:30:12.120 --> 00:30:13.519 Some of us are called to do it verbally. 00:30:13.519 --> 00:30:20.480 Some of us are called to do it non-verbally, actions, hospitality, kindness, a hug, whatever 00:30:20.480 --> 00:30:22.120 it takes. 00:30:22.120 --> 00:30:30.200 I pray that we would be, this church would be, a light in the darkness, salt in an unsalty 00:30:30.200 --> 00:30:37.079 space, a place where we can preserve what's fallen apart as we stick together, as we care 00:30:37.079 --> 00:30:38.480 for other people. 00:30:38.480 --> 00:30:40.799 Obviously, this hinges on this. 00:30:40.799 --> 00:30:44.319 And so if we're still figuring out if, can I really believe this? 00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:46.119 I pray we would do the work. 00:30:46.119 --> 00:30:48.679 We would ask the questions. 00:30:48.679 --> 00:30:53.480 We will talk to those all over the place about this. 00:30:53.480 --> 00:30:54.480 Turn our hearts and minds towards you. 00:30:54.480 --> 00:30:56.480 We pray these things in your name. 00:30:56.480 --> 00:31:07.000 Amen.