Turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 20.
If you are looking in one of the Pew Bibles, it's page 906.
We will be reading John chapter 20, verses 1 through 18.
This is one of the gospel narratives of the resurrection of Jesus.
John chapter 20.
I'll be reading beginning at verse 1.
Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark
and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
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 he 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 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.
Well, some of you may know that this spring, Professor Lori Santos is teaching the most popular
class ever in Yale College, Psychology and the Good Life.
Nearly a quarter of undergraduates, about 1,200 students are enrolled.
Even if you don't go to Yale, you can check out her course online through Coursera.
One of her stated motivations for teaching the course was that undergraduate students
are way more unhappy, stressed out, and worried about the future than people often realize.
So she wrote in her syllabus, the goal, the main goal of this course is to learn the science
of happiness and to put that science into practice.
Many things that we think matter for our happiness, wealth, material possessions, even good grades,
simply don't.
Our minds have dumb features that lead us astray, psychological biases that make us seek out
the wrong sorts of things.
So the course surveys psychology research about what we really should strive for to live a satisfying
life.
But it's not only elite college students who are increasingly depressed or discontent and
driven.
Andrew Sullivan wrote recently in New York Magazine, more than two million Americans are now hooked
on some kind of opioid.
And drug overdoses claimed more American lives last year than were lost in the entire Vietnam War.
We use an estimated 30 times more opioids than is medically necessary for a population
our size.
And he goes on and he says, most of the ways that we come to terms with this, by blaming
pharmaceutical companies or blaming doctors or political leaders or drug policies or economic
stress, miss a deeper story.
It is a story of pain and the search for an end to it.
Even as we near peak employment and record high median household income, a sense of permanent
economic insecurity and spiritual emptiness has become widespread.
He writes, addiction to work, to food, to phones, to TV, to video games, to porn, to news, and to drugs
is all around us.
Opioids are just one of the ways Americans are trying to cope with a world where everything
is flat, where communication is virtual, and where those core elements of human happiness,
faith, family, community, seem to elude so many.
Many years ago, after winning his second straight Super Bowl, the Dallas Cowboys quarterback,
Troy Aikman, said,
I'll never forget when I was 12, I couldn't wait till the day I turned 16 and I could drive.
I thought that would be the end of all life's problems.
And then I turned 16 and realized there were still problems.
I kind of said the same thing after I won my first Super Bowl.
You think once you win it, all your problems are solved professionally.
But I've won two now, and it hasn't solved a thing.
Not a thing.
What about you?
Do any of those descriptions resonate?
The more I have, the more I need to have.
The more I am loved, the more I need to be loved.
The more I achieve, the more I need to achieve.
Don't we feel this restless longing, this intense craving, this…
And sometimes we deny it.
And sometimes we dull it.
And sometimes we taste something that satisfies it for a while.
And yet it still comes back and haunts us.
In the passage we read from John's gospel, Jesus asks two questions.
Simple and straightforward, but at the same time profound and probing.
He says, why are you weeping?
And what are you seeking?
Why are you stressed, anxious, grieving, desperate, dissatisfied with life and longing for more?
Why are you weeping?
Why are you searching?
Why are you searching for?
And what drives you?
What drives you to get out of bed in the morning and do what you do all day and come back where you live at night and do it all over again?
What or who are you searching for?
Now, Jesus doesn't ask these questions in a vacuum.
So I want to begin this morning by looking at these questions in the context of his conversation with Mary Magdalene.
And then I want to move ahead to asking, what do these questions have to say to us?
So first, this morning I want to look at Jesus' questions for Mary.
Now, a little background on Mary.
This is not Jesus' mother, Mary.
There are at least three, maybe four Marys who are mentioned in the gospels.
It was at least as common a name back then as it was in my extended Italian family.
This is Mary Magdalene, which simply means that she was from a town called Magdala.
Mary Magdalene had been a devoted follower of Jesus for some time.
According to Luke chapter 8, verses 1 to 3, she belonged to a group of women who followed Jesus when he was traveling and teaching.
And many of these women were well-to-do and provided for Jesus and his disciples and some of his other disciples out of their own means.
And for Mary in particular, Jesus wasn't just a famous person, a well-known teacher that she admired from far off.
Luke chapter 8, verse 2 says that Jesus had healed many of evil spirits and infirmities.
And for Mary Magdalene, he mentions that seven demons had gone out of her.
Now, we aren't told any more 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 whatever her background, through encountering Jesus, she had been released from bondage and she had found wholeness and joy.
And so, she had joined this group of Jesus' women followers who followed him all the way to the cross.
And even when nearly all of his male disciples deserted him, this group of women remained near him.
Even while he was crucified, they saw him take his last breath.
They saw where his body was buried.
They were loyal to the end.
And they were also the first ones to witness his resurrection.
Verse 1, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early.
While it was still dark, she saw the stone had been taken away.
And the other gospels make it clear that she was visiting the tomb in order to anoint Jesus' body with spices.
It was a way of embalming, sort of paying her respects.
And that's why she became so distraught after she found that his body was gone.
Now, as a side note, the fact that women feature so prominently in all of the resurrection accounts,
in all four of the New Testament gospels, is a testimony to the historical authenticity of these accounts.
Here, Mary is the first one who sees the stone is taken away from the tomb.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us that there were two or three other women who accompanied her.
Here we see that Mary was the first one who encountered Jesus personally.
And she initially delivered the news to the male disciples that he was alive again.
Now, we might not notice that detail.
But in the context of the ancient world, that's a very unusual detail.
Because in the culture of Jesus' time, women were seen as inferior and untrustworthy.
So, the Jewish historian Josephus wrote,
Women are inferior to men in every way.
Period.
Most Jewish rabbis refused to even teach women.
Jesus was a notable exception in this regard.
He had his 12 male disciples, but again, he also had many women followers.
One other rabbi, Eliezer, said,
There is no wisdom in women except with the spindle.
In other words, the only thing a woman is good for is making clothes.
And in both Jewish and Roman law courts, women were not allowed to be legal witnesses.
So, if you were a male in the ancient world,
and if you were writing a narrative to convince people to believe in your Messiah,
which is exactly what John says the purpose of his book is at the end of chapter 20,
you would never put forth women as your primary witnesses in that cultural context.
If you were playing fast and loose with the details, if you were making up a story,
if you were inventing a legend,
you would never say that.
Because you would be laughed off.
The only reason you would say it is if it really happened.
This is not the kind of story that someone would simply invent.
So, let me challenge you.
If you're not a Christian believer,
you can't simply assume that the accounts of Jesus' resurrection are legendary fictions
with no historical basis,
or mere projections of Jesus' disciples' wishful thinking.
Now, if you notice, no one in the story hears about the empty tomb,
or sees the risen Jesus,
and immediately says,
Aha!
That's what we were expecting all along.
Our dreams have come true.
No!
They're all as skeptical as we would rightly be
of such a claim.
They're confused.
They have to be convinced.
None of them were expecting it.
Now, maybe you have historical questions
or philosophical questions.
Could this ever really happen?
Is there reason to believe it's true?
Invite you to stay for the class that's happening downstairs at 1115.
Peter Almo will be addressing those questions
after the coffee time in more detail.
Or take one of the books from the free book table.
We have plenty of books addressing all kinds of questions about Christianity.
We'd love for you to take one home with you as our gift to you today.
But let's get back to Mary in the story,
and to Jesus' questions for her.
Mary, one of Jesus' loyal followers,
had come to the tomb early.
She saw the stone rolled away.
Her initial conclusion was,
they've taken the Lord out of the tomb.
We don't know where they have laid Him.
They've moved His body.
She doesn't say who they are.
They've done it.
Somebody did it.
So she finds Peter and John.
They check it out.
They see the burial cloths neatly folded up,
which would not have been the case if someone had stolen the body.
The body was wrapped in the cloths.
They also see the face cloth laying there.
So they believed,
but they didn't fully understand.
And perhaps,
as it was very early in the morning,
they went back home,
and perhaps they went to sleep.
As many of us would,
if we were rudely awakened in the middle of the night
with a disturbing report,
and we see something,
and we can't quite put it all back together in our heads,
and so we go back home.
But Mary stays there,
weeping by the tomb.
And she turns around,
verse 14,
she sees Jesus standing,
but she doesn't immediately recognize Him,
and He says,
Woman,
why are you weeping?
What are you seeking?
Now notice that Jesus didn't have to approach Mary this way.
I mean,
couldn't He have just simply walked up to her and said,
Mary,
it's me.
I'm alive.
Don't you see?
I'm right here.
But He intentionally began the conversation
with these two questions.
You know,
I think we often underestimate the power
of asking simple but probing questions.
If you lead a Bible study,
or if you teach a discussion section,
this is one of your most important jobs.
And it's harder than it seems.
Your job is not just to make well-argued statements,
but to ask simple but probing questions
that help your group dig into the text
and dig into their own lives
and connect the text to their lives.
If you look through the New Testament Gospels,
Jesus often does this.
He often asks questions
that are simple and direct,
yet also probing and profound.
Here are a few examples
of questions Jesus asks.
What do you want me to do for you?
Who do you say that I am?
Why are you so afraid?
Do you love me?
What are you looking for?
Jesus asked this question
not only to Mary,
but two other times
in the Gospel of John.
In John chapter 5,
Jesus approaches a paralyzed man.
And he says,
Do you want to be healed?
Now on the surface,
the answer to such a question
is painfully obvious.
Do I want to be healed?
Of course!
Of course he would want to be healed.
Or is it always so obvious?
I was reading an article recently
by a man who had been diagnosed
with depression.
And in the course of therapy,
he wrestled with this question.
Did I really want to get well?
Was I willing to do the hard work
of facing painful situations,
uncovering bitterness,
and admitting to deep, resentful anger?
Was I willing to give up
my stubborn excuses
that allowed me to stay the same,
somehow seeing my sickness
as more secure than my health?
Some of these questions,
the answer seems obvious,
but when you probe a little deeper,
the answer isn't quite so obvious.
And Jesus often used probing questions
to expose our unstated assumptions
and our hidden motives
and bring those out.
And you know,
it's not just in the life of Jesus
that we see the power
of probing questions.
If you go back to the beginning
of the Bible
to the book of Genesis,
when Adam and Eve
ate of the tree of knowledge
of good and evil,
the tree that God had reserved
only for Himself,
and the harmony of creation
was disrupted,
and the trust of their intimate marriage
was broken,
and they had transgressed God's command,
and they had betrayed His friendship,
and God pursued them
with simple but probing questions.
He said,
where are you,
Adam?
Eve,
what is it that you have done?
And in Genesis,
God's probing questions
exposed their guilt
and their feeble attempts
at covering it up.
They were hiding in the trees
because they had spoiled the garden.
They had participated effectively
in a plot to displace the owner,
and therefore they were no longer
fit to be managers.
They were exiled
to live the rest of their lives
as wanderers.
Of course,
the point of the story
in Genesis
is that we all live
in its aftermath.
Has not the rest
of human history
been marked
by a lingering unease,
by a sense of shame,
a sense that
all is not right
between us
and the universe
and its maker?
Is not much of our life
a restless wandering
a persistent longing,
a frustrated
but unending search
to find
that paradise lost?
But isn't it interesting
that here
in another garden
we see
the risen Jesus
approaching Mary
with two questions.
And it's not
where are you
and what have you done?
It's not questions
that expose
her own guilt
and shame.
It's questions
that are inviting.
Questions that draw her out
and invite her
to respond.
Why are you weeping?
What are you seeking?
And like many of us,
Mary thinks
that the answers
to these questions
are very obvious.
Why am I weeping?
Because my teacher
just died
and now his grave
has been violated
and his body
taken away
by who knows who.
Besides,
she might have wondered,
why are you asking me
the exact same question
that the angel
just asked me
in verse 13?
Didn't you hear
my answer?
And what am I looking for?
I'm looking for Jesus' body
to give it
a proper
and dignified burial.
And then Jesus says,
Mary.
And her weeping
turns to joy
and amazement
because the man
standing before her
is not
an unfamiliar gardener.
He's her very own
dear teacher.
He's the good shepherd
who has called her by name.
And her search
has ended in
finding.
not the dead body
of Jesus
but Jesus alive
in his resurrected body.
And so Mary
embraces Jesus
and she wants
to hold on to him
and never let him go.
That's why Jesus
has to say,
don't cling to me.
He's not saying
don't touch me.
He's saying
you can't hold on
to me physically
and never,
ever,
ever let me go.
No.
For days and days
and years,
right?
You see,
the questions
with which Jesus
approaches Mary
are only the beginning.
And she walks away
with the assurance
of a risen Savior
with the promise
of a new beginning
and with a mission
to carry out.
But what about us?
What do these questions
have to say
to us?
over 300 years ago,
Blaise Pascal,
the French mathematician
and philosopher,
wrote this.
He said,
all people seek happiness.
There are no exceptions.
However different
the means they may employ,
they all strive
towards this goal.
The reason why
some go to war
and some do not
is the same desire
in both
but interpreted
two different ways.
this is the motive
of every act
of every person,
including those
who hang themselves.
But Pascal went on
to say that
though we all seek happiness,
very few of us
ever actually obtain it
in any lasting way.
Because he also points out
all people complain.
Princes,
subjects,
nobles,
commoners,
old,
young,
strong,
weak,
learned,
ignorant,
healthy,
sick,
in every country
at every time
of all ages
and all conditions.
This really ought
to convince us
that we are incapable
of attaining the good
by our own efforts.
The present never satisfies us
but experience deceives us
and leads us on
from one misfortune
to another
until death comes
as the ultimate
and eternal climax.
Pascal says,
what else does this
craving for happiness
and this helplessness
to obtain it,
what else does it tell us
but that there once
was in man
a true happiness
of which all
that now remains
is the empty print
and trace.
This he tries in vain
to fill with everything
around him
seeking in things
that are not there
the help he cannot find
in those that are
though none can help
since this infinite abyss
can be filled only
with an infinite
and unchangeable object
in other words
by God himself.
Pascal says,
we're all seeking
for happiness
and yet the only place
we can truly find it
is in an infinite God.
Now, there are at least
three ways
that you might respond
to that statement.
You know,
some of you may be saying
you've been talking
all this time
about longing
and yearning
and an infinite abyss
and I just don't feel it.
I know some people do
but I'm not weeping
and I'm not seeking.
Most days
I just try to accept life
as it comes,
practice gratitude
and mindfulness
and I don't really feel
any need for God.
Maybe that's you.
I think we can all agree
that there is something good
about practicing gratitude
and mindfulness,
being content
with our material possessions
rather than
always longing for more.
But let me ask,
if you don't feel
any need for God,
if you are not weeping
over the pain
and injustice
of this world,
if you're not searching
for something
that this world
can't provide,
how much have you
really suffered?
Have you stood
at the grave
of a dear friend
who lost his life
at a young age
in an unjust attack
and wondered,
can there ever be
any healing
or justice?
that was exactly
Mary Magdalene's situation.
My wife and I
have been married
for almost 10 years now.
The first year
we were married,
we attended 10 weddings.
These days,
I find that I attend
roughly the same number
of weddings as funerals.
As you get older,
the proportions
only shift one way.
And then you see
that not all the weddings
end in happily ever after.
And not all the funerals
are people
who have lived full lives
and died in peace
surrounded by loved ones.
There's a lot of brokenness
in the world
that no justice system
will ever fix.
Maybe you haven't
suffered much yourself.
But through your circumstances,
your life has become
intertwined
with people who have.
That was Francis Collins'
experience.
He grew up
in a well-educated,
non-religious,
well-adjusted,
happy household.
He studied physical chemistry
here at Yale.
He went to UNC
for medical school.
He would later become
the director
of the Human Genome Project.
He's now the director
of the National Institutes
of Health.
He's a very successful
young man.
He felt no need for God.
In his mind,
religion was sentimentality
and superstition.
And then he came
to his third year
of medical school
and started his rotations
in the hospital.
And he noticed
that many of his patients
with untreatable illnesses
found peace
through their faith in God.
And he started to wonder
if faith was just
a psychological crutch,
it must be very powerful.
And if it was nothing more
than a cultural tradition,
why were these people
not shaking their fist
at God
and demanding
that their friends
and family
stop all this talk
of a loving,
benevolent,
supernatural power?
And then one day,
one of his patients
asked him
a simple
but probing
question.
She was an older woman.
She was suffering
from severe,
untreatable angina.
She was a strong
Christian believer.
She had expressed
her faith to him.
But that day,
she asked him a question.
She said,
Doctor,
what do you believe?
And he stammered,
I'm not really sure.
And he said,
that moment,
that question haunted me
for several days.
Didn't I consider myself
a scientist?
Does a scientist
draw conclusions
without considering
the data?
Could there be
a more important question
in all of human existence
than,
is there a God?
And yet,
there I found myself
having avoided
any serious consideration
that God might be
a real possibility.
This simple
but probing question
from a dying patient
set him on a journey.
And eventually,
that journey led him
to faith in Jesus Christ.
So he tells some
of that story
in his book
about science and faith,
The Language of God.
There are plenty
of copies on the book table
if you're interested
in his story.
So that's the first way
that you might respond.
But the second way
you might respond
is you might say,
I know exactly
what you're talking about.
I look into that
infinite abyss
every single day.
Some days,
I can't even get myself
out of bed in the morning
because I know exactly
what you're talking about.
Maybe your life
is a constant quest
to fill it
one way or another.
Or maybe you've given up
on ever finding it.
And you've resigned yourself
to living the U2 song.
I still haven't found
what I'm looking for.
But if that's you,
the same Jesus
who searched out
Mary Magdalene
is searching you out today.
C.S. Lewis wrote,
Creatures are not born
with desires
unless satisfaction
for desires exists.
A baby feels hunger?
Well, there is such
a thing as food.
A duckling wants to swim?
Well, there is such
a thing as water.
People feel sexual desire?
Well, there is such
a thing as sex.
If I find in myself
a desire
which no experience
in this world
can satisfy,
the most probable
explanation is that
I was made
for another world.
If none of my
earthly pleasures
satisfy it,
that does not prove
that the universe
is a fraud.
Probably earthly pleasures
were never meant
to satisfy it,
but only to arouse it,
to suggest the real thing.
Why are you weeping?
Why are you seeking?
You see,
the message of Easter Sunday
is that the one
whom we were made for,
the one to whom
all our truest longings
and all creation
ultimately points,
has come to meet us.
The Son of God
became a human being.
He entered into
our twisted
and broken world.
And in His death,
He entered into
that infinite abyss.
The chasm separating
humanity and God.
And His resurrection
proclaims that He has
bridged that chasm.
That He has bridged
the chasm between
sinful,
rebellious humanity
and a perfect
and holy God.
And yet,
in His resurrection,
He says He has
triumphed over that.
He has bridged
that chasm through.
Jesus,
we can draw near
to God with confidence
because the curse
of sin is broken
and the power
of death is defeated
and the Son of God
is risen
and a new day
has dawned.
in Jesus Christ,
there is a joy
that embraces us
in our weeping
and there is a peace
that transcends
our understanding
because like Mary,
we can have the assurance
that the God
and Father
of Jesus Christ
is now our God
and our Father.
That's what Jesus says
in verse 17.
I'm ascending
to my Father
and your Father,
to my God
and your God.
What that means
is that through faith
in Jesus,
we can be restored
to a right relationship
with God.
We can know
that our status
before God
is now secure.
We don't have to keep
running on the
performance treadmill
and always trying
to achieve the next thing
because we are
God's beloved children
and there's nothing
more important
in the universe
than that.
And He has promised
to be with us
our whole life through
and He has promised
that we will be
with Him
for all eternity
to come.
So will you turn
to Jesus
and trust Him today
as your teacher,
as your Lord,
as your Savior?
Third and finally,
for those of us
who have come
to trust in Jesus
as our Savior
and Lord.
You know,
if you've been following
Jesus for any length
of time,
you know that being
a Christian
does not completely
remove that unfulfilled
longing and that
gnawing ache.
Jesus said to Mary,
don't cling to me.
You can't hold on
to my resurrected body
forever.
And in the same way,
being a Christian
is not a never-ending
series of ecstatic
experiences
and rapturous joys.
You see,
we have tasted
and seen
that Jesus is good.
And we know
His joy and peace
through the power
of His Spirit,
but we don't yet see Him
face to face.
And that's what we're
waiting and longing for,
the day when we will.
We've been washed
and cleansed
and forgiven
of our sins.
God has promised
that He has taken
them away.
But we're still waiting,
we're hoping,
we're longing
for the full redemption
of our bodies.
But today on Easter Sunday,
if you know Jesus
as your Savior,
you can be reminded
that the object
of all our longing
and hoping
and waiting
has found us.
That the Good Shepherd
has called us by name
and even through
the darkest valleys,
He continues to lead us
and feed us
and care for us.
And one day,
He will wipe away
every tear
from our eyes.
And in the meantime,
as we await
that great day,
which will be
even more glorious
than the first
Resurrection Sunday,
we have a mission
to carry out,
to proclaim
with our words
and to demonstrate
with our lives
in the midst
of a hardened
and cynical world
that the Savior
has risen
and reigning
and He is soon
returning.
And sometimes
this mission is hard
because we battle
our own fears,
we battle our own doubts,
we battle our own cravings
for lesser things
that threaten
to take us over
and turn us aside.
But brothers and sisters
in Christ,
on Easter Sunday,
be encouraged.
Be joyful in hope.
Be patient in affliction.
Be faithful in prayer
because Christ has risen.
Indeed,
He has risen.
Why are you weeping?
What are you seeking?
Christ is risen.
Amen.
Let's pray.
O God,
who by the glorious resurrection
of your Son,
Jesus Christ,
destroyed death
and brought life
and immortality
to light,
grant that we
who have been raised
with Him
may abide in His presence
and rejoice
in the hope
of eternal glory.
Through Jesus Christ,
our Lord,
to whom with you
and the Holy Spirit
be dominion
and praise
both now
and forever.
Amen.
Well,
we're going to close
by singing
Crown Him With Many Crowns,
proclaiming the greatness
and the reign of Jesus Christ.
Thank you.