WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.879 We're looking at the passage we just read this morning. 00:00:03.879 --> 00:00:08.040 And here we learn about the place of the resurrection 00:00:09.200 --> 00:00:11.359 and then the gardener of the resurrection 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:14.000 and then finally doubting Thomas. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:14.919 So let's look at that together. 00:00:14.919 --> 00:00:16.960 First, the place of the resurrection. 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:22.420 In verse eight, Peter and John, 00:00:22.420 --> 00:00:24.440 after being told by Mary Magdalene 00:00:24.440 --> 00:00:27.160 that Jesus's body was not in the tomb anymore, 00:00:27.160 --> 00:00:29.640 they come to the garden where he had been buried. 00:00:29.640 --> 00:00:33.320 And it says they see and they believed. 00:00:33.320 --> 00:00:36.280 And Mary is left there. 00:00:36.280 --> 00:00:38.000 And the story really focuses on her 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:41.200 because she stands there after Peter and John 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:43.480 believe when they see the tomb empty. 00:00:43.480 --> 00:00:46.200 And it says that she stands there uncontrollably, 00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:47.400 uncontrollably weeping. 00:00:47.400 --> 00:00:51.240 It's a Greek word for a kind of a deep gut cry, 00:00:51.240 --> 00:00:52.799 just a big cry. 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:55.120 And so she's there and she's crying. 00:00:55.120 --> 00:00:57.519 And this is the focus 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:01.400 because Jesus had removed seven demons from Mary 00:01:01.400 --> 00:01:03.280 in Luke chapter eight. 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:05.520 And she stood there. 00:01:05.520 --> 00:01:06.920 She was one of the very last people 00:01:06.920 --> 00:01:09.120 that watched Jesus be crucified. 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:11.200 She was there till the very end. 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:13.120 And here in verse 13, all of a sudden, 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:15.840 we're left with her weeping, crying. 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:16.760 And she tells us why. 00:01:16.760 --> 00:01:18.439 She says at the beginning of the passage 00:01:18.439 --> 00:01:19.879 and then right in the middle of the passage, 00:01:19.879 --> 00:01:23.040 she says they've taken away the Lord. 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:24.800 And she even says it to Jesus himself. 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:28.719 She says, have you taken the body of the Lord? 00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:30.479 And if so, tell me where it is 00:01:30.479 --> 00:01:32.840 and I'll go get it and I'll bring it back. 00:01:32.840 --> 00:01:36.319 And that means that Mary thinks that Jesus' body 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:39.120 has been stolen by grave robbers. 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:43.239 And you see, she's crying in this passage 00:01:43.239 --> 00:01:44.799 because she doesn't believe 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:47.319 that he's risen from the dead. 00:01:47.319 --> 00:01:50.400 She thinks his body has disappeared because of theft. 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:55.400 Now, Mary is a very modern person in this passage. 00:01:55.880 --> 00:01:58.680 She's like us 21st century people. 00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:03.680 She says, you know, I'm not sure that I can believe 00:02:03.880 --> 00:02:06.120 a man could physically rise from the dead. 00:02:06.120 --> 00:02:09.159 And Mary had been with Jesus, 00:02:09.159 --> 00:02:12.480 this whole gospel career, his whole gospel career. 00:02:12.480 --> 00:02:16.400 She had been an object of his rescue 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:19.840 and she says here, I'm not sure that I can believe this. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:21.960 And she's left crying because she thinks 00:02:21.960 --> 00:02:24.200 that it's more likely that his body was stolen. 00:02:24.200 --> 00:02:27.159 Now, in the time of the first century, 00:02:27.159 --> 00:02:29.560 when this was written, when this happened, 00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:31.800 grave robbery was a big issue. 00:02:31.800 --> 00:02:34.840 And the next decade after this in the 40s, 00:02:34.840 --> 00:02:36.480 the emperor of Rome, Claudius, 00:02:36.480 --> 00:02:39.439 is going to dictate that to rob a grave 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:40.800 is a capital offense. 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:42.480 You'll be killed for it 00:02:42.480 --> 00:02:43.800 because it was such a prevalent issue. 00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:46.400 People would go in and take steel bodies 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:48.000 and they would take all the goods 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:49.919 that were often buried with the body. 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:52.120 And this is exactly what Mary thinks is happening. 00:02:52.120 --> 00:02:53.240 It's something that she was used to. 00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:54.879 It's something that was in the culture 00:02:54.879 --> 00:02:55.719 that she knew about. 00:02:55.719 --> 00:02:59.319 Now, look, Mary, whether it's the first century 00:02:59.319 --> 00:03:02.919 or the 21st century, we face the same issue. 00:03:02.919 --> 00:03:05.800 And that's that it's difficult for us as human beings 00:03:05.800 --> 00:03:08.439 to believe that a man walked out of the grave 00:03:08.439 --> 00:03:10.439 on the third day, that he rose from the dead. 00:03:10.439 --> 00:03:13.520 And this became such a thing in the 19th century 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:15.479 and the 20th century that even the Christian church 00:03:15.479 --> 00:03:17.360 at times started to say things like, 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:18.560 we don't really have to believe 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:20.160 in the physical resurrection of Jesus. 00:03:20.160 --> 00:03:22.200 Instead, we can talk about a resurrection 00:03:22.200 --> 00:03:24.200 that's more spiritual than physical. 00:03:24.200 --> 00:03:26.720 And so one theologian writes this, 00:03:26.720 --> 00:03:29.960 that the resurrection is something here and now, 00:03:29.960 --> 00:03:32.880 it's entering into a new dimension of existence. 00:03:32.880 --> 00:03:35.840 It's being set free from the past and from guilt 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:39.960 and from all cares and being made open to one's fellow man. 00:03:39.960 --> 00:03:42.440 He said, so the resurrection, we don't need to say 00:03:42.440 --> 00:03:45.000 that it's physical in the first century, 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:46.480 but that it's spiritual. 00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:47.519 That what we're talking about here, 00:03:47.519 --> 00:03:49.519 what Christianity is ultimately about 00:03:49.519 --> 00:03:51.639 is being resurrected from the inside. 00:03:51.639 --> 00:03:53.399 You have an existential crisis 00:03:53.399 --> 00:03:55.879 and then all of a sudden God lifts you out of it. 00:03:55.879 --> 00:03:59.159 And you can say, I was dead, but now I'm alive. 00:03:59.159 --> 00:04:01.199 I was struggling psychologically, 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:02.639 but now I've been brought out of that. 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:03.799 I've been set free. 00:04:03.799 --> 00:04:06.839 I've been risen from the dead. 00:04:06.839 --> 00:04:09.620 And this is the modern program 00:04:09.620 --> 00:04:11.799 to de-supernaturalize Christianity. 00:04:11.799 --> 00:04:13.759 But look, we can talk about modernity, 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:15.759 but it's all the way back in the first century 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:18.759 that Mary stood before the man that she had listened to. 00:04:18.759 --> 00:04:20.639 You know, when she sat there, 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:23.800 when he said, the son of man must die 00:04:23.800 --> 00:04:27.399 and on the third day he'll take his life up again. 00:04:27.399 --> 00:04:29.199 But she stands there weeping because she says, 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:30.759 there's no way it could really happen. 00:04:30.759 --> 00:04:32.839 There's no way that this could be the truth 00:04:32.839 --> 00:04:35.459 that a man came out of the grave on the third day. 00:04:35.459 --> 00:04:37.879 Now, in the midst of that context, 00:04:37.879 --> 00:04:40.639 the main point of this passage is really clear. 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:42.639 And it's in verse 10. 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:45.519 And it's the way John summarizes this whole event. 00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:47.039 He says, verse nine, 00:04:47.039 --> 00:04:50.120 for as yet they did not understand the scriptures 00:04:50.120 --> 00:04:52.879 that he must rise from the dead. 00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:55.399 Now, in this moment, what John is saying 00:04:55.399 --> 00:04:56.799 is that once they thought about 00:04:56.799 --> 00:04:58.519 what had happened here that day, 00:04:58.519 --> 00:05:01.120 they went back, they hid for a while, 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:02.759 the apostles did, and they thought about it. 00:05:02.759 --> 00:05:06.719 They realized the entire Old Testament 00:05:06.719 --> 00:05:09.240 is ultimately about this moment. 00:05:09.240 --> 00:05:11.159 You see, when it says they did not yet understand 00:05:11.159 --> 00:05:14.259 the scriptures, what scriptures are they thinking about? 00:05:14.259 --> 00:05:16.159 They're thinking about John's talking about 00:05:16.159 --> 00:05:17.000 the Old Testament. 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:19.680 And so we sang Psalm 16 at the beginning 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:21.599 of our service today. 00:05:21.599 --> 00:05:24.959 And it says that, Lord, you won't let my body see decay. 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:27.920 You won't let me stay under the shadow of death. 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:31.039 And you can come to a place like Ezekiel 37 00:05:31.039 --> 00:05:33.360 where it says, Lord, can these dry bones, 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:35.719 these dead bones in the middle of the Valley of Death, 00:05:35.719 --> 00:05:37.000 could they live again? 00:05:37.879 --> 00:05:39.879 And all of a sudden, when you read John 20, 00:05:39.879 --> 00:05:42.039 you look back like John did later on 00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:44.840 and realized the entire Old Testament 00:05:44.840 --> 00:05:46.840 has always been about one thing, 00:05:46.840 --> 00:05:50.439 and that's the getting to this very moment 00:05:50.439 --> 00:05:53.160 where Mary and Peter and John walk into a garden 00:05:53.160 --> 00:05:55.960 and find an empty tomb, a man who had died, 00:05:55.960 --> 00:05:58.120 but his body is there no longer. 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:01.740 And so the question before us is, what is Christianity? 00:06:02.840 --> 00:06:05.960 What is the essential character and nature 00:06:05.960 --> 00:06:08.000 of the Christian message? 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:10.759 And Paul comes in 1 Corinthians 15, 00:06:10.759 --> 00:06:11.879 and he says to us this, 00:06:11.879 --> 00:06:14.079 he says, if Christ has not been raised, 00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:17.199 then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:18.579 If Christ has not been raised, 00:06:18.579 --> 00:06:21.319 your faith is futile and you're still in your sins. 00:06:21.319 --> 00:06:24.680 Now look, the modern response is that of Mary 00:06:24.680 --> 00:06:29.079 to say that we can still have something like Christianity 00:06:29.079 --> 00:06:31.040 and not have to believe in the supernatural, 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:32.819 not have to believe in the moment 00:06:32.819 --> 00:06:35.319 that Jesus Christ's body walked out of the grave, 00:06:35.319 --> 00:06:36.719 that he's really alive. 00:06:36.719 --> 00:06:39.920 And what the Bible comes in John 20 and says to you, 00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:43.480 21st century person, is that if Jesus Christ 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:45.400 did not walk out of the grave physically, 00:06:45.400 --> 00:06:48.620 then we don't have anything but a mere religion. 00:06:48.620 --> 00:06:50.580 That Christianity is nothing but something 00:06:50.580 --> 00:06:52.160 for sociologists to study. 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:56.160 It's something that, if you're a Christian today 00:06:56.160 --> 00:06:57.960 and if Jesus didn't walk out of the grave, 00:06:57.960 --> 00:07:00.360 it's nothing but a culture. 00:07:00.360 --> 00:07:02.120 You're just merely a product of the culture 00:07:02.120 --> 00:07:02.960 that you grew up in. 00:07:02.960 --> 00:07:06.040 But hear me today that the Bible says something much bigger. 00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:08.680 Christianity has always said something much bigger, 00:07:08.680 --> 00:07:12.120 and here's the claim that in the middle of history, 00:07:12.120 --> 00:07:16.120 Jesus Christ really did walk out of the grave physically, 00:07:16.120 --> 00:07:20.199 that his body cannot be found in the middle of Israel, 00:07:20.199 --> 00:07:21.840 that you won't find his body there. 00:07:21.840 --> 00:07:23.960 That's the ultimate claim of Christianity, 00:07:23.960 --> 00:07:27.920 and that means that Christianity cannot be reduced 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:29.000 to a feeling. 00:07:30.300 --> 00:07:33.079 Ultimately, the Christian faith is not a feeling. 00:07:33.079 --> 00:07:36.079 It's not even something that goes on inside of you. 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:37.639 It's not about emotions. 00:07:37.639 --> 00:07:39.800 Ultimately, it's not about anything going on in our hearts. 00:07:39.800 --> 00:07:42.039 Ultimately, what's Christianity? 00:07:42.039 --> 00:07:43.439 And the apostle Paul said it, 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:45.279 in 1 Corinthians 15 at the beginning, 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:50.039 he said it's this, Christ died, Christ was buried, 00:07:50.039 --> 00:07:52.519 and Christ rose again on the third day. 00:07:52.519 --> 00:07:56.479 And he appeared to Cephas, Peter, and the 12. 00:07:57.319 --> 00:07:59.439 You see, essential Christianity, 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:02.360 what it really is, is an announcement. 00:08:02.360 --> 00:08:04.079 It's a history. 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:06.800 It's what he did in the middle of history. 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:08.759 It's not about how we feel, it's about what he did. 00:08:08.759 --> 00:08:10.800 It's a pronouncement of God over you 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:13.759 that he's coming to bring life back from the dead, 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:16.800 and that he really did it in the first century. 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:19.520 That's the essential message of Christianity. 00:08:19.520 --> 00:08:23.360 Now look, secondly, then, what does it mean? 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:24.800 And the second thing to see here, 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:28.000 then, is the gardener of the resurrection. 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:33.120 All right, Mary misunderstands 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:35.159 what's taking place in front of her eyes. 00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:37.759 And that participates in a whole theme 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:38.759 across the book of John. 00:08:38.759 --> 00:08:41.159 If you read through the book of John carefully, 00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:42.919 one of the things you'll see is that 00:08:42.919 --> 00:08:46.039 everybody Jesus encounters often misunderstands him 00:08:46.039 --> 00:08:47.360 in some way. 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:49.639 And so at the beginning of John, for example, 00:08:49.639 --> 00:08:51.439 John says to Nicodemus, 00:08:51.439 --> 00:08:54.240 if you want to be saved, you've got to be born again. 00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:56.679 And Nicodemus says, how am I supposed to enter 00:08:56.679 --> 00:08:59.639 my mother's womb and be birthed for a second time? 00:08:59.639 --> 00:09:03.039 He thinks Jesus is talking about a physical birth. 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:05.439 And that theme of misunderstanding goes throughout 00:09:05.439 --> 00:09:06.919 the whole of the book of John, 00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:09.719 but then it climaxes right here in this moment 00:09:09.719 --> 00:09:13.159 where you're supposed to laugh, I think, even, 00:09:13.159 --> 00:09:17.759 when it says that Mary supposed Jesus was the gardener. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:20.120 So he's standing right in front of her face, 00:09:20.120 --> 00:09:22.519 and she says it's just the gardener. 00:09:22.519 --> 00:09:24.559 It's the man who's come to clip the grass 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:26.439 and make sure the flowers are pruned. 00:09:26.439 --> 00:09:27.839 This is who's standing in front of her. 00:09:27.839 --> 00:09:29.000 It's a misunderstanding. 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:32.240 It's the constant motif throughout the book of John. 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:35.799 Now, the way that this gets expressed here in the passage 00:09:35.799 --> 00:09:39.600 is through three questions that get asked of Mary. 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:42.080 And the first is that the angels come to her, 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:45.039 and they say to her, woman, why are you weeping? 00:09:46.519 --> 00:09:48.720 Now, when you read that question 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:50.519 in the light of the whole of the book of John, 00:09:50.519 --> 00:09:51.519 you start to realize something. 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:54.120 You know, Jesus comes, then the gardener comes to her 00:09:54.120 --> 00:09:55.519 and says it two more times. 00:09:55.519 --> 00:09:57.720 Woman, why are you weeping? 00:09:57.720 --> 00:09:58.960 Who are you seeking? 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:01.120 Or who are you looking for? 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:04.560 And there's something building here. 00:10:04.560 --> 00:10:06.399 Woman, who are you seeking? 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:07.759 Woman, who are you seeking? 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:10.399 Woman, who are you looking for? 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:12.840 And you see, it's three questions, but it's one question. 00:10:12.840 --> 00:10:14.799 And it's one question that's building and building 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:17.480 and building, and that's actually because that question 00:10:17.480 --> 00:10:21.080 is doing the same thing as the motif of misunderstanding. 00:10:21.080 --> 00:10:22.679 You look back across the book of John 00:10:22.679 --> 00:10:24.919 and you see all these moments actually 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:27.320 where Jesus had asked the same question 00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:28.320 of different people. 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:30.320 Who are you seeking? 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:31.720 Who are you seeking? 00:10:31.720 --> 00:10:32.960 Who are you seeking? 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:33.960 Who are you seeking? 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:35.120 What are you looking for? 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:37.160 So back in John chapter one, 00:10:37.160 --> 00:10:40.600 Jesus first encounter with two of the apostles, 00:10:40.600 --> 00:10:43.400 Peter and Andrew, the very first word 00:10:43.400 --> 00:10:47.200 that he says to them is, what are you seeking? 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:49.000 What are you looking for? 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:51.000 And then you get all the way to chapter 18 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:52.480 where they're in the Garden of Gethsemane, 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:54.840 the night before his death. 00:10:54.840 --> 00:10:58.080 And the Roman soldiers come to arrest Jesus. 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:00.680 And Jesus asks them one question, 00:11:00.680 --> 00:11:02.280 whom are you seeking? 00:11:03.280 --> 00:11:05.680 And immediately they fall down on their faces 00:11:05.680 --> 00:11:08.160 because he says that he's the I am. 00:11:09.280 --> 00:11:11.320 You see, over and over again, who are you seeking? 00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:12.160 What are you looking for? 00:11:12.160 --> 00:11:14.720 Now, when Jesus asked Mary this question, 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:19.720 she accuses Jesus of being the one who stole the body. 00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:23.440 She says, you the gardener, did you take his body out 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:24.560 and put it away somewhere? 00:11:24.560 --> 00:11:27.240 And if you did, then tell me where it is. 00:11:27.240 --> 00:11:29.039 I'll happily go get it. 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:30.600 His body must be honored. 00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:34.080 He must be put back in the place that we buried him. 00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:37.240 And you see, it's saying three times, it's climactic. 00:11:37.240 --> 00:11:41.080 It's saying Mary cannot see reality 00:11:41.080 --> 00:11:43.519 even when it's standing right in front of her face. 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:46.080 In other words, it's the climax of the question 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:48.360 that Jesus has been asking the entire time 00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:51.200 throughout the book, who is it that you're really looking for? 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:54.200 And you see what John's doing? 00:11:54.200 --> 00:11:57.160 He's asking you the question. 00:11:57.160 --> 00:12:00.200 He's trying to say to every single person here today, 00:12:00.200 --> 00:12:02.000 what are you looking for? 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:03.600 Who is it that you're seeking? 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:07.240 Because whether you're a Christian or not today, 00:12:07.240 --> 00:12:10.800 maybe you've come to a place where you've been chasing 00:12:10.800 --> 00:12:14.840 after little happinesses all throughout your life. 00:12:14.840 --> 00:12:18.560 You want your circumstances to be better. 00:12:18.560 --> 00:12:20.960 You want to feel like you have purpose every day 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:21.800 when you wake up. 00:12:21.800 --> 00:12:23.800 You want your routine to get better. 00:12:23.799 --> 00:12:25.759 You start the new year every year and say, 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:27.479 this is gonna be the year that I work out. 00:12:27.479 --> 00:12:30.399 This is gonna be the year that I get my schedule together. 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:32.719 This is gonna be the year that I've finally put enough money 00:12:32.719 --> 00:12:35.519 away to be secure and safe, to have the wealth 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:36.479 that I want to have. 00:12:36.479 --> 00:12:38.120 And all throughout our lives, 00:12:38.120 --> 00:12:41.399 we're looking for little salvations over and over again, 00:12:41.399 --> 00:12:43.439 little bits of purpose. 00:12:43.439 --> 00:12:46.079 And Jesus comes in the book of John over and over again 00:12:46.079 --> 00:12:48.120 and says, what is it that you're looking for? 00:12:48.120 --> 00:12:49.279 What are you seeking? 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:51.679 What do you want from life? 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:54.639 And what kind of salvation do you really want to have? 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:58.359 Now look, here's the answer to the question. 00:12:58.359 --> 00:12:59.759 Mary has no idea. 00:13:01.239 --> 00:13:02.519 You know, who are you seeking? 00:13:02.519 --> 00:13:05.000 What kind of a salvation are you looking for in your life? 00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:07.759 And the answer that Jesus gives over and over and over again 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:10.839 to everybody encounters is, you don't know what to look for. 00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:13.879 You don't know what you need. 00:13:13.879 --> 00:13:14.719 You don't know who you are. 00:13:14.719 --> 00:13:15.719 You don't know what you need. 00:13:15.719 --> 00:13:18.240 You don't know what kind of a God there really is. 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:21.199 You don't know the type of thing you're looking for. 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:22.680 You know, two things. 00:13:22.680 --> 00:13:27.080 One, Mary teaches us that first, our expectations 00:13:27.080 --> 00:13:28.800 are way too small. 00:13:29.640 --> 00:13:31.520 You know, Jesus comes to her and says, 00:13:31.520 --> 00:13:33.720 what kind of a Messiah did you expect? 00:13:33.720 --> 00:13:36.680 You saw me exercise seven demons. 00:13:36.680 --> 00:13:38.600 You experienced this from your body. 00:13:38.600 --> 00:13:40.560 You've walked with me all along the way 00:13:40.560 --> 00:13:43.080 and experienced the miracles that I performed. 00:13:43.080 --> 00:13:44.320 And now you're standing here 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:46.480 and you don't know what to be looking for. 00:13:47.400 --> 00:13:49.560 What kind of a Messiah did you think you would have? 00:13:49.559 --> 00:13:51.479 What kind of a God did you expect? 00:13:51.479 --> 00:13:54.719 If you really believed in me, in other words, 00:13:54.719 --> 00:13:58.239 we long for a holiday at the sea, 00:13:58.239 --> 00:14:01.359 but we settle for mud pies, as Lewis told us. 00:14:01.359 --> 00:14:03.519 Our expectations, in other words, he's saying, 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:06.719 are way too small that actually you were made 00:14:06.719 --> 00:14:09.599 for a salvation that you could have never expected. 00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:14.719 You were made for resurrection, is what Jesus is saying. 00:14:14.719 --> 00:14:19.000 And when we first approach this reality, we can't see it. 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:20.960 Mary couldn't see it, we can't see it, 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:23.080 but there's a second thing here too. 00:14:23.080 --> 00:14:27.000 And it's simply this, if Mary can't see it, 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:31.679 if Mary can't believe it, if Mary doesn't know her own need, 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:34.639 then that certainly got to be the case for me. 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:37.320 Now, if it's Mary Magdalene, then boy, 00:14:37.320 --> 00:14:40.399 I know that I can't see, I can't understand, 00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:42.120 that my expectations are too small, 00:14:42.120 --> 00:14:43.200 that I can't see everything. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:46.399 John Calvin, I love the way he put it. 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:49.439 He talked about the fact that from the time of our birth, 00:14:50.439 --> 00:14:52.759 the natural human being lives in a state 00:14:52.759 --> 00:14:55.199 he called of unreality. 00:14:55.199 --> 00:14:57.720 He talked about living a life of illusion. 00:14:57.720 --> 00:15:00.399 We're actually, we think that we're objective, 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:02.519 we think that we see the world the way it really is, 00:15:02.519 --> 00:15:05.439 but our selfishness, our self-deception, 00:15:05.439 --> 00:15:08.399 our being bent in on ourselves, as Augustine put it, 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:10.799 makes us see the world through glasses. 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:14.439 And those glasses are colored with the lenses of deception, 00:15:14.440 --> 00:15:17.800 of illusion, of an unreality, as he put it. 00:15:17.800 --> 00:15:19.680 He says, we don't know what the world really is, 00:15:19.680 --> 00:15:20.920 we don't know where it came from, 00:15:20.920 --> 00:15:23.120 and we don't know what we need. 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:24.080 That's what he was saying. 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:26.600 Now, Christianity calls this sin. 00:15:27.720 --> 00:15:30.520 It says that our sinful disposition blinds us 00:15:30.520 --> 00:15:33.520 from who we really are and the God we really need 00:15:33.520 --> 00:15:35.360 and that we really seek after. 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:39.160 And here it is, Francis Spufford commenting on Calvin, 00:15:39.160 --> 00:15:41.320 a 20th century writer, he says it like this, 00:15:41.320 --> 00:15:43.240 he talks about having an awareness 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:45.799 of your own broken soul. 00:15:45.799 --> 00:15:48.440 And he says this, what we're talking about here, 00:15:48.440 --> 00:15:51.120 what Calvin's talking about is not just our tendency 00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:55.919 to lurch and to stumble and to mess things up by accident. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:16:00.120 No, it's our active inclination to break stuff. 00:16:00.120 --> 00:16:04.720 Stuff here meaning promises, relationships. 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:08.200 He says, you're a being whose wants make no sense, 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:10.279 whose desires don't harmonize, 00:16:10.279 --> 00:16:13.639 whose deepest desires are ordered against each other. 00:16:14.959 --> 00:16:16.759 The Bible teaches over and over again 00:16:16.759 --> 00:16:19.079 that our hopes are too small, 00:16:19.079 --> 00:16:21.639 we don't know the salvation that we need, 00:16:21.639 --> 00:16:26.279 and it's all because we have self-interest, 00:16:26.279 --> 00:16:27.639 and these are the glasses that we're wearing. 00:16:27.639 --> 00:16:30.079 We can't see the truth of what's standing right in front 00:16:30.079 --> 00:16:32.959 of a sin distorts our view of reality. 00:16:32.959 --> 00:16:35.799 And so the modern person says exactly what Mary said. 00:16:35.799 --> 00:16:38.720 You know, the modern person says, 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:42.320 I want, if God would come down and show up physically, 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:43.800 then I could really believe. 00:16:45.800 --> 00:16:48.960 And what John 20 comes and says to you is maybe not, 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:53.519 because God really did come show up physically 00:16:53.519 --> 00:16:56.300 in front of Mary and she still couldn't see. 00:16:56.300 --> 00:16:57.800 She still couldn't see reality. 00:16:57.800 --> 00:16:59.720 And in other words, on the one hand, 00:16:59.720 --> 00:17:02.320 there's a historical takeaway here. 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:03.720 Here's the historical takeaway, 00:17:03.720 --> 00:17:05.920 then I'll give you the personal takeaway. 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:10.920 The historical takeaway is this, Mary proves, 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:13.759 Mary proves that in the first century, 00:17:13.759 --> 00:17:17.000 a Jewish person, and everybody else for that matter, 00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:21.380 did not expect a man to die and rise from the dead again. 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:23.880 Now that's very important. 00:17:23.880 --> 00:17:25.120 The scholars will point this out 00:17:25.120 --> 00:17:27.019 that this isn't some fulfillment 00:17:27.019 --> 00:17:28.840 of a long mythological fable 00:17:28.840 --> 00:17:30.480 that the Jews have been telling for centuries. 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:31.320 Not at all. 00:17:31.320 --> 00:17:34.200 This appears nowhere in Jewish thought. 00:17:34.200 --> 00:17:36.720 You see, the idea of a man dying and rising 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:38.600 from the dead physically right in front of their eyes, 00:17:38.600 --> 00:17:40.440 this is not what they were looking for. 00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:43.400 And that lends some real credibility 00:17:43.400 --> 00:17:46.240 that the only way this is the account 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:47.799 is if it really happened. 00:17:48.920 --> 00:17:50.039 It wouldn't have been made up. 00:17:50.039 --> 00:17:52.640 It was not part of the worldview at the time. 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:54.039 Nobody thought of something like this. 00:17:54.039 --> 00:17:55.160 It couldn't have been thought of. 00:17:55.160 --> 00:17:56.920 It was completely unexpected. 00:17:56.920 --> 00:17:58.840 Mary proves that she's standing there 00:17:58.840 --> 00:18:00.279 and she can't expect it. 00:18:00.279 --> 00:18:03.000 She can't see because this is not what she thought 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:05.680 was gonna happen as much as he had said it already to her. 00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:08.000 But look, here's the personal takeaway. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:09.880 The personal takeaway is this. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:12.039 When you ask the question, 00:18:12.039 --> 00:18:14.880 if you're willing today to ask the question of yourself, 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:16.720 who am I seeking? 00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:18.400 What am I looking for in life? 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:21.839 What kind of salvation do I want from my personal problems? 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:22.920 What am I really hoping for? 00:18:22.920 --> 00:18:25.960 What kind of a God do I want to exist 00:18:25.960 --> 00:18:28.079 if you're willing to ask these questions? 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:30.440 You've got to say something like this. 00:18:30.440 --> 00:18:34.120 If Mary can't understand her need, I can't either. 00:18:35.240 --> 00:18:38.240 If Christianity's true and she walked with Jesus 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:40.960 the whole way and she couldn't see the truth 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:42.240 standing right in front of her face, 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:43.840 we've got to be willing to say, 00:18:43.840 --> 00:18:46.360 man, my sin has distorted my picture of reality. 00:18:47.360 --> 00:18:49.240 I can't see things as they really are. 00:18:49.240 --> 00:18:50.440 I need help. 00:18:50.440 --> 00:18:53.440 In other words, it's the idea that we need help 00:18:53.440 --> 00:18:55.920 from the outside and here's how you get it. 00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:57.759 Well, did you notice what happens here? 00:18:59.840 --> 00:19:02.160 Jesus, in John chapter one, 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:06.560 it says of him that he is the creator of the world 00:19:06.560 --> 00:19:09.640 like God the Father, that he's one with God the Father, 00:19:09.640 --> 00:19:11.680 and that he actually made the world. 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:13.720 And at the end of that sentence, at the beginning, 00:19:13.720 --> 00:19:16.560 I should say, it calls him the word. 00:19:16.560 --> 00:19:18.400 So one of the very first things we learn about Jesus 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:22.080 in the book of John is he is the quote, the word. 00:19:22.080 --> 00:19:24.080 He spoke the word. 00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:26.079 He spoke creation. 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:29.199 He is the word by which creation was spoken. 00:19:29.199 --> 00:19:32.799 We learn in Colossians, it's by his powerful word 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:35.599 that the world is held together at all moments. 00:19:36.599 --> 00:19:39.639 Think back again to John 18, Garden of Gethsemane, 00:19:39.639 --> 00:19:43.000 whenever the soldiers come and they say, 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:44.000 where's Jesus? 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:45.000 And he says, who are you seeking? 00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:46.319 Jesus of Nazareth. 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:49.199 And he says, I am. 00:19:49.199 --> 00:19:52.199 Quoting the Old Testament name for the Lord God. 00:19:52.200 --> 00:19:55.319 And these Roman soldiers who care nothing about him 00:19:55.319 --> 00:19:58.319 bow down on their faces before him. 00:19:58.319 --> 00:19:59.920 You know, what's happening in that moment? 00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:03.120 They hear him speak and they have to listen. 00:20:03.120 --> 00:20:04.120 They have to obey. 00:20:04.120 --> 00:20:07.120 He brings reality right into their hearts and their midst. 00:20:07.120 --> 00:20:10.120 Go back to the Old Testament for a second. 00:20:10.120 --> 00:20:12.120 Jacob and Esau. 00:20:12.120 --> 00:20:16.120 You remember when Esau sold his birthright to Jacob, 00:20:16.120 --> 00:20:18.120 if you know that Old Testament story. 00:20:18.120 --> 00:20:20.120 And Isaac is there, the Father, 00:20:20.119 --> 00:20:24.119 and Jacob comes in and he tricks his father, Isaac, 00:20:24.119 --> 00:20:28.119 to giving the right of the firstborn to him. 00:20:28.119 --> 00:20:32.119 And Esau comes in later and says, no, no, no, that wasn't me. 00:20:32.119 --> 00:20:33.119 That was Jacob. 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:35.119 Now give me the right of the firstborn. 00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:36.119 Just say it. 00:20:36.119 --> 00:20:38.119 You can just say, no, you're the firstborn son. 00:20:38.119 --> 00:20:39.119 You get the inheritance. 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:41.119 You get the blessing and it'll be done. 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:43.119 And what does Isaac say? 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:47.119 He says, I cannot because I've already spoken. 00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:54.119 You see, all across the Bible, words have performative power. 00:20:54.119 --> 00:20:57.119 They have a performative power in a way that modern people like us 00:20:57.119 --> 00:20:59.119 don't quite see all the time. 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:01.119 That words can really do things. 00:21:01.119 --> 00:21:03.119 They can change things. 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:07.119 But if it's God that speaks a word to you, 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:11.119 he can bring you from darkness to light. 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:13.119 He can take the glasses off your head 00:21:13.119 --> 00:21:15.119 and where you were living in unreality 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:17.119 and all of a sudden you see reality. 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:20.119 And in John chapter 20, you know, 00:21:20.119 --> 00:21:23.119 Mary was very probably there in John chapter 10 00:21:23.119 --> 00:21:27.119 when Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:32.119 and when I call their name, they come to me. 00:21:32.119 --> 00:21:34.119 And here, Mary is blinded. 00:21:34.119 --> 00:21:37.119 She doesn't have faith. 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:39.119 And what does he do? 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:42.119 He does nothing but say her name. 00:21:42.119 --> 00:21:45.119 He says, Mary. 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:48.119 And all of a sudden, she leaves the world of illusion 00:21:48.119 --> 00:21:50.119 and steps into the world of light. 00:21:50.119 --> 00:21:52.119 The glasses come off. 00:21:52.119 --> 00:21:54.119 She's not blind anymore. 00:21:54.119 --> 00:21:55.119 She sees him. 00:21:55.119 --> 00:21:56.119 He's not just the gardener. 00:21:56.119 --> 00:21:59.119 He's Jesus Christ, the resurrected Son of God. 00:21:59.119 --> 00:22:02.119 And it says here that she gives him a beer hug. 00:22:02.119 --> 00:22:05.119 And look, that means that what you need today, 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:07.119 what every single person, if you say today, 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:09.119 look, even if you're a Christian, 00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:11.119 you say sometimes I have a tough time believing 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:14.119 that a man walked out of the grave in the first century. 00:22:14.119 --> 00:22:16.119 What John is saying to every one of us here 00:22:16.119 --> 00:22:20.119 is that you need to hear the word of Jesus to you. 00:22:20.119 --> 00:22:25.119 You need to actually hear Jesus today speak your name. 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:29.119 You need to hear him say your name. 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:33.119 In other words, coming to faith, the embrace of faith, 00:22:33.119 --> 00:22:37.119 the choice to believe today is all about first listening 00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:40.119 to what has been written, what has been spoken by him, 00:22:40.119 --> 00:22:42.119 to hear him say and say to you, 00:22:42.119 --> 00:22:45.119 I love you and I have spoken your name. 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:48.119 Look, here's how you can know. 00:22:48.119 --> 00:22:49.119 How do you know? 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:52.119 Well, for one, he speaks through Scripture. 00:22:52.119 --> 00:22:55.119 He comes today in the power of the Holy Spirit 00:22:55.119 --> 00:22:57.119 and actually speaks to you. 00:22:57.119 --> 00:23:00.119 He speaks your name to you right now 00:23:00.119 --> 00:23:02.119 in the midst of the presence of this congregation. 00:23:02.119 --> 00:23:05.119 And you can, here's how you can know if that's happening to you. 00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:08.119 You can know it if you're willing to say today something like this. 00:23:08.119 --> 00:23:12.119 Lord, I don't have all the answers. 00:23:12.119 --> 00:23:15.119 I don't know how a man can die and come back to life. 00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:18.119 But I know that if you really are God, 00:23:18.119 --> 00:23:20.119 then you're big enough to do things like that. 00:23:20.119 --> 00:23:22.119 And I don't have to understand it. 00:23:22.119 --> 00:23:24.119 In other words, it's a simple prayer. 00:23:24.119 --> 00:23:28.119 Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. 00:23:28.119 --> 00:23:30.119 It's the willingness to say, 00:23:30.119 --> 00:23:33.119 I'm willing to step forward in faith 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:36.119 and then seek understanding. 00:23:36.119 --> 00:23:40.119 And that's, if you're there today in any small way, 00:23:40.119 --> 00:23:43.119 whether it's the first time or you've been there for 75 years, 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:45.119 but today, if you're there at all, 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:50.119 then you know that Jesus Christ has spoken your name. 00:23:50.119 --> 00:23:51.119 And the glasses have come off. 00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:53.119 The illusion has gone away. 00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:56.119 Reality has come into your life and into your heart. 00:23:56.119 --> 00:23:57.119 And you see him. 00:23:57.119 --> 00:23:59.119 Look, in the incarnation, 00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:02.119 in the incarnation, Jesus says to every one of us, 00:24:02.119 --> 00:24:05.119 you are not what you should be. 00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:07.119 That's why he came. 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:10.119 And in the resurrection, he says your name 00:24:10.119 --> 00:24:14.119 and you do not have to any longer be what you once were. 00:24:14.119 --> 00:24:16.119 You don't have to be left there. 00:24:16.119 --> 00:24:21.119 Now, let me move on as we come to a close shortly 00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:25.119 to say this, that, look, Mary, 00:24:25.119 --> 00:24:28.119 Mary does live in a bit of a world of illusion here. 00:24:28.119 --> 00:24:31.119 She can't see Jesus. 00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:33.119 She sees the gardener. 00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:37.119 But it's important to note that she's not entirely wrong. 00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:40.119 You know, she sees the gardener. 00:24:40.119 --> 00:24:42.119 She sees Jesus Christ. 00:24:42.119 --> 00:24:44.119 She sees the gardener and then she sees Jesus. 00:24:44.119 --> 00:24:47.119 And then she sees Jesus Christ the gardener. 00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:51.119 Because, you know, you go back all the way to Genesis 1 and 2. 00:24:51.119 --> 00:24:56.119 And the man of John 1, who we're told created the world, 00:24:56.119 --> 00:25:00.119 we find in Genesis 1 and 2 as the God who creates. 00:25:00.119 --> 00:25:03.119 And in Genesis 1, 2, the God who created the world 00:25:03.119 --> 00:25:06.119 is told to us that he is the ultimate gardener. 00:25:06.119 --> 00:25:09.119 You know, he's the one that first built the world. 00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:11.119 He put the vegetation where he wanted it. 00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:13.119 He cultivated the land. 00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:15.119 He built the Garden of Eden. 00:25:15.119 --> 00:25:18.119 And he put humanity into the midst of it. 00:25:18.119 --> 00:25:20.119 He is the garden. 00:25:20.119 --> 00:25:22.119 He is the God of the garden. 00:25:22.119 --> 00:25:24.119 You come all the way to the end of history. 00:25:24.119 --> 00:25:27.119 Revelation 22 and the very last thing we read about 00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:30.119 is the restoration of God's garden, that the ultimate gardener 00:25:30.119 --> 00:25:33.119 would come again one day and recultivate the land, 00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:35.119 bring back to us the Garden of Eden. 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:39.119 Now, right here in the crucifixion story 00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:43.119 that was looked at last week, John chapter 19 verse 41, 00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:46.119 just before we started reading today, 00:25:46.119 --> 00:25:50.119 John gives this little phrase where he says, 00:25:50.119 --> 00:25:58.119 it just so happened that Jesus Christ was crucified next to a garden. 00:25:58.119 --> 00:26:02.119 And John is trying to bring together the entirety of the Bible 00:26:02.119 --> 00:26:04.119 in that one sentence. 00:26:04.119 --> 00:26:06.119 And this is what he's saying. 00:26:06.119 --> 00:26:11.119 In the beginning of history, Adam and Eve were put in the Garden of God. 00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:13.119 And when they rebelled against the Lord, 00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:15.119 and they were kicked out east of Eden, 00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:20.119 they went to live in the land of death just outside the garden. 00:26:20.119 --> 00:26:23.119 But in the middle of history, when the second Adam, 00:26:23.119 --> 00:26:27.119 the true Adam, the real man, he came, 00:26:27.119 --> 00:26:32.119 he lived through the ultimate death just outside the garden. 00:26:32.119 --> 00:26:35.119 Adam was in the garden, he got kicked out. 00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:39.119 Jesus was outside of the garden so that he could go back in. 00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:44.119 You see, when Jesus was murdered at the hands of his own creatures, 00:26:44.119 --> 00:26:49.119 he was buried in the garden so that when he rose again, 00:26:49.119 --> 00:26:54.119 he could walk over, lift the latch, the lock that's on the gate of the Garden of Eden, 00:26:54.119 --> 00:26:58.119 and he could open the gate and say, now you're welcome. 00:26:58.119 --> 00:27:03.119 He died outside, but he went in to open the way for us, to the Garden of God. 00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:06.119 We were made for the garden. 00:27:06.119 --> 00:27:09.119 And Jesus Christ here, Mary was only half wrong. 00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:11.119 He really is the God of the garden. 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:13.119 He is the God who has opened the way for us. 00:27:13.119 --> 00:27:17.119 And that's why at the end of the passage, the first part of the story, 00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:21.119 Mary all of a sudden realizes, and what does she do? 00:27:21.119 --> 00:27:23.119 She gives him a big hug. 00:27:23.119 --> 00:27:25.119 What does it mean? 00:27:25.119 --> 00:27:30.119 It means that in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you can hug God. 00:27:30.119 --> 00:27:33.119 You have access to the garden. 00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:37.119 One day you really will physically step into the garden of God with Jesus Christ, 00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:41.119 and you will hug Him, and He will hug you. 00:27:41.119 --> 00:27:43.119 What do you need? 00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:44.119 Who are you seeking? 00:27:44.119 --> 00:27:45.119 And here's the answer. 00:27:45.119 --> 00:27:48.119 We don't know, but here's the answer. 00:27:48.119 --> 00:27:54.119 We need resurrection life, and we were made to give a hug to the living God. 00:27:54.119 --> 00:27:58.119 And that's exactly what the God of the Garden has come to offer you today. 00:27:58.119 --> 00:28:03.119 So don't settle for small salvation, little happinesses. 00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:05.119 Your circumstances getting better is great, 00:28:05.119 --> 00:28:09.119 but oh boy, you were made for something much bigger than that. 00:28:09.119 --> 00:28:12.119 Now let me close with just a very short final word, 00:28:12.119 --> 00:28:17.119 and that's the gift that God has given us in doubting Thomas. 00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:23.119 At the very end of John chapter 20, we have this story that Mary is not the only one that struggled. 00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:26.119 Thomas the apostle did as well. 00:28:26.119 --> 00:28:32.119 And what happens to Thomas is that he wasn't there the first time Jesus showed up to the apostles. 00:28:32.119 --> 00:28:35.119 And so he says at the end of the passage, 00:28:35.119 --> 00:28:41.119 if I, oh boy, how modern, if I can't see the man and touch him, 00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:46.119 if I can't take his soft tissue and put it under the microscope, 00:28:46.119 --> 00:28:49.119 then there's no way I can believe this. 00:28:49.119 --> 00:28:52.119 If I can't do the scientific experiment and form a thesis, 00:28:52.119 --> 00:28:55.119 then there's no way that I'm willing to believe in this. 00:28:55.119 --> 00:29:00.119 And Jesus in utter kindness shows up again for Thomas. 00:29:00.119 --> 00:29:04.119 Now let me just point out two things to you and we'll be done. 00:29:04.119 --> 00:29:07.119 First is this, Jesus comes to him and says, 00:29:07.119 --> 00:29:09.119 Thomas, touch me. 00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:14.119 Jesus comes and offers to Thomas exactly the physical evidence that Thomas wanted. 00:29:14.119 --> 00:29:20.119 Now Bertrand Russell, in the beginning of the 20th century, the famous atheist philosopher, 00:29:20.119 --> 00:29:24.119 he said not long before his death, he wrote that when I die, 00:29:24.119 --> 00:29:28.119 if God exists, I'm going to go straight to him and say, 00:29:28.119 --> 00:29:32.119 you didn't give me enough evidence. 00:29:32.119 --> 00:29:35.119 And that's the problem of divine absence. 00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:39.119 That's what the philosophers called it, not being able to see God right now 00:29:39.119 --> 00:29:43.119 and the struggle that we sometimes have with that as modern people. 00:29:43.119 --> 00:29:48.119 But boy, it goes all the way back in history to the beginning, to Thomas, to Mary. 00:29:48.119 --> 00:29:51.119 And Thomas said, if I can't touch him, I can't believe it. 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:56.119 And so Jesus comes and he says, well, touch me, but why? 00:29:56.119 --> 00:30:00.119 Jesus comes to Thomas for a real reason and here it is. 00:30:00.119 --> 00:30:07.119 It's because he was an apostle and every single one of the apostles had to be an eye witness 00:30:07.119 --> 00:30:10.119 of the physical Christ so that they could spread forth the message. 00:30:10.119 --> 00:30:11.119 You know, what's an apostle? 00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:14.119 Apostle is an eye witness of the resurrection. 00:30:14.119 --> 00:30:17.119 So Jesus was coming and saying, well, you're an apostle, you have to see me. 00:30:17.119 --> 00:30:20.119 But at the same time, the ultimate point, Jesus says this at the end, 00:30:20.119 --> 00:30:27.119 he says, blessed though is the one who never sees me physically and believes. 00:30:27.119 --> 00:30:33.119 And you see what Jesus is saying? You do not have to see the physical resurrected Christ today 00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:37.119 in order to believe in the physical resurrected Christ. 00:30:37.119 --> 00:30:42.119 And he says, in fact, more blessed is the one who can believe without yet seeing 00:30:42.119 --> 00:30:46.119 more than Thomas who needed to see in order to believe. 00:30:46.119 --> 00:30:50.119 And he said, boy, in other words, what was he saying to Thomas? 00:30:50.119 --> 00:30:54.119 He was saying, Thomas, you need the same thing that every single person today needs 00:30:54.119 --> 00:30:58.119 and that simply this believe the message of the apostles. 00:30:58.119 --> 00:31:02.119 That there really were eye witnesses, that there were more than 500, 00:31:02.119 --> 00:31:06.119 that Peter really did see him, that Mary, that John and the 12, 00:31:06.119 --> 00:31:09.119 they went out and they said that they saw him, 00:31:09.119 --> 00:31:14.119 they gave their lives saying it and they flipped the Roman Empire upside down 00:31:14.119 --> 00:31:18.119 in the matter of just 20 years with this preposterous claim. 00:31:18.119 --> 00:31:23.119 Now, you don't go out and die for something like this unless you think it happened. 00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:27.119 And he was saying to Thomas, you should have listened to the apostles. 00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:33.119 And today, Jesus is saying to you, listen to the apostolic testimony, the eye witness accounts. 00:31:33.119 --> 00:31:38.119 If you're a Christian today and you're struggling with your faith, 00:31:38.119 --> 00:31:41.119 you feel like your heart is a bit cold and hard. 00:31:41.119 --> 00:31:45.119 Have you come lately and wrestled with the apostolic account, 00:31:45.119 --> 00:31:49.119 which is the Gospels themselves, with the eye witness testimony 00:31:49.119 --> 00:31:53.119 that tells you exactly what happened with the account that was a first person account? 00:31:53.119 --> 00:31:58.119 And you see, that's the invitation, but the last word is simply this. 00:31:58.119 --> 00:32:05.119 I don't know if you noticed when we were reading, but Jesus says to Thomas, touch me. 00:32:05.119 --> 00:32:08.119 But Thomas never did. 00:32:08.119 --> 00:32:10.119 He never actually touched the scars or the wounds. 00:32:10.119 --> 00:32:12.119 He never touched his hands. 00:32:12.119 --> 00:32:17.119 Instead, he simply replies by saying, my God, my Lord. 00:32:17.119 --> 00:32:19.119 Now, Jesus says, touch me. 00:32:19.119 --> 00:32:23.119 Thomas says, my God, my Lord, I believe he never touched them. 00:32:23.119 --> 00:32:27.119 And I think that's because Thomas realized something so important. 00:32:27.119 --> 00:32:34.119 And maybe today, if you're struggling with Christianity at all, this could be the thing, 00:32:34.119 --> 00:32:38.119 exactly what Thomas realized in this moment that might help you. 00:32:38.119 --> 00:32:45.119 And it's this, Thomas realized, I am not willing to put conditions before God 00:32:45.119 --> 00:32:50.119 where I dictate to him what he has to do to make himself real to me. 00:32:50.119 --> 00:32:56.119 Thomas realized that I'm not going to say to God, here are my conditions. 00:32:56.119 --> 00:33:00.119 And only if you meet my conditions am I willing to believe in you. 00:33:00.119 --> 00:33:02.119 Oh boy. 00:33:02.119 --> 00:33:08.119 If God is God, then who, Thomas realized, I can't tell God, 00:33:08.119 --> 00:33:10.119 this is what you must do in order for me to believe. 00:33:10.119 --> 00:33:18.119 Instead, I have to say, my God, my Lord, my God, creator, my Lord, redeemer, 00:33:18.119 --> 00:33:22.119 I'm willing to believe you and I'm willing to follow you. 00:33:22.119 --> 00:33:26.119 And Thomas helps us to see here that we can never put conditions in place. 00:33:26.119 --> 00:33:32.119 Instead, we have to have the heart that says faith that is willing to seek understanding. 00:33:32.119 --> 00:33:37.119 And so the prayer today before the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ is this. 00:33:37.119 --> 00:33:43.119 Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. 00:33:43.119 --> 00:33:45.119 That can be your prayer today. 00:33:45.119 --> 00:33:47.119 And so let's pray that now. 00:33:47.119 --> 00:33:55.119 Lord, I pray for many hearts here this morning that you would give us faith 00:33:55.119 --> 00:34:01.119 in order to seek understanding, Lord, that you would help us to believe 00:34:01.119 --> 00:34:03.119 and help our unbelief. 00:34:03.119 --> 00:34:08.119 And I do pray, Father, for people here that might be wrestling with such an enormous claim 00:34:08.119 --> 00:34:11.119 that a man died and rose again in the middle of history. 00:34:11.119 --> 00:34:20.119 And just we asked, Lord, that you would pull away the 21st century illusions of scientism 00:34:20.119 --> 00:34:24.119 that unless we put something under the microscope, it can't be real. 00:34:24.119 --> 00:34:30.119 We say before you today, oh Lord, would have love, would have morality. 00:34:30.119 --> 00:34:33.119 If that's the truth. 00:34:33.119 --> 00:34:40.119 But Lord, help us to reject that and to realize there are so many things that we've never seen that are very real. 00:34:40.119 --> 00:34:45.119 And we say today before you, Lord, help our unbelief. 00:34:45.119 --> 00:34:49.119 Give us eyes for the resurrection like you gave to Mary Magdalene that day. 00:34:49.119 --> 00:34:52.119 Say our names and may we hear you. 00:34:52.119 --> 00:34:54.119 And we pray this in Christ's name. 00:34:54.119 --> 00:35:01.119 Amen.