Death stalks all our lives. How can we have hope in the times of our greatest grief? How can we keep going when we feel most like giving up? Life’s darkest hours can only be understood from someone who has walked in that place and come to the other side. The most powerful truths of God are often told in story form. When God wanted to communicate the greatest truth about life and death, He gave us the most powerful story. After the cruelty of the cross, and the powerful sense of loss experienced by the early disciples, we are told of the dawning of a new day. That Sunday after crucifixion Friday is really the exclamation point of our faith. Christ’s victory over death means He can promise us life. That is the most glorious message that has ever been told. Jesus Christ came and conquered death.
When people talk about life after death or heaven, upon what grounds are they basing that hope? We need to understand how God dealt with death on our behalf. That is the real issue that prepares each of us, not only for life, but also for death. One writer put it, “Unless we are prepared to die; we will never be prepared to live…”
Our response to the fact of who Jesus Christ is and what He has done on our behalf addresses this issue. It gives us confidence to face our own mortality. It cheers us with the assurance that death is not a permanent separation from those we love. Our positive response to what Jesus achieved on our behalf gives us a source of hope and encouragement to go on. To know that death is not the end, as many people believe today. The Christian hope is not built on false hope, rather it is built on a solid historical fact.
One of the eyewitnesses to Christ’s resurrection, John, the beloved disciple of Jesus gave us two compelling evidences that Jesus Christ is alive from the dead and therefore capable of giving to us the greatest gift, eternal life. Yet, sorrow and grief often obscure our vision of life and the author of life, Jesus Christ. Embracing the truth of Christ’s resurrection is how a person moves past sorrow and embraces a new vision for life.
THE FIRST COMPELLING EVIDENCE OF THE REALITY OF THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST IS THE GRAVE CLOTHES IN THE TOMB AND THE ABSENCE OF A BODY
The most celebrated fact of the uniqueness of Christ is that He conquered death. His body did not remain in the tomb to experience corruption and decay. Unlike the founders of other religions, Jesus’ tomb is empty. A sealed, guarded tomb could not stop Jesus from leaving. The huge stone that was rolled over the entrance of the tomb had been rolled away in order for the first disciples to realize this truth. Angels were waiting to tell the message to the women who came that first Easter morning.
A. An unexpected experience.
The first followers of Jesus were not anticipating what happened that first Easter Sunday. Certain women were going to the tomb to finalize the preparation of the body of Jesus for burial. In John 20, John chooses to give us Mary’s response to the empty tomb.
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him![i]
The rolled stone and empty tomb brought an immediate assumption on the part of Mary, which was that someone had taken the body. I can just imagine the distress in her mind, and anguish in her voice as she declared to the disciples, “we don’t know where they have put him.”
In the other gospels, we discover that Mary was just one of several women who had come to the tomb that morning to continue the burial preparations. Mary seems to be the one taking the initiative. A question arises in my mind: Why did Jesus choose her to be the first person He reveals Himself to as a risen Lord? Why Mary? The reason would be strictly conjecture on our part. I mean, Mary’s credibility had to be suspect. She was a woman who had been delivered from seven demons. Can you imagine the bizarre behavior of this woman before she was set free? Yet, we know from Scripture that Mary was devoted to Jesus. This suggests the thought that God reveals Himself to those who love Him. There is something wonderful about these women coming out of sheer love and devotion to Christ. They came without any expectation of something in return. They came to give, to finish the preparation of the body for burial. Out of that kind of love and devotion, Christ reveals Himself to them. I believe that this same attitude on our part receives similar startling responses of blessings from God. When we come solely to worship Him, to serve Him, Jesus surprises us, and blesses us beyond anything that we can imagine.
In our self-focused generation, we usually do what we do, in order to gain or get something in return. We even evaluate what we get out of a church service. We come expecting to receive. There is a place for that. There is a time for that where we come expecting to receive. Yet, there is something delightful, and powerful when we come to bless, to worship, to give, to serve, without any expectation on our part to receive anything. When we come with no agenda, God is now free to fulfill His purposes and agendas for our lives.
Have you ever wondered why the religious leaders of Jesus’ day totally missed the fact that Jesus was the Messiah? They had a preconceived idea, and false expectations. They missed the hour of God’s visitation to them. I wonder sometimes how much we miss because we are disappointed because our agenda, our preconception of things, blind us from what God is actually doing. Notice Mary’s response to the event. She was told to tell Christ’s followers, and immediately she did what she was told. She ran to tell Peter and the other disciples what had happened.
Jesus said, ‘Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: ‘I have seen the Lord!’ And she told them that he had said these things to her.[ii]
She wanted others to share her experience. She wanted to communicate the good news with others. What is God doing in your life, that you feel compelled to share with those around you?
B. Peter and John’s response to the empty tomb was significant.
When Mary first came and told Peter and the other disciples that the body was missing, Peter and John ran to the tomb. John outran Peter and investigated the tomb, but he did not enter. What John saw impacted him immediately. There were graveclothes in the form of the body. John is recalling the words of Jesus regarding this event. He predicted that He would rise from the dead. Grave robbers in that hour would not have stripped clothes off the body, they would have just been looking for articles of value buried with the body. We read that the burial cloth around Jesus’ head was folded. What grave robber would take the time to fold grave cloths? When Peter arrived, characteristic of his nature, he burst through the opening of the tomb and entered the small room cut into the side of the hillside. John then follows Peter inside.
So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.[iii]
In general, it is true that the ‘early Christians did not believe in the resurrection of Christ because they could not find his dead body; they believed because they did find a living Christ.’ But there was one exception: the beloved disciple [John] believed in his resurrection before he saw him alive again – not indeed because he saw the empty tomb but because the disposition of the graveclothes suddenly made the truth clear to him.[iv]
Jesus had clearly stated that he would rise from the dead. Even the religious leaders remember that statement of Jesus and had set a guard to prevent someone from robbing his body from the tomb. Matthew fills us in. The day after the crucifixion, the Sabbath the leaders came to Pilate to secure the tomb. If the antagonistic crowd of unbelieving leaders knew what Jesus had foretold, it is equally true that the disciples knew as well. This gaze at the tomb convinced John; but as a study of this event reveals there were other elements that sustained his conviction. The reality of Christ’s resurrection was so life-changing that the rest of the apostles gave their lives for this testimony.
1. Notice that Jesus appeared to them at different times and in various geographical locations. In the upper room in Jerusalem, and later in by the sea of Galilee.
2. Jesus Himself explains the Scriptures that foretold this event and its significance to the human family. But at that moment, John tells us that they didn’t understand the Scriptural significance.
(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) [v]
THE SECOND EVIDENCE OF THE REALITY OF THE RESURRECTION IS CHRIST’S APPEARANCES TO HIS FOLLOWERS
An empty tomb is not enough to sustain the idea of his resurrection. Mary assumed someone moved the body, but the fact that Jesus appeared to His disciples repeatedly for forty days after his crucifixion sealed this truth forever in their hearts.
A. Jesus appeared to Mary.
Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away,’ she said,’ and I don’t know where they have put him.’ At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. The angels ask, why the tears and who she is looking for. Quickly she responds that someone had removed the Lord’s body. Hearing someone else she turns around, and with tearful vision sees someone. Unrecognizable possibly because of her blurred vision, or her shaken frame of mind, Jesus is nearby and asks the question, ‘Woman why are you crying? Who are you looking for?’[vi]
Too often in our pain and tragedy we feel that God has abandoned us. We can’t seem to find Him, yet as we see in this passage He is always nearby. The promise is that He will never leave us nor forsake us. Mary now makes another assumption.
…Thinking he was the gardener, she said, Sir if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.[vii]
So often we interpret the events in our lives incorrectly. We misinterpret what people are doing far too frequently. Ultimately, we miss what God is doing and trying to communicate to us. All Mary was looking for was a dead body, but God was revealing to her a living Lord. Upon discovering an empty tomb, she assumes someone has taken the body, and now when the very person she is looking for is talking to her, she assumes he is the gardener. Can you imagine the music to her ears when this misidentified “stranger” calls her name?
Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’[viii]
When God calls our name, it changes everything. It’s a call to trust Him. It’s a call meant to evaporate our fears, our doubts, our disappointments and our sins. So often when God calls our name, we have made false assumptions about the events of our lives. God calls our names when we are experiencing sorrow and are blinded to the truth. God calls our name when we are groping our way through grief and losses so real that it has numbed us to the pleasures of life. God calls our name to lead us out of our blindness, to His identity. At the sound of her name, Mary knew who this man was: It was Jesus, the One she had been searching for. What a joy, not to find a dead friend, a dead teacher, but a living Lord.
What is Jesus to you? Have you discovered the resurrected Lord? If not, you are groping through life blinded to the most amazing life ever offered to people. We can, like Mary, make all kinds of assumptions and often come to the wrong conclusions. Maybe you are like Mary, searching but not finding. He’s here today and is calling your name. How are you going to respond? We notice Mary’s response.
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: ‘I have seen the Lord!’ And she told them that he had said these things to her.[ix]
People who encounter Jesus are people who are excited! Mary could hardly wait to share the good news with others.
B. Jesus appears to the ten disciples.
Where were the disciples after the crucifixion? After the resurrection? We read that they were hiding and living in fear. They were wondering about their own future. How could they go on after this loss? Sorrow often obscures our vision of life. Jesus comes to them through locked doors to break down their fears. Our fears create barriers that Jesus can penetrate.
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.[x]
The first peace is the ordinary greeting of the day. The second expression is the communication of the peace that Christ’s sacrificial death brings to the pardoned sinner. It is out of this new relationship with God that the disciples are sent with the ministry of reconciliation. Roland Tasker explains this peace with God that changes everything about our lives.
The peace of verse 21 is the peace of the pardoned sinner, the peace which Jesus called ‘my peace’ (cf Jn 14:27), for he alone could bestow it, and he could only bestow it after His passion.[xi]
What locked doors does Jesus have to penetrate in our lives? What fears keep us hiding and afraid of what others will think? Consider how wonderful it is to have Jesus come and bring peace to our troubled hearts, address our fears and give us hope for our future. It will only happen as we are reconciled to God. We also, like these early disciples, share in that ministry where the words of reconciliation are extended to others through us.
C. Jesus finally appears to Thomas.
When Jesus had initially came to His disciples, there was one missing. Thomas, upon hearing from the others that Jesus arose, struggled with the issue of belief. He had witnessed his death, and to hear that Jesus was alive was too difficult for him to grasp. He needed tangible evidence that Christ had indeed arose.
Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.’[xii]
Right here we could easily speak to the importance of gathering with other believers. Too often we get into the pattern of thinking that attending church doesn’t matter. Yet, as a new believer, it was always those services when I had been the most discouraged and thought about not attending that proved to be so critical in meeting my need and experiencing comfort and encouragement. These encounters can transform our unbelief into faith, our discouragement into encouragement, and our cowardice into courage, because Jesus comes on the scene and speaks our name. He speaks into our souls and our current situations.
Where was Thomas? Who knows, but fortunately, he rejoined the ten. The problem is that this believer was struggling with unbelief and Jesus was alive, but he just couldn’t believe the testimony of the others. Then Jesus appeared and spoke to Thomas. Jesus calls Thomas by name and challenged his unbelief to faith.
Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’[xiii]
When Jesus calls you by name, it is definitely a challenge to stop doubting and start believing. Are we to believe only what we see? Jesus promises a blessing to those who believed without seeing.
The time would come that neither sight nor touch would be possible, for Jesus would have completed his return to his Father beyond the range of physical senses. Yet He will still be visible to the eyes of faith.[xiv]
Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me and have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’[xv]
What is the point that John is trying to drive home, not only in this chapter but through the entire book?
Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.[xvi]
Some of you may not have this life that John is talking about. What life is he talking about? It is a life that affects both our eternal destiny and our present life experience.
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.[xvii]
How have you responded to the resurrection of Christ? Deny it? Do not think about it? The religious leaders of Jesus’ day lied about it and fabricated another story, which could not be substantiated. They didn’t want to surrender to the implications that this historical event pointed toward; that Jesus Christ is who He said He is – God in the flesh.
When the significance of this event is understood and embraced, it transforms our lives! It helps us deal with our own mortality. We know that life will not come to an end, but rather when we physically die, we, like Christ, are brought into the very presence of the Father. The message of Christ’s resurrection is paramount to our own resurrection from the dead. To ignore the fact that Jesus is alive is done to our own peril! Humanity’s ultimate problem is not that we are sinners, but the realization and willingness to acknowledge our need for a Savior. To decide to live independently of God is the great sin of humanity. It is done to our own demise and destruction. To the believer, Christ’s resurrection is a signal that He has conquered death. The last and greatest enemy, death, is defeated. To die is just a change of residence, from earth to heaven, from seeing darkly to seeing clearing, from spiritual conflicts to the place of ultimate peace and rest, and from hope to reality. Jesus is here! He is calling your name! How will you respond? In faith or doubt?
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[i] John 20:1-2, The New International Version of the Bible, Zondervan, 2011.
[ii] John 20:17-18.
[iii] John 20:3-8.
[iv] F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman’s Publishing Co, 1983), 386.
[v] John 20:9.
[vi] John 20:10-14.
[vii] John 20:15.
[viii] John 20:16.
[ix] John 20:18.
[x] John 20:19-21.
[xi] R.V. Tasker, John, TNTC, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman’s Publishing Co, 1960), 226.
[xii] John 20:24-25.
[xiii] John 20:27.
[xiv] R.V. Tasker, John, 223.
[xv] John 20:29.
[xvi] John 20:31.
[xvii] John 17:3.
