The Resurrection of Jesus
Sermon Notes
Context:
Here’s your context. At this point in Ch. 20 Jesus has already been crucified, died, and buried. The Roman Governor Pilate orders some soldiers to seal and guard the tomb, because the Jews thought somebody might steal the body and claim Jesus rose from the dead. So, the tomb is sealed, the guards are in place, and as we enter the scene of Ch. 20, we’ll find several people’s skepticism turned into strengthened belief by the resurrection. I’ve broken the text down into the following 3 sections: #1 The Skepticism of Mary (vs 1-18), #2 The Skepticism of Peter, John, and other Disciples (vs 19-23), #3 The Skepticism of Thomas (vs 24-31). There’s a lot of skepticism, doubt, disbelief surrounding the resurrection event, and so let’s check it out.
The Word:
John 20:1-31 states, “On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she went running to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him!’” There’s the skepticism of Mary. As soon as she sees the empty tomb her 1st response isn’t “He’s risen,” it’s “He’s stolen.” Her 1st response is “They’ve taken the Lord.” It never even crosses her mind that he’s risen! Jesus repeatedly taught he’d die and rise again on the 3rd day, to the point where even his enemies are concerned about it. They’re so concerned they’re having soldiers guard the tomb. Jesus said he’d rise so often it’s become public knowledge. So, you’d think Mary’s 1st response would’ve been he’s risen, but instead she thinks his body has been stolen. She isn’t coming to the tomb anticipating the celebration of his resurrection, she’s coming to the tomb to mourn.
Vs. 3, “At that, Peter and the other disciple went out, heading for the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and got to the tomb first. 5 Stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then, following him, Simon Peter also came. He entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. 7 The wrapping that had been on his head was not lying with the linen cloths but was folded up in a separate place by itself.” The ‘other disciple’ mentioned in the text is John, and apparently, he’s the speedy running back while Peter’s the center on the O-line. John outruns him and doesn’t enter the tomb, but Peter immediately enters the tomb and what does he find? He finds Jesus’ clothes neatly folded up. It’s a clue that Jesus’ body wasn’t stolen like Mary thought, because what thief would take time to fold the clothes? They want to get in and out as quick as possible, not fold the clothes off a dead body. The tomb was empty not because his body was stolen, but because he had risen.
Vs. 8, “The other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, then also went in, saw, and believed. 9 For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to the place where they were staying.” So apparently John believes at this point, but Peter’s still processing trying to figure things out. The text doesn’t say we believed; it says John believed. Peter’s heading back to the place they’re staying to try to figure things out.
Vs. 11, “But Mary stood outside the tomb, crying. As she was crying, she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 She saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus’s body had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ ‘Because they’ve taken away my Lord,’ she told them, ‘and I don’t know where they’ve put him.’” She’s still thinking his body’s stolen, still thinking somebody took his body.
Vs. 14, “Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus. 15 ‘Woman,’ Jesus said to her, ‘why are you crying? Who is it that you’re seeking?’ Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, ‘Sir, if you’ve carried him away, tell me where you’ve put him, and I will take him away.’ 16 Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ Turning around, she said to him in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ which means ‘Teacher.’ 17 ‘Don’t cling to me,’ Jesus told her, ‘since I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord!’ And she told them what he had said to her.” I want you to notice 3 things here. The 1st is that a woman is the first to proclaim Jesus had risen. It’s a small but critical detail, because it gives credibility to everything we’re reading. One of the ways you know it isn’t a legend is because back then if you wanted people to believe what you’re saying, you didn’t use a woman’s testimony. In fact, the 2nd century Greek Philosopher Celsus states, “One of the main reasons we know Christianity can’t be true, is that it’s based on the testimony of women! We all no women are hysterical.” (Bet he had trouble finding a wife. If I said that to my wife, she’d ninja chop me in the head.) But that was the mentality back then. They didn’t take a woman’s testimony seriously. Celsus even calls Mary’s testimony nothing more than gossip at the tomb. It’s wrong, and Christianity teaches both men and women’s testimonies are equally valid. But back then if you wanted people to believe in the resurrection and follow Jesus, you wouldn’t do it saying a woman saw Jesus first. You wouldn’t say that, unless it’s true! There’s nothing to gain and everything to lose in recording that detail. But they record that detail in all 4 Gospel records because it’s true, giving credibility to everything else we’re reading.
The 2nd thing I want you to notice is Jesus cares about Mary’s tears. He acknowledges her tears and asks, “Why are you crying?” It shows how compassionate Jesus is. He’s compassionate enough to ask about her tears. This leads to the 3rd thing I want you to notice, which is Mary’s rapid transition from weeping to rejoicing, from skepticism to belief. Only the resurrection of Jesus could’ve caused that kind of rapid transition, because healing from deep emotional grief is a slow gradual process. The only logical reason for her rapid transition is she must’ve seen the resurrected Jesus, which means Jesus is a living Savior who cares about your tears like he cared about Mary’s tears. He’s a living Savior who can bring healing to your hurting heart, just like he brought healing to Mary’s hurting heart. So, tell him why you’re hurting, keep seeking him when you’re hurting, and one day he’ll turn your mourning into dancing like Mary.
Vs. 19, “When it was evening on that first day of the week, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because they feared the Jews.” Now we’re seeing the skepticism of the other disciples. The text says it’s still the 1st day of the week, it’s still the Sunday Jesus said he’d rise again, and where are the disciples? They’re not at the tomb waiting to see if he’s risen, they’re hiding in a room with the doors locked afraid of the Jews. So, we’re again seeing they aren’t anticipating the resurrection. They aren’t like “Hey it’s the 3rd day, maybe we should see if he’s risen.” They aren’t saying that, which is why Mary has to go get them! And they don’t even believe her when she does. Luke 24:11 says they thought her words were an idle tale, and they didn’t believe her. The only ones who believed her were Peter and John who ran to check it out. In fact, two disciples actually admit they lost hope. Luke 24:21, “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” Notice its past tense. It says we HAD hoped, meaning they don’t anymore. They had hoped Jesus was their Messiah, their Savior, but after seeing him crucified they don’t anymore. As a result, their skepticism is causing them to hide in a room with the doors locked.
Again vs. 19 states, “When it was evening on that first day of the week, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because they feared the Jews. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ 20 Having said this, he showed them his hands and his side. So, the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you.’ 22 After saying this, he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’” Notice Jesus says 2 times “peace be with you.” He’s bringing peace to their fearful hearts; he’s bringing stability to their scared hearts. It’s like a child waking at night in fearful terror and their parent scoops them up saying “It’s okay, Daddy has you. Mommy has you. So, don’t be afraid.” In a similar way Jesus is meeting them in their fear saying “It’s okay. There’s nothing to fear anymore, because I’ve risen form the dead.” In vs 20 it says they rejoiced over this, and it gives them the courage to come out of hiding to follow Jesus’ command, in spreading the gospel with the world. It’s another rapid transition the resurrection causes in their skeptical hearts. So not only is Jesus a living Savior who can bring healing to your hurting heart, he can also bring peace and stability to your scared heart. You can express your fears to him, while also finding peace knowing those fears are no match for his resurrecting power.
Vs. 24, “But Thomas (called ‘Twin’), one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples were telling him, ‘We’ve seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘If I don’t see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.’” It’s another moment of skepticism, only this time it’s specific. Thomas gets very specific about what it’ll take for him to believe. He says, “Unless I see him, and touch him, I’ll never believe!” He’s perhaps the biggest skeptic of them all. He needs more depth, more concrete evidence to believe, and what we’re learning is Christianity didn’t start with irrational gullible faith. It started with the rational skeptical faith of people who at first didn’t believe in the resurrection. In fact, if you go back to vs 6 where Peter saw the linen clothes folded up, the word saw comes from the Greek word theoreo. It’s where we get the word theory from. It means to ‘think’ or ‘reason’ about things you’ve observed. So, when Peter sees the empty tomb with the clothes folded up, he starts thinking, reasoning, theorizing about everything. He’s like “Let’s think about this for a second. Let’s think about what the best theoreo, the best theory is for what happened to Jesus’ body. It couldn’t have been thieves, because they wouldn’t have taken time to fold the clothes. It couldn’t have been our enemies, because they’re trying to avoid the rumors of Jesus rising. It also couldn’t have been our friends, because they wouldn’t dishonor his body like this, taking him without his clothes and ointments. Besides, how would they have slipped past the guards?” Peter’s thinking, reasoning, theorizing about what happened. All the disciples are baffled about the empty tomb, which tells us Christianity didn’t start with irrational gullible faith. It started with the rational skeptical faith of people who at first didn’t believe. But after seeing Jesus rise from the dead, all their skepticism and theorizing stopped, except for Thomas. It’s because Thomas hasn’t seen Jesus yet, so he’s the biggest skeptic of them all.
Vs. 26, “A week later his disciples were indoors again, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ 27 Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be faithless, but believe.’ 28 Thomas responded to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ 29 Jesus said, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.’” Thomas finally believes! He says, “My Lord and my God,” and submits his life to Jesus. It’s another rapid transition in the heart of a skeptic, that can only be explained by the resurrection of Jesus. A skeptic like Thomas doesn’t come to faith as quickly as others. He needed more depth to believe, and Jesus was patient enough to give him that depth. It can be discouraging when your skeptical friends don’t come to faith right away, but some people need more time and depth before they’ll believe. Vs 26 says Thomas didn’t come to faith until a week later, until 7 days after the resurrection. His friends kept trying to convince him, but it took time and depth. Jesus was patient enough to give him that time and depth. So, it’s okay to express your doubts to both Jesus and the church community, because there’s a lot of depth to Christianity that can lead even the biggest of skeptics to faith. There’s enough depth, truth, historical facts, evidences to lead anybody who’s openminded, to faith in Jesus. Jesus is a living Savior who can bring healing to the hurting, peace and stability to the scared, and depth to the doubter.
Vs. 30, “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God,, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John the author just gave us the very reason he writes all this. It’s so that, ‘you may believe’ and ‘have eternal life,’ in Jesus name. In fact, the entire point of John’s Gospel is to show the signs, the evidence of Jesus being our God who came to live, die, and rise again for the forgiveness of our sins. If we look at the evidences, look at the historical facts, what we’ll find is when Jesus died none of his followers were waiting at the tomb to see if he’d risen. But on the 3rd day they saw something that changed everything. They saw the risen Jesus and it changed their entire lives. It caused them to unlock the doors and risk their lives, most being tortured or killed for spreading the news, that Jesus had risen. They wouldn’t have risked their lives for a dead Savior, but they risked their lives because Jesus is a living Savior. They risked their lives because they saw Jesus live, die, and rise again.
The Big Idea:
The big idea is Christianity started with skeptics, who were changed by the resurrection. The reason John the author tells us all this, is so we’ll believe and have our lives changed by the resurrection too. He wants those of you who are skeptics to think, reason, theorize about the empty tomb, but then place your faith in Jesus so your life will be changed too. He wants those of you who are believers to think, reason, theorize about the empty tomb, so your faith will be strengthened and changed by the resurrection too. He’s saying if you believe Jesus rose from the dead, if you place your faith in him as your Lord and Savior like the disciples did...then you’ll have access to a living Savior! He’s a living Savior who cares about your tears, fears, and doubts. He’s a living Savior who can give you healing when you’re hurting, peace and stability when you’re scared, and depth for your doubts. He’s a living Savior you can pray to about anything, anytime, anywhere. He’s a living Savior who can give you an eternally joyful life in him.