John 20:1-23 + Isaiah 53:9-12
What am I looking for?
Presentation: Light Shines .mp4 5:16sec
If you’re wondering, that’s a picture of Thomas with his finger being stuck into the side of Jesus[1]
See how Caravaggio captures the moment when Thomas can’t even look Jesus in the eye as he does that. Why is it we so want to be the one who touches the evidence, when it’s all still there right before our eyes? Thomas demands evidence.
Today, we celebrate the evidence of God dealing with sin and death and allowing us forgiveness and new life. Easter Friday leaves us with a black day; a scene of loss and grief, and the helplessness at the face of death.
This Easter Sunday the joy we find is Jesus is alive. He has triumphed over death. The cross was where sin was taken away. Eternal life is now possible. Jesus rose again that first Easter morning. It didn’t feel like a celebration at first, as everything seemed bleak. These eyewitnesses don’t spare us their feelings either; the women who watched the death of Jesus including Mary, the soldiers who cast lots for Jesus clothes, one who later thrusts his spear into Jesus side, and Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who bury the body of Jesus.
There’s no doubt by any that Jesus was dead. They buried him in a tomb and sealed the entrance that first Easter Friday. So, early in the morning, while it’s still dark on that Sunday, there’s a sense in which nothing’s changed. We glimpse the personal grief of Mary Magdalene.
Mary Magdalene, the prostitute Jesus forgave of her sins knew the freedom God’s love brings when we know his forgiveness. For Mary, the death of Jesus made her heart heavy as we read in John 20:1-2:
1 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. 2 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!"
It’s dark. All Mary can see is an open tomb where the stone should have been laid across – it’s gone. So she goes to tell the disciples the tomb’s empty. Peter and John, sharing Mary’s alarm head for the tomb. After the disciples have come and gone, Mary stays to weep. To her mind, the loss of Jesus’ body was the last straw. It would have taken great courage but finally she looks into the tomb one last time - and it all changes.
Uncanny isn’t it, how God changes life in an instant? She goes in, and sees two figures: two angels sitting where his head and feet had been. They ask her a question,
13…"Woman, why are you crying?" "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him."
Here from the perspective of heaven before that empty tomb, if ever there was one place where tears of sadness were the least appropriate thing, it was that morning. Before these messengers of God in the tomb where death and sin had been defeated, Jesus had risen again.
Before Mary’s even had a chance to take it all in, she senses someone is behind her so she turns around to see who it is. Only to be confronted by a man she should know but fails to recognize. Again, she’s hit by the same questions:
14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.15 "Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" 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."
Mary sees Jesus and she can’t recognise Him. Who was Mary looking for? She’s challenged again by the same words: “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
How true is that question for us – who are you looking for today? God stands before us, and in life we can go on searching for the very thing standing in front of us all the time. You are looking for life because you’re feeling dead – you looking for forgiveness – you are looking for Jesus.
At that tomb Mary‘s obviously still looking for a corpse. Mary’s problem is soon shared by the rest of the disciples. This failure to recognise the risen Jesus may not be all that surprising. Jesus had risen again and Mary couldn’t see it. Jesus was about to change Mary’s life yet again. Inconsolable Mary has her tears turn to joy.
Jesus had passed through death. It’s in Jesus speaking to her that Mary’s blindness is broken - it all changes with one word…
16 Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
One word made the all difference. One word rebuilt her world, transformed her life. Jesus knew her by name. She wasn’t looking for a corpse anymore, she was looking at the living resurrected Jesus. All she can do is reach out to hold onto Him. Jesus her saviour lives. She stands as an eyewitness to this day.
18 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.
Mary isn’t the only eyewitness to that day. There’s Peter and John also at the tomb. John who was obviously the faster runner gets to the tomb first, still he stays outside. Peter runs straight in to see the empty tomb inside. What they see only confirms for them Jesus wasn’t there, as we read in verse 8-9 it all changes for them as well.
8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
Their run to that tomb was one of alarm. These men don’t know where the body of Jesus was either. They’re hit also with the scene of the grave clothes neatly folded. Jesus resurrection changes everything. It was far different from the resurrection of Lazarus who had merely been restored to physical life after death. Remember how Lazarus walked out in his grave clothes? Jesus left his behind in the midst of this tomb. John is brought to believe in Jesus’ resurrection yet they felt there was more yet to understand. We read in verse 19 – 20:
19 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!" 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
Maybe some of us come today feeling like Thomas. We’re still waiting for proof. What will it take in your heart to see the mercy of God who comes with hands that were prepared to be nailed to a cross, prepared to deal with the one thing we could never deal with ourselves.
Forgiveness from God is life transforming. Jesus is still transforming lives today. He transforms our brokenness with the sheer uninhibited gladness of discovering him risen again. This is what we are celebrating today. This Easter Sunday, our Jesus is alive. Sadness is turned to joy. Death has turned to life. Sin has been defeated for evermore – What a saviour!
Lets pray…
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