The Post-resurrection Sayings of Jesus - Who are you looking for?

Post-resurrection Sayings of Jesus - Who are you looking for?  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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In Christ’s first post-resurrection appearance to Mary, we find the Gospel story in microcosm. We learn here that faith rests in truth, comes by grace, and works through love.

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Text: John 20:1-8
Theme: In Christ’s first post-resurrection appearance to Mary, we find the Gospel story in microcosm. We learn here that faith rests in truth, comes by grace, and works through love.
Last Sunday we celebrated what is rightly called the Festival of the Resurrection. It commemorates what Christians believe is the most momentous event in the history of the world. Jesus, who is God incarnate, rose from the dead after accomplishing God’s redemptive work by dying on the cross as a substitute for sinners condemned unclean. Then, 3-days later, God raised him from the dead.
The Lenten Season is the traditional time that pastors preach on the great themes surrounding the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. There is always much anticipation leading up to Easter Sunday. It arrives and we celebrate with a renewed spiritual intensity. And rightly so. Then, like most churches, we quickly move on to other themes after the celebration of Easter Sunday. But we must not move on too quickly, lest we miss much of the story.
In the first 40 days after the resurrection Jesus appeared to both individual disciples, and groups of disciples — large and small. He spoke words that we need to hear, and to think about. Then, those 40 days were followed by 10 days of waiting for the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples at Pentecost, an event which birthed the church.
It occurs to me, that as Christians, we spend lots of time looking at the events leading up to our Lord’s Passion, and then pretty much ignore the days that followed. We are all familiar with the events surrounding his Triumphal Entry, his passion week, the crucifixion, and his glorious resurrection. We know the seven last sayings from the cross, but how many Christians, know the seven post-resurrection sayings of Christ? I want us to spend some time doing that.
The first post-resurrection words we hear Jesus saying are to Mary Magdalene — Who are you looking for?
Read the text: John 20:1–18.

I. OUR FAITH RESTS IN TRUTH — THE RESURRECTION IS RATIONAL

ILLUS. Suppose one day next week you go to the Post Office and find you have a registered letter waiting for you. It’s an envelope with a law firm’s return address. The letter is very official looking, and it says that you have a distant relative who has died, and left you a one million dollar inheritance. The first thing you do is you check the return address and note that the letter is not from Nigeria. Now you’re curious. You’re probably going to have two feelings simultaneously. The first is great joy at the possibility of your newfound fortune. And, secondly, skepticism — is this real or is someone scamming you? Let’s face it we live in a day of fraudulent schemes, where scammers are getting extremely sophisticated in the way they bilk money out of innocent people. But my guess is that you would check it out. You just wouldn’t throw that letter away. Why? Because the offer is just to astounding for you not to check it out.
1. the resurrection of Christ is just like that
a. you might be skeptical about it, but it behooves you to check out
b. because the offer — if it is true — is just too great to pass on
2. let’s face it — it’s a fantastic story ...
a. an innocent man is condemned and brutally beaten
b. he dies a horrible death, and is pronounced dead by competent authorities
c. he is wrapped in a shroud, and laid in a tomb that is then sealed and guarded
d. a few days later it is reported by a number of eyewitnesses that he is alive, whole, and talking to friends
1) I’ve been to a fair number of funerals, and I’ve stood at many a grave side — death seems pretty final
3. but in Christ we learn that, though death may have its “sting” that with death comes victory and eternal life for the believer
a. the resurrection does not offer believers some kind of vague afterlife experience floating around on clouds and playing harps
1) it offers you a new and perfected body
2) it offers you life in a renewed and perfected world
3) it offers you the eternal presence of the living God
4) it offers you the fellowship of the saints — many of them loved ones and friends
4. the resurrection, like the letter promising you a $1 million inheritance from somebody you have never met, it sounds almost too good to be true

A. THE EMPTY TOMB IS AN ASTOUNDING STORY

1. early, on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene makes her way to the tomb of Jesus only to find the stone removed from the entrance
a. she doesn’t yet know that it’s resurrection Sunday!
b. she immediately hurries back to Jerusalem to find Peter, and “the other disciple” (who is the apostle John) and breathlessly tells them “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
2. stunned, Peter and John both go running toward the tomb, but John out runs him
a. getting their first, John peers into the tomb and sees the linens that wrapped the Lord’s body lying on the slab
b. Peter arrives, and actually enters the tomb
1) he sees the shroud lying in place, and the face covering neatly rolled up and off to one side
3. when the Bible says in John 18:6 that Peter saw the strips of linen lying on the slab, it’s not the normal word for seeing something
a. the word used in vs. 6 is the word from which we get our word theorize
1) it means to observe something intently, looking for an explanation
2) it’s the process of trying to find a rational explanation for an event
b. you’re looking at something, and you’re thinking, you’re rationalizing, you’re investigating
1) Peter is thinking —“How do I understand this?”
2) He’s thinking to himself,
a) “We didn’t take the body. And if we didn’t take the body who did?”
b) “If the Jewish leaders took the body, what did they do with it? And why would they take it?”
c) “If grave robbers took the body, why would they take time to neatly fold the grave clothes?”
c. he is reasoning, and so too is John
4. why do I point this out?
a. there are many people today who think that, if you’re Christian, you’ve obviously suspended your reasoning process
1) your lost family members or your lost friends just assume that, at some point, you decided to simply believe and throw reality to the wind
a) and if you believe in the resurrection what other “strange” or silly things do you believe? (babies in the womb are humans ... the Genesis story of creation)?
2) thinking people often think “How can any rational person believe this story as literally true?”
ILLUS. Writing a half-century ago, J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings and a devout Christian, conceded that resurrection seemed like a fantasy — by its very nature almost too good to be true. Tolkien wrote, “For that very reason I believed it must be true; as the story we live in needs a better ending than the one we've crafted.”
a) the secularists of our culture have crafted a story that the only thing that matters in life is the accumulation of stuff
b) the naturalists of our culture have crafted a story that this life is all there is so eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die ... and that’s it ... end of story
c) like Tolkien, I believe that God has a better ending to the story than the secularist or the naturalist
5. the Christian faith is not faith sans reasoning
a. if you’re a Christian you need to think about your faith, and you need to think about this story that your faith is based on
b. if you don’t think deeply about your faith from time to time, your faith will never last the ups and downs of life
c. the Christian faith obviously involves more than just reasoning, but does not involve less

B. THE RESURRECTION IS A REASONABLE EXPLANATION FOR THE EMPTY TOMB

1. there is lots of evidence in the Gospels that point to the resurrection being true — or at the very least — the most reasonable explanation for the empty tomb
a. let me give you the two that are found here in the text — there are more, but time does not allow
2. 1st, is Mary Magdalene
a. women were the first witnesses of the resurrection, and the first to report the good news
1) in 2023 no one would doubt the veracity of Mary Magdalene’s report due to her gender
a) the fact that she’s a woman would not make any difference in the trustworthiness of her report in a court of law or the court of public opinion
2) that was not so in the 1st -century
ILLUS. Celsus was a Greek philosopher and historian who despised Christianity and regularly wrote against it. One of his main attacks against Christianity was that women were the first and primary witnesses of the resurrection. He wrote, “How can anyone expect rational men to listen to the testimony of a hysterical female?”
b. Celsus lived in an age of patriarchy when the status of women was very, very low
1) in Greek, Roman and Jewish culture women could not serve as witnesses during court proceedings because their testimony was considered unreliable
a) why is this important?
b) because all four Gospels tell us that the first witnesses of the resurrection were women
c. in the 1st -century this was considered the Achilles’ heel of Christianity
1) if women were the first and primary witnesses of the resurrection event it cannot be true because we cannot trust their testimony
2) even the Apostles did not believe Mary and the other women’s initial report
“But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.” (Luke 24:11, NIV84)
a) their report was nonsense ... the idle talk of excitable women
d. but this actually strengthens the case — it means that the story must be true
1) if the Apostles are inventing a new religion, as so many secular historians now believe, there is no way that women would’ve been part of the story — certainly not the first witnesses to the resurrection
e. the only rational explanation — the only reasonable explanation — as to why women figure so prominently in the story is because the story is true
3. 2nd, is changed lives of the apostles
a. their radical commitment to the Christ and his gospel is a reasonable explanation for the empty tomb
ILLUS. In the years, both preceding and following the life of Jesus, we know that there were any number of messianic pretenders among the Jewish people. The Book of Acts speaks to this. When the Jewish leaders were trying to decide how to deal with the burgeoning movement called The Way, (which is what Christianity was initially called) Israel’s greatest Rabbi of the day, Gamaliel, cautioned patience. “But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. 35 And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. 36 For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered.” (Acts 5:34–37, ESV). These were men who appeared, making great claims, and promising deliverance from the Roman yoke of oppression. Most of them found ready followers. Perhaps the most famous would-be Messiah after Jesus was Simon bar Kokhba. He also gathered an army, led Israel to revolt, but was killed along with most of his followers. In every situation these would-be Messiahs rose to power, raised armies, were defeated, and that was the end of it. The moment every one of those pretenders died their followers melted away, and everyone said “Nope, not him.”
b. but when you read the Book of Acts you discover something amazing
1) within weeks and months of the reported resurrection of Jesus Christ you have thousands of Jewish people believing that Jesus is God’s promised Messiah
2) their worldview is radically changed
a) they began to worship a man as God — a man they believed was God come in the flesh, who had died as a sacrifice for sin, and had been resurrected from the dead
c. what happened? resurrection attested to by eyewitness evidence
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30–31, ESV)
4. The Resurrection Is Intensely Rational—It’s a Reasonable Explanation of the Empty Tomb

II. OUR FAITH COMES BY GRACE — THE RESURRECTION IS MERCIFUL

1. because of the resurrection, Jesus is merciful to sinners
ILLUS. What do you know about Mary Magdalene? You probably know that she was a devoted follower of Jesus. You know that she was one of the few disciples to be present at the crucifixion. From this morning’s text you know that she is the first of all Jesus’ followers to come to the tomb where he had been buried. We know that she was among a group of women disciples who were patrons of his ministry, and followed him throughout his ministry. Most importantly, Luke’s gospel tells us that Jesus cast seven demons out of her. Mary was a demon-possessed sinner, whom Jesus healed, and she responded by becoming a devoted follower. She saw the miracles, and heard his teachings.
2. now, with her background in mind, look at how Jesus interacts with Mary Magdalene
a. do you see how gentle he is ... do you see the grace?
3. he begins asking her questions: “Why are you crying?” “Who are you looking for?”
a. the conversation reveals an interesting dynamic between her and the Savior
b. as much as Mary loves Jesus, her thoughts about Jesus are too small
1) she’s looking for a dead Jesus
2) she’s looking for a wonderful rabbi, a gifted teacher, the miracle worker who changed her life
4. her thinking about Jesus is too small, and so Jesus needs to fully reveal himself to her
a. how does he do that?
1) he simply calls her by her name
b. it’s an incredible part of the story
1) she looks at him, thinks he’s the gardener, challenges him, and doesn’t understand who he is, but he breaks through and says, “Mary”
c. Jesus is about to reveal a new reality to her — he is now Savior and Lord and their new relationship is because of grace; which is mercy extended to sinners
5. The Resurrection Allows Jesus to Be Merciful to People Broken by Sin

III. OUR FAITH WORKS THROUGH LOVE — THE RESURRECTION IS PERSONAL

1. Jesus doesn’t merely save us from our sins
a. he saves us and then gives himself to us
b. our response to his love is that we then love him
“We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19, ESV)
2. he shows the world how he relates to us by how he relates to Mary
a. of all the people in the world, of all the people Jesus could have appeared to, he called her
1) she was the first one to hear
2) she was the first one to see
3) for one brief shining moment Mary Magdalene was the whole church
a) she’s the church’s first evangelist, the church’s first missionary, the only person who knew the truth
3. when he calls her woman she doesn’t recognize the voice, but when he calls her Mary she suddenly knows who it is
a. Jesus doesn’t blurt out, “It’s me! Don’t you recognize who I am?”
b. Jesus doesn’t demean her by saying “Stupid woman, how could you not recognize me?”
c. Jesus simply calls her by name, “Mary”
4. Jesus loved her — he loved her personally, he loved her expensively, and he loved her eternally
5. Our Faith Works Through Love ... Jesus Loved Us and We Love Him in Return with All Our Hearts, and Mind, and Soul and Strength

IV. APPLICATION

A. SALVATION IS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT AN EMPTY TOMB

1. the Apostle Paul is very clear about this
“But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:12–17, NIV84)
1. Jesus’ resurrection is the Father’s vindication of the Son’s redemptive work on the cross, and proof of his deity
a. without the resurrection the cross is meaningless — merely the martyrdom of a righteous man
2. but through the resurrection God has made a profound statement
a. this Jesus is authentic and true in all he claimed of himself and the kingdom promises he made
3. as the three years of Christ’s public ministry ran their course, the apostles became increasingly convinced Jesus was the Messiah
a. but when He warned them — repeatedly — that He must suffer and die, they could not reconcile this dreadful prospect with their ripening faith in His divine Person
b. then He was arrested, tried, condemned, crucified, and all their hopes were shattered
4. then Sunday morning came and the tomb was empty!
a. Jesus had never predicted His death without adding that He would rise
1) he knew His death would not be the end
2) now they knew, too
b. the resurrection became the core of their gospel proclamation — “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” (Acts 2:23–24, ESV)
5. by faith the merit of His death and the power of His resurrection have both become ours

B. SALVATION IS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT REVELATION

1. I don’t mean to demean Mary Magdalene, but Mary kept missing all the signs of the resurrection
a. remember, she’s been with Jesus as long as any of the Apostles — she knows Jesus, and she knows his teachings — including his repeated warning that he must go to Jerusalem, be rejected by the Jewish chief priests and elders, be killed, but rise from the dead after three days
b. Mary heard him over and over and over and over again say, "I'm going to rise from the dead," but at the moment that has all been forgotten
1) she sees an open tomb, but doesn’t embrace the truth
2) she peers inside the tomb and sees angels, but doesn’t embrace the truth
3) she sees Jesus outside the tomb, mistakes him for the gardener, and doesn’t embrace the truth
2. it takes the risen Christ revealing himself to Mary, before Mary has the spiritual “ah ha” moment, and embraces the truth — Jesus is a Risen Savior, not a Dead Rabbi
a. Mary sees all the evidence ... does she say, "He’s done it"?
1) instead she says, "They took it."
2) what’s the point?
b. Jesus in the garden with Mary is a microcosm of the gospel of grace
1) Mary Magdalene never would have found him if he had not come to find her, and reveal his true identity to her
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”” (Luke 19:10, NIV84)
a) and after the resurrection, she would be the very first one he would “seek”
2) do you see? Jesus came to seek us, because we’re not seeking him
3) lost men are not seeking after Jesus, but Jesus is seeking them
“As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.” (Romans 3:10–11, NIV84)
3. saving faith is possible only when Jesus comes and opens your eyes
a. Jesus needs to reveal himself to us because our hearts and minds are too closed and too small and too sinful to comprehend the Gospel of Grace
b. Jesus saves by grace; which is the message of the Bible
1) Mary is the first person in the world to believe upon the risen Christ
2) Mary is the first person in the world told to go and tell others about the risen Christ
c. it’s a remarkable story
4. Mary has faith, not because she has found Jesus, but because Jesus has come to her and revealed himself to her
a. that’s how it was with me, and that’s how it was with you, and that’s how it is for all who come to faith in the risen Christ

C. SALVATION IS IMPOSSIBLE IF WE CLING TO THE JESUS WE WANT AND NOT THE JESUS WE NEED

1. the most interesting verse in this passage is John 20:17
“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.’ ”” (John 20:17, NIV84)
a. literally, Jesus tells Mary to stop clinging to me
1) according to Matthew’s Gospel she has fallen at his feet, and tightly clenched her arms around his ankles as if she’s never going to let him go
2) do you blame her?
a) she had just witnessed her Savior tortured and crucified and now he was alive
b) Mary must have thought, "Lord, I lost You once, I don't ever want to lose You again. I will never let You go!"
3) but here is the problem ...
b. Mary is intent on clinging to the Jesus she wants — the wonderful rabbi, a gifted teacher, the miracle worker who changed her life
c. but what Mary needs is a Risen Savior who will forgive her sin, ascend into heaven, and send the Holy Spirit to indwell her life
2. like Mary, too many people cling to the Jesus the want rather than the Jesus they need
a. some people want Jesus, the Cuddly Baby of the nativity stories
1) this is a Jesus who is sweet, and smiles, and coos affectionately, and doesn’t make any demands on our lives — like take up your cross daily and follow me
b. some people want Jesus, the Moral Teacher
1) this is a Jesus who makes the rules, and we’d better abide by the rules or else, and if I obey the rules better than you do, well ... I’m the better Christian
c. some people want Jesus, the Prince of Peace
1) this is a Jesus who gives you the warm euphoric feeling of inner serenity
d. some people want Jesus, the Goodie-Giver
1) this is a Jesus who gives you the desires of your heart, all you need to do is visualize it, speak it, and wait for Jesus to deliver
e. some people want Jesus, the Righteous Judge
1) this is a Jesus who makes a whip and delivers judgment to all those horrible sinners around you
f. some people want Jesus, the Social Warrior
1) this is a Jesus who loves the poor, and the prostitute and demands social justice for them
3. Who are you looking for? ... the point is, you can’t pick and choose the kind of Jesus you want and cling only to that part of his character you like
a. you need to take the whole Jesus and that is part of what I think Jesus is telling Mary
4. and the Jesus you need most is the crucified/risen Savior who will save you from your sin
CON. ILLUS. A 2021 research poll by Lifeway revealed that 66% of Americans say they believe in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Rebecca McLaughlin, a British author and Christian Apologist, writes that this is a good news, bad news situation. “The fact that two-thirds of Americans say they believe that Jesus literally rose from the dead makes me feel two things: hopeful and heartbroken,” she said. “First, that so many Americans believe that Jesus rose for them dead is encouraging. But I also feel heartbroken,” McLaughlin said, “because the idea that someone would say they believe Jesus actually rose from the dead but that this belief would have so little impact on their life that they weren’t even part of a church is truly tragic. This exposes the danger of ‘cultural Christianity’—the vague assent to Christian beliefs without any evidence of actual faith in Christ.”
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