Seeing and Believing (John 20:1-18)

 Sermon for Milledgeville & Whitestown UMC...

Seeing and Believing (John 20:1-18)

 

What do you call a pink flower that resurrects itself?

A rein-carnation.

 

What do you call someone who resurrects the dead by kissing their necks?  A Neck Romancer.

 

Why did Jesus appear to women first after the resurrection?

He wanted to be sure the news spread quickly.

 

Because she thought he was the gardener, she said to him,
“Sir, if you have carried him away,
tell me where you have put him, and I will take him.”
John 20:15

Today we’re talking about the resurrection of Jesus. Just as the meaning of the cross has several views, so does resurrection. Some say resurrection is merely a spiritual metaphor for personal transformation. Others consider the New Testament’s witness to the resurrection to be shared grief and the trick the mind play on the human psyche after a significant loss. Others believe resurrection is an actual raising of the corporeal body of Jesus made anew.

 

But resurrection is so much more than our guesses about its meaning. The resurrection of Jesus is like the fire of a starting pistol at the beginning of a race. New creation has begun. God is freeing the universe of its bondage to decay. The new creation began in the resurrection of Jesus, the firstborn of the dead. He is the first of a new kind of human, the God empowered One. Resurrection is about total salvation. It’s about victory over sin and death and our response to the good news that Christ is Risen!

 

The main eyewitness is Mary Magdalene. According to Luke, Jesus had driven out of Mary seven demons that had held her in spiritual bondage. She has been depicted as a prostitute, even though there’s no direct evidence of that in the New Testament. Every gospel includes Mary Magdalene as a first-hand witness to the empty tomb and one of the first to meet the resurrected Lord Jesus.

Mary’s chief concern is the location of Jesus’ body. She assumed that he’d been stolen or taken away for some reason and she asks, “Where have they placed Jesus?”

 

Let’s do a little detective work and see if we can answer Mary’s question, “Where have they placed Jesus?”

 

Peter and John, the other disciple, run to the tomb to see for themselves.

John uses 3 different Greek words that we translate as see or saw.

 

Blepo – to see, perceive, or discover

 

Horao (Ho RAH oh) – to see, to know or comprehend

 

Thereo (Thay oh RAY oh) – To see as a spectator. The Greeks used the word when one sees a sporting event or a public sacrifice to their gods. The New Testament tends to use the word when witnessing miracles.

 

I think John is using these 3 different words to express a progression of seeing. One sees first to discover, then to comprehend, and finally with true sight, seeing the whole picture, one witnesses divine glory. Peter and John see, but they don’t know what to make of it. John believes that Jesus is alive but doesn’t recognize it as the fulfilment of scripture. It’s only later, after the gift of the Holy Spirit, that the disciples truly begin to see. One might even argue that the entire Gospel of John is a record of seeing the total truth after decades of deepening understanding.

 

Peter and John went into the empty tomb and saw the linen wrappings and the face cloth rolled up and laid aside. If this was an instance of grave robbing, they would not have left behind the linen. They’d have taken Jesus’ body still wrapped to a secret location and then unwrap the body. The linen could be sold or used again.

 

 

It seems a nasty thought, but it’s not unheard of. You may remember the scene, in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, where the housemaid stole the bed curtains, linen shirt and cuff links from the recently deceased Ebeneezer Scrooge. No, this was not a grave robbery. So where did they place Jesus?

 

One clue worth considering is a possible connection between the linen cloth and the priesthood. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest dressed in special linen garments to enter the holy of holies behind the veil that enshrined the ark of the covenant. Leviticus 16 details the procedure.

 

The high priest bathes first, then puts on the special linen garments for the occasion. After offering sacrifices for atonement for himself and the people, the high priest goes behind the veil and makes intercession for the people, seeking their forgiveness from the Lord. The incense he burns before the mercy seat must cover it in a cloud. The mercy seat is the space above the two winged cherubim on the cover of the Ark of the Covenant. The mercy seat above the wings of the cherubim is the spot where God judges Israel.

 

After he has completed the ritual for atonement, the high priest removes the linen garments and sets them aside in the holy place.

 

When Mary Magdelene goes into the tomb what does she see? She sees two angels at either end of the bench, where laid, until recently, Jesus’ linen wrapped body. Could this all be pointing to atonement? Just as the high priest wore linen to make atonement, so Jesus too was wrapped in linen, the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And just as the mercy seat on the cover of the ark of the covenant is beset with winged cherubim, so also the place where Jesus was laid is attended by real angels. The empty tomb is the true seat of mercy!

 

 

 

The author of Hebrews wrote,

 

But when Christ came as a high priest… he entered once for all into the holy place, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:11-12)

 

Mary Magdelene, Peter and John were seeing clues that point to the once for all atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. His resurrection was vindication, not only of his pure and sinless life, but also of all of us for whom Christ died!

 

Three days earlier, on Holy Thursday night, Jesus offered what is known as his high priestly prayer. It was a prayer for those gathered there and for all anywhere who would come to believe in his name.

 

“I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17:20-21)

 

Jesus prayed for you and me to share in His glory, the glory of resurrected life. And what is resurrected life? It is to know God intimately through Jesus Christ, to live in God and for God live in you. Eternal life is to know God personally, for the Spirit of Christ dwells in the heart of every believer.

 

And this takes us back to Mary’s question which she asks in one way or another three times. “Where have they placed him?”

 

In the first chapter of John’s gospel account, Jesus told Nathanael that he would see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man, which is a reference to the dream of the patriarch Jacob. We call it Jacob’s Ladder.

 

In his dream, Jacob saw the angels of heaven ascending and descending upon a great stairway to heaven and at the top was Almighty God. Jesus is the way! Jesus is stairway to heaven. Jesus told Mary he would soon ascend to heaven. Mary sees Jesus but doesn’t recognize him. She thinks he’s the gardener. She asks where he has taken Jesus. She offers to retrieve his body.

 

Then Jesus calls her name, “Mary.” When Jesus speaks her name, only then does she truly see Jesus. This speaks of that personal relationship with Jesus we all must have if we are to truly see and believe and gain the gift of eternal life.

 

Have your heard Jesus speak your name?

Have you heard his call in your heart of hearts?

 

Mary turns and says, “Rabbouni” which means Teacher. We too must turn away from the distractions and delusions of this world and turn toward Jesus, claiming Him as master over our lives. It’s called repentance.

 

Jesus tells Mary not to cling to him, for he has not yet ascended to the Father. You see? We’re getting close to an answer to Mary’s question. “Where have they placed Jesus? His place is at the right hand of the Father in heaven, just as it says in the Apostles Creed. From there Jesus governs heaven and earth, the living and the dead, until all creation is subjugated under His authority. There Jesus prays for us and intercedes to the Father on our behalf.

 

Mary left the empty tomb and brought the message to the other disciples, saying, “I have seen the Lord!” Notice that Mary’s question goes from plural, “We don’t know where they have placed Him” to personal, “I don’t know where they have placed him.” and finally to responsible, “tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away.” That literally means she will take upon herself that which has been lifted. She will carry Christ.

 

And that’s just what we all are called to do. We are to carry Jesus and His love to others! Each of us have the same journey to make if we are to truly see and believe and gain eternal life. We must go from first receiving the good news, to a more personal knowledge of God. And when you have seen the Lord, when you know in your heart that Christ is alive and living in you, then you will join Mary in telling others the good news. I, too, have seen the Lord!

 

I testify to the power of resurrection at work in my life. Both of my brothers are dead from alcohol and drug abuse and other self-defeating behaviors. The only reason I have survived this long is because of the love of God, the good people that God has given me, especially the loyal love of my wife, Michele, and the fire of faith which the Lord has keep burning and growing within me. There were many times in my past when I could have or should have died. I was spared. The only reason I can think of is God has purpose for me to witness to the good news of Jesus Christ.

 

Resurrection is not simply a hopeful thought of a happily ever afterlife. It is the power of God for everyone who believes. And that power, that presence of Christ within, transforms our lives, making us more and more like Jesus. God can do the same for you when you see and believe.

 

I leave you with Paul’s hope in God’s resurrection power at work in the Church. From Philippians 1:6,

 

I am confident of this: …he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.