I HAVE SEEN THE LORD
George Butterfield
April 12, 1998
A. What a glorious day we celebrate this beautiful April morning. On Easter Sunday we lift up and magnify the center of our faith which is summarized in the ancient Christian creed: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again, Alleluia.
B. John 20:1-18.
1. The early traditions of the resurrection of Jesus took two forms:
a. Discovery that the tomb in which the body of Jesus had been placed was empty, and
b. Appearances of rd. risen Jesus to various disciples.
In this passage the two traditions are skillfully combined.
2. The structure of this text is what's called the split form: the account opens with Mary Magdalene at the tomb, shifts to two disciples who come to the tomb and leave, and then returns to Mary.
3. And we also run into ideas that we have seen throughout the Gospel of John: seeing and believing, seeing Jesus but not really seeing him, darkness and light, Jesus revealing himself to his disciples, the emphasis on Jesus' life as an ascent to the Father and as the means whereby the Father will pour out his Spirit upon the believers, and the incomprehension of the biblical message by the disciples. We have run into these themes before and they all come together in this text.
4. One other emphasis that really comes out in this text is that the resurrection of Jesus has physical aspects. John does not spiritualize the event.
C. I want us to look at this text by considering each of the main characters in it. First, Mary. Then Peter and the other guy. Finally, Jesus.
I. Mary: In Search of a Corpse.
A. What do we know about Mary Magdalene?
1. She is mentioned earlier in John as standing near the cross when Jesus died. She is obviously one of his followers.
2. She was from the town of Magdala which is on the northwest shore of the Lake of Galilee and that's why she's always known as Mary Magdalene.
3. The Gospel of Luke tells us that she was demon possessed when Jesus met her.
4. According to tradition, she had been a prostitute before encountering Jesus.
5. But we really don't know much about her.
B. V. 1-
1. She comes to the tomb early, probably between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m.
2. You can imagine the writer of the Gospel of John winking when he says that she came "while it was still dark." According to our writer, Mary is in the dark in more ways than one.
3. And why does she come to the tomb? John doesn't say. But he does mention in more than one place that she came there and wept. She obviously loved Jesus.
4. But she sees that the stone used to cover the entrance to the tomb is removed. And she jumps to a conclusion.
C. V. 2-
1. She assumes that the body has been taken away. And she runs to tell other followers of Jesus that this is indeed the case.
2. Isn't it interesting that the thought of a resurrection never entered her head?
a. One of the earliest explanations for the resurrection was that those earliest disciples wanted to see Jesus alive again so badly that they dreamed the whole thing up.
b. But look at the testimony of the Gospel writer.
(1) What is Mary's reaction to an empty tomb? It's the same reaction you and I would have. Someone has stolen the body!
(2) It's ironic that later writers would charge those earliest disciples with removing the body of Jesus. Here John is saying, "Actually, that's what most of us thought when we saw that empty tomb. Someone has taken the body and put it somewhere else."
D. Mary obviously loved Jesus. After going and telling the other disciples about the misplaced body, she went back to the tomb (v. 11).
1. Notice that she "stood weeping outside the tomb." But "as she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb."
2. And what does she see? Two angels sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying.
a. Does this impress her? Does this dry her tears? Does she now see? No, she's still in the dark.
b. In fact they ask her why she is weeping and she again says, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." (v. 13).
3. V. 14- and even when she sees Jesus, she really doesn't see him. She doesn't recognize him. She's still in the dark, she's grief stricken and she just wants to find that body.
4. V. 15- even when Jesus speaks to her she doesn't recognize him.
a. She mistakes him for the gardener, the fellow who cared for the trees and crops in the garden.
b. And when he repeats the question of the angels she still doesn't have a clue.
c. And even when he says "Whom are you looking for" instead of "What are you looking for" she is still in the dark.
d. And she again repeats what is on her heart, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."
E. It is only when Jesus calls her name that she sees him.
1. And she responds "my dear rabbi."
2. And grabs on to him. She wants to hold on to the source of her joy. But Jesus says that it cannot be the same as it was. And he commissions her to go and announce the Good News to the disciples.
F. Thus, Mary becomes the first proclaimer, the first herald, of the Gospel. Her message: "I have seen the Lord."
1. In that message is the very essence of Christianity. Christianity is not knowing about Jesus; it means knowing him. It does not mean arguing about him; it means meeting him.
2. We might not have chosen Mary Magdalene as the first Christian evangelist. But God did. And the woman who came to the tomb with love in her heart but her head in the dark finally had her eyes opened to see the risen Lord.
II. Peter and the Other Guy Have a Foot Race.
A. When Mary initially went to the disciples with the news that the stone had been removed from the tomb and that the body was missing, Peter and a disciple described throughout the Gospel as "the one whom Jesus loved," got up and ran to the tomb.
1. The other guy got there first but hesitated to go in.
2. Peter, never one much for hesitating, went right in.
B. And what did they see?
1. First, they saw the "linen wrapping lying there."
a. A body was prepared for burial by being surrounded by spices and then linen wrappings were wrapped all around the spice covered body.
b. They were not all torn apart. The scene was an orderly one and not one of wild confusion. They were just "lying there."
2. Second, they saw the "cloth that had been on Jesus' head" "rolled up in a place by itself."
a. This cloth passed under the chin and was tied on the top of the head, to prevent the dead person's mouth from falling open.
b. And it was neatly rolled up and lying there, just like the linen wrappings.
C. What is the Gospel writer implying by this scene?
1. First, does this look like the scene of a body snatching?
a. Grave robbing was a troublesome crime at this time. In fact, there had even been an imperial edict against it.
b. But in describing this orderly scene, John is asking the reader, Is this what you would expect to see if the body had been snatched by grave robbers?
(1) Would they have taken the time to unwrap the body and lay everything neatly into place only to have to carry a stiff, naked corpse around?
(2) I got to the church building of the Central congregation in Sacramento, California, one Sunday morning and was met by the folks who normally opened the building and prepared communion. We'd had a robbery. I did not encounter an orderly scene. Stuff was everywhere.
2. Perhaps what is also implied in this picture of the linen wrappings is of a body that was removed from them and never disturbed the position of the wrappings. In other words, that body appears to have just gone right through those wrappings. Is this why the text says, in verse 8, that, when the other guy saw this, he "believed."
3. So, we have the linen wrappings and head cloth right where you'd expect them to be, all neat and orderly. We just don't have a body!
D. Notice that he saw the scene with his own eyes and believed.
1. Notice also the statement in verse 9. Was it that these disciples were predisposed to believe in the resurrection? No, in fact, they didn't even understand their own scriptures until well after the fact.
2. They believed because they saw it for themselves.
3. But notice that the text doesn't say that Peter believed. And he saw the same thing this other guy saw. It appears that things remain as they were before Jesus death. Some people saw him and believed. Others saw him and didn't. The writer of the Gospel of John says that he has recorded these events in the life of Jesus so that you and I might believe. But we have to know that not all will. It's possible for very similar people to see and experience the same things and one believe and one not believe. There is room in this testimony for unbelief. But there's also room for belief.
III. Jesus: The One Who Knows His Own.
A. In these stories of the empty tomb and Jesus appearing to his disciples there is a twofold aspect of continuity and transformation. The tomb is empty. There is continuity between the Jesus who lived and died and was buried and the risen Lord. Yet, there is also now a difference between the Jesus who died and the Jesus who is risen. He has been transformed. To use the language of the apostle Paul, the body, the life, of Jesus is changed.
B. We see both of these emphases in this text.
1. Jesus loved Mary. And, when he speaks her name, their former relationship is continued. This scene in verse 16 reminds the reader of what Jesus had earlier said about the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd knows his own, calls them by name, and they know his voice and follow him.
a. Mary recognizes the continuity between the old Jesus and the new. In fact, she seems to think that they can simply take up where they left off before Jesus had died. She calls him "Teacher" and she wraps her arms around Jesus.
b. Mary seems to think that Jesus is like Lazarus who had been raised from the dead. Things would simply be the way they'd been before he had died.
2. But Jesus knows that this cannot be. A transformation has taken place.
a. He tells Mary "Do not hold on to me" literally "let me go."
b. And why? "because I have not yet ascended to the Father." What in the world does he mean by that?
(1) In John's Gospel the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus are all part of one action. Jesus is lifted up. He is glorified.
(2) In this act of returning to the Father Jesus triumphs over evil forces and gives the gift of his Holy Spirit to his disciples. His resurrection is just part of his ascending to the Father and his enduring presence in the Spirit can only be given when he has completed this ascension to God.
(3) Mary is holding on to the past. She is reading his resurrection as a simple return to the former state of affairs. But, for Jesus, the resurrection story is not the last word. The risen Jesus is not just the old Jesus all over again. The resurrection has made possible a new and more intimate spiritual union between Jesus and his disciples. His presence among them will be permanent. But not until his ascension is complete. Only then can he return to them and dwell with them through his Spirit.
C. So Jesus commissions Mary to go and tell this to the rest of the disciples.
1. He says to her, "go to my brothers." Through his being lifted up he is drawing men and women into the family of God.
2. The message he gives her is "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." Through his departure the Father and God of Jesus has become the Father and God of those who belong to Jesus. The love of God that has been directed to the Son of God will be directed toward them. And this ultimate expression of God's love will be realized when Jesus ascends to the Father and pours out the Holy Spirit into their lives.
Conclusion
A. Brothers and sisters, on this day we celebrate the triumph of life over death, of light's ability to penetrate the darkness.
B. We celebrate the God who calls himself our Father, the Lord who calls himself our brother.
C. We celebrate the central event in our history which has led to the presence of the risen Lord dwelling in his Church through his Spirit.
D. So, how shall we respond to these things?
1. Shall we, like Mary, see the risen Lord and think that life can simply go on the way it always has?
2. Or shall we, like the disciple whom Jesus loved, see and believe?
E. Mary's sermon is ours. We are those who have seen the risen Jesus and with joy and thanksgiving have proclaimed, "My Lord and my God."
F. Friend, if the Good Shepherd is calling your name, answer his call. Become his disciple. Follow him.