- Resurrection life comes even while it is still dark. Mary had waited to come and prepare the body of Jesus fully for burial because Jewish law forbade doing such work on the sabbath. We see that in John 19:42. Whether she didn’t know about the preparation done to Jesus’ body already, or knew it was incomplete, we know both Mark and Luke state Mary and possibly others came to anoint the body for burial.
Even though she waited for the Sabbath to pass, she came while it was still dark outside. We know it was not always safe for people to travel in the dark, especially for women in that era. She was probably exhausted from her tears as well. Have you ever spent hours – crying with others? Can you imagine how tired she may have been from such mourning? Yet even here is where our story of resurrection life begins.
Early Christians believed the day of resurrection was so incredibly important and transformational that it was an “8th Day” of creation. The beginning of a New Creation account. Because of that, we’re going to match each truth about Resurrection with a scripture from creation itself. How did the original account of creation begin? Genesis 1:2-3 includes “..darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.”
- Where is the darkness in your life in this season? Are you overwhelmed by the shadows of pain? Is there a source of suffering? It may be personal, or it may be communal. We live in a community that has experienced suffering – whether in gun violence, or young people growing up in broken homes, or marriages where worldly ways and pursuits of “happiness” have pushed out serving one another in mutual submission.
- Mary didn’t know what to expect in the darkness and discovered light beginning to shine. We know the character of our resurrected Savior now. We understand the redemptive story He’s invited us to join. Will you look for Him in the darkness, trusting it’s His desire to bring New Life there this year? What does it look like for you to trust God’s desires there?
So here in John’s account, Mary runs to tell Simon Peter and (the Beloved Disciple) that the tomb was empty. You can hear her voice urgently accusing Rome of doing something to the body, because resurrection was not on their immediate radar. In response, Peter and (probably John) run to the tomb to learn more.
- Resurrection life inspires us to do something unexpected. As Peter and the other disciple arrived at the tomb, the other disciple remained outside. By this point in the story, we’ve heard about Peter before. He’s impulsive. He often does something without thinking. He’s the one who asked Jesus to invite him to walk on water. He’s the one who sliced the ear off the guard when they came to arrest Jesus. Unfortunately, he’s also the one who denied Jesus 3 times. But here, we see his impulsivity leveraged for the purposes of the Kingdom. How excited are you to discover more about what Jesus is up to? What would happen if we gathered for worship or opened our Bibles or entered into longer times of prayer with this same enthusiasm to discover more about the heart and activity of Jesus?
But for today’s purposes, I want to focus on this concept of doing something unexpected. John arrives first, which is often a tool of rhetoric to elevate one person without denigrating another. (Josephus outswims others in his writing.) But he doesn’t enter the tomb. Maybe out of respect for the dead? What if it’s a trap set by Rome? What if____? Anything could have prevented him in those moments. But Peter wants to know what has happened with Jesus. We’ve seen that his entire life – this curiosity that steps forward even without all the answers, if it means joining Jesus.
I’m not just talking about being spontaneous in general. I mean, what does the world expect from us right now? The world we’re in each day expects us to gripe about workdays. Our media expects us to consume our feeds endlessly, getting angry and anxious, and responding as those who need to keep scrolling until we find enough dopamine to counteract the lack of control we may feel. The world expects us to seek profit, to pursue power, to build up influence, and to conquer those in our way of doing each of these. So in that world, what does it look like to do the unexpected?
Let’s look at Genesis again – in Genesis 2:7, “the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” What makes humanity a living being? Receiving the breath of life God gives. This is the literal meaning of “inspire”: to breathe into. We do not become what God desires of us by achieving. We become what God desires of us by receiving.
When Jesus and His resurrection life have entered, we have all we need, not just for this life, but for eternity. That doesn’t mean we sit on the bench, sidelined. But it does set us free to join Jesus and trust Him with all we bring to the table. We don’t seek profit as a foundation; we seek Jesus and living out the ways that are eternally profitable. We don’t pursue power; we pursue the presence of His Spirit and living in ways that trust in His infinite power. We don’t build up influence itself by selling out, but we are willing to steward our gifts and leverage who we are in ways that might be used by God. Whether He wants to influence the world through us, or just the quiet neighbor next door. Either way, we are content, trusting His ability to be Lord over all things.
So they discover the graveclothes, as if the body just “disappeared”. Some have asked – if the resurrected Jesus (physical) can somehow pass through graveclothes and later even walls and closed doors – why roll the stone away? Hopefully, it’s clear – he didn’t need the stone rolled away for Himself. We needed it rolled away to discover He has risen. Jesus has removed obstacles for you that you may not even realize, in order for you to hear the words of His Love and Lordship for your life this morning. Will you discover more?
So the other disciple (John) entered and believed. Not that Jesus had gone to heaven, but that Jesus was alive again. The disciples returned to their homes, but not Mary. She stood weeping. What would happen next? What does this mean for their hopes? The other disciples seem to have abandoned her in her time of grief, which is a sermon for another time. But John is telling his story in a way that highlights something beautiful that happens next…
- Resurrection life sends us from isolation to relation. For whatever reason, Mary was left alone after the disciples returned home in John’s account. She bends over to look once again into the tomb, only this time there are two angels. They ask her why she’s weeping, and she responds. It’s almost comical the way she sees two angels in white, talks to them as if it’s no big deal, and turns away. In the context of the resurrection, John tells us, even other supernatural occurrences are really no big deal. As Mary turns away from the angels, she sees Jesus but assumes He’s the gardener. Maybe He prevents her from recognizing Him, maybe her tears have blurred her vision, or maybe she just doesn’t look up into His eyes. Jesus asks her the same question as the angels – “Why are you weeping?” She’s tired of trying to figure things out on her own at this point. You can hear her sigh heavily… “Sir, if you’ve taken him, tell me where and I’ll bring him back”. Seeing her standing there, with a tear-stained face and hearing her tired sigh of desperation, we can hear the love and excitement of Jesus for her to realize who He is. “Mary!” She turned to Him and declared, “Rabbi!” I’m sure she hugged Him tightly, and He actually says to her, “Don’t cling to me…” He had a lot to do before He went to be with the Father fully.
But Jesus sends the woman, Mary, as the first ever apostle (sent one) to share the good news of our resurrected Savior. The resurrection life of Jesus will always nudge us out of our isolation and into redemptive relationships that further the purposes of His Kingdom.
Not only does He send her, but He reveals something powerful about the change that has happened. Up until now in John, Jesus has often said “My Father” or “the Father”. Here is says “Go and say to my brothers and sisters – I am going up to my father and your father, to my God and your God.” In one quick instruction, Mary becomes the first one to be healed relationally to God and offered a healing relationship to humanity as well.
Where in our world do we see the need for relational healing? Of course, there are nations in need of peace. We pray for peace to arrive in all areas of conflict. But there are also workplaces with misunderstandings. There are friendships with divisive differences. There are families with wounds and brokenness. There are marriages with heels digging in with demands, instead of mutual submission that reflects the Love of Christ for His church.
In Genesis 2:18, God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” We were created for relationships that invite us to be fully known and fully loved. Not just in marriage, either, as we remember Jesus never married and yet lived a full life, enjoying intimacy with God and intimacy with others. So what does intimacy look like in relationships? That’s a great question to seek the answer to with your local body of believers! (See www.discipleshipbands.com for more!)
How will we respond to the invitation of His resurrection life today?
words from wick 