Text: John 20:1-8

The Moment of Change

What does the Resurrection mean to you?

How are you understanding and receiving the story of Christ’s Resurrection?

That will depend on many factors, including your personality, your present situation in life, and your needs.

The text for this morning’s message shows us the way that three people heard and responded to the incredible news that their beloved Jesus was alive, not dead as they assumed! John goes beyond just telling us the story of that frist Easter morning. He wants us to know how the event changed various lives and to know that it is a story that demands change from each of us, too, but not with a ‘cookie-cutter’ response.

TEXT - John's Gospel, 20: 1-8.

Mary of Magdala

She is not a prominent character in any of the Gospels. What we do know of her is dramatic. She was a troubled person from whom Jesus had cast out 7 demons. The love he showed to her, the gift of a sound mind and freedom from evil, caused her to love Him fervently with such intensity that she subjected herself to the horror of His death, staying at the cross for the entire crucifixion.

She then followed the procession that took Jesus' body to the tomb for burial. After the Sabbath with the enforced rules of rest had passed, she returned to the tomb. Luke tells us she wanted to finish the hasty burial preparations done to Jesus' body. She was at the tomb before sunrise.

Sorrow was foremost in her emotions that morning. John says, (John 20:11 NLT) Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in.

This man who had given her back her dignity, who had treated her compassionately when others regarded her as a freak- a man she loved so deeply was lost across that wide divide of death forever, so she thought. Perhaps Mary thought that being near the place where his body lay would be of some comfort. So she came to be close to the garden tomb. Steps away, she stops and looks again through the early morning mists. The large stone that the men had used to close the tomb just days before was pushed aside. Mary didn't stay around to investigate. She ran off to find Peter and the Other Disciple, John, the writer of this Gospel.

Finding them, she blurted out her assumption, John 20:2 "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!" (NIV) She had heard Jesus' claim that He would rise from the dead, but that was so out of the norm of human experience the words never lodged in her conscious mind. So when she found an empty tomb she assumed the only logical explanation: Jesus' body had been stolen.

She made her way back to the site of the tomb, where the Bible said she stood crying, overcome with her sorrow, unsure of the future. The beginning of her change was when she looked a second time into the tomb. Angels spoke to her at that moment! But there was something else that made it real to her.

Give a listen!

READ 20: 13-16

His voice, the tender voice, the voice that had commanded demons to leave her, the voice that had taught her of the love of God - when she heard it - she is changed, believing in her Lord! Hold that thought, as we will return to it in a moment.

Simon Peter.

Peter's character and personality is one of the most clearly defined in the New Testament. As I’ve told you before, it is so easy for me to identify with him because he was so human, so transparently flawed, yet so passionate in His love for the Lord.

He was eager to please, impulsive, energetic, self-confident, aggressive, and daring. He also was fickle, cowardly, and weak under pressure. He quickly came to believe that Jesus was the Christ and received Jesus' blessing for his faith, yet he was so fearful that on the night of Jesus' trial, he swore he was no acquaintance of the Galilean.

Peter's impulsive need to take action pushed aside the fear that had kept him hidden in the Upper Room since the night of the Crucifixion. When he heard that the tomb was open and that Jesus' body was missing he ran to the grave site, passing the Other Disciple who stopped outside. Peter wanted to see for himself what had occurred. Bending and going in, he sees the wrappings that had been used to prepare Jesus for burial, but there is no body. What he saw was evidence of something other than grave robbing! The burial shroud was neatly folded.

But Peter does not believe, yet. Full Faith in the reality of the Resurrection is yet to be born in Peter's heart. Luke 24:12 says, “Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.” (NIV) The Message says “He walked away puzzled, shaking his head.”

His faith took more time, involved more process. I envy those who are like Mary Magdalene, who can believe simply and quickly. I am not like that. But, does that mean God loves me less. No, friend. He is patient with those of us who would really like to commit ourselves to Christ and trust His guidance, but who are held back by our wondering if we are actually ready or able to meet the demands of that way of life.

So where is Peter’s moment of change? It has not happened just yet! Not even the evidence of the empty tomb has convinced him. In another Gospel, we read that ‘the words seemed to them as nonsense!’ Peter could not yet fully nor faithfully process what he was seeing and hearing.

The Other Disciple!

In modesty, John won’t tell us his name, but we know it is the youngest disciple, the one who was closest to Jesus, whose faith was strong. He, too, had stayed at the scene of the Crucifixion. His closeness with Jesus is evidenced when at the last Jesus looked down from the cross and directed John to take care of his mother, Mary.

On the morning of that first Easter, he outran Peter reaching the tomb first, but he stopped outside.

What made him hesitate? —

Fear? Perhaps. Was he afraid of what he might have to face?

A glimmer of faith? Was it to ponder the meaning of the empty tomb?

Hope? Maybe.

Did the startling fact of the stone's removal cause John to remember Jesus' claim that he would rise the third day?

Was he hoping against hope?

John 20:8... “Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.”

Seeing the empty grave clothes brought a surge of faith that changed John's life. No, he didn't step back outside with a loud proclamation. That wasn't John's way, but he believed.

His faith was not noisy, but it was solid! He went on to become a pastor to the early church and wrote the Gospel that defines the work and person of Jesus Christ in the most theologically thoughtful terms.

Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter, and John are really quite typical of three types of people that fill Christian churches this morning, 2000 years removed from that great event.

Like Mary, some are emotionally attached to the story of Jesus. His gentleness, His forgiving spirit, His calls for love find wide acceptance. Who among us would not wish for our world to be a kinder, gentler, more loving place for everyone? But these same people often cannot get past their childish assumptions. They would like to believe in the Resurrected Christ. They would like to know that He is the Bringer of New Life and New Hope but they will not pray in faith nor submit themselves wholeheartedly to Him. They have only memories of a Sunday School Jesus. They have not met the RISEN LORD of LIFE!

As He was to Mary, Jesus is to them; Beloved but lost in History.

For Mary there was an answer, a revelation that turned seeing into believing.

As we have seen, it was hearing the voice of the Risen Christ that changed her in an instant! He was not lost, his body stolen by grave robbers. He was alive. His promises, His claims of divinity, His eternal presence were Mary's. No one and nothing could steal her assurance again.

Note her second report to the disciples: 20:18 “I have seen THE LORD!”

Friend, by faith, would you listen carefully for the voice of the Lord?

Would you invite Him to speak to you by His Spirit? He still speaks.... if we have ears to hear!

Like Peter, some of us are impulsive responders to the Gospel of Christ, who need time to move from initial inquiry to deep faith. Some of us meet the Savior at various points in life, mostly crisis moments. But like Peter, our grasp of the implications of the reality of the Resurrection is not complete. Without being totally transformed, we cannot fully release ourselves to serve the Living Christ.

Peter wasn’t convinced despite the celebrations of others. He went back to Galilee in the days that followed, back to fishing, back to wondering, pondering, praying. Many of us know that place of indecision, not transformed by a living faith that defines life and gives it the ultimate meaning, but not able to just brush it off, either. .

There was a transforming event in Peter's experience that enabled him to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to become the rock, the fearless leader of the early church. It was ‘grace’ moment! After this event he never wavered again until his martyrdom on an upside down cross outside of the city of Rome some 35 years later.

What happened? He met Jesus and experienced GRACE, the restoration of His forgiveness!

In the 21st chapter of John, we are told that Peter had gone back to what he knew best; fishing. As he threw his nets into the Sea of Galilee the echos of his denial rolled through his mind. Flashes of the empty tomb and the encounters with the Risen Christ in the upper room broke up his memories of regret, but he was paralyzed with fear of failure. Then one morning Jesus appears at the shore to have breakfast with Peter.

In an awesome sequence of healing, Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me more than these fish and these boats?” Yes, Lord, you know I love you.

“Feed my lambs.”

Moments later, Jesus asks again: “Simon Peter, do you truely love me?”

Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

“Take care of my sheep.”

More time passes.... “Simon Peter, do you love me?”

Peter became angry. He could not ignore the why and the what of Jesus’ words. He is once again back at the fire outside of the high priest's home where a young girl questions him about his relationship with Jesus. He is confronted with his failure, his sin, his cowardice.

What Jesus is really asking him is:

“Peter, am I worth serving with your whole heart. I haven’t rejected you. The question is: are you rejecting me?”

It’s a moment of suspense.

Will Peter run from Jesus?

Will he curse and swear again, trapped by his own pride and fear?

He made a choice that completed his transformation from skeptic to disciple on that little beach beside the Sea of Galilee. He threw himself on the sufficiency of Christ. “Lord, you know all things, you know I love you.”

To which Jesus replies in clear forgiveness and new trust, “Feed my sheep.”

Let Jesus confront your fears, your pride, your sins. Throw yourself on His love and experience the fullness of His forgiveness. Like Peter, allow the message of complete grace restore YOU and set you free from your fears of failure so you can commit yourself without fear to the Cause.

Some are like the other disciple, John. When they come to the Resurrected Christ they believe and are changed in that moment. They choose to place their faith in the Lord and never look back. What a blessed group of people. John 20:29 Jesus said, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (NIV)

John left the empty tomb and became an apostle of the early church. His words in the New Testament show us the deepest meanings of Jesus' message. He is the writer who urges us to experience God's love. He wrote for us....

John 3:16-17 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

1 John 4:15-19 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.

These great statements about the love of God come from the man who after hesitating for a moment looked into the empty tomb and believed. His faith perspective only grew stronger with time. When we died nearly 60 years later after enduring terrible persecutions, John, the Bishop of Ephesus, was still telling of the transforming love of God.

By faith, look into the empty tomb today, won't you?

Let the evidence you see there convince you that Jesus is more than a Teacher, more than a Prophet.

He is the Conqueror of Sin, Death, and Hell; the Living God in Flesh.

When we know this Risen Lord, we have everlasting life. We are restored to our destiny as children of God. We are gifted with lives that, regardless of our momentary difficulties and disappointments, have hope and meaning.

__________________

Here’s the way Paul summarizes the wonderful fact of Christ’s Resurrection -

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep." (1 Corinthians 15:3-6, NIV)

"But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:20-22, NIV)

"The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." (1 Corinthians 15:56-58, NIV)

Amen