Strathalbyn Church of Christ

Someone asked Joseph of Arimathea, “That was a great tomb. Why did you give it to someone else to be buried in?”

“Oh”, said Joseph, “he only needed it for the weekend”.

Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus! And so I’d like to think with you about the Bible reading for today from John, because it is about this resurrection of Jesus. And there are two things in particular in John’s account that are important for us to ponder on, namely,

-the evidence of the grave, and

-the experience in the garden.

Both dimensions are involved in understanding Christ’s resurrection. We need to look at the evidence to convince our mind; but we need to have an experience of the risen Lord to feel it in our heart.

Either one without the other becomes one-sided The best combination is evidence and experience, or mind and heart.

So let’s now consider “the evidence of the grave”.

And here there is outside evidence, and inside evidence.

The outside evidence is the rolled away stone. The inside evidence is the rolled up grave clothes.

Firstly, the rolled away stone. “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb”.

The stone would be very, very heavy. It would be circular in shape and run in a groove, and the groove would slope slightly down to the entrance of the tomb. It was fairly easy to close the tomb with this circular stone, but it would be very difficult to push it back up again. It would take a team of people; this was to stop grave-robbers.

Now when Mary Magdalene came she saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. One of the gospels informs us that it was an angel who pushed the stone away - to an angel who has supernatural strength, a ton and 1/4 is nothing!

Why was the stone removed? To let Jesus out? No, but to let Peter and John in! The body of Jesus came out through the grave cloths and tomb while the stone was still rolled in place. Jesus’ risen body had the power to do this. There was no need to roll the stone away to let him out!

Now there’s another piece of outside evidence. “Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths laying there, but he did not go in.”

This little touch of detail to the story adds credibility to it. Who would invent that John outran Peter? What’s the point of inventing that? If someone was making up this story, it doesn’t add anything to the story, it doesn’t make any point.

This little detail has the stamp of authenticity, of an eye-witness account. And also the fact that Peter was the first to go into the tomb, while John stayed outside. That was pretty typical of their temperament - Peter rushes in; John reflects on.

Now we come to the inside evidence, the evidence of the rolled up grave cloths.

In those days, the custom was to wrap a dead body up in metres and metres of linen, a long, long, bandage, round and round, starting at the feet, and going up, just short of the shoulders, about level with the collar bone; and then they would leave the neck and shoulders bare, and the face. And then they would start a smaller bandage, called a sweat band, and they would start just above the eyebrows, and wind it round and round and round. As they wound the bandage they would sprinkle in spices and sweet-smelling myrrh, to stop the smell of decomposition coming too soon.

“Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloth but rolled up in a place by itself, Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed.”

So John was the first man to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. What he saw was that the linen cloths that had been wrapped round and round Jesus’ body were still wrapped round and round, but they had just collapsed.

And the head bandage was still in the shape of a head - it was still rolled up - but by itself, and separated from the bandages, by the gap that would be occupied by the shoulders and neck. John knew that no human being had rifled that tomb. You couldn’t possibly get a body out of the bandages and leave the bandages wrapped up!

And so we have here a two-fold evidence of the resurrection of Jesus -

the evidence outside the grave, the rolled away stone;

and the evidence inside the grave, the rolled up grave cloths.

Something had been moved that shouldn’t have been moved - namely the stone - and something hadn’t been moved that should have been moved - namely the cloths!

But what is the significance of Christ’s resurrection? One significance is this - because he broke out of death 2,000 odd years ago,

then he is able to break into peoples lives today;

in short, we can now enjoy a personal relationship with Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.

That brings us onto the second part of this story - “the experience in the garden”.

“But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the foot”.

The next part of this Easter Day story is about Mary Magdalene’s personal encounter with the risen Jesus in the garden.

Mary was seeking Jesus, and Jesus found her. If a person today seeks Jesus, he will find that person!

Jesus said to her, “Mary”. And Jesus knows your name, and mine, too; and he knows if our heart is aching; and he wants us to keep trusting in him. His resurrection assures us that our Christian faith is true; it assures us that Jesus is the Son of God and “is alive for ever and ever! and holds the keys of death and the grave”.

And he promises this: “those who believe in me, even though they die, will live and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”

Jesus called Mary by her name. A gardener wouldn’t have known her name. Jesus spoke her name in her native tongue of Aramaic - Miriam. Aramaic was the language they spoke in Galilee, a cross between Greek and Hebrew. “Miriam” was the way Jesus would have addressed her way back in Galilee. A gardener in Jerusalem would not have called her “Miriam”. And she immediately replied in an Aramaic form of the word “Rabbi”. She said “Raboni”.

And so Mary experienced the risen Jesus. And so can we today. How is that possible? Because of what Jesus then went on to say to Mary, “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’.”

Because Jesus has ascended to his Father, you and I today can now have a relationship with Jesus that is not dependent on seeing or touching him.

We can have a relationship with him in the Holy Spirit and by faith. We can now have a permanent relationship with the Lord Jesus because he has ascended to heaven and sent his Spirit. We can have him always, because his Spirit is with us.

And so, now you can have a relationship that knows that everyday of the rest of your life he is going to be with you and he is going to hold onto you by his Spirit; that’s to be the relationship now.

On this point I’d like to read from a hymn that I recently came across. It is titled, “He will hold me fast.”

Jesus gave Mary a message to take to the others. It is a message of privilege and a message of victory. “Go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father, and your Father, to my God and your God,”

Previously Jesus called them his disciples, servants, or friends. Now he calls them his brothers and sisters. And he calls us his brothers and sisters too; and his Father is our Father, and his God is our God. Jesus’ death and resurrection has made this privilege possible for us today.

“Say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father, and your Father’. “ This is a message of victory! Jesus has conquered death.

Outside on a church wall, was a banner depicting a buried seed breaking through into a tall plant, with the message “Life breaks through!” Well, Jesus who died and was buried, was raised to life and broke through death! His ascension means he has now assumed all authority at the Father’s right hand, and is Lord.

And so, Paul, in his letter to the Romans can teach, “if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Our Faith in Christ is not in someone who is dead, but in the Son of God who is alive. He did die and was buried, but he is alive for evermore, and is Lord.

We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord;” and she told them that he had said these things to her.”

And so Mary was sent to share the good news with the other disciples. And we too can ‘share’ Jesus with one another; encouraging each other’s faith, ministering from Him to others, and being a loving support network.

Mary ‘the mourner’ became Mary the ‘missionary’ - because she experienced the risen Jesus. And it is our relationship with him in the Spirit by faith, that leads us too, to share him with others; both inside and outside the church. There may be new opportunities to do this in the midst of the current disturbing, troubling times.

And now to close. In our relationship with the Lord Jesus, he is our Companion to travel with us; our Coach to train us; and our Captain to take us to victory.

As our Companion to travel with us on life’s journey, Jesus’ loving strengthening presence is with us always; and so we are never really alone; and he wants us to share what we may be going through at the moment and in times ahead,

because of this coronavirus - with him; any struggles and sorrows, any trials and temptations, any fears and failures, our desires and our dreams. He understands us and he undertakes for us.

As our Coach to train us, Jesus’ goal is that we grow to be more like himself, for God the Father wants a big family whose members are just like his Son. Jesus is our ‘Life-Coach’, and he invites us, “Learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” He can train us using all life’s circumstances, including the present ones.

And as our Captain to take us to victory, Jesus calls us to keep on having faith in him. John tells us in his first letter: “and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

Series: John

Topics: #John , #Easter