John 20:1-11 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. ² So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” ³ So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. ⁴ Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵ And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, ⁷ and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. ⁸ Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; ⁹ for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. ¹⁰ Then the disciples went back to their homes. ¹¹ But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb.

INTRODUCTION

John 19 covered the beating, interrogation, crucifixion, death, and burial of Jesus. All of that took place on Friday. None of the Gospels say a word about Saturday. John 20 picks up on Sunday morning, before dawn. On the third day that Jesus had been in the grave His followers were faced with the same question as they were on the first: What does it look like to live by faith in Jesus when He is dead? And even more specifically, what does it look like to live by faith in Jesus now that He’s been “dead” for three days and His body is missing? In this passage, we get to see Mary Magdalene’s answer to the first part of that question before everything gets turned upside down yet again for the second.

In other words, John 20 opens with the reader wondering along with the disciples, what’s next? Quickly, the question becomes, where is Jesus?! And in all of it we see great confusion, excitement, sadness, and wonder. It is a passage filled with emotion. It is a passage that forces us to consider carefully the empty tomb and all that it means.

The big idea of this passage is that in spite of all the OT promises and all of Jesus’ teaching, none of Jesus’ followers imagined Jesus’ resurrection as the explanation for the empty tomb. The main takeaways for us are to study the Word of God carefully and be humble.

THE MAIN QUESTION (1)

There are five main parts to this sermon. First, we’ll revisit the main question confronting Jesus’ followers, this time through Mary Magdaline. Second, we’ll consider the confusion of Jesus’ followers when they encountered the empty tomb. Third, we’ll, briefly address the nature of John’s new belief. Fourth, we’ll look at some of the key OT passages on the resurrection. And fifth, we’ll consider the final response of Peter, John, and Mary Magdaline to the empty tomb.

First, the main question…The last time we were in John’s Gospel, we were confronted with the question of what faithfulness looks like in a time of significant trial and mystery. We saw one expression of simple devotion in the response of two of Jesus’ formerly secret disciples, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Apart from any specific command, these two men determined to express their continued trust in Jesus by giving Him a royal burial.

At the start of our passage Jesus’ disciples were still faced with that same, inevitable question, this time with two more days added. It was now Mary Magdalene’s turn to answer it.

We don’t know a lot about Mary Magdalene. We know that she was one of Jesus’ earliest followers (Luke 8), that she believed in and followed Jesus after He cast seven demons from her (Luke 8:1-2), and that she was with Jesus at His death (Matthew 27:56) and at His burial (Matthew 27:61). There’s no evidence in the Bible that she ever waivered in her devotion to Jesus. On the contrary, every indication is that she was one of Jesus’ most faithful followers.

And yet, like the rest of the disciples, she was left wondering what it meant to have faith in Jesus now that He had been crucified, died, and was buried. Like the rest, she too was without any direct command to obey. Nevertheless, in another act of simple devotion, on the third day, before dawn, Mary Magdalene decided to go to the tomb in which Jesus was buried (v.1).

John doesn’t tell us why she went there, but Mark does.

Mark 16:1 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.

We learn from the other Gospels that Mary wasn’t sure exactly how she was going to accomplish her aim with the stone and Roman guards blocking the entrance to the tomb. All we know is that she too wanted to honor Jesus even in His death and that burden led her to His grave to anoint Jesus very early on Sunday morning.

Again, just like last time, that puts the same question before each of us? What do you do when you don’t know what to do to honor God?

What do you do when you’ve prayed all the prayers but your spouse or kids just won’t walk in godliness? What do you say to the neighbor you’ve shared the gospel with many times, but still doesn’t believe? How do you honor God when you’ve done everything prescribed by God’s Word and the person you love is still suffers from some debilitating ailment? What does it mean to walk in faith when a child who once professed faith in Jesus, now lives a life of animosity toward God despite your prayers and pleas? What does godliness look like when you want to be married but no spouse has yet come your way?

What does it look like to live by faith when you want to believe in Jesus but don’t, when you don’t know how to decide what to do after graduation, when you’ve tried everything you can to bring healing to a broken relationship, when can’t get pregnant, when your house won’t sell or can’t find one to buy, when the appetite for a sickening sin won’t die, or when you lost your job and there are no prospects in sight?

The answer is that you set your hope on God, turn your eyes to the Scriptures, and act in simple devotion. You consider God’s Word and pray the next prayer or have the next conversation or remind yourself of the next promise of God. That’s what Mary Magdaline did in seeking to anoint Jesus’ body as an act of simple devotion.

THE CONFUSION OF AN OPEN, EMPTY TOMB (1-2)

Second, while Mary wasn’t sure what to expect when she got there, she definitely didn’t expect what she found.

¹ 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.

She found, in the dark of the early morning hours, the entrance to Jesus’ tomb wide open. This was entirely out of place. The tomb was guarded (Matthew 27:62-66 tells us) and it would have come unsealed by Pilate himself or at the pain of death.

What could this mean?! Had Pilate authorized this? Was there a conspiracy among the guards? Had someone slipped past the guards unnoticed? There could be no other explanations, could there?!

Rather than investigate herself, Mary went running back to the other disciples, to Simon Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved (John, the Gospel writer). She said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him” (2). Mary didn’t know who “they” were, but the only thing she could conceive was that someone (whether lawfully or otherwise) had taken Jesus’ body against every custom.

On the one hand, Mary Magdalene’s confusion was understandable. Everything was moving and swirling and overwhelming. And yet, more than simply misjudging between two possibilities (Jesus body had been taken and He had risen from the dead), only one option even occurred to Mary. She never even considered the possibility of resurrection.

We are right to wonder where this level of confusion came from? How was it possible that she was so misguided, so confused, so far from even considering the thing that actually happened?

John doesn’t tell us what he and Peter were thinking when Mary Magdalene first told them of the empty tomb, but neither does he tell us that either of them corrected Mary, pointing her to the resurrection.

Again, how could they, Jesus’ closest followers, the ones who had seen and heard Him more than anyone else, have so completely misread the situation? John tells us that it came from the fact that “as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead” (v.9).

We’ll come back to that in a few moments, but it’s right to let that sink in a bit. John’s basic claim is that “the Scripture” taught Jesus’ resurrection and Mary, Peter, and John all missed it.

The big idea of this passage is that in spite of all the OT promises and all of Jesus’ teaching, none of Jesus’ followers imagined Jesus’ resurrection as the explanation for the empty tomb. And, therefore, the main takeaways for us are to study the Word of God carefully and be humble.

I don’t believe that it’s even a slight exaggeration to say that there’s a way in which virtually all our non-physical struggles in life (and even many physical ones) come from a failure to properly understand God’s Word and live it out in humility.

What I mean is that, given God’s promises, particularly the promise to be at work for good in every single circumstance for those who love Him, truly understanding God’s Word really does allow us to count every hardship as “pure joy” (James 1:2).

When we understand and believe God’s promises for us in Jesus, we really will have our hearts and minds guarded in such a way that allows us to live in a kind of fearless and unending peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7).

In the simplest terms, consider Mary’s great grief in v.11. Had she properly understood the Scripture in that moment, far from crying tears of lament, she would have been rejoicing (which she would soon do). Our lives are constantly like that as well.

That is not to say, of course, that there is no place for sadness or grief or anger. It is to say, however, that those things, properly rooted in the Scripture, will never compare to the eternal weight of glory promised by God for all who believe (2 Corinthians 4:17).

There’s one more thing I want to point out here. There is a danger in finding too much comfort in the fact that others share the same shortcomings as we do (that we suffer needlessly at times because we do not yet understand the Scripture), but there is also grace to be found there. It is significant that we are still dealing with many of the same struggles that Jesus’ followers have struggled with since the beginning. Sin does what sin does. Even in Christians, it blinds, deceives, corrupts, confuses, and misleads.

God’s sanctifying work in our souls will continue until we die or Jesus returns. Therefore, humbly, we study God’s Word, asking God’s Spirit to guide us into all truth according to the promise of God (16:13).

THE DISCIPLE BELIEVED (3-9)

Third, clearly, Jesus’ closest followers were still figuring things out. With no evidence that they suspected Jesus had risen from the dead…

³ …Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. ⁴ Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

John, the author of this Gospel, as you know, was almost certainly “the other disciple,” “the one whom Jesus loved”. Not only was he the one whom Jesus loved, but he was also the one who beat Peter in the only NT footrace. And not only was he loved by Jesus and faster than Peter, but both of those things are forever preserved in the Word of God.

I have no idea what that means if it means anything beyond the obvious, and you probably wouldn’t believe some of the attempts serious scholars have made at interpreting the “spiritual meaning” of v.4, but I laugh every time I read it. I doubt that there’s supposed to be humor here, but I can’t help imagining myself telling the story exactly like this—Dave, Jesus’ favorite disciple, and Jack were running to meet Jesus and Dave won.

Whatever else all of this might mean, the main point is that John and Peter were able to confirm the empty tomb that Mary Magdalene reported.

Once there, John…

⁵ …stooping to look in, saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.

Quick on John’s heels, but with less restraint,

⁶ …Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, ⁷ and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.

Once again, many elaborate but (to me at least) unconvincing suggestions have been made concerning the meaning of the description of the state of Jesus’ burial clothes. What all agree on, however, is that rightly interpreted, they leave absolutely no doubt about the fact that Jesus left death behind entirely. Jesus not only rose from the dead, He gained complete victory over death. One who can never die again has no need of burial clothes.

John (“the other disciple”) eventually entered the tomb as well and, curiously,

⁸ Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed

This is strange, isn’t it? (Not that John repeated the fact that he beat Peter in the race, but that) the passage says that John “saw and believed.” John already believed in Jesus, didn’t he? Isn’t that why he followed Him for years? Isn’t that why he was at the tomb in that moment? If so, what did it mean that “he saw and believed”.

The answer is that in that moment John saw the empty tomb and the burial clothes and gained some measure of understanding and belief that Jesus had risen from the dead. We know from the very next verse (“for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.”), from what he did in response (v.10), and even more from Luke 24 (more in the final point) that there was a much greater level of understanding yet to come. Nevertheless, John tells us that he believed in Jesus’ resurrection on some level at this moment.

That too ought to be a tempered encouragement to us, Grace Church. The Christian life, no matter how humbly we seek to understand and live out God’s Word, is always marked by growing belief. Often our belief grows imperceptibly and sometimes, as with John here, it grows in a significant leap. Sometimes, as one pastor says it, the Holy Spirit can cause our belief to grow so much that it almost feels like we weren’t even saved before.

When I first got married and got into ministry and became a parent, I certainly believed that there would be significant highs and lows. Twenty-five years into those things, having experienced previously unimaginable highs and lows, I really believe that. More than likely, by fifty years, should the Lord allow Gerri and I to live that long, I will believe in an entirely greater way. That’s just how God has determined to work belief in His people. It’s curious, but it’s inevitable. It’s “inefficient,” but it’s glorious. And so, we believe and we continue to humbly pray that God would help us with our unbelief (Mark 9:24).

THE RESURRECTION PROMISES (9)

All of that brings us to the fourth part of the sermon and to a point I said I’d come back to. In v.9, John wrote, “for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.”

In other words, whatever John came to believe concerning the resurrection in v.8, it was still not rooted in the OT Scripture. Perhaps he simply remembered some of what Jesus said about His resurrection and began putting pieces together. Whatever it was, there was still a veil over his eyes concerning the OT promises.

What Scripture was John referring to when he wrote this (with the benefit of hindsight)?

Before I get there, I want to further drive home the point that the NT authors understood the OT to promise a resurrection for believers in general and for the Christ/Messiah in particular.

In Matthew 22 Jesus confronted a group of Sadducees concerning the resurrection. They didn’t believe in it, but knowing that Jesus did, they tried to trap Him with a hypothetical/theological resurrection dilemma. Jesus explained that their entire understanding of the resurrection was “mistaken, because you know neither the Scriptures [the OT] nor the power of God” (22:29).

Jesus corrected the Sadducees misunderstanding of the reality and nature of the resurrection by pointing them back to the OT. In other words, Jesus taught that the OT taught the resurrection.

The Apostle Paul taught the same thing in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…”.

And that was John’s point in our passage for today as well. The disciples didn’t understand the empty tomb, because they didn’t understand the resurrection, because they didn’t understand the OT (v.9).

But again, where do the Scriptures speak of resurrection or a resurrected Messiah? In many places. Consider quickly the following small handful of examples…

The Resurrection of Believers

Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 26:19 Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.

Psalm 49:15 But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.

Psalm 71:20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.

Daniel 12:1-2 …your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. ² And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

The Resurrection of the Messiah

Psalm 16:10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.

Isaiah 53:10-11 …it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. ¹¹ Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

There are a number of other passages that speak of a resurrection from the dead for God’s people (Job 19:25–27; Psalm 73:23–28; Isaiah 25:8; 26:19; Ezekiel 37:1–14; Hosea 13:14; etc.), but the simple point that John was making is that the disciples whiffed on the meaning of the empty tomb because they hadn’t read their Bibles very well. Eventually, however, with Jesus’ help (Luke 24), His followers would come to recognize these things for what they were, promises of and proof that Jesus was indeed the resurrected Christ.

THE EVENTUAL RESPONSE (10-11)

Finally, fifth, the tomb was empty, John believed in some greater way, and so the disciples…what? What did they do in light of the empty grave and some measure of increased belief? What was their response to this unexpected twist?

Whatever you imagined the answer to be, it probably wasn’t what we find in vs.10-11.

¹⁰ Then the disciples went back to their homes. ¹¹ But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb.

John and Peter went home and Mary stayed and cried. That’s it?!

Our natural tendency is to scratch our heads and wonder at their obtuseness. How could that be their response? Just about anything else makes more sense, doesn’t it? John explains what he had just come to understand and believe. The three send out a search party, talk to Pilate or the Jews, proclaim the good news with reckless abandon, or call the other disciples together to pray and come up with a plan. Again, just about anything makes more sense than go home or stay and cry, right?

One more time we find a picture of ourselves in this. How many times have you experienced the unmistakable hand of God in your life, been moved by it to worship, and then gone home to take a nap or fallen back into your routine within days if not hours if not minutes?

How many of you spent how much time praying for our pastor of discipleship? How many of you rejoiced with us at the first-time unanimous decision to call Collin (remember singing the doxology together)? How many of you then went home and fell asleep on the couch to a football game you didn’t care about or got to some project around the house?

Andrew and I talked about this a bit. He prayed for so long for Lilly to be born healthy and happy. She was. He praised God. And now he marvels at how quickly she became “normal”.

I think of praying together for Alice Saari, the building purchase, the salvation of our kids, etc., seeing God’s miraculous faithfulness in those things, praising Him, and then going to get pizza.

I think of God miraculously leading Israel out of Egypt through devastating plagues and the parting of a sea. Abraham’s offspring praised God and then in a matter of days were grumbling again. I think of Moses on the mountain, covered in clouds and glory, shaking with the voice of God and the Israelites impatiently forging a golden calf.

And on and on.

This is how we are and this is how we will be until we die or Jesus returns. By God’s grace, this quick forgetfulness will decrease, but traces of it will always remain in this life.

We are John, Peter, and Mary. We are forgetful and confused and inconsistent.

And all of that is exactly why Jesus had to die and rise again. He is our only, but certain hope. The whole point of John 20 is that Jesus’ followers could not act faithfully on their own and so Jesus had to act faithfully in their place. The tomb was empty precisely because His followers were too dense to know why the tomb was empty.

More than just human nature, though, Luke explains that there was a deeper need that kept Jesus’ followers from responding as they ought. They needed Jesus’ help, not just to redeem them from their unbelief, but to even see it in the first place.

Interestingly, as I’ve mentioned a few times already (with a promised explanation), Luke reports that it wasn’t until the resurrected Jesus opened the eyes of His followers that they actually understood.

Luke 24:25-27 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Luke 24:31-34 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. … ³² They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” ³³ And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, ³⁴ saying, “The Lord has risen indeed…

Just as Jesus’ followers were confused concerning the nature of His Christness, they were confused about the nature of His death and resurrection. But Jesus did not leave them in that state of confusion. He explained it all to them and then they believed, “The Lord has risen indeed!”.

CONCLUSION

Again, in this short passage we see that although John had some kind of understanding of Jesus’ resurrection, it was limited and apparently unique (none of the rest of Jesus’ followers understood). And that in spite of the facts that the OT promised resurrection generally and the resurrection of the Messiah specifically and Jesus Himself promised His resurrection. Altogether, this helps us see the need to study God’s Word, with God’s help, and walk humbly before Him, often in simple devotion in times of mystery and suffering. The gospel is such good news that as we do so in faith in Jesus, God will receive our simple devotion as the righteousness of Christ. Glory to God alone!

So where is Jesus? You’ll have to come back next week to find out.