John 20:1-18 [Easter]
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Benson/Vail, AZ
April 21, 2019
In the name of our risen Lord—our Savior Jesus, dear friends, “Come here, you’re not going to believe this!” I’m sure you’ve been drawn away from your desk or your recliner or the other room more than once by a roommate or spouse or parent or child or friend by that call: “Come here, you’re not going to believe this!” No, it would not be good enough to simply be told that your 4-year-old climbed on top of the refrigerator! It wouldn’t be believable if you were simply informed that the dog was running through the house with the Easter ham in his mouth! Your life would not be the same if you didn’t listen to your husband and stop right there in the aisle of Best Buy and see the 82-inch, LED Q6F Series 2160p Smart 4K TV with HDR! No, No, clearly you must SEE these things in order to BELIEVE them and receive their full impact on your life! There was a lot to be seen on that first Easter when Jesus rose victorious over death. On this beautiful Easter morning, we have the privilege of hearing John tell us about what happened at sunrise on the Sunday after Jesus’ death. We go back in spirit to that morning and I encourage you to SEE AND BELIEVE! SEE what happened and BELIEVE what God says about it! SEE AND BELIEVE! 1. THAT JESUS HAS RISEN! 2. THAT YOUR SINS HAVE BEEN PAID FOR! 3. THAT YOU HAVE ETERNAL LIFE! I find it interesting to hear about those who were there on that first Easter. John’s gospel tells us first about Mary Magdalene. What did she see? Mary saw that the huge stone that sealed Jesus’ grave had been rolled away from the entrance. She assumed that someone had broken the seal on the tomb, moved the stone, and stolen or moved the Lord’s body. Mary was so upset. Now she couldn’t do what she wanted to do for Jesus—anoint his dead body properly, since it wasn’t able to be completely done on Friday. There simply wasn’t enough time after his body was taken down from the cross—the Sabbath started shortly after that, so she and others planned to take care of that embalming on Sunday morning—after the Sabbath. But there’s something wrong with that picture, isn’t there? Mary went there expecting to find a dead body! Jesus had told his followers that he would rise from the dead on the third day. But they went to the tomb expecting a dead Jesus! Even when she SAW the empty tomb, it didn’t occur to her that Jesus had risen like he had told them he would! Mary SAW but she didn’t BELIEVE! So she wept outside the tomb. She didn’t catch on that something special might be going on when angels spoke to her. She didn’t even recognize the risen Jesus as he stood right in front of her! Peter SAW the empty grave but he was confused by it all. We’re not told that he BELIEVED. We are told that he and the other disciple ran to tomb but they just didn’t understand everything about the resurrection and what it meant.