I Have Seen the Lord
John 20:1-18
Easter Sunday
[Imperatives in this sermon:
1. Believe in the resurrection.
2. Open yourself to the experience of resurrection power].
How Many Believe in the Resurrection of the Body?
A Scripps-Howard and Ohio University poll showed that, when asked, "Do you believe that, after you die, your physical body will be resurrected someday?" 25% of non-churchgoers, 36% of the general U.S. public, 50% of regular churchgoers, and only 59 % of people calling themselves born-again Christians answered, “Yes.”
Almost all church members and many others believe that they will have some sort of afterlife, but many of them do not believe that their afterlife will ever be in a resurrected body. It is likely that they have imbibed from the unbiblical teachings of our culture about our souls going through a dark tunnel toward a light at the other end, where, no matter what we have believed or done in this life, we will be rewarded with eternal blessing. Don’t count on it. That’s not promised in the Bible.
Missing the Turning Point of History
Although there is room for differing opinion about when we believers will get our resurrection bodies, there is no doubt that the New Testament promises that we believers shall have resurrection bodies. Count on it. That is promised in the Bible. Paul puts it most directly: “For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins…But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:16-17, 20).
In other words, the resurrection of Jesus is the guarantee of the resurrection of those who believe in him. Through the crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus removes all the barriers that block us from our divinely ordained destiny as children of God and equips us for eternal life with God. The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ are thus the turning point of human history.
Without the crucifixion and resurrection, there is no alternative to futility. With the crucifixion and resurrection, we can choose life with God now and eternally. That’s about as significant as you can get.
Somewhere our culture and even our churches have gone astray from the revealed truth.
Understanding the Scripture
20:1 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. 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.”
John names only one person initially present at the tomb, Mary of Magdala. With the other Gospels, he knows that there are more women present because he quotes Mary Magdalene saying, “We do not know where they have laid him.” Mary Magdalene finds the stone rolled away, assumes that the body has been moved, and runs to tell Peter and the other disciple, whom I take to be John.
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.
John outran Peter to the tomb, but stopped as he glimpsed the linen cloths that had been used to wrap Jesus’ body. What could this mean?
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.
Peter chugged up and burst right into the tomb where he also saw the face cloth lying separately from the other cloths. The cloths are mentioned for purpose of two contrasts. One contrast is to Lazarus whom Jesus had recently restored to ordinary life. Lazarus hobbled out of his tomb, still wrapped. Jesus had to say, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Apparently, Jesus simply came right through his grave clothes. The other contrast is with the more frequent human experience of the soul simply leaving the body behind. In Jesus’ resurrection, there was no body left behind. Something unique happened here. Jesus had entered a new kind of bodily existence.
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.
John followed Peter into the tomb. We are told that he believed. We are not told exactly what he believed, but he was thoughtful enough to recognize that he was up against something unprecedented. There is no evidence that he shared his new, embryonic faith with anyone. Peter and John quietly returned to their homes.
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
Mary Magdalene remained weeping in the tomb’s garden. Looking into the tomb, she saw two angels who questioned her as to why she was weeping. She explained her confusion.
14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
As Mary Magdalene turns from the tomb, a man’s voice repeats the question the angels had asked, “Woman, why are you weeping?” Through her tears, she does not recognize the speaker and assumes him to be the gardener and asks that, if he took the body away, he should tell her where it is so that she can make other arrangements for it.
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
The man then calls Mary Magdalene by name, and she recognizes her teacher, Jesus. Jesus commissions her to go and tell his brothers. Just prior to the crucifixion, Jesus had shared enough with his disciples of his plans and purposes that he told them they were no longer merely servants, but friends. Now he has taken one more step. He calls them brothers. They are adopted into the divine family. When we are baptized into Jesus, we become his little brothers and sisters in the divine family.
18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.
Mary Magdalene fulfills her commission, announcing to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord.” She is the first to say this of the resurrected Jesus.
The Da Vinci Code, The Gospel of Judas, the Gnostics, and Others Who Just Don't Get It about Mary Magdalene
Historically, Mary Magdalene has been much misrepresented.
Just to correct the confusion, there is no evidence—none, zip, nada--identifying her with the sinful woman who washed and anointed Jesus’ feet in Galilee, with Mary of Bethany who anointed Jesus’ feet in Judea, or with the practice of prostitution.
Recently, Mary Magdalene’s fans have invented a new history for her as Jesus’ wife, as the mother of Jesus’ child, and as a co-founder with Jesus of a fertility cult. Those theories, most famously espoused in The Da Vinci Code, are utterly without foundation. No one who carefully reads the Old and New Testaments could buy the fertility cult theory. Mary Magdalene’s true significance is far greater than any role that her fans have imagined for her.
Mary Magdalene’s significance is that she was the first disciple after the crucifixion to be able to declare, “I have seen the Lord!” Her new fans fail to comprehend why her testimony is so important because they do not understand the significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Her fans are part of a larger trend. There has been much publicity in the past couple of weeks about the so-called Gospel of Judas that is supposed to shake the foundations of Christian faith. In this fragmentary fourth century copy of a second century Gnostic writing, which was already soundly and convincingly denounced by church leader Irenaeus in 180 A.D., Jesus is reported as assuring Judas that he will be rewarded for betraying him. Jesus’ motive? He wants to escape his human body. That is not the Jesus of history!
Jesus and Paul: Our Bodies Count, and What We Do with Them Counts
There is ample historical evidence that Jesus affirmed the goodness of material creation and the moral significance of bodily life. His death was not an escape, but an affirmation of the significance of our bodies for expressing self-giving love and human service. His resurrection was not an escape, but an entrance into a new kind of bodily existence that displayed some continuity with his previous bodily existence. In crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus was saying, “What we do in our bodies counts…eternally!”
Paul, in 1 Corinthians, takes on church members who, because they did not understand the significance of the crucifixion and resurrection, claimed that they did not need moral and spiritual law and did not need binding covenants within which to express love and mutual concern.
The modern scholars who are trying to undermine Christian faith may have the same motive as the ancient Corinthian church members. Sexual freedom is a major theme for both groups, and denying the resurrection—or substituting an alternative for the resurrection--is a major point for both groups.
In response to such people in his day, Paul says, “No, Christ died, was buried, was raised on the third day, and then appeared to many witnesses. If he did not die and if he was not raised, then our faith goes nowhere. But because he was raised, those who believe in him will one day be raised, and their present bodily labors for the Lord have eternal significance.” That is why the resurrection is so important to our daily lives! Paul was saying, “Because of the crucifixion and resurrection, what we do in our bodies counts…eternally!”
I Have Seen the Lord
How do we get hold of this significance? The turning point Jesus won for us becomes effective for us when we believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, but I am convinced that it really becomes powerful for us when we encounter the reality of the living Christ, when with Mary Magdalene we can say, “I have seen the Lord!”
I believe that I can say that I have seen the Lord. I hope that, in one way or another, you can say that too. But I believe that all of us can see the Lord more fully, more often, and in more varied ways if we are prepared to recognize his presence.
Seven Kinds of Experience Through Which We Encounter the Risen Christ
The New Testament puts before us at least seven kinds of experience through which we can encounter the reality of the risen Christ. I cannot come close to adequately covering these seven experiences in a reasonable sermon length. But the sermon texts assigned in the lectionary for the next seven weeks closely relate to these seven experiences. That is something of a wonder in itself. So I have decided to preach on these points for the next seven weeks. I invite you to an adventure of encountering the presence of the risen Lord in your life as we journey together through the next seven weeks. Today, I simply want to introduce the seven experiences, to set them before you so that you can begin considering them.
Experience 1. Examining the physical evidence. “My Lord and My God,” John 20:19-31. We will consider the physical evidence for the resurrection to which credible eyewitnesses have testified.
Experience 2. Understanding the scriptures. "He Opened Their Minds to Understand," Luke 24:36b-48. We will consider how Jesus in his life, death, and resurrection fulfilled all the Old Testament scriptures.
Experience 3. Receiving personal appearances. "I Know My Own and My Own Know Me," John 10:11-18. When we have been Jesus’ disciples, we are more likely to recognize him when he shows up and calls our names.
Experience 4. Sharing sacramental moments. “Abide in Me,” John 15:1-8. When we are abiding in Christ, the most ordinary things sometimes convey his gracious presence.
Experience 5. Entering community and mission. "I Have Called You Friends," John 15:9-17. When Jesus shares his plans and purposes with us, we become part of his trusted missionary fellowship.
Experience 6. Being personally transformed. "Sanctify Them in the Truth" John 17:1-26. Jesus prayed for us that his mind might be in us so that we could, in the midst of an ungodly world, live as his representatives.
Experience 7. Benefiting from miracles. “Wonders and Signs,” Acts 2:1-47 (selected verses). We encounter the reality of the living Christ when supernatural events testify to his active reign over our lives and world.
Where has the risen Christ met you? Where will he next meet you?
A True Easter Story
I offer a true Easter story. I will change the name of the main character and leave out some personal details.
I was volunteering at a prayer center on Good Friday. Clarence, who was well-known to me, showed up asking for prayer. He said that a week earlier he had been told that scans showed that he had a brain tumor that needed to be removed. Further scans had been taken to aid the surgeon in determining his approach to surgery. Clarence was on his way to find out what the second scans would show when he decided to stop for prayer.
Prayer center leader: First, the Lord wants you to know that he has already healed the tumor. It is gone and, in fact, was gone before you had the second set of scans. The doctor will tell you that there is no tumor and no need for surgery….I had nothing to do with this. I am just the messenger. Now, I want you to raise your arms and praise the Lord.
Clarence: I can’t raise my arms; I have bursitis so bad that I need shoulder surgery.
Leader: Raise your arms and praise the Lord.
Clarence: I can’t raise my arms past here without excruciating pain…or here or … (raising arms all the way)…ohh, praise the Lord!
Leader: Now, do deep knee bends, and praise the Lord.
Clarence: I can’t do knee bends. I need knee replacement surgery.
Leader: Do deep knee bends, and praise the Lord!
Clarence (doing as instructed): Oh, praise the Lord!
Leader: The tumor is gone and will stay gone. The healing of your shoulders and knees is given as a sign that the healing of the tumor is from God. Those problems will return unless you get rid of the stresses that God does not want you to carry.
Easter Sunday found Clarence in his church testifying that the surgeon was mystified, but that the tumor was gone. Clarence was also raising his arms, doing deep knee bends, and praising the Lord.
The tumor stayed away. The shoulder and knee problems eventually returned. But however Clarence eventually interpreted his story, I knew that the risen Christ had shown up and revealed himself to me that day. It was one more step in my spiritual healing, of becoming open to a reigning God.
Some Questions and an Exclamation
When you meet the risen Christ, you are given a choice:
Will you trust him to be your Savior and Lord?
Will you turn toward the life that he makes possible?
Will you be baptized into union with him?
Will you receive and share forgiveness?
Will you let his Holy Spirit live and reign in your life?
If so, you will become a walking, breathing representative of his resurrection life. Your testimony will be, “I have seen the Lord!”
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