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A very happy Easter to you! Let’s pray:

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the glorious truth that Jesus who was crucified has been raised from the dead, and lives today. As we read your word and travel back in our minds to that first Easter morning, help us by your Holy Spirit to see and believe. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

This morning and this evening we’re walking through John 20 – the resurrection chapter of John’s Gospel. I’m taking us through John 20.1-18 – so please turn back to that in the Bibles, on page 906. I see here Seven Stages of Resurrection Revelation – and that’s the title I’ve gone with. This account is wonderfully personal, intimate and small scale in a sense – events over a few hours concerning just a few individuals. But let’s not be under any illusions about the cosmic significance of what we see going on here. The resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith. Without it everything else is meaningless. So the apostle says in 1 Corinthians 15 (another great resurrection chapter) 1 Corinthians 15.14:

…if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile….But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead...

Everything hangs on the reality of the bodily resurrection of Christ. It is the hinge of history. And the amazing thing is that we have these eyewitness accounts of what happened. Wouldn’t you love to be able to listen in and hear those who were there describing what happened? Well we can. Here we’re listening-in particularly to Mary Magdalene and the apostle John – who calls himself here as elsewhere in his gospel the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 13.23). The events of that morning fall into seven stages. So:

Stage One: MARY FINDS THE TOMB EMPTY

This is John 20.1-2. Where have we got up to? Jesus has been crucified. Joseph of Arimathea has secretly secured permission from Pilate to take his lifeless body. He and Nicodemus joined forces. Nicodemus brought a whole load of spices – seventy-five pounds weight, says John, who records (in John 19.40-42):

So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

So the tomb was very close to where Jesus was crucified – as in fact is the case with the long established traditional sites in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City. Joseph and Nicodemus left. Night fell. Saturday night. What next? John 20.1-2:

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. 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.”

So what happened was utterly unexpected by Mary. She knew that dead people stay dead. In the darkness, it was clear to her that the body had gone from the tomb, which was standing open, with its stone door moved out of the way. She immediately assumed that someone had taken the body and put it somewhere else. She had no idea where.

Let’s be clear that this is history. This a specific time and place. The reality of it can’t be tested by science, like a repeatable experiment – because by its very nature this is a one-off, unrepeatable event. So let’s not be distracted by those who say that science disproves the resurrection. It can’t. If this happened, then a scientific worldview has to change to take account of this fact of history.

Stage Two: PETER AND JOHN RACE TO THE EMPTY TOMB

There’s a lot of running going on. Mary Magdalene ran back to where John was staying. Mary, the mother of Jesus, must have been there, because only just over a day earlier, as he hung on the cross, the dying Jesus had given over responsibility for her to John – and John 19.27 says:

…from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

Peter was there with them. Was Jesus’ mother awake to hear this conversation? Or was she so exhausted with grief that she slept on? Who knows, but Mary Magdalene told Peter and John and they wanted to check it out for themselves. John 20.3-8:

So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going towards the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed…

Maybe Mary ran with them – if she’d got her breath back. She certainly did go back to the tomb. But John and Peter had raced ahead. There’s a delightful video going the rounds of the Olympic champion Shelley-Ann Fraser-Pryce running in her child’s school parents race – and winning, not surprisingly. Well John won this race to the tomb. But he hung back, allowing the more impetuous Peter to stoop down and go in first.

When I was in Jerusalem I was shown a tomb from around this time cut out of rock, and probably near to the tomb where Jesus had been. I remember having to crouch to go through the low stone doorway into the dark space, and seeing the stone ledge on which a body would be laid. Once inside the tomb, Peter saw the grave clothes, and the cloth that had been covering the dead face of Jesus, in neat, separate piles. It’s all astonishingly vivid. The sheer physicality of these details is so impressive and deeply moving. Then John follows Peter in. These memories must have been seared into his mind. And he later writes of himself:

…he saw and believed…

Believed what? Certainly that the tomb was empty and the body gone, leaving the grave clothes behind. But almost certainly, given that he described it as ‘seeing and believing’, it began to dawn on him that Jesus must have risen from the dead. Perhaps now he remembered that Jesus had told them he would be raised. In any case, we now have multiple witnesses to the empty tomb. The resurrection was not just in the minds of people. It was a bodily resurrection. Certainly the resurrection body of Jesus was transformed. But it was the same body that had been laid in the tomb. John believed just on the evidence of the empty tomb. All the resurrection appearances were still to come. But we can be confident of the strength of the evidence for what Don Carson calls “the sheer facticity” of the resurrection.

Stage Three: PETER AND JOHN DON’T UNDERSTAND THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY OF THE RESURRECTION

John 20.9-10:

for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.

Not only had Jesus told them multiple times and in very direct terms that he would die and rise again, but prophecy of the resurrection of the Messiah was woven through their Bible – our Old Testament. I was speaking about just that from Isaiah 53 last Sunday evening – you can revisit that online if you’d like to follow that up. But Peter and John didn’t get that yet. They were still in a fog – like the half-light of dawn that morning. Soon the Holy Spirit would be sent to them and switch on the light in their minds, and it would all make sense. We too need the Holy Spirit to turn on the light if we’re to see and believe. If he’s already done that for you, rejoice. Pray for those who are still in the dark. And if you’re in the dark still yourself, ask God to turn on the light in your heart and mind.

Stage Four: MARY TELLS ANGELS IN THE TOMB WHY SHE’S WEEPING

Peter and John had gone home. Mary had got back to the tomb after them. Then what? Here are John 20.11-13 – and look out for the emotional impact that all this is having on Mary:

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 feet. 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.”

Waves of emotion are overwhelming Mary. Her loved one is dead. Her hope is lost. The sky is dark and so is her soul. Now the body is gone. This is grief upon grief. Mary herself still has no notion of resurrection. She’s convinced someone has taken the body of Jesus. That’s what’s causing the tears to flow. But now there are two angels in the tomb. Where did they come from? We’re not told what Mary makes of them. Presumably they looked like men. Forget Victorian pictures of feathered wings! Have you ever encountered an angel? Perhaps you have, but you didn’t realise it. Hebrews 13.2:

…some have entertained angels unawares.

Mary answers their question about her grief. How do you feel about all this? It all needs to go so much deeper than just our minds – though our minds matter, because we are talking about facts of history. But somehow we need, like Mary, to feel deep down the force of the earth-shattering events of these days from Good Friday to Easter Day. It’s an emotional roller-coaster.

Stage Five: MARY DOESN’T RECOGNISE THE RISEN JESUS

John 20.14-15:

Having said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 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.”

If I can say this reverently, there’s almost a comic aspect to this. The risen Jesus is right there in front of Mary, and she’s saying to him, “What have you done with his body?” But what a ring of truth there is about this. Why doesn’t she realise it’s him? Is she blinded by her tears? Is it that the resurrected Jesus is both the same and different? Is it that her brain just can’t compute? Possibly all of the above. She is slow to take on board this immense, shattering reality that has spun the whole universe on its axis. Who can blame her? The Son of God made flesh has been crucified, and is now risen from the dead. But even now she’s sure he’s dead and his body has been cruelly taken from her. She is desperate to find his dead body. Maybe in a way you’re not so different. Maybe you feel like your life is full of grief. The risen Jesus is right there beside you, but you won’t see it. Dare you recognise that your despair is unfounded? Because that, at last, is what happens to Mary.

Stage Six: JESUS CALLS AND COMMISSIONS MARY

What a moment this is. John 20.16-17:

Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 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.’”

Dawn comes. I once saw a total eclipse of the sun. In the middle of the day, it was like night. All the birds flew up raucously into the sky. And then suddenly, the sky filled with sunlight again, and in a moment it was over. The night was gone. The day had come. So it is here, for Mary. What an intensely personal meeting this is. Behind it there’s a whole history of relationship between them. Luke 8 tells us that Jesus had driven seven demons out of her. She’d been part of the support group of women with money who had financed his ministry. How often had Jesus called her Mary, with that inflection and tone of voice that was unmistakeably and uniquely his. I love the way Mary must have made sure that the very word she used was remembered and recorded: Rabboni. Maybe she fell on her knees and took hold of his feet, as Matthew indicates. And Jesus told her:

Don’t cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers…

The resurrection was not the final act. It was the prelude to the ascension and enthronement of Jesus at the right hand of the Father. We have a Coronation coming up on 6th May. If I can say with due respect – it will be all show and no power. From our point of view the Coronation of the King of kings took place behind the scenes. But all authority was given to him. No show and all power. So what about you and me? Jesus had said (this is in John 10.3-4):

The sheep hear [the Good Shepherd’s] voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out…and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

Just as the risen Jesus spoke her name to the weeping Mary, who he loved and had saved, so he has loved us even to death, and calls you and me by name. Can you hear his voice, by faith? Will you accept his commission and obey his command? That’s what Mary had to do. So:

Stage Seven: MARY ANNOUNCES THE RESURRECTION

Jesus didn’t only speak Mary’s name. He told her to go. She had world-changing work to do. John 20.18:

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

Every now and then in history there are seemingly small scale events that in fact change everything. 50 years ago, on 3 April 1973, Marty Cooper stood on a corner of Sixth Avenue in New York and took a phone book from his pocket. He then punched a number into a large, cream-coloured device and put it to his ear while passers-by stared at him. Mr Cooper, an engineer at Motorola, rang his counterpart at rival firm Bell Laboratories, to tell him triumphantly that he was calling from "a personal, handheld, portable cell phone". It was the first ever mobile phone call. For all its impact, what a trivial moment that was in comparison to that moment when Mary said to those bemused disciples I have seen the Lord. We’re all making mobile phone calls now. And we all need to be obeying the call of Jesus and going into a world where it is still dark, and telling whoever will listen that by faith we have seen the Lord. And we need to trust that, like Mary’s, our small obedience can have a massive impact. Jesus is alive. By his cross and resurrection he has defeated sin, Satan and death. Weeping has given way to joy. Like Mary, the apostle Paul saw the risen Jesus. And his word to us this Easter Day is this (Philippians 4.4):

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

Let’s pray:

Lord Jesus - Good Shepherd, risen Saviour, we praise you. Thank you for the sure and certain hope that you pour into our lives, as for Mary, Peter and John, through your resurrection from the dead. Thank you that as you called Mary by name, so you call us by name too. Fill us afresh with joy this Easter Day, and by the power of your Holy Spirit use us to tell the world that by faith we have seen you. For your glory, Amen.

Look out for how verse 2 of our final hymn starts:

Lo! Jesus meets us,Risen from the tomb!Lovingly he greets us,Scatters fear and gloom.[Thine Be The Glory, E. L. Budry (1854-1932) tr. R. B. Hoyle (1875-1939) © World Student Christian Federation]