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Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
The story that we're gonna look at this morning in John chapter 20 is a story about Jesus appearing to Mary, and she comes to recognize him when he calls her by name. So if you would open your Bibles to John chapter 20, It's also there in your worship guide. And as you are opening your Bibles, I'd like to ask you a question. For those of you who come into this place and you are somewhat skeptical about this whole resurrection thing, let me ask you, what would it take to convince you? What evidence would have to be presented to you for you to believe, not just in the resurrection, but to believe in any miracle?
Joel Brooks:If I were to tell you, for instance, that, Beyonce walked on water, Would you believe it? I mean, some of you would think Taylor Swift, maybe. But if I were to say, oh, but but I've got evidence for you. Here's a picture, and I were to show you a picture of Beyonce walking on the water, would that be enough evidence for you? Well, of course not.
Joel Brooks:Pictures can be altered. But I said, well, that's not all I have. There's there's a TikTok video out there. She's walking across Lake Martin. Would you believe it?
Joel Brooks:No. Of course not. You would only believe something like that, something so miraculous if you saw it with your own eyes. And even then you'd be skeptical, you you would look closely at the water. You would make sure your eyes weren't playing tricks on you.
Joel Brooks:Make sure there wasn't a rock just underneath the surface. I mean none of Jesus's friends or followers ever believed for a moment that Jesus would rise from the dead. But then they saw him. They spoke with him. They ate with him.
Joel Brooks:They grabbed hold of him, and they became so convinced that he was alive that they would rather die excruciating deaths than deny it. And one of the main witnesses that we have to the resurrection is Mary. Let's read her story. John chapter 20 beginning at verse 1. Now on the 1st 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.
Joel Brooks:So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, they have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. So Peter went out with the other disciples 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.
Joel Brooks:He saw the linen cloths lying there. And the face cloth, which had been on Jesus's head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up in place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not understand the scriptures that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes, But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.
Joel Brooks:And as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw 2 angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, 1 at the head and 1 at the feet. And they said to her, woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, they have taken away my Lord. I do not know where they have laid him.
Joel Brooks:Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, woman, why are you weeping? Whom were 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. Jesus said to her, Mary.
Joel Brooks:She turned to him and said in Aramaic, Rabani, 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. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks, Jesus.
Joel Brooks:You pray with me. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this testimony. Father, we pray that this But And Lord, may your words remain. May they change us.
Joel Brooks:Pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. All four gospels tell us that Mary was the first witness to the resurrected erection of Jesus. This is one of those details that you would never make up. Women in this day had a much lower standing than men, so much so that they were not even allowed to testify in court.
Joel Brooks:It wouldn't matter if 20 women, they all witnessed a crime, their testimony would be worthless in the court's eyes. Yet all 4 gospels make sure to name Mary as the first witness. And Mary, she wasn't just a woman. She was a woman with a past. She had once been possessed by multiple demons before Jesus had healed her.
Joel Brooks:But she used to be the type of person, when you saw her walking down the street you got on the other side, because she was probably murmuring to herself, occasionally crying out, you would do your best to avoid her. And yet Jesus chose her. She was to be the first witness. The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, he lists out all the different witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus. And he begins with Peter, and then he talks about the disciples, then Jesus appearing to more than 500, then going to James, and and on and on.
Joel Brooks:But Paul never mentions Mary. Now I don't think it's because Paul's embarrassed to do so. I I don't think that's the reason that he's embarrassed about Mary. I just think that he knows naming Mary will not convince any skeptic, But it's also something that we see now no one would ever make up. Who would make up a story with her as the primary witness?
Joel Brooks:And and, Jesus purposely appeared to Mary first. I think it was because this is who Jesus comes to heal. People broken, people hurting, people like her. He rose from the dead for people like her, to give her new life and new resurrection. Now the resurrection should not have been a surprise to Mary.
Joel Brooks:It should not have been a surprise to any of the disciples. If they had had ears to hear, they would have heard Jesus telling them repeatedly that the reason that he was going to Jerusalem was to die and to rise again. He was not going to Jerusalem to lead a revolution, but he was going to be killed and to rise 3 days later. He was not going to take on Rome. He was going to take on an even greater enemy.
Joel Brooks:The greatest enemy of all. Jesus was going to take on death, and he could not have been any clearer. When he talked to the disciples about this, he didn't use one of his parables that they would often find so confusing. He would would just say it as simply as he could. For instance, in Mark 8, we read that Jesus told his disciples as they're heading to Jerusalem, he says, the Son of Man must suffer many things.
Joel Brooks:Be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed. And after 3 days rise again. And he said this to them plainly. He said it plainly. He said it repeatedly.
Joel Brooks:And yet, 3 days after Jesus had been killed, he walked out of that tomb to an audience of none. And not a single friend, not a single family member, not a single casual follower, not a single disciple. Not one person was there to welcome Jesus and witness the most important event in human history. Why not? Why was no one there after Jesus repeatedly telling people what he was going to do?
Joel Brooks:Well, it's because rising from the dead was just as unbelievable then as it is now. Everybody knows that when someone dies they stay dead. Don't don't think of people 2000 years ago of as just being primitive in their thinking and willing to believe anything. No. They knew just like we know dead people stay dead.
Joel Brooks:As a matter of fact I would actually argue with you those living 2000 years ago would have even more Besides the obvious scientific reasons to deny the resurrection, did you know that in the 1st century, the idea of somebody physically rising from the dead would have been repulsive to the Greeks. I mean when they died, they hoped to escape their body not to keep it. They saw their bodies as corrupt, dirty, and they longed to be set free from them. So if you had told any Greek that you believed in the resurrection, once they were finally done laughing at you and they realized that you were serious, they would have then thought that you were evil for spreading such things. The resurrection would have been just as unbelievable to the Jews.
Joel Brooks:Although many of the Jews, they believed that there would be a resurrection someday, they believed that this resurrection was for all the Jews. The idea of just one person being raised apart from everyone else, well that was blasphemy. There wasn't even a hint of that in scripture. Another obstacle to believing in the resurrection was simply the Jewish expectation for their Messiah. No one thought the Messiah would be raised from the dead because no one thought the Messiah would ever die.
Joel Brooks:No. That this if if a person claiming to be a Messiah died, that meant he was not the Messiah. As a matter of fact, there was many messianic movements happening at the same time in the 1st century. And what you find is that just like Jesus was killed, many of these so called messiahs were also killed. And what would happen is all the followers of them would think, well, he's not the Messiah.
Joel Brooks:And they would go back to their normal jobs and they would just be happy that they escaped with their lives. Sometimes if you had really devoted followers and they wanted to kinda keep the teachings and the movement alive, they would say, okay. He died. Let's just get a close friend or let's get one of his family members to continue the movement. But you don't see that with Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Jesus had a well respected brother James yet no one claimed that he would be the new Messiah. No one picked Peter or John to carry the torch. No. Those those easier and those more natural options, They were they were all abandoned, and a much harder road was taken. They proclaimed the resurrection boldly, loudly, Something that would have been repulsive to the Greeks, blasphemous to the Jews, went against the messianic expectations of the day, would have brought severe persecution.
Joel Brooks:All when safer and more acceptable options were readily available to them. Hear me. If you were here today and you have doubts about the resurrection, let me just ask you, what would it take for you to overcome those doubts? What would it take for you to under overcome those barriers? It would take something pretty huge, wouldn't it?
Joel Brooks:It was no different for the Jews or for the Greeks living in the 1st century. They had enormous, logical, cultural, religious obstacles to the resurrection, yet they believed. Why? They saw him. They touched him.
Joel Brooks:They ate with him. They embraced. Jesus appeared to them just like he appeared to Mary here in this story. In the story here we read that Mary Magdaleneci, she comes to the tomb. It's the 1st day of the week, which is why we worship on the 1st day of the week.
Joel Brooks:The other Gospels tell us there was a break of dawn, and the reason that she was coming was to put spices on the body. When she arrives she notices the tombstone has has been rolled away, and her first thought is not, well, Jesus must have risen from the dead just like he said. No. Her first thought is somebody has come and stolen his body. So she runs and she tells Peter what she found.
Joel Brooks:Peter and then another disciple take off running towards the tomb. I love the little detail that's there in verse 4, about how the other disciple ran faster than Peter, got there first. That other disciple was John. He's writing the story. He just couldn't resist to say that he was so much faster than Peter.
Joel Brooks:Of course by the time he wrote this gospel, Peter was dead so he could say whatever he wanted. It's a it's a funny little detail, but John writes about it because it happened. It's an obvious eyewitness account. When John gets to the tomb he looks in, he sees the linen cloths, but he sees nobody. Peter then arrives because once again John got there first.
Joel Brooks:Peter later arrives. He's likely out of breath, but unlike hesitant John, Peter just barges right in, and he sees the same things, but then we he also notices that the face cloth has been folded up. Now if you remember when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, Lazarus had to hop out of that tomb because he was still wrapped with the linen cloths, and and the people had to bind him, but here it looks like Jesus just went through the linen cloths, leaving them behind like a cocoon. And here we get the first hint, and there will be many others in the Gospels, the first hint that the resurrected body of Jesus is not like our bodies. This is a body that can apparently move through things.
Joel Brooks:I love the detail of the face cloth being folded. It shows So when Jesus, he he rose from the dead before he walked out of the tomb. He actually took the time to stop and to fold up the face cloth and to neatly put it down. You can read a 1,000 different theories out there as to why he did this. Really no one has an idea, one that's better than any other.
Joel Brooks:Here's mine. Jesus was just relishing the moment. I mean, he had just conquered death after all, and so when I see this detail, I could see such joy there in Jesus. He's just conquered death. He's taking his time, and he's folding the cloth, and he's putting it down.
Joel Brooks:He is filled with joy, and he knows the joy that he's going to bring to his people. Apparently the disciples, they saw this too because we read that they believed when they saw this. They ran back to their homes. By this point, Mary has returned to the tomb. She was apparently slower than both John and Peter.
Joel Brooks:When she arrives, and once again she sees the stone rolled away, she just breaks down. She's weeping. Her her whole world has been shattered. And poor Mary has no idea that in less than a minute all of her sorrow will be turned into unspeakable joy. She enters the tomb for the first time.
Joel Brooks:She sees 2 angels. The angels ask her, why are you weeping? And she responds, they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. Once again, she thinks the grave has been robbed. Notice she's not even phased by seeing 2 angels.
Joel Brooks:Doesn't phase her. She's she's gone numb at this point. Verse 14. Having said this, she turned around and she saw Jesus standing. She did not know that it was Jesus.
Joel Brooks: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. Who in the world writes that unless it is an eyewitness account? We don't know why Mary didn't initially recognize Jesus here.
Joel Brooks:Perhaps she was just crying so much she couldn't clearly see through her tears, or perhaps Jesus in his resurrected body just looked different. I I don't really know what a body that is no longer subject to death and decay looks like, but it apparently looks different. Later the 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus, they would not recognize Jesus initially either. But for whatever reason Mary does not recognize him and she thinks he's the gardener. She's not actually as far off as you think.
Joel Brooks:The very first human was a gardener. Adam. When God created Adam, he put him in a garden. The purpose was to to spread the beauty and the life of that garden to the whole world. But instead of spreading beauty and life, Adam spread death.
Joel Brooks:Jesus is the new gardener. The new Adam. The new man. He's the one who has defeated death and now brings life to the world. He brings about a new creation.
Joel Brooks:But poor Mary thinks he's just a mere gardener, not the gardener. Mary hears one word that that changes everything, Mary. Jesus says her name. Mary. And although she didn't recognize Jesus at first sight, she recognized his voice.
Joel Brooks:Her eyes were opened as she saw the Lord and all of the grief and all of her sorrow were instantly transformed into joy. A joy that death is now powerless to take away. There are many evidences that I can give you for believing in the resurrection. I'm actually happy to meet with each and every one of you. I will gladly spend the rest of my life doing that.
Joel Brooks:We just talk through those evidences. But the truth is even if the resurrected Jesus stood before you, you'd still have doubts. You would only believe Him to be the savior the world if you heard him calling your name. Have you heard Jesus calling our name? Think of everything that changed in that single second it took for Mary to turn and to look at Jesus.
Joel Brooks:A cold, cruel world turned into a world of hope. A broken heart was instantly healed. Once again a joy was given to her that death itself is powerless now to take away. She was given new life. This is what happened to JT and Katie.
Joel Brooks:This is what has happened to all of us who have heard Jesus calling our names. And this is the new life that Jesus offers to you. Pray with me. Lord Jesus, you've done what no person in human history has ever been able to do. 1st, you lived a sinless perfect life of obedience to the father.
Joel Brooks:2nd, you rose from the dead. So you have conquered sin and death on our behalf. So, Lord, we trust you with our lives. We lay them down like the songs we've been singing over and over. We surrender our lives to you and utter joy.
Joel Brooks:And we ask that you would make us a new creation. Thank you Jesus that when you grab hold of our life, nothing can break that grip, not even death itself. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus, our Lord and our savior. Amen.