Really Alive

Good Friday and Easter are not in the Bible. And what I mean by that is that there's nothing in the Bible that says we should have days on our calendars once a year to remember the death of Jesus. The church calendar is a result of tradition, not the Bible.

Just because it's tradition doesn't mean it's automatically bad, but it also doesn't mean it's automatically good, either. There are positives and negatives to tradition. There are positives and negatives to the church calendar. One of the negatives is how putting things on the calendar can make us think that that's the time we get to think about those things, and we don't need to worry about them the rest of the year.

Just think: if we had sung "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" this morning, wouldn't that have felt a little weird? But why? Who said that we're not allowed to celebrate the incarnation from January to November?

I think about a friend of mine who basically said that he thought about Jesus' death on the cross on Good Friday, and he didn't know why I was making such a big deal about the gospel when it was only October.

So there's a danger this weekend as we remember the death and resurrection of Jesus. The danger of thinking that these is are the days to think about these things, and then we'll be good for another year.

Do you know how often the first Christians remembered the death of Jesus and celebrated His resurrection? Weekly! That's why, as best as we can put together, they met each Sunday to break bread together. They met on the first day of the week because that's the day Jesus rose from the dead, and there's good reason to believe they ate the bread and drank the cup to proclaim His death until He comes every time they gathered.

So let's just be clear—we're celebrating Jesus' resurrection this morning not because it says "Easter Sunday" on the calendar but because this is what Christians should do every single time we gather.

And yet—and yet—we are privileged to live in a country that does put "Good Friday" and "Easter Sunday" on the calendar. We get an extra day off this week. These days are a witness to the profound way that Christianity has shaped our culture and our values. And the question I ask myself is, why would we not take some time on these days to highlight the death and resurrection of Jesus while these events are already on people's minds? Not as a replacement for celebrating these truths every time we gather, but in addition to our weekly pattern, why would we not add some highlighter on these days?

And that's what we're doing today, because why wouldn't we?

So, as I was thinking about the resurrection of Jesus this week, my mind actually went to last Sunday and the way that Dylan opened his message by describing the coronation scene from the Return of the King.

If you've read or watched the Lord of the Rings, that scene that Dylan referenced is a really meaningful moment. By the time you get to that moment where the crown is placed on Aragorn's head, this is a character you care deeply about.

Especially if the stories have become beloved stories you've enjoyed over a period of years. I was sixteen when I first saw the movies, and I wanted to be like Aragorn when I grew up. We can chuckle at that, but we shouldn't, because he's supposed to be an example of who a man ought to be. Humble, courageous, self-sacrificial, with hands that both wound an enemy or heal a friend.

If you care about these stories, you care about this character. You care about how he's portrayed. You've probably memorized some of his lines. You can do all of that, while still knowing full well that, however wonderful this all is, it's just a story. A story that means something, a story that should help us and encourage us with our life today, but still just a story.

People in the 70s put bumper stickers on their cars saying "Frodo Lives," but we all know that's just wishful thinking. All of these characters, as dear to us as they might be, are still just characters from a story.

I wonder how many people have a relationship with Jesus that works in pretty much the same way. They care deeply about Jesus. They read His words on the pages of the Bible and hold them to be statements of truth.

They treasure the gospel accounts of his life and ministry. The descriptions of His love for sinners, giving up His life for them on the cross, can move them to tears. They can defend the Biblical record of Jesus against those who want to modify it or portray a different Jesus.

They can come to church every week and enjoy the Bible being opened up and explained, nodding and agreeing. They can delight in the literary artistry of the Biblical text as they read it again and again.

They can seek to shape their lives following in Jesus' footsteps, asking themselves "What Would Jesus Do?" and seeking to keep the teachings of Jesus as best as they can. They can even talk about honouring and worshipping Jesus Christ in all that they say and do.

They can do all of this and still have Jesus stay in the zone of a character from a story. A character they admire, care deeply about, and want to be like. But a character from a story nonetheless.

I think all of this is very possible. Scarily possible. And frankly, this is one of my great concerns as a pastor, even for us in this church. As I preach the Bible week by week, as we open these sacred pages, could we ever grow to think of Jesus as a character who never leaves these sacred pages? A mere character confined to the pages of this precious book?

That should not be possible if we actually believe what these pages tell us about Jesus. Because if Jesus rose from the dead according to the Scriptures, then he is not just a beloved character from a beloved book. He is alive. He is a living, breathing person whom we must deal with on a personal, experiential level.

And we're going to consider this as we consider Jesus' personal interaction with one of his disciples after His resurrection as recorded here in John 20.

1. A Woman Weeping At The Tomb (v. 11-13)

This chapter starts by telling us how Mary Magdalene came to the tomb of Jesus early on the first day of the week. Mary's presence there is something that all four gospels tell us.

Mary Magdalene, a woman from whom seven demons had gone out according to Luke 8:2, was a woman. This is one of those wonderful little details in the resurrection accounts—that the first witnesses to the resurrection were women.

In Jewish courts of law in those days, the testimony of a woman was often considered more unreliable than that of a man and could be dismissed as evidence. If the gospel accounts were just cleverly-written myths designed to make a fake story seem legit, you would not have picked women as the first witnesses at the tomb.

But all four gospel accounts record for us that Mary Magdalene was there. John 20 tells us that when she saw the Lord wasn't there, she ran to get Peter and John, who investigated and then, verse 10, "went back to their homes."

“11But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb;” (John 20:11).

We need to understand that Mary is a woman in grief. We talked about this with the kids on Tuesday night. The disciples really thought that Jesus was gone. They did not bring his body home and sit around waiting for him to sit up. They buried him.

Mary was on the way to anoint his body with spices which helped take away the smell from the decomposition process. That's how the Jews at the time practiced burial. The body would lie on a slab and decompose over a year or so, after which they'd go in and put the bones in a box which they'd place in a permanent spot in the tomb, the flat slab being ready to receive the next member of the family who died.

They really thought that Jesus was gone. And now they think that even His body is gone. That's even worse. When someone dies, being able to see their body is so helpful for bringing closure and grieving properly. Not having any body can make that process so much harder.

So Mary is weeping because she thinks, like she said in verse 2, “2They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him” (John 20:2).

And as she weeps, she stoops to look in, where she sees to angels dressed in white, sitting where Jesus' body had lain. This is really interesting because dead bodies were unclean according to Moses' law. Graves were unclean. Touching what a dead body had touched was unclean (Numbers 19:11-19).

Angels were the opposite of unclean. Angels were associated with God's presence, God's temple, God's glory. Here are two angels, in white—a sign of cleanness—in a grave. Something very unusual is happening.

And these angels speak to Mary. Notice that they don't say "fear not," which is what angels usually need to say. Was Mary too in grief to be afraid? What they say is, "Woman, why are you weeping?" (v. 13).

What a question! Is it because they don't know? Of course they know. But they know something she doesn't know—something that, if and when she knows, will end her weeping—or at least change it into a very different kind of weeping.

But for now, her response is simple and sincere: “13She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him’” (John 20:13).

Jesus, though dead in her mind, though still needing to be laid somewhere, is still her Lord. He's been taken away, and she doesn't know where.

2. The Gardener (vv. 14-15)

“14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus” (John 20:14).

Now this is really interesting. This is not the only post-resurrection appearance of Jesus where he is not immediately recognized by His own followers. The same thing happens on the road to Emmaus. The reason for why he's not recognized isn't told to us, but for Mary the early hour and lack of light might have been a factor.

Also, they're not expecting him. Maybe you'd had an experience where you've seen someone you know in a setting where you don't usually see them, and at first you don't recognize them because you're not expecting them. It takes you a bit.

For these and perhaps other reasons she doesn't know that it's Jesus. And Jesus—whom she doesn't know is Jesus—asks her another set of wonderful questions that he already knows the answer to. “15Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?'"

He knows. He knows why she's weeping and who she seeks. But again, he knows what she doesn't know. His rhetorical questions are little tells that she doesn't actually need to be weeping. She doesn't actually need to be seeking anybody in here.

And then, in the rest of verse 20, we get these great words: "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’” (John 20:15).

We know from chapter 19 (19:41) that this tomb was in a garden. It wouldn't be unusual to see one of the gardeners out early caring for the grounds. But there's more here. Jesus is the second Adam.

The first Adam was put in the garden to work it and to keep it. The second Adam, come to stand where the first Adam had fallen, was the true gardener. Mary was not as wrong about this gardener as it might seem.

But she still thinks Jesus is dead. She still thinks that someone must have carried his body off somewhere, and maybe it was this gardener.

Mary's questions here have the air of desperation about them. She doesn't seem to be thinking rationally. Why would a gardener need to relocate a body from a tomb? How was she going to take the body of Jesus away? Why are there angels inside of this tomb?

She doesn't appear to be thinking strait. Which actually makes sense, given the circumstances.

Mary is not just grieving normally. She is grieving not just the sudden death of her teacher and Lord, but the death of the one whom she believed was going to deliver her nation and fulfill thousands of years of prophecy that she and her people had been waiting for for centuries. This was the death her hopes and dreams personally, and for her people and nation, and quite possibly for her faith.

And all of this just days after He rode into Jerusalem in what looked like the fulfillment of all they'd hoped for.

We probably can't reckon with how traumatic the death of Jesus was for His disciples, how deeply in shock they were, and the darkness of the questions they asked in those dark hours on Saturday.

But the least Mary can do is care for the body of this man who delivered her from the torment of seven dark spirits.
Whoever Jesus was or wasn't, whatever she misunderstood or whatever His life and teaching meant, at least she can give his body a proper burial. And now she can't even do that. His body—her one link to her Rabbi—was gone.

This woman is very likely beside herself at this point, not just broken but totally shattered by three days of shock and bewilderment.

3. "Mary" (vv. 16-17a)

And with that in mind, I find verse 16 to be one of the most precious and beautiful things that ever came out of the mouth of Jesus.

“(16)Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’"

"Mary." He just says her name.

And at that moment she knows Him. "She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher)” (John 20:16).

She knows the voice of her Saviour speaking her name. She knows Him. Personally. She knows His voice.

Didn't Jesus tell us this earlier in John's gospel? “27My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

His sheep know and hear his voice. Yes, this was a figure of speech about us spiritually recognizing and responding to the shepherding care of Jesus, but the figure of speech has its grounding in real experience. Mary had spent time with Jesus. She knew his voice. She knew him. She knew that He knew her. She knew His voice speaking her name.

Mary recognizes her Lord as He speaks her name in this very personal encounter.

Mary does next what anybody in her situation would do—she reaches out to touch this man who was dead and is now alive. Matthew 28:9 says that she "came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him" (Matt 28:9). John 20 points to this same event when it just shows Jesus saying, verse 17, “17Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father."

Jesus' words here are hard to understand. Some have taken it to mean that Mary was trying to hold on to Jesus, and Jesus is saying you have to let me go to my Father.

But when we pay a little more attention to the words, and see what comes next, it's perhaps better to understand these words like this: "Mary, you don't have to hang on to me yet. I'm not ascending right away. I'm going to be around for a little bit longer. Right now, you need to go tell my disciples that I'm alive."

4. "My Brothers" (vv. 17b-18)

And notice how he says this next part. "But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”” (John 20:17).

Look at how Jesus talks about His disciples. As His brothers. This alone is astounding, but remember who these men were. Men who had all abandoned Jesus when He was arrested. One of whom had betrayed Jesus. Men who had been with Jesus for years and didn't understand his repeated announcements that all of this was going to happen. Men who, right then, were holed up in fear of the religious leaders.

If Jesus were a mere man, wouldn't we expect him to be so frustrated with them? "Go tell those guys who abandoned me in the garden, 'when will you finally get it?'"

But no, Jesus chose them knowing they would falter in those ways. He went to the cross to pay for their cowardice and to purchase the gift of spiritual sight for them.

And, back from the dead, their debt of sin totally paid for, He speaks as a brother. Go tell my brothers, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. in other words, Mary is to tell them that Jesus is alive, and He's not angry with us! He called you His brothers. It's all okay.

This is astounding, isn't it? Breathtaking grace.

But there's more. There's an even tighter connection here between Jesus' resurrection, His reference to His disciples as His brothers, and His reference to His ascension.

First, there is a tight connection between His resurrection and His ascension. His ascension to heaven is the continuation, the extension, of His resurrection. In fact, some times the Biblical authors view His resurrection and His ascension to Heaven as one big event (Phil 2:9).

And the night before He died, He told His disciples that when He ascended to Heaven He would send to His believers another Helper, His Spirit. “16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever” (John 14:16).

That was what Jesus did on the day of Pentecost. “32This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing” (Acts 2:32-33).

The gift of the Holy Spirit is a gift of the risen, ascended Lord Jesus. And what does that Spirit do in us and for us?

• “15For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15).
• “6And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:6).

When we are saved by Jesus, God adopts us as His children—brothers and sisters of Jesus. And the Spirit is given to us to confirm and enact this adoption.

And here is where this connects to us. Brothers and sisters, do you know God to be your father? When you struggle, when you stumble and fall, when you're afraid, do you have an impulse in you to cry out to your Father?

That is the work of the Spirit, sent to you by the risen Lord Jesus, and because the three are one, the Spirit is in fact the Spirit of Jesus. Put the pieces together, and that's Jesus' own Spirit in you crying out to His Father—who is now Your Father.

And this is accomplished through the risen and ascended Jesus. "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God" (John 20:17).

We need to feel this. The risen Jesus, who spoke Mary's name, whose feet she touched—He still has a body. He is alive in heaven today. And by His Spirit, He is ministering to and personally interacting with His disciples to the present moment. You experience this reality every time you cry out to God as a Father.

You experience this reality every time you pray in Jesus' name. You are praying to the Father in the name of your very real, very alive High Prist in heaven who represents you there.

You experience this reality every time you experience the forgiveness of sins. Your sins are forgiven based on the merits of the living Jesus who, present tense, intercedes for you before the throne. “25Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

But that's far from the end of it. The night He was betrayed, Jesus promised His disciples that as He went away, so He would return. “3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:3).

Jesus' ascension is not the end of the story. “11Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

This is perhaps one of the greatest tests of whether Jesus is just a character in a story or whether you know Him as a real person. Are you looking forward to His return?

See, characters from stories don't show up in real life. You can read your favourite book a thousand times and never expect to meet the characters. But a resurrected, ascended Messiah who promised to come back is the hope of His people.

Christians are those who love His appearing (2 Tim 4:8). We “live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:12–13).

This is what drives our lives and gives meaning and structure to all that we do—that we aren't just following a set of principles or practices. We live a certain way because we're waiting for the man who came back to life to come back to earth.

So we could sum some of this up today by putting this as a question. How much are you looking forward to Jesus' return? If Jesus had stayed dead, if He was just a good teacher from history, and He was never coming back, what difference would that make to your life, today?

And hopefully you're able to say, "It would make all the difference! If the resurrected Jesus wasn't coming back to resurrect me, too, then I am of all people most to be pitied. Instead of all of this, let's eat and drink for tomorrow we die!" (1 Cor 15:19, 32).

But if that's not your answer, if this question rattles you, don't just stay rattled. Don't just walk out of here feeling a little guilty and then go back to normal. Come to the living Jesus. There is a man, living, breathing, who gladly died and rose again to give grace to people just like you and me.

He wants to forgive you. He wants to minister to you. He wants to fellowship with you.

He spoke Mary's name that first Sunday, and today He calls us to Himself. He calls you. He might be calling some of you for the first time. Come and enjoy the grace of the living Jesus today.