Three People at a Tomb

Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© www.godsbreathpublications.com

 

John 20:1-18

“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?””They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. “Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.”

 

MARY

Here in John we have the most sequential account of events that took place the first Easter morning. Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb while it is still dark wishing to pay honor to her Lord, to show her respect and love for what Jesus had meant to her. She was an amazing woman in many ways. Jesus had caste seven demons out of her (Luke 8:2 and Mark 16:9). I can’t imagine what it must have been like to been controlled and possessed by a demon, let alone seven of them. Jesus rescued her from this evil residence within her by casting them out. What a relief it must have been to be free from that horrible oppressive and controlling influence. Mary dedicated her life after that deliverance to the ministry of Jesus and His disciples. She helped support the ministry and traveled with them to serve them as best she could. But today on this dark morning she comes with darkness in her heart. She had been there at the crucifixion when Jesus was horribly tortured and killed. She had been there when they had taken down his beaten and bloodied body. She had been there when they had laid His lifeless body in the tomb. Now she came to mourn His death. But upon arriving she discovers that His body is missing and additional grief is added to the grief she already bears.

 

Some of us this Easter morning come with grief of one sort or another. Some of us come with grief of a loved one who has passed away. Some of us come with grief over the loss of a job that was critical for providing for our family. Some of us come with grief over the loss of a relationship, possibly the result of a divorce. Some of us come with grief over our health because we have just been diagnosed with a terrible disease or cancer. Grief will cloud your eyes with tears and coat your heart with a deep emotion of grief. Grief grabs us and distorts our perception of life and it can kill any hope we have of a future and any enjoyment we might have of the present. Mary was dealing with a deep grief and you may have something in common with her this special Easter morning.

 

But we see here that in her grief God sends angels to minister to her and bear witness of the fact that Jesus had risen from the grave. Jesus also appears to her personally and grants to her the privilege of being the first person to see Him in His glorified body. But because of her grief and possibly because of the tears in her eyes she doesn’t recognize Her Lord. Jesus speaks to her, but His words do not penetrate her grief until He says her name, “Mary.” At that most glorious compassionate moment, Mary’s grief is broken by amazement. There’s importance in our name spoken by someone who loves us and who we love. Names represent who we are and they are cherished when they are called out by those we love, because we know they love us.

 

Today on this Easter, if you are overwhelmed by grief you must realize that Jesus rose from the grave to save you from your sins, but also to help you deal with any grief you might be experiencing. Jesus Christ loves each and every person and wishes to minister to those who grieve. He wants to give you hope. He wants to lift you up. He wants to bring joy to your life. He wants to call you by name and show His love for you. This is one of the reasons He rose from the grave on this first Easter.

 

PETER

Now when Mary had first seen the empty tomb she ran back to town and told Peter and John that Jesus’ body was missing. Immediately Peter and John ran to the tomb. John won the race through the cemetery to the tomb but stopped at the entrance, possibly contemplating what had happened. Peter caught up and walked into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths that had covered Jesus, says nothing and he simply returned home. We see no sign of faith. He makes no statements concerning his thoughts of what had happened to Jesus’ body. Peter’s heart, like Mary’s is also dark. It’s dark because we know that before Jesus’ crucifixion Peter had denied Jesus vehemently and had abandoned Him. He was not present at the crucifixion or burial of Jesus. Peter had just basically disappeared. His faith had been shaken. His fear of those in power had probably gotten the best of him and he was both grief stricken about Jesus’ death, but also bore a huge burden of guilt concerning his denial of His friend and Lord, Jesus. Here at the empty tomb Peter did not put two and two together and come up with four. He didn’t even do the math because his heart was dark with both grief and guilt.

 

Simon Peter was a man’s man. He lived in the real world. Although he ran to the tomb, possibly hopeful, he also knew that when you’re dead, you’re dead. There’s nothing else after death. It was dreadful and terrible what happened to Jesus, more dreadful that he denied knowing Jesus. Something in Simon Peter died when Jesus died.

 

You may be here this Easter morning and you don’t feel all aglow with faith because you’ve denied Christ in some fashion. You’ve played with sin and it’s played with you. You know you’ve betrayed Christ by the way you’ve lived and Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ just doesn’t motivate you. You feel like a failure and a traitor to the Lord you have claimed to know. Possibly like Peter you have too many questions that need answering. You may be a skeptic at heart and though you see the evidence that Christ was God in the flesh and that He died for your sins, you’re just not full of faith to believe it like you know you should. You might be thinking you’re the only person in the entire history of Christendom for whom faith, even faith in the Resurrection didn’t come simply. You simply have a lot of questions, a lot of skepticism, and a lot of things you’re not sure about. But that’s okay. Doubt can be a part of the Christian life if kept in perspective. You’re not sure that beyond death there’s anything else, for you or for Jesus or anybody else, because your experience doesn’t give you any evidence to that. You may be like Peter this morning. You’ve come here hopeful, but not sure.

 

I want you to know that Jesus Christ rose from the grave not just for Mary and those like her; He also rose from the grave for people like Peter, like you. Easter tells us that Jesus is raised and it tells us He came back especially for people who believed that he couldn’t have come back for them. When Jesus came back, Jesus did not give Peter a tongue lashing. He didn’t scold him for his lack of faith. He gave Peter a second chance and placed His church in Peter’s hands. I can imagine Jesus embracing Peter with his wounded and scared body, hugging him very close and whispering in his ear, “I love you, Peter.” Jesus might have said to Peter, “You cannot you cannot run away so far, you cannot accumulate any amount of bad things, or denials that can make you out of reach of my love. If death can’t stop me, you can be sure that you can’t get far enough away that my hand can’t reach you. Peter, I came back for you. It may take you awhile to get that, but I came for you!” And Jesus came back for you as well if you feel like you’re a Peter in the eyes of Jesus. Peter walked home confused over the empty tomb on Easter morning not believing Christ had arose and you may also. But for Peter, the truth dawned a little later, gradually, as Jesus appeared to him and ministered to him. Jesus said to Peter, “I trust you with my sheep.” If you feel like Peter this morning be patient with yourself and trust that Jesus rose from the grave for you and wants to give you a second chance to believe and serve Him.

 

JOHN

The only person who came to faith upon witnessing the empty tomb was this beloved disciple, John. No one else did. John is the beloved disciple. He was very close to Jesus. When Jesus went to the cross all the disciples fled, but John. The beloved disciple was still there at Jesus’ feet. And it was to this disciple that Jesus gave the word from the cross, “Take my mother home with you. Let her be your mother and you be her son.” He was close to Jesus and witnessed the entire experience. Here we see that in the race to the tomb John beats Peter. So John was in good shape and quick, but he was quicker in more ways than one. He was quicker in his faith. When the beloved disciple got to the tomb, he did not go in, he just looked, and he saw the linen cloth empty of any body it had once held. He saw the headpiece there and he paused to reflect on that. He was contemplating with his eyes and processing the evidence with a heart of faith what all this meant. Peter came rushing past and went into the tomb. Then John entered as well and saw. The passage simply says that he saw and he believed. Amazing, isn’t it, how easy and simply it was for John to believe. He didn’t have to have a lot of proof. He didn’t have to have much of anything to reach his faithful conclusions. He just saw that little bit of evidence and he believed. John is a good disciple. A good disciple doesn’t take much of a nudge to have faith. John did not come to the tomb thinking that Jesus was raised, but when he got there; it did not take much for him to believe. The evidence was a whisper, but it was all that John needed to believe. He didn’t need any angels. He just believed.

 

Some of you are like John. You believe like John believes. It does not take much effort for you to have faith. When you accepted Christ’s resurrection from the grave it just seemed right. You didn’t struggle with the idea, you just believed. It was easy. People who believe like this are not naïve or childish. They simply have the gift and the blessing of faith. God does not love you more than others if you have faith like John. You are just blessed because God has given you this gift of faith. But with this special gift of faith like John, you have been given a special responsibility. You are to minister to those of us who are more like Mary and Peter. You also have your weaknesses if you are like John, and we are called as a Mary or a Peter to minister to you as well.

 

To be honest, each of us has moments where we live out our faith as a Mary, a Peter or a John. Sometimes we respond in life as a follower of Christ with grief like Mary because we do not see what God is doing or why He has allowed some event or circumstance to take place. We focus on the grief and can’t see Jesus in the trial or struggle. Sometimes we feel guilty because we have failed our Heavenly Father like Peter and denied Jesus by our actions or thoughts. Sometimes like Peter we struggle with believing what we know is true. Sometimes in our good moments we are encouraged and strengthened because God has given us the faith of the beloved disciple John and we cherish those perfect and easy faith moments. Wherever you are today in your faith, rest assured, Jesus has risen and He rose from the grave for you, whether you are a Mary, a Peter or a John. One day you will resurrect exactly like Jesus and have a glorified Body just as He has! What a day that will be!

 

1 Corinthians 15:51-54

“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

 

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.”