The Resurrection (John 20:1-18)

Good morning! Eric, one of the pastors at Garden City.^[1]  

One year in college, my school’s basketball team beat our mortal enemies—the Duke Blue Devils. It was the last game of the regular season, we were expected to lose, and the win made us conference champions. It was glorious. 

Sarah and I watched the game in the basement of her dorm on the far south end of campus. At our school, when there’s a big win, everyone storms Franklin Street—which is all the way at the north end of campus. 

So the moment the game ended, we rushed Franklin Street. And it didn’t matter that it was cold outside or that it was a 1.5km run. We just ran. I vaguely remember outrunning Sarah for parts of it. She doesn’t remember that, but I do.  

When we finally reached Franklin Street, fans were already flooding in. I was so hyped on adrenaline, I didn’t know what to do next, so I found a group that had dragged scraps of cardboard into the road to start a small bonfire, and people took turns jumping over it. 

Then this woman steps up to take her turn. She shouts, “My name is Brenda, I’m 41yo, and I’m a Tar Heel.” Everyone erupts in cheers. But as she starts to jump…she slips on the cardboard and falls right into the fire. There’s immediate panic—but she pops right up, says she’s fine, and the crowd erupts again, and we keep celebrating. 

I just shared an eyewitness story with you—something that really happened. It’s not world-changing, but it is historical. And you could test that for yourself. You could look up whether there’s a school in NC called the Tar Heels, see if I could’ve gotten in, verify the years I was there, or if the basketball team beat the Blue Devils in that final home game. You could even ask my wife—she was there. 

But honestly, why waste your time? Whether it’s true or not, who cares? It’s just a fun story, with no real impact on your life.  

But, if you remember last week, I mentioned John is giving us a firsthand account of the greatest event in human history: The weekend Jesus died and rose again. Today’s part 2:The resurrection. So if you have a Bible, turn with me to John 20.  

The resurrection was something the first disciples saw, tested, and eventually came to believe. But unlike my random story of short-lived basketball glory, the resurrection of Jesus, if true, becomes relevant to everyone. 

And here’s why: If Jesus really rose from the grave, then everything he said about himself is true. He really is God in the flesh; all authority over life and death belongs to him, and he gets to judge how we lived on the last day. See, if Jesus stood up on the third day, that changes everything. 

The whole reason John wrote any of this is “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” But in order to believe, you have to step into the empty tomb and face the facts yourself.  

[v. 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.  

John 19:25 tells us Mary was at Golgotha on the Friday Jesus died. The very next day, she would’ve rested along with all the other Jews as they celebrated the Passover. She probably didn’t feel like celebrating anything, let alone the Lord’s salvation, but it was literally the most appropriate thing she could’ve done.  

Early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to Jesus’ tomb. The other gospels tell us a heavy stone had been rolled in front of it, but when she arrived, the stone was already gone.  

This was just before smartphones, so she couldn’t shine a light inside—it was too dark to see anything. So instead of investigating, she ran to tell the disciples. She didn’t know what had happened, so she responded the way people often do when they don’t have all the facts. She jumps to conclusions… 

[v. 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.” 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. 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. 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.

When scholars and historians piece together the earliest accounts and artifacts from the historical record, what they find is that there really was a man named Jesus who was executed under Pontius Pilate, was dead and buried, and after his death, people claimed his tomb was empty.^[2]

There’s not much to discuss there. The real question is, how did it become empty? The people closest to the event came to believe the only explanation that made any sense was that Jesus had risen. Keep in mind that there were people proximate to them who had every reason not to believe them. People who would’ve protested because these claims violated their own religious beliefs. People who would’ve challenged them because it would shake up their family life. 

Let me offer four reasons why you can trust the eyewitness claim that Jesus resurrected: 

Reason #1: Because of the story’s simplicity. If you were going to make up a story to convince people that Jesus died and rose again, this isn’t what you’d write. There’s no flashes of lightning and peals of thunder. God doesn’t part the skies or have Jesus fly through the clouds. 

It’s just an ordinary story. Mary Magdalene—who isn’t even a major figure in John’s gospel—gets up early with other women to give Jesus a proper burial. When they reach the tomb, Mary sees that the stone’s been rolled away. 

She immediately runs to Peter and John and tells them someone’s taken Jesus’ body. She hasn’t looked inside the tomb or seen anyone carry the body off—she just assumes the worst. Instead of considering the facts, Peter and John sprint to go see for themselves. 

As they investigate, it’s clear this couldn’t be the work of a grave robber. A grave robber wouldn’t leave valuable spices and burial linens behind, and certainly wouldn’t take the time to unwrap a body and neatly fold the face cloth. 

Compare this with the time Jesus raised Lazarus. When Jesus called out to Lazarus…[John 11:44] – The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Whatever happened to Jesus’ body, he obviously didn’t need the burial cloths anymore because he was no longer bound by death. But after seeing this, Peter and John just go home. John tells the story like this because it’s what happened. 

Reason #2: The disciples didn’t make this up because it makes them look bad.  

The disciples’ first thought wasn’t that Jesus was alive—not even after seeing the empty tomb. That might seem understandable, except Jesus had already told them he would suffer, die, and rise again, and they still didn’t believe him. 

Just think about this: Jesus predicted his death and resurrection three different times. He was right about how he would die, so why not visit the tomb just in case?  

I once flew standby to Lima, Peru, to propose to Sarah. Flying standby meant I could only get on the plane if there were open seats. I actually missed my flight out of Atlanta by one spot, which cost me a night in Atlanta. 

The next day, I was told there was a good chance I wouldn’t make my last flight because of all the international travel. But since the chances weren’t ZERO, I didn’t go home. I tried again. 

Jesus told his disciples 3x that he was going to die and rise again. If there was even a fraction of a chance he was telling the truth, don’t you think they would’ve at least gone to check things out? 

See, these guys weren’t sitting around trying to workshop a resurrection story because it didn’t even fit their understanding of the Bible. John even admits in [v. 9], …[we] did not understand the Scripture, that [Jesus] must rise from the dead.

The day Jesus resurrected, his disciples weren’t waiting with anticipation—they weren’t expecting anything at all. When Peter saw the empty tomb, he still left without an explanation, even though Jesus had told them this would happen. 

The day Jesus resurrected, the future leaders of the Church showed just how little they understood or believed Jesus’ words.  

Reason #3: The belief that Jesus rose gave no earthly advantage.  

Believe it or not, the apostles weren’t treated like kings after Jesus rose from the grave. They didn’t acquire riches, power, and fame. Instead, they got arrested, beaten, mocked, and killed. 

What makes the disciples’ faith in the risen Jesus credible isn’t how much they gained in this life, but how much they were willing to suffer. We don’t know the exact fate of every disciple, but we do know they were persecuted and willing to suffer—even die—for their belief in Jesus. 

Their witness was especially impactful for Chuck Colson, a top aide to former US President Nixon during the Watergate scandal back in the 70s. After being arrested for his involvement in trying to sabotage political opponents, Colson became a Christian in prison because he became convinced the resurrection was true. 

Colson once said, “Twelve men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Everyone was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world–and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks. You’re telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.”

The early church stood strong amid persecution because they truly believed Jesus was alive. But along with that conviction was the power of the Holy Spirit that had made them alive, too. And if Jesus was alive, they didn’t need to fear death anymore because their sins had been forgiven, and one day they would be resurrected too. 

See, belief in the resurrection was a massive shift. Worshipping a man as God went against everything they had been taught, yet suddenly hundreds of Jewish men and women were confessing Jesus as Lord. It cost them family, reputation, and in some cases, their lives. 

Japanese author, Shūsaku Endō said, If you don’t believe in the resurrection, you will be forced to believe that something hit the disciples that was every bit as amazing…For if we try to explain the changed lives of the early Christians, you will find yourself making leaps of faith as great as if you had believed in the resurrection to start with.

Their boldness of faith wasn’t driven by riches or fame. It came from a genuine belief that Jesus truly rose from the dead, and that changed their lives. 

Reason #4: The movement continued. The ongoing witness of the 

Church is one of the strongest reasons to believe the resurrection is true. The Church never would have survived—let alone grown—if Jesus hadn’t actually risen from the dead. 

Many messianic pretenders appeared before and after Jesus. They gathered followers, started revolts, and gained momentum for a while, but once the leader was killed, the followers scattered and the movement died. 

This pattern was so common that when the Pharisees wanted to crush the early Christians, the Pharisee Gamaliel told them to calm down and think carefully. 

He said in [Acts 5:35] – “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. 36 For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drewaway some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. 38 So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!”

The Church exists today, not because of talented people or innovative systems, but because of the empty tomb and the ongoing presence and power of the risen Jesus. And that means each of us has to examine the evidence for ourselves. At some point, you have to step into the empty tomb for yourself and ask yourself: Is it true? 

Wolfhart Pannenberg once said, “The evidence for Jesus’ resurrection is so strong that nobody would question it except for two things: First, it is a very unusual event. And second, if you believe it happened, you have to change the way you live.” That hits at what makes the resurrection so hard for us.  

See, sometimes we avoid the truth because we feel like we can’t believe it. The resurrection of Jesus violates our understanding of the world so much that we just can’t construct a world in which it makes any sense.  

I have family members whose problem with Christianity rests on the fault line of Jesus. The idea that the infinite God could become a finite man is such a contradiction of categories that it’s nonsense. 

Sometimes we avoid the truth because we don’t want to believe it. And honestly, I think this is where most people live, even those who struggle with the supernatural.  

I had a college roommate who said he wasn’t a Christian because he didn’t grow up in a Christian family. I told him that didn’t make sense. There’s plenty of Christians who don’t grow up in Christian homes, myself included.  

But when we got to the bottom of it, his real issue wasn’t over family ties. It was that he had had a close friend die, and he didn’t want anything to do with a God who would allow him to experience so much pain.  

For others of us, we don’t want to believe because it would cost too much. I have friends who’ve said one of the hardest things about believing in Jesus is fear over the tensions it would create with their family and the traditions they grew up in. Those are real challenges, and there’s time to work through them. 

But I love the moment when John reached the tomb. He didn’t go in at first—he just looked from the outside. But when Peter arrived, he found the courage to step in. It’s a reminder that coming to faith in Jesus doesn’t need to be an isolated journey. We can take those steps together.  

[v. 8] – Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed… 

Now, I’m not asking if you want to believe in the resurrection. I’m asking you if it’s true. I have things in my life I don’t want to be true. The deepest pains of my life…  

• The pain of failure  
• Rejection 
• Disappointment
• Betrayal 
• Loss  

I have a personal story for each one of those that I don’t want to be true. But my subjective preferences don’t change objective reality. 

Mary Magdalene didn’t want the death of Jesus to be true. But just because we can’t imagine a better future for ourselves, if it is true, doesn’t mean Jesus hasn’t promised one.  

We said the Church is one of the greatest witnesses to the truthfulness of the resurrection because it changed lives. That’s what happened to Mary Magdalene. She was living in the agony of death when the hope of the resurrection changed her life.  

How does that happen?  

[v. 11] Peter and John left, 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 theyhave laid him.” 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.” 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.’” 18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

A little background about Mary Magdalene: Mary had previously been healed by Jesus from demonic oppression. She supported his ministry. She listened to his teachings. To Mary, Jesus was her teacher, but he had come to call her his friend. She was one of the few people there to comfort him at the Cross. 

Now she’s in the throes of grief. And grief is strange. There are times in the midst of grief when you want to take control of things you just can’t control. Mary’s thinking, I can’t bring Jesus back, but at least I can give him a proper burial. But the empty tomb robs her even of that.  

She’s not thinking about a resurrection. She just wants relief from her pain. So when she enters the tomb, she ignores the linen cloths—she just wants to know where the body is. 

[v. 12] says two angels ask her why she’s crying, but she’s so lost in grief she can’t even see what God’s doing. Then Jesus appears, but she thinks he’s the gardener. And maybe he’s an accomplice in all of this. So she starts questioning him. In [v. 15] she starts asking Jesus if he knows where they put his body because she’s ready to buy him back.  

But then, at a word, “Mary.” Her world lights up. Just like Jesus said in [John 10:3], “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 

See, what changed Mary and the early Church is the same thing that changes us today. We’re transformed by Jesus’ resurrection power when we surrender our whole lives to him. How do we do that?  

1. Admit there’s nothing you can do to save yourself.  

Look at how spiritually blind Mary was. She comes across as passionate and determined. But she also feels abandoned. As if she’s the only one who still cares about Jesus, when she’s literally surrounded by angels and Jesus.  

Have you ever held so tightly to how you wanted things to be that you couldn’t let go unless God did it your way? And when he didn’t, you thought he must not care about me at all.  

If so, you’re just as blind as Mary. But here’s the good news: Jesus wasn’t waiting for Mary to figure things out. Even with her back turned to him, he came to her. 

Jesus wants to be known in his resurrection. See, it wasn’t just that the disciples saw an empty tomb. They met with the risen Jesus. But really, the risen Jesus met with them. Jesus comes to Mary in her weeping and comforts her. He comes to Thomas in his doubt so that he’ll believe. He comes to Peter, despite his failure, to restore him. And he’ll come to you in your suffering and heal you. He’ll come to you in your pride and humble you. He’ll come to you in your anger and give you peace.  

This is what Jesus does. But what he’s asking you to do is admit that you needed him to come because you could never save yourself. 

2. Trust in God’s provision of grace and mercy for you.  

A reversal happens when Mary comes into the tomb. Normally, you wouldn’t enter a gravesite like this. It’d make you ritually unclean. But Jesus turns graves into gardens. He turns tombs into sanctuaries. Mary’s not entering into death. She’s entering a Tabernacle and going straight into the Holy of Holies with Jesus.  

In the OT, the Holy of Holies was the innermost room of the Temple where God’s presence dwelt, and no one could go in except for the High Priest once a year on the Day of Atonement to offer sacrifice to cover sins. 

Inside the Holy of Holies was the ark of the covenant, and on top of the ark was the mercy seat. On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would sprinkle the blood of the lamb for the forgiveness of sins.  

Exodus 25 says the mercy seat actually included two angels with outstretched wings, one on each side. Kinda like how [John 20:12] says the two angels were sitting on the bench where Jesus’ body was laid. John’s describing the mercy seat. The mercy seat was where the blood of the lamb was sprinkled to cover the sins of the people. 

In the resurrection, just when you think God’s going to issue out judgment, he gives mercy. And it’s all undeserved. You have no idea how good you have it in Jesus.  

3. Cling to Jesus as he is. Not just who you want him to be.  

[v. 17] – Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father…

It’s a little strange that Jesus tells Mary not to touch him, because we know that later, in his resurrected body, he eats with people and even invites 

Thomas to touch his wounds. So, why does he tell Mary not to touch him? 

Because Mary’s clinging to the Jesus she wants, not the Jesus who is. Her view of Jesus is wrong, even as she sees him risen. Mary thinks this is the answer to all her grief—a return to the way things were. So, she grabs hold of him, probably telling him never to leave again.  

But she doesn’t understand yet that Jesus will stay with his disciples only briefly to prove his resurrection and help them believe. But then he’s going to return to the Father in glory, where he’s always been. And that’s actually better for us because from there, he sends the Holy Spirit to help us hold on to Jesus as he truly is: fully God and fully man. 

Mary saw Jesus as a great man who had beaten death, but she needed to see him as the ascended Son of God, seated in power at the Father’s right hand. That perspective changes everything. Believing in the risen Jesus turns sinners into sons and daughters of God. 

J.I. Packer writes in Knowing God, “If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father.

If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.”

And if you want to cultivate that mentality, Packer says there’s 6 things you can remind yourself of every day:  

1. I am a child of God.  
2. God is my Father. 
3. Heaven is my home. 
4. Every day is one day closer. 
5. My Savior is my brother. 
6. Every Christian is my brother or sister, too.  

And all of this is true only because of the resurrection and ascension. 

4. Live in light of the not yet already.  

[v. 17] Jesus says, Don’t cling to me like this…but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

Question: How did Mary know to go to the disciples? Because she believed, and she’s learning to trust fully in Jesus. She’s starting to embrace living in light of the new relationship Jesus established between the Father and us.  

And Jesus doesn’t call us his students, his followers, or even his friends. He calls us his brothers and sisters. He blesses us with all his riches and calls us to live in light of that reality right now. If you had all the riches in the world, would it change how you live?  

Jesus tells us your sins are forgiven. You’ve been redeemed. You’ve been adopted. You belong to the Father. And there’s plenty of room in the family of God. So what does he tell Mary to do? He sends her to go tell others the good news. That’s what he sends us to do now, as we desire to see his kingdom advanced in our city and world. 

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^[1] Works Consulted:  

The Gospel According to John – Carson; “Mary!” – Keller; “Encountering the Risen King” – Keller; Why 

Does the Resurrection Matter? – Greear; “The Resurrection: Did it happen and who cares?” – Greear 

^[2] https://evidenceunseen.com/theology/christ/defending-the-resurrection/empty-tomb-of-jesus#fn-ma7krapx