John 20:1-8
TEXT: 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. 2So 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!”
3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.
Dear fellow champions basking in the spotlight of Christ’s victory over death:
On this Easter Sunday, Christians all over the world are traveling in spirit to the empty tomb where Jesus had been laid. Why is that? Don’t we have more interesting places to go than a grave? Or if we insist on heading to a tomb today, aren’t there more interesting ones than the borrowed tomb of Joseph of Arimathea? How about the tomb of King Tut? The gold and ancient art artifacts from that Egyptian crypt have impressed millions of people from every continent. All over the world, the remains of kings, dictators, and princes are preserved, guarded, and worshipfully admired. But we can’t even be sure about the exact location of our King’s burial. Because of that fact, Muslims heckle Christian missionaries throughout the world. “We have the tomb of our great prophet Mohammed,” they say, “and you Christians have nothing.”
“You Christians have nothing” – that’s exactly the point! That’s why we’re here celebrating today. We have “nothing,” because there is no tomb and there are no artifacts of Jesus’ death and burial, no bones, no mummy, nothing, and that “nothing” means everything to us. That “nothing” changed our lives. Today, we contemplate and celebrate the life-changing power of Christ’s empty tomb. The way we’re going to do that is by contrasting how people come to the tomb of Jesus, and how they leave the empty tomb.
I. See How the People Come to the Tomb
We accompany three individuals to the tomb this morning: Mary Magdalene and two disciples, Peter and John. Mary was the first to arrive. While much has been speculated about Mary, the Scriptures simply tell us that she was part of a group of women who followed Jesus on some mission trips and supported his ministry. You might say she was a charter member of the Women’s Missionary Society. The reason why Mary was so devoted to Jesus’ ministry is because he had saved from seven demons who possessed her. Jesus’ power had changed her life. Mary demonstrated her gratitude by serving Jesus. Mary’s devotion did not end when she witnessed Jesus breathe his last. In the late afternoon of Good Friday, Mary and her friends watched where Jesus was buried so that they could return and give his body a proper burial. It was for this reason that they were on this road to the tomb on Sunday morning. It was not a joyful trip on a pleasant spring morning. Only grief and sorrow filled Mary’s heart. Her friend, her pastor, her healer was dead. As she plodded to the cemetery early that morning, her sorrow was compounded by the fact that she didn’t even know if it would be possible for her to pay her respects because the group of women wouldn’t be able to budge the stone that covered the tomb. And just when it seemed like things could get no worse, they did. When Mary arrived at the tomb, Jesus’ body was gone. For Mary, this was almost as tragic as Jesus’ death. It poured salt into her emotional wounds. Hear her grieving voice report the sorrowful news to Peter and John: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him.” Flooded with grief and sorrow, all Mary could do was sit outside the tomb and flood the ground with her tears.
What about us? Do grief and sorrow fill our hearts as we come to the tomb today? If we’re honest, we have to admit there’s a little bit of Mary in all of us today. Don’t holidays stir up that grief and sorrow we felt as we laid loved ones in a grave and walked away with an overwhelming sense of loss? Aren’t there people here who have felt things in their lives go from bad to worse? Haven’t we at times had our dreams destroyed and our hopes dashed? Our trip to the tomb of Jesus today, like Mary’s, has grief and sorrow.
Mary wasn’t the only one who traveled to the tomb that Sunday. After hearing Mary’s report, Peter and John also headed there. While they too were filled with grief and sorrow, other emotions filled their hearts as well. First of all, Peter. Personally, I believe Peter took Jesus’ death harder than anyone else. Not only did he have to deal with the grief and sorrow of losing his mentor and best friend, he had the millstone of guilt and shame hung around his neck. He had left his Savior’s side after promising allegiance to death. He buckled under the pressure of a servant girl’s questions and denied knowing the One who knew him so well. Imagine the knife in Peter’s heart when he heard the rooster crow and was on the receiving end of Jesus’ disappointed glance. Peter didn’t walk with the Lord who had enabled him to walk on water. Peter abandoned Jesus in the darkness of Calvary’s gloom, even though the Lord had given him a shining moment on Transfiguration’s mountain. Peter wasn’t there to comfort Jesus’ mother, even though Jesus had once healed his mother-in-law. Peter went to the tomb of Jesus filled with guilt and shame.
Is it any different for us? Maybe this is the first time we’ve worshiped in months and we’re feeling guilty about our irregular worship life. Or, like Peter, we say one thing about our loyalty to Jesus with our lips and say something completely different with our lives. We lie awake at night because we know we’re such lousy parents, lousy spouses, lousy workers, lousy church members, or lousy pastors. Our trip to church on Sunday is often traveled with our eyes fixed on the rearview mirror, looking at the cross of Friday that shouts, “Your sins did this.” Like Peter, our trip to the tomb is accompanied by guilt and shame.
What about John? How did he come to the tomb? With grief and sorrow? Certainly. With guilt and shame? Perhaps. He too had deserted Jesus in the garden. But John could soothe his conscience by the fact that he had stood by Jesus at the high priest’s house and had consoled Jesus’ mother at the foot of the cross. What sticks out about John is his guarded skepticism. Elsewhere we’re told that the disciples did not believe the women’s report. It was “nonsense” to them that Jesus’ body was gone.
Are we also guarded skeptics when it comes to believing in Jesus and all he’s done? Like John, it’s not important how we come to the tomb, but how we leave the tomb, the empty tomb. The empty tomb has life-changing power. We have looked at how people come to the tomb of Jesus, now let us …
II. See How the People Leave the Empty Tomb
After John went inside the tomb and saw the burial cloths arranged as they were, John was convinced. John saw the cloths that had been wrapped around Jesus’ body like a mummy lying exactly as they had been placed into the tomb, but Jesus was no longer inside them. After he saw this, John himself reported, “He saw and believed” (20:8). The empty tomb converted John’s guarded skepticism into guaranteed certainty. And it does the same for us. The empty tomb proves that Jesus did exactly what he said he would do by raising himself to life again on the third day. Therefore, Jesus is exactly who he claimed to be – the Son of God and Savior of the world. The empty tomb and Jesus’ subsequent appearances to hundreds of witnesses guarantee that Jesus was not just a popular religious leader, but that he was and is the Son of God. Only God has power over death. Thus John writes a few verses later, “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (20:31). The empty tomb destroys doubt and allows us to walk away with a faith that’s not limping on guarded skepticism, but is established on guaranteed certainty.
The life-changing power of the empty tomb doesn’t stop there. The empty tomb looks at our guilt and shame and applies grace and comfort. Go back to Peter. We considered how heavy that burden of guilt must have been on his shoulders. After realizing his sin, the Bible says, “He went outside and wept bitterly” (Matt. 26:75). But God used the empty tomb to comfortingly address Peter’s guilt. First of all, listen to the message God’s angel had for the women at the tomb. After reporting to them that Jesus was alive, the angel instructed, “Go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee’” (Mark 16:7). Later that day, Jesus personally appeared to Peter also. How awesome! In Peter, here’s a guy who turned his back on Jesus more than once, yet Jesus went out of his way to say, “I forgive you. Your guilt is gone.” That’s why Peter could later write, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). The empty tomb of Jesus also gives us a “new birth into a living hope.” The Bible says, “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25). The empty tomb declares us to be innocent. The empty tomb of Jesus guarantees that our sins are forgiven and forgotten by God. That means that although we stumbled to the empty tomb with guilt and shame yoked over our backs this morning—guilt over our sporadic worship, shame over our frequent denials of Christ and failures to stand up for him—we can leave the tomb of Jesus with joy and forgiveness in our hearts. The empty tomb of our Savior gives us grace and comfort.
Mary knew that grace and comfort on Easter morning. She returned to the tomb full of sorrow. She lingered at the tomb crying, believing her Lord’s body had been stolen. But when Jesus appeared to her, thus proving that the tomb was empty because he had risen, her tears of sorrow turned into tears of joy. “Teacher!” she cried, as she embraced his feet. Then she ran to the disciples, to shout the good news, “I have seen the Lord!” (John 20:18). The resurrected Jesus fills with meaning Christ’s promise, “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19).
As we prepare to leave the tomb this morning, I’d like you to imagine in your mind’s eye an insightful Easter picture. It’s a picture of the cross on Calvary, but viewed through the doorway of the empty tomb. The most common symbol of Christianity is the cross. Whether it’s in churches, homes, or jewelry chests, the image of the cross is everywhere. But let’s remember to look at the cross in the proper perspective. If it’s viewed by itself, it is simply a reminder of the seriousness of our sin. Sin causes death. Jesus told the crowds that followed him, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) But if the empty cross is viewed from the empty tomb, we see it for what it really was—just a necessary step on the Savior’s road to get into his tomb so that he could walk away from it. And because Jesus walked away from his tomb, we’ll walk away from ours. The same Christ who promised to raise himself back to life from the dead on the third day also promised us, “Because I live, you also will live.” That’s truly a life-changing power and a life-changing promise! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Amen.