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April 12, 2009
“See How They Run”
Easter, 2009
John 20: 1-18
Sunday, April 12, 2009
As I cannot read or compose music, it is highly unlikely that I will ever compose a cantata about the resurrection of Jesus, but if I ever do, I think I know how the chorus of the piece describing the actions of those who first saw the empty tomb will go. I think it will go: “They do run, run, run, they do run, run.” Or perhaps, it will go “See how they Run” (Apologies to MoTown and the Beatles).
John’s account of the first Easter morning tells us that there was a lot of running going on. Mary went to the tomb early on the first Easter. She went with some other women to finish preparing the body of Jesus for burial. When they arrived they found the stone that had been closing the tomb had been rolled away and the tomb was empty. Mary then ran to tell two of the apostles that Jesus’ body had been taken out of the tomb.
Those two apostles were Peter and John. In his gospel, John often refers to himself in the third person as “the one whom Jesus loved”. Peter and John then ran to the tomb to check it out. When they arrived, John looked in from the open doorway, then Peter arrived and went into the tomb, followed by John. John twice describes what they saw.
They saw the linen grave cloths lying neatly on the stone shelf where the body of Jesus had been placed. One of the cloths is described as being rolled or folded up. This made Mary’s theory unlikely. Her theory was that “they”, whoever they were, had taken the body of Jesus. But why would they have removed the grave clothes in the tomb? Grave robbers would have quickly taken the body, cloths and all. Whoever was involved in the removal of the body of Jesus was not in a hurry and did not need to remove the burial cloths.
John tells us that when he saw the empty tomb and the arrangement of the burial cloths, he believed. But he doesn’t tell us what he believed. He does tell us that he and Peter did not yet understand that there were scripture verses that predicted that the Messiah would rise from the dead.
The Interesting thing about those Old Testament Scriptures was that they did not clearly mention resurrection. They predict that the body of the Messiah would not see decay.
Jesus himself had been much more clear as he spoke about his resurrection, but we are told that the apostles did not understand what he was saying when he spoke about rising from the dead. So on that first Easter, no one was expecting Jesus to rise from the dead. That was why there were at least 3 people running around in the early hours of the day trying to figure out what had happened to Jesus’ body.
But the empty tomb is only the first and lesser part of the story of the first Easter. Before the day was too far spent, the resurrected Jesus began to appear to his followers. Mary was the first to see Jesus on that day. She met him in the garden and clearly was not expecting him, even though angels had by that time appeared to her. She thought he was the gardener or someone who might know where the body of Jesus was. So she asked him if he was the one who had removed the body of Jesus, would he please tell her where he had placed him so she could take him elsewhere. Ironically, the one to whom she was speaking was the one who had removed the body from the tomb. He was in that body. It was Jesus in the body of Jesus who was standing in front of her.
The empty Tomb and the appearances of Jesus form the basis of an important fact of Christianity. Jesus physically rose from the dead. The body that rose had some different features than the one which was killed. It could appear and disappear at will. But it was a real, human body. The risen Jesus was not a ghost or a spirit, His resurrected body could be touched, you could see it and feel it.
The physical resurrection of Jesus is important to us for at least 2 reasons. It is the evidence that God accepted His sacrifice for our sins. God raised our savior from the dead as a sign of his approval of his work for us.
In other scriptures we are told that after we die, those of us who believe in Christ will be raised in bodies similar to the one Jesus had when he was raised from the dead.
So on Easter we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus as a guarantee that God has accepted His payment for our sins. We are no longer regarded as sinners by God. Jesus has paid the price for us by his death on the cross.
We also celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus because it is a promise that we, too shall rise from our deaths with bodies that will be considerably improved. And so shall our loved ones who have believed in Jesus.
I mentioned earlier that when Jesus saw the empty tomb and the way the burial cloths were arranged in it, he believed. But as I said then, John did not tell us exactly what he believed at that point. Did he believe that the tomb ws empty, or that Jesus had risen from the dead. We don’t know.
What do you believe? Do you believe that Jesus was physically raised by God the Father from the Dead? Do you believe that Jesus has forgiven you sins and made you an eternal citizen of his eternal kingdom? Do you believe that you will one day rise from the dead in a body similar to the one Jesus was given on the first Easter? All this can be true if you believe and repent of your sins and ask Jesus to forgive your sins.
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at April 12, 2009 06:00 PM