Open Your Eyes and See! | Sunday, April 4, 2021
April 3, 2021 · Pastor Miles DeBenedictis
In this teaching
Using John 20:1-9, Pastor Miles examines how Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John each "saw" the empty tomb on Easter morning, showing through the underlying Greek words that how we perceive the evidence matters as much as what we see. He calls listeners to move beyond casual observation to a deep understanding that leads to a decision of faith in the risen Christ.
- The resurrection of Christ is the pivotal event of all human history, signaling that this life is not all there is.
- The English word "saw" appears four times in John 20:1-9, but the Greek uses three different words revealing progressively deeper kinds of seeing.
- Mary "saw" (blepō) and concluded the body had been stolen; her casual conclusion still demanded a response.
- Peter "saw" (theōreō) and theorized, trying to put together the significance of the grave clothes.
- John "saw" (eidō) and believed—he perceived, understood, and trusted that Jesus had risen.
- The evidence and eyewitness testimony of the empty tomb (1 Cor. 15) demand a verdict; no one can remain passively indifferent.
Readable is a lightly edited reading copy; Verbatim stays close to the spoken words. The audio and video are the record of what was said.
Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."... Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. ()
On Easter morning three people looked at the same empty tomb—but how each one saw it made all the difference.
The Most Important Event in History
Today is a holiday we are all familiar with, even those who do not routinely attend church. They know something about Easter beyond bunnies and eggs and candies. So I want to look back at a passage you may know well, one set on Easter Sunday morning, from the Gospel of .
If you grew up going to church, then just about every spring you've heard messages about the sun rising on the Sunday following the cross and crucifixion of Good Friday, the sun rising to reveal an empty tomb. You remember how Mary Magdalene and a small group of Jesus's female followers went early to the tomb to properly deal with the burial of His lifeless remains. But it was not as they had expected. The Roman soldiers were not there. The stone that sealed the tomb had been rolled away. Instead of a sealed tomb guarded by soldiers, they found an empty tomb attended by angels.
The story of the resurrection on that Easter Sunday morning is the most important story of all human history. It has been said that the resurrection of Christ is the pivotal event of all human history. If the story of Easter Sunday is true—and I believe that it is—then it is no stretch at all to say it is the pivotal event in all human history. Today, we and 2.3 billion Christians throughout the world celebrate it together, because among other reasons this event signals that this life we have is not all there is. There is much more to life than we can see or perceive with our senses.
Three Witnesses, Three Ways of Seeing
On that point of seeing and perceiving, I want to consider how three individuals in this story interacted with the events of the first Easter morning: Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter, and the disciple whom Jesus loved. You have to love the humility of John, the author. He was so humble he doesn't want to write his name into the account; he simply calls himself "the disciple whom Jesus loved"—who was no doubt younger, and as we'll see, faster than Peter, and maybe even better looking. Who knows.
These three were among the first to come in contact with the facts of the resurrection. Everything you and I know about the resurrection has much to do with these three individuals and what they saw on that first day of the week.
I want to key in on the word saw in verse 1. If you look carefully through , you'll see that word appears four times. On that first Easter morning, three people saw something important—and what they saw transformed not only them but the entire world. But what fascinates me is not only what they saw, but how they saw.
What and How We See
Have you ever noticed that none of us see exactly the same way? This occurred to me again this week as my family was driving home. The full moon was rising, and one of my kids said, "It looks like I see a cat in the moon." Then another said, "No, no, I see a dragon in the moon." What we see may be the same, but how we see it isn't.
You may remember January 2019, when a massive gathering of saints was decimated by a herd of rams. The New Orleans Saints were playing the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL semifinals, tied 20 to 20 with less than two minutes left. Drew Brees rolled back on third down and threw a solid pass to Tommy Lee Lewis—but Lewis had no chance to make the catch, because he was slammed well before the ball arrived in a very clear pass interference violation. It was clear to everybody who saw it, even people rooting for the Rams. But seven very important individuals on the field in black-and-white referee uniforms didn't see it as pass interference, or at least didn't call it. What they saw was the same, but how they saw it was different.
Every one of us has had a situation where what and how we see something differs from others. Maybe you've heard someone say, "That's not how I see it." So how can we see the same thing but not see the same thing? It's not always what you see, but how you see it. In this story, three individuals looked at the very same event, the very same data—but how they saw it differed, and it has much to do with how they perceived what they were looking at.
The Help of the Greek
Many of you know the Bible we read was not originally written in English. Your New Testament was written in Greek. The English translations we have are really good, and you can trust they are translated well, but there are circumstances where the original Greek is helpful—and this is one of them. The English word saw appears four times in these nine verses, but the Greek words translated saw are different. They help us recognize that sometimes how we see is more important than what we see.
Mary Saw: A Brief Glance
Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter... and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."
The other gospels give us more details. It wasn't only Mary Magdalene who went, but also Mary the mother of James, and another woman named Salome. They had bought spices so they might properly anoint Jesus's body. When He was crucified on Good Friday and taken down by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, sundown was coming and it was the preparation for the Passover and the Sabbath, so they had to bury Him very quickly. He wasn't properly anointed.
So they go to the tomb early, wondering, "How on earth are we going to roll away the stone?" But says, "When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, for it was very large." That's when Mary ran to Peter and John.
Mary saw the evidence—the large stone taken away—and her conclusion was, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb." That's the only thing she could fathom. Her observation led her to conclude that someone had stolen the crucified body of Jesus. It's a seemingly logical conclusion. She had seen Him on the cross, seen His dead body placed in the tomb, seen the tomb closed. Dead men don't open tombs and leave them, so she concluded somebody had taken the body.
Mary's was a brief, inattentive consideration of the empty tomb. Some of you watching today have also casually considered the biblical story of the empty tomb and concluded the same thing—living people stole the body of the dead Jesus. That makes sense to a lot of people. But at the very least, the empty tomb requires a response, just as it prompted Mary to run and tell Peter and John.
Peter Investigates
Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first.
Peter went out to investigate the evidence himself. He wants to see for himself—which is a good and proper response. The testimony of the empty tomb demands further investigation. You cannot be casual in your response to the story of the empty tomb, though many people are. The testimony requires more than an apathetic, indifferent response, because the New Testament presents individuals like Peter, James, and John as eyewitnesses of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
He, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in.
John gets there first. He stoops down and sees the empty tomb, but he sees more than Mary—he also sees the linen cloths Jesus had been wrapped in lying there. Yet he doesn't go in.
Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.
I love Peter in this whole situation, because I see myself reflected in him. Peter could never be accused of being reserved or delicate. He's that proverbial bull in a china shop. John carefully looks inside, but Peter blows right past him and goes straight into the tomb. I look forward to meeting Peter someday. Peter moves closer. Mary saw at a distance. John saw from the door. Now Peter enters and sees the empty grave clothes—and that curious handkerchief folded by itself, off to the side.
Three Greek Words for Seeing
At this point it's worth noting a shift in the language that is invisible in English. When Mary "saw" the stone taken away, and when John "saw" the linen cloths lying there, the Greek word is blepō, which simply means to clearly see a material object, to consider it with your eyes. They just see that the tomb is open and the grave clothes are empty.
But when Peter went into the tomb and "saw" the linen cloths and the handkerchief folded by itself, the Greek word is theōreō—from which we get the English word theorize. Peter saw all the same things John did, but he's trying to put it together, to understand and process what he is seeing.
The investigation of the empty tomb compels deeper consideration. You can have questions about the empty tomb—many people do. You can even have doubts, because we look at it and say, "This would be abnormal, that a man who died on a cross would no longer be there." You can have theories. The body was stolen—that's one theory. The so-called swoon theory says Jesus wasn't really dead, came back to life, freed Himself from the grave clothes, rolled the stone away, and ran off—after being beaten and crucified. People have questions, doubts, theories, and objections. Even in the first century, when Paul talked about the resurrection in the last chapters of Acts, there were people who simply said, "I don't believe in that sort of thing." But you cannot just passively move on from the testimony of the resurrection. Peter wasn't about to. He's trying to put all the puzzle pieces together.
John Saw and Believed
Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.
This fourth time, the Greek word is different again—eidō, which means to perceive, to discover, to pay attention, to know and to understand. It's the idea of gathering all the data, putting it together, and understanding the significance of what is going on. John saw the significance. He saw and believed.
This is the very purpose John writes his gospel. The message of Jesus and the miracles of Jesus—healing the lame man at the pool of Bethesda, turning water into wine at Cana of Galilee, rising from the dead—these "are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name."
John had seen Jesus crucified just a few days before on Good Friday. Now he sees the empty tomb, the grave clothes, the folded handkerchief, and it all comes together with everything he had already seen and heard from Jesus. The understanding of the empty tomb begs for a decision. For John, the decision was to trust and to believe.
The Evidence Demands a Verdict
You believe or don't believe, but you have to decide. There is no in between, no passivity, no dispassionate, apathetic indifference to the evidence of the empty tomb or the testimony of the eyewitnesses. You are like a juror looking at the evidence.
In , Paul talks about this. He declares the gospel he preached, by which they are saved: "that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." Not only do the Scriptures say He would die and rise, and record that He did—Paul adds, "He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present"—they were still alive when Paul wrote—"After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also."
The evidence and the testimony—what's your verdict? I suggest the most logical decision is trust and faith in the risen Christ, faith that God raised Him from the dead. That is the decision the testimony of the empty tomb brings you and me to. You'll have to decide what you do with it, but you can't not do something with it.
Some people casually look at these things—blepō. Some think more deeply and theorize—theōreō. And then there are those who come to an understanding that leads to a decision to put their trust in Jesus. On this Easter Sunday, 2,000 years after these events, I hope you will not just casually glance with apathetic indifference, nor merely theorize, but that you will look into it and comprehend the evidence and the testimony of more than five hundred witnesses whose lives were radically transformed by the fact that Jesus died on the cross, was buried in a tomb, and three days later rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and will one day return. I hope you'll take time to ponder these things.
Closing Prayer
Father God, we thank You for this celebration, for this great opportunity we have annually not just to celebrate and rejoice in the good work You did on the cross 2,000 years ago, but to share this good news with others. Every one of us interacts with friends, neighbors, co-workers, and family members who don't yet have hope in You for a future resurrection. If these things are true, as we believe they are, then this life is not all there is, and there is a future resurrection unto life to be with You for eternity.
So God, I pray You would compel us who know and believe these things to share them with others. And Lord, I pray You would draw people to You, that as they think on these things, look into them, theorize about them, and come to an understanding of what the evidence and testimony point to, they would believe that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Would You draw people to faith in You on this Easter Sunday? We ask it in Jesus's name. Amen.
Days may be darkest, but Your light is greater. You light our way, God. You light our way. When evil is rising, You're rising higher with power to save, with power to save. You keep hope alive.
Because Your life was stronger, Jesus, You are. Because You're breathing, there's hope in the breaking, hope in the sorrow, and hope for this moment. My hope for tomorrow is found in the hope of the morning and the hope of the evening. There's hope because You're living in us.
Hope, cause you're breathing in this hope in the breaking. You keep hope alive.
From the beginning, Jesus, you are alive. The head that once was crowned with thorns is crowned with glory now. The Savior knelt to wash our feet; now at His feet, we bow.
Good morning, Cross Connection Church online! Welcome to our celebration this year for Easter. As we say when we gather together at Easter, He is risen! He is risen indeed! Today, we are worshiping our Lord, who is not dead. He is not in a tomb; He is alive and seated on a throne in heaven.
In just a moment, we are going to join our worship team as we worship our alive and risen Lord. But before we do, send out a message and invite a friend or family member to join us today for church online.
Now, to Pastor Anthony.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we are just so grateful that You rose from the grave, and we get to celebrate this, Lord God, Resurrection Day. Every day is Resurrection Day, for we have risen with You. We were dead, and now we are alive. We owe our lives to You; we owe it all to You, God. We are in awe of the way that You love us. We love the way that You love us.
So, God, we celebrate You. We celebrate You with our singing and with our worship, for You overcame the grave for us. We love You, God. Receive our praise; receive our worship. In Jesus' mighty name, we pray. Amen.
See the tomb where He laid. See the stone rolled away. He is risen! He is risen! He’s alive! See His hands; see His feet. Touch His scars and believe. He is risen! He is risen! He’s alive! Oh, He’s alive!
He lives. All honor and power are in His hands. All glory forever. Amen.
Deep, He is moving. He is moving; He's alive. So take this freedom, take this love. Can you feel it rise? It is here; He is here. He's alive.
Amen. Oh, Jesus! Oh, He lives. All glory forever.
Jesus, You took all our shame.
Oh, it is forever. Amen. All glory forever. Amen.
Hey, welcome, and thanks for tuning in to Cross Connection Church. We're glad that we get to bring you church at home today. I'm Pastor Garrett, and here at Cross Connection Church, we're all about living life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus Christ.
Part of living life in connection with God and one another is prayer. We really do encourage you to spend time in prayer this week. As your pastors and prayer team, we want to be praying with and for you today. Let us know how we can be praying for you by going to prayer.lifeinconnection.com, where you're seated right now. We would love to be praying with and for you this Easter weekend. So again, that's prayer.lifeinconnection.com.
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Part of living life in connection also involves living life in connection with the...
The world and you, as Cross Connection Church, are a big part of that. Those of you who call Cross Connection Church your home church, because of you, we have been able to engage in missions around the world. Ultimately, this is accomplishing what Jesus said right before He ascended into heaven when He gave us that final commandment: "Go into the world and make disciples of all nations." We get to do that through 15 different organizations internationally. You can check out the list on our website and really dive in to see how we've been able to support God's mission and ministry throughout the world. It has been such a blessing here at Cross Connection Church, and it's all possible because of you.
Those of you who are part of Cross Connection Church are not only helping spread the gospel around the world internationally, but also here locally. We are engaged in 10 different organizations that we are actively giving to and praying for. This is part of spreading the good news of Jesus Christ throughout the whole world. So again, thank you, guys. We're super blessed. That's our mission for this week, just letting you know all that you're a part of. Those of you who give to Cross Connection Church are part of the blessing of reaching people all around the world in the name of Jesus Christ.
With that, we're going to be going over to Pastor Anthony for a song of worship. This is going to be a time where you have the opportunity to worship the Lord with your giving. There are a couple of different ways that you can do that. First, if you have your phone out, you can go to give.lifeinconnection.com on our website; it's really easy to give there. If you're into texting, go ahead and text the number 321 with any amount, and you can give super easily right there. It'll walk you through the process. Third, you can simply mail in a tithe or offering check to our church address at 1675 Seven Oaks Road in Escondido, California.
Again, we are meeting live, so if you would like to join us at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday mornings, you are welcome to come live in person here at the church for a time of worship and the Word. So with that, let's go ahead and worship with Pastor Anthony. Again, happy Easter, church! He is risen, and we'll see you next week.
The image of love upon death and having my heart was worth the pain. What joy could you see beyond the grave? How glorious my Savior's victory! My chains are gone; my debt is paid. How great is the hope that lives! Where is my chains are gone?
My death is when I see that cross. I see freedom. When I see that grave, I'll see Jesus. From death to life, I will sing Your praise in the wonder of Your grace.
My chains are gone. Lord God, when we look at that cross, we see freedom. Although it's death, we see life because You died. Lord, You live now; You died, and we live now. Although those who have called upon Your name, we praise You, Jesus.
In Jesus' name, Amen. Today is a holiday that we are all familiar with. Even those who do not routinely attend church know something about Easter beyond bunnies, eggs, and candies. Since this is a holiday that we all recognize, I want to look back at a portion of Scripture with which you may be familiar—a passage from the Gospels, specifically set on Easter Sunday morning.
In the Gospel of John, chapter 20, beginning at verse 1, we read these very important words: "Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb." Then she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."
Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and they were going to the tomb. They both ran together, but the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. He stooped down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded together in a place by itself.
Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not know the Scripture that He must rise again from the dead.
This is one of my favorite passages associated with Easter and the resurrection. It has fascinated me for a long time. If you grew up going to church, then just about every spring you've heard messages about the sun rising on the Sunday following the cross and the crucifixion of Good Friday. The sun rises to reveal an empty tomb. Perhaps you remember from your own reading of the Gospel accounts how Mary Magdalene and a small group of Jesus' female followers went early to the tomb to deal properly with the burial of the lifeless remains of Jesus. But when they got there, it was not as they had expected. The Roman soldiers that they...
Expected to find the stone that sealed the tomb, they discovered it was not there. The one they were concerned about removing had been rolled away. Instead of a sealed tomb guarded by Roman soldiers, they found an empty tomb attended by angels. The story of the resurrection on that Easter Sunday morning is the most important story in all of human history. It has been said that the resurrection of Christ is the pivotal event of all human history. If the story of Easter Sunday is true—and of course, I believe that it is—then it is not at all a stretch to say that it is the pivotal event in all of human history.
So, on this day, 2.3 billion Christians throughout the world celebrate together the most important event in all human history. It is the most important event for many reasons, one of which is that this event signals that this life we have is not all there is. There is much more to life than we can see and perceive with our senses.
On that point of seeing and perceiving, I want to consider, in the time we have together this morning, how three individuals in the story I just read interacted with and perceived the events of the first Easter morning 2,000 years ago. In this passage in , we read about these three individuals: Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter, and the disciple whom Jesus loved. You have to love the humility of John, the author of the Gospel of John. He was so humble that he didn't want to write his name into the gospel account; he simply and humbly calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved.
John was no doubt younger, and as we will see in the passage, he was faster than Peter and maybe even better looking—who knows? In his utter humility, he refers to himself not by the name John but as the disciple whom Jesus loved. These three individuals—Mary, Peter, and John—were among the first to come in contact with the facts of the resurrection. Everything that you and I know about the resurrection has much to do with these three.
Individuals and what they saw on that first day of the week following the crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday is significant. We begin first with what Mary found when she went early to the tomb. In verse 1, we read, "Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw the stone that had been taken away from the tomb." Early on that Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been taken away.
I want to key in on that word "saw" in verse 1. If you look back carefully through the text of through 9, which we read a few minutes ago, you will see that the word "saw" appears four times. On the first Easter Sunday morning, three people—Mary, Peter, and John—saw something important, and what they saw transformed not only them but the entire world.
What is fascinating to me is not only what they saw but how they saw it. Have you ever noticed that none of us see exactly the same way? This occurred to me again one evening this past week as my family and I were driving home. The full moon was rising, and my family was looking out the window of the car, talking about the moon. One of my kids said, "It looks like I see a cat in the moon." Then another one of my kids said, "No, no, no, I see a dragon in the moon." A couple of other things were said about the moon as we were driving, but it reminded me again that what we see may be the same, but how we see it isn't.
You may remember a few years ago, in January of 2019, there was a massive gathering of Saints that was decimated by a herd of Rams. It happened on a Sunday afternoon, and by the next day, Monday morning, the devastating event was being talked about all throughout the news in our nation. The New Orleans Saints were playing the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL semifinals. The game was tied at 20 to 20 with less than two minutes left in the game. Quarterback Drew Brees took the snap and rolled back. They were on third down at the Rams' 13-yard line, hopefully heading for the end zone. With that third down, the pass from Drew Brees was solid to number 11, Tommy Lee Lewis, but Lewis had no chance to be in the proper position to make the catch because he was slammed.
Before the pass ever got to him, one of the Rams defenders committed a very clear pass interference violation. It was evident to everybody who saw the game that it was pass interference. Even people who were rooting for the Rams thought it was pass interference. However, there were seven very important individuals on the field, dressed in black and white referee uniforms, who did not see it as pass interference, or at least they did not call it as such. This incident has been called one of the worst plays in NFL history, where there should have been a violation and a flag on the play. What they saw was the same, but how they saw it was different.
Every one of us has had a situation where what and how we see something differs from others. Perhaps you've even heard someone say before, "That's not how I see it." So, how is it that we can see the same thing but not see it the same way? It is not always about what you see, but rather how you see it. In this story, we have three different individuals who looked at the very same event. They examined the same data and observed the same things, but how they perceived those things was just a little bit different. This difference has a lot to do with how they interpreted the data they were looking at.
Many of you know that the Bible we read from was not originally written in English. The New Testament was originally written in Greek. While I believe that the English translations we have are quite good and can be trusted, there are certain circumstances in which the original Greek is helpful. This is one of those circumstances. As I mentioned a moment ago, the English word "saw" appears four times in these nine verses. Although it is the same English word "saw" each time in our English Bibles, the Greek words that are translated as "saw" are different. These differences help us recognize that sometimes how we see is more important than what we see.
Let me say that again: sometimes how we see is more important than what we see. We see this in . On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark.
Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early in the morning on the first day of the week, which for us is Sunday. When she arrived, she saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. She ran to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."
The other Gospel accounts of this story provide a few more details than we find in the Gospel of John. According to the Gospel of Mark, Mary was not alone; she was accompanied by Mary, the mother of James, and Salome, along with possibly some other women followers of Jesus. They had brought spices to properly anoint Jesus's body for burial. After His crucifixion on Good Friday, He was taken down from the cross by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Due to the approaching sundown, which marked the preparation for the Passover and the Sabbath, they had to bury Him quickly, so He was not properly anointed.
Now, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome, and the other women went to the tomb early in the morning, expecting to find it just as it had been left on Good Friday. As they approached, they talked among themselves, wondering how they would roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb. However, when they arrived, tells us that they looked up and saw that the stone had been rolled away, for it was very large.
When they, as a group, saw this, Mary Magdalene ran to Peter and John, the disciple whom Jesus loved. She told them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him." Mary had witnessed the large stone taken away from the tomb. She was one of the first to see what many would ultimately witness, and what she saw compelled her to act. It prompted her to run to Peter and John, bringing them the news of the empty tomb. Mary saw the evidence, and it spoke to her deeply.
The stone was taken away from the tomb, and her conclusion was that they had taken away the Lord out of the tomb. That's the only thing she could fathom in this situation. Somebody had taken away the body of the Lord, and she didn't know where they had laid Him.
Mary's observation of the open and empty tomb led her to conclude that someone had opened the tomb and stolen the crucified body of Jesus. This seemed like a logical conclusion based on the observable evidence she could see. She saw the open tomb, which had previously been closed and occupied by a man who had been crucified. She saw Him on the cross, and she saw His dead body put into the tomb. After seeing all of these things, and knowing what she knew about people who had died and been buried, she concluded that dead men don't open tombs and leave them. Therefore, she reasoned that someone had taken away the body of the Lord out of the tomb.
Mary's consideration of the open and empty tomb was brief and somewhat inattentive, but everything she could put together was logical. He didn't open it; He didn't rise. Somebody else took the body. There are some of you who may be watching today who have also casually considered the biblical story of the empty tomb of Jesus, and maybe you've concluded the same thing as Mary: some living people opened and stole the body of the dead Jesus. That makes sense to a lot of people.
So, Mary ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved. She said to them, "They have taken away the Lord, the body of the Lord, out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have laid Him." At the very least, the empty tomb of Jesus requires a response. Just like Mary was prompted to respond in this situation, she went to the tomb expecting to find His body there. The tomb was open, the body was gone, and that empty tomb required a response.
She went and told Peter and John. In , it says that Peter went out, and the other disciple, and they were going to the tomb. They both ran together, but the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. Mary saw the empty tomb, ran to find Peter and John, and told them about the empty tomb and her conclusion regarding what had happened.
Peter, therefore, went out to investigate the evidence himself. He wanted to see these things for himself, which is a good and proper response when you hear about the empty tomb. The testimony of the empty tomb demands further investigation, and that's exactly what Peter is doing. He hears from Mary that the tomb is open and empty, and he says, "I've got to look into these things myself. I want to see this for myself." So, that's exactly what Peter and John do; they set out to look at the evidence of the empty tomb.
I don't think that you can be casual in your response to the story of the empty tomb, though many people are. The testimony of the empty tomb requires more than an apathetic, indifferent response. You have to respond to this testimony of individuals like Peter, James, John, and all the people who are spoken of in the New Testament as eyewitnesses of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The testimony of the empty tomb requires more than a casual or indifferent response.
Both John and Peter run to the tomb, and of course, John humbly tells us that he outran Peter. In , we read, "He stooping down and looking in saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in." Mary went to the tomb early in the morning. She saw that the stone had been rolled away and that the tomb was empty. She saw the empty tomb.
Now, John gets there, stoops down, and looks in. He sees the empty tomb, but he not only sees the empty tomb; he sees the linen cloths that Jesus had been wrapped in. They were lying there, but he doesn't yet go in. The faster beloved disciple is there first. He stoops in, sees more than Mary, but not everything. The tomb was not only open; it was empty, just as she said. The grave clothes that Jesus had been wrapped in are there, empty as well. However, we're told that John doesn't go in.
Now Simon Peter shows up. In , we read, "Then Simon Peter came following John and went into the tomb." He saw the linen cloths lying there, just like John had seen in the previous verse. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around Jesus's head was not lying with the linen cloth but was folded together in a place by itself.
There is a curious thing going on here, and I love Simon Peter in this whole situation because I see in Simon Peter a reflection of myself. Peter could never be accused of being reserved or delicate; he is that proverbial bull in a china shop. While John gets there first and carefully looks inside the tomb, Peter just blows right past him and goes right into the tomb. It’s the perfect image of what I think of when I think of Peter. I look forward to meeting Peter someday, but of course, that's not the point of all this.
What we see in this is that John is looking into the tomb. He sees these things and is casually assessing the situation, but Peter moves closer. Mary saw at a distance; she saw the open and empty tomb. John sees the empty grave, the clothes that Jesus was in, from the door, if you will. Now, Peter enters into the empty tomb. He sees the empty grave clothes, but he also sees the handkerchief that had been around Jesus's head, not lying with the linen cloth but folded by itself. This is a very curious thing—folded by itself off to the side.
At this point, it's worth noting a shift in the language of the text that is not obvious in English. In fact, it is totally invisible in the English language. When we read that Mary came to the tomb early in the morning and saw that the stone had been taken away and that the tomb was empty in verse 1 of , we see that John stooped down and saw the linen cloths lying there in the tomb. The word that is used in Greek is the word "bleppo," which means to clearly see a material object and to consider it with your eyes. They just see that the tomb is open and that the grave clothes are empty.
However, when we read that Peter went into the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there, remember that in English it just says that Mary saw the empty tomb, John saw the empty tomb, and Peter saw the empty tomb. But when Peter went into the tomb and saw the linen cloth lying there and the handkerchief that had been around Jesus's head—not lying with the linen cloth but folded together in a place by itself—there in verses six and seven, it's a different word.
That is translated as "saw" in English. Now, this may not seem to make much of a difference to you, but there's actually something important going on here, or at least I think there's something important happening. John and Mary saw the Greek word "blepo," which means they just saw the data. However, when we read that Peter saw, it's the Greek word "theoreo." You may be able to hear a hint of an English word that's connected to the Greek word "theoreo," which is the English word "to theorize."
Peter saw all the same things that John did, but he's trying to put it all together. He is trying to understand what it is that he is seeing; he is trying to process it. The investigation of the empty tomb compels deeper consideration. It should push us to want to look into these things a little more fully.
You can have questions about the empty tomb, and a lot of people do. You can even have doubts about the empty tomb because we look at that and say, "Well, this would be abnormal. A guy who had died on a cross would now no longer be there, and everything would appear to be kind of set for the resurrection." So, you can have doubts, you can have questions, and you can have theories. There are different theories that people have. One theory is that the body was stolen. Another is what's sometimes called the swoon theory, which suggests that Jesus wasn't really dead when he died on the cross. According to this theory, he came back to life, was able to get himself out of the grave clothes, and after being beaten, crucified, and hung on the cross, he rolled the stone away and ran away by himself.
People have questions, doubts, and theories. You can have objections; a lot of people do have objections to Christians believing in the resurrection. Even during the first century, if you read the last three or four chapters of the Book of Acts, you will see that when the Apostle Paul talked about the resurrection, there were people who said, "I don't believe in that sort of thing."
You cannot just passively move on from the testimony of the resurrection of Jesus. Peter wasn't about to quickly move on; he was trying to put all the puzzle pieces together. We read this in : "Then the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, who came to the tomb first, outran Peter." John then went in, in the same way that Peter did, and he saw and believed.
Mary saw the tomb; it was open and empty. Then John arrived and saw that the tomb was open and empty as well. Peter went in and saw the linen clothes there, with the handkerchief off to the side. Now, John went in for the fourth time, and he saw and believed. As verse 9 states, they did not yet know the scripture that Jesus must rise again from the dead.
The other disciple, the faster, beloved disciple, went in and saw. You may have guessed it; this is another word we have: the word "bleppo," which is used twice. Mary saw (bleppo) the empty tomb, John saw the empty tomb and the grave clothes (bleppo), and then Peter went in. He saw all this stuff (theoretto) and theorized about it. Finally, this last word, the fourth time that we read, is that John saw and believed. It's the Greek word "ido," which means to perceive, to discover, to pay attention to, to know, and to understand.
It's the idea of gathering all the data, putting it all together, and understanding the significance of what is going on. John saw the significance of this; he saw and believed. The understanding of the empty tomb begs for a decision. For John, the decision was to trust and to believe. In fact, this very Gospel that John writes states the purpose for writing these things about the words and works of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus, and the "I am" statements: "I am the bread of life," "I am the door," "I am the good shepherd."
All these "I am" statements are found in the Gospel of John. The message of Jesus and the miracles of Jesus—such as healing the lame man at the pool of Bethesda, turning water into wine at Cana in Galilee, and rising from the dead—are recorded in . These are written so that you might believe. They are written for the purpose of bringing you to the place of putting your trust in Jesus Christ, that you might believe that He is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His name. That is John's purpose for writing this Gospel.
So, John sees the empty tomb, and now everything comes together. He bleppo; he saw it. Then he theorizes, and Peter is theorizing. Now John sees, understands, and comprehends what is going on, and that comprehension is crucial.
Of what is really going on, it causes a decision. He trusted and believed. What did he believe? He believed that Jesus was not dead. The evidence of everything that he was seeing, along with what he had already seen in Jesus and heard from Jesus—the message that he heard from Jesus, the miracles that he saw Jesus do—now it all comes together. He had seen Jesus crucified just a few days before on Good Friday, and now he sees all this and believes. The evidence of all that he had seen to this point supported his trust.
You either believe or don't believe, but you have to decide. There is no in-between on this. There is no passivity, no dispassionate apathetic indifference to the evidence of the empty tomb or the testimony of the eyewitnesses. Evidence and testimony—that's what we have, and you have to decide. You're like a juror looking at the evidence.
In the New Testament book of First Corinthians, chapter 15, Paul talks about this. He says, "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, the good news that I preached to you, which also you have received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved if you hold fast to the word which I preached to you, unless you have believed in vain."
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins on Good Friday according to the Scriptures, that he was buried in the tomb by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
Not only do the Scriptures say that he would die and rise, but they also record that he did die and he did rise. We see here in First Corinthians 15:5 that he was seen by Cephas, that's Peter, and by the twelve. After that, he was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom Paul says the greater part remained to this present; they were still alive when Paul wrote this, but some have fallen asleep, some have died.
After that, he was seen by James, the brother of the Lord, and then by all of the apostles. Last of all, he was seen by me also, one born out of due time.
The evidence and the testimony—what's your verdict? I suggest to you that the most logical decision is trust and faith in the risen Christ, faith that God raised him from the dead. That's the decision that the story presents.
The testimony of the empty tomb brings you and me to a crucial decision. You cannot remain indifferent; you must decide what you are going to do with it. In the text, we have three individuals who were able to look at the evidence and the testimony of the empty tomb. Some people casually consider these things, a term known as "bleppo" in Greek. Others think about them more deeply, theorizing and trying to comprehend their significance. Then there are those who come to an understanding, and that understanding should lead to a decision to put your trust and faith in Jesus.
On this Easter Sunday, two thousand years after these events took place, as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I hope you will not just casually look into these matters with apathetic indifference. I hope you will take the time to truly consider the evidence and the testimony of more than five hundred witnesses whose lives were radically transformed by the fact that Jesus died on the cross, was buried in a tomb, and three days later rose from the dead. He has ascended into heaven and will one day return.
Father God, we thank You for this celebration. We thank You for this great opportunity that we have annually, not just to celebrate ourselves and rejoice in the good work You did on the cross two thousand years ago, but also to share this good news with others. Every single one of us interacts with people daily—friends, neighbors, co-workers, family members—many of whom do not yet have hope in You for a future resurrection.
If these things are true, as we believe they are, then this life is not all there is. There is a future resurrection unto life to be with You for eternity. So, God, I pray that You would compel us, who know and believe these things, to share these good things with others. Lord, I pray that You would draw people to You, prompting them to put their trust in You as they reflect on these matters. As they look into it, theorize about it, and come to an understanding of what the evidence and testimony prove—that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God—may they be drawn to faith in You on this Easter Sunday. We pray for this and ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
I would be hopeless without Your goodness. I would be desperate without Your love, a slave to the darkness if it wasn't for You. You chased me down when I was lost. Where would I be if it wasn't for the cross?
Hallelujah! Thank You, Jesus. I was a prisoner, but now I'm not. Hallelujah! Thank You for the cross. Now Your mercy will be my song. Oh, the glory! Oh, the power! Thank You, Jesus. I was a prisoner, but now I'm not. Hallelujah!
Thank you, Jesus. I was a prisoner, but now I'm not. With your blood, you bought my freedom. Oh, hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus.
Hallelujah! Thank you, Father God, for the opportunity that we've had to rejoice with you today. We thank you for the good things that you are doing in our lives and in our church. We ask, God, that you would continue.
To extend the opportunity for us to share the good news of the gospel, we thank God for what we are able to do through YouTube and online venues like this. We ask God that You would use this message to reach people around the world.
We also ask God that You would pour out Your Spirit upon Your church as we rejoice in the good things that You have done. As we remember Your death, burial, and resurrection on this Easter 2021, God, pour out Your Spirit upon Your church, we pray. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
And now may the Lord bless and keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
God bless you. We'll see you next week.
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