Open Your Eyes and See! | Sunday, April 4, 2021
April 3, 2021 · Pastor Miles DeBenedictis
In this teaching
An Easter Sunday meditation on John 20:1-9, exploring how Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John each "saw" the empty tomb differently—from a casual glance to deep theorizing to full comprehension and belief. The teaching presses the listener to move beyond apathetic observation to a personal verdict of faith in the risen Christ.
- The resurrection is the pivotal event of human history, signaling that this life is not all there is.
- The English word "saw" appears four times in John 20:1-9, but three different Greek words reveal that *how* we see matters more than *what* we see.
- Mary saw (*bleppo*) the open tomb and concluded the body had been stolen—a casual, logical, but incomplete response.
- Peter saw (*theoreo*) and theorized, examining the grave clothes and folded handkerchief to understand the scene.
- John saw (*eido*), perceived the significance, and believed—the empty tomb demands not apathy but a decision.
- Paul's testimony in 1 Corinthians 15 presents evidence and over 500 eyewitnesses; like jurors, we must render a verdict of faith.
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." 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. And he, stooping 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; 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. 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 the first Easter morning, three people looked at the same empty tomb—but how they saw it made all the difference.
The Most Important Event in History
Easter is a holiday we are all familiar with, even those who don't routinely attend church. They know something about it beyond bunnies and eggs and candy. So I want to look at a passage you may be familiar with—a passage from the Gospel of John set on Easter Sunday morning.
This is one of my favorite passages associated with Easter. 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, revealing an empty tomb. Mary Magdalene and a small group of Jesus's female followers went early to deal properly with His lifeless remains. But when they got there, 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 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 not at all a stretch to say it is the pivotal event in all of human history. Today, we and 2.3 billion Christians throughout the world celebrate together the most important event of all, because, among other reasons, it signals that this life is not all there is. There is much more to life than we can perceive with our senses.
Three Witnesses, Three Ways of Seeing
On that point of seeing and perceiving, I want to consider how three individuals interacted with the events of the first Easter morning: Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter, and the disciple whom Jesus loved. You've got to love the humility of John, the author of this gospel—he was so humble he doesn't write his own name, but 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 what they saw on that first day of the week.
I want to key in on that word saw in verse 1. If you look carefully through verses 1 through 9, you'll see that the word saw appears four times. 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. Have you ever noticed that none of us see exactly the same way?
This occurred to me again this last week as my family was driving home and the full moon was rising. One of my kids said, "It looks like I see a cat in the moon." 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.
When What You See Is Not What You See
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. Quarterback Drew Brees rolled back on third down at the Rams' 13-yard line and threw to number 11, Tommylee Lewis—but Lewis was slammed well before the pass arrived in a very clear pass interference violation. It was clear to everybody who saw it, even people rooting for the Rams. But seven important individuals in black and white referee uniforms didn't see it that way, or at least didn't call it. It has been called one of the worst plays in NFL history. What they saw was the same; how they saw it was different.
Every one of us has been in 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." How can we see the same thing and yet 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 data and saw the very same things—but how they saw them was a little bit different.
Four Times "Saw," Three Different Words
Many of you know your New Testament was originally written in Greek. The English translations we have are really good and trustworthy, but there are certain 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.
The other gospel accounts give us more details. On the first day of the week, early in the morning, it wasn't only Mary Magdalene who went. Mark tells us she was accompanied by Mary the mother of James and a woman named Salome. They bought spices to properly anoint Jesus's body, because when He was crucified on Good Friday and taken down from the cross by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, sundown was coming and it was the preparation for the Passover and the Sabbath. They had to bury Him very quickly, so He wasn't properly anointed.
So these women go to the tomb expecting to find it as it was left on Good Friday, 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 Magdalene ran to Simon Peter and John and said, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."
Mary: A Casual Glance
Mary saw the large stone taken away. She was one of the first to see what many would ultimately see, and what she saw compelled her to run. But 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 opened the tomb and stolen the crucified body of Jesus.
That's seemingly a logical conclusion. The observable evidence would suggest it. She had seen Him on the cross, seen His dead body put into the tomb, seen the tomb closed. And dead men don't open tombs and leave them. So she concluded somebody had taken the body. Hers was a brief and inattentive consideration of the empty tomb, and everything she put together was logical: He didn't open it, He didn't rise—somebody else took the body.
Some of you watching may also have casually considered the story of the empty tomb and concluded the same thing as Mary—that some living people opened and stole the dead body of Jesus. That makes sense to a lot of people. But at the very least, the empty tomb requires a response. Mary went, and she told Peter and John.
Peter: The Investigation
Peter went out to investigate the evidence himself. He wanted to see these things for himself, which is a good and proper response. The testimony of the empty tomb demands further investigation. Peter heard from Mary that the tomb was open and empty, and he said, "I've got to look into these things myself."
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. So both John and Peter ran to the tomb—and of course John humbly tells us that he outran Peter.
John got there first, stooped down, looked in, and saw the linen cloths lying there, yet he did not go in. He saw more than Mary—the tomb was not only open but empty, and the grave clothes were there empty as well. But he didn't go in.
Then Simon Peter showed up. I love Peter in this whole situation, because I see myself 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 into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around Jesus's head not lying with them, but folded together in a place by itself—a very curious thing.
The Shift in the Greek
At this point there's a shift in the language that's totally invisible in English. When Mary saw the stone taken away, and when John stooped down and saw the linen cloths, the Greek word is bleppo, which means simply 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 folded handkerchief, it's a different word: theoreo. You may hear a hint of the English word theorize. Peter saw all the same things John did, but he's trying to put it all 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—a lot of people do. You can even have doubts, because it would be abnormal for a man who died on a cross to no longer be there. People have theories: the body was stolen; or the so-called swoon theory, that Jesus wasn't really dead and revived, freed Himself from the grave clothes, rolled the stone away, and ran off by Himself after being beaten and crucified. You can have questions, doubts, theories, and objections. Even in the first century, when Paul preached the resurrection, there were people who 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: He 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 use of saw is the Greek word eido, 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 grasping the significance of what is going on. John saw the significance—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 this very gospel, John says his purpose for writing about the words and works of Jesus—the teaching, the "I am" statements, the miracles like healing the lame man at the pool of Bethesda and turning water into wine at Cana of Galilee—is that "you may believe that He is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name."
So John saw the empty tomb, and everything came together. He had seen Jesus crucified just a few days before on Good Friday, and now he believes. The evidence of all he had seen, along with the message he had heard and the miracles he had witnessed, supported his trust.
You Must Render a Verdict
You believe or don't believe, but you have to decide. There is no in between. There's 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. You're like a juror looking at the evidence and the testimony.
In , Paul says: "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you... 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 did the Scriptures say He would die and rise, and not only did they record that He did—but 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 this—"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's the decision the testimony of the empty tomb brings you and me to. You'll have to decide what you're going to do with it, but you can't not do something with it.
We have three individuals who looked at the same evidence. Some people just casually look—bleppo. Some think more deeply and theorize—theoreo. And then there are those who come to an understanding—eido—that leads to a decision to put your trust in Jesus. On this Easter Sunday, 2000 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 500 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 one day will return.
Closing Prayer
Father God, we thank You for this celebration and for this great opportunity we have annually—not just to rejoice in the good work You did on the cross 2000 years ago, but to share this good news with others. Every single one of us interacts daily with people—friends, neighbors, coworkers, 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.
God, I pray that You would compel us who know and believe these things to share them with others. And I pray that You would draw people to You, that as they think on these things, look into them, and come to an understanding of what the evidence and testimony prove, they would put their trust in You—the Christ, the Son of the living God. Draw people to faith in You on this Easter Sunday. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
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're 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!
All honor and glory forever. Amen. Jesus, He’s alive! So take this freedom, take this love. Can you feel it rise up? He is here; He is here. He’s alive!
Jesus, You took all our shame and left it in the grave with forgiveness. We’re forgiven.
Oh, it is finished! Forever, amen. All glory forever! He is alive!
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 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 part of. Those of you who give to Cross Connection Church are part of the blessing of reaching people all the way 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 84321 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 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.
Of love abundance. If having my heart was worth the pain, what joy could you see beyond the grave? If love found my soul, I would die for it.
My chains are gone; my debt is grace. Heaven knows how great it is. How glorious it is!
My chains are gone; my debt is paid. When I see that cross, I see freedom. When I see that grave, I see Jesus. From death to life, I will sing Your praise and the wonder of it all.
Lord God, when we look at that cross, we see freedom. Although it represents death, we see life because You died, Lord. You live now, and because You died, 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, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. He, stooping 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 Lord.
The lifeless remains of Jesus were not as they had expected when they arrived at the tomb. The Roman soldiers they anticipated finding were not there, and the stone that sealed the tomb, which they were concerned about removing, was also absent; it 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 significant for many reasons, one of which is that this event signals that the 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 appreciate the humility of John, the author of the Gospel of John. He was so humble that he did not want to write his name into the gospel account; he simply and humbly calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. He was no doubt younger, and as we will see in the passage, faster than Peter, and maybe even better looking than Peter—who knows? In his utter humility, John refers to himself not by the name John, but as the disciple whom Jesus loved.
So, these three individuals—Mary, Peter, and John—were among the first to witness the events of that momentous morning.
To come in contact with the facts of the resurrection, everything that we know about it has much to do with three individuals and what they saw on that first day of the week following the crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday.
We begin first with what Mary found when she went early to the tomb. In verse one, 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 one.
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 last 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 and the pass.
From Drew Brees, it was solid to number 11, Tommy Lee Lewis. However, Lewis had no chance to be in the proper position to make the catch because he was slammed well before the pass ever got to him by one of the Rams defenders in a very clear pass interference violation. It was clear to everybody who saw that it was pass interference. In the eyes of pretty much everyone who was watching the game, even people who were rooting for the Rams, it was considered pass interference.
Yet, there were seven very important individuals on the field in black and white uniforms—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. Maybe 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 the same thing? Well, it's not always what you see, but again, how you see it.
In this story, we have three different individuals who looked at the very same event. They looked at the very same data; they saw the very same things. However, how they perceived those things was just a little bit different, and it has a lot to do with how they perceived the data they were looking at.
Now, I think that many of you know that the Bible we read from was not originally written in English. Originally, your New Testament was written in Greek. Though I believe that the English translations we have are really 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 minute ago, the English word "saw" appears four times in these nine verses. Although it is the same English word "saw" each of those four times in our English Bibles, the Greek words that are translated as "saw" are different. They help us to recognize that it is true 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 here in that on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark. She saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. If you'd like, you can underline that first time in your Bible. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to him, "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 here in the Gospel of John. On the first day of the week, which for us is Sunday, early in the morning, it wasn't only Mary Magdalene who went to the tomb. The Gospel of Mark tells us that Mary was accompanied by Mary, the mother of James, and Salome, along with possibly some other women followers of Jesus. It also mentions that they brought spices so that they might properly anoint Jesus's body for burial.
When Jesus was crucified on Good Friday, He was taken down from the cross by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Because sundown was approaching and it was the preparation for the Passover and the Sabbath, they had to bury Him very quickly, so He wasn't properly anointed for burial. Now, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome, and perhaps some other women went to the tomb early in the morning to prepare His body for a proper burial. They were expecting to find the tomb just as it was left on Good Friday.
As they approached the tomb, they talked with one another, wondering how they would roll away the stone from the door of the tomb. However, when they got there, says that when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, for the stone was very large. When they, as a group, saw this, that's when Mary Magdalene ran. As the text tells us in , she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, saying, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."
Mary saw the large stone taken away from the tomb. She was one of the first people to see what many people ultimately would see, and what she saw spoke to her. It compelled her to do something; it prompted her to run and come to the disciples.
Peter and John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, is the author of the Gospel of John. Mary saw the evidence; she saw the large stone taken away from the tomb. 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: someone had taken away the body of the Lord, and they did not know where they had laid Him.
Mary's observation of the open and empty tomb led her to the conclusion 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. She witnessed the tomb being closed after seeing all of these things. Knowing what she knew about people—people who had died and been buried—she understood that dead men do not open tombs and leave them. Therefore, she concluded 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 inattentive, yet everything she could piece together was logical. He didn't open it; He didn't rise. Someone 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. Perhaps you've concluded the same thing as Mary: that some living people opened and stole the body of the dead Jesus. This makes sense to a lot of people.
Mary ran to find Simon Peter and 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 do not 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.
So, she went and told Peter and John. In , it states that Peter went out, along with 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 and ran to find them.
Peter and John were informed by Mary about the empty tomb and her conclusion regarding what had happened. She suggested that Jesus' body had been stolen. Therefore, Peter went out to investigate the evidence himself. He wanted to see these things for himself, which is a good and proper response when hearing about the empty tomb. The testimony of the empty tomb demands further investigation, and that is 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, Peter and John set out to examine the evidence of the empty tomb. I don't think one can be casual in their response to the story of the empty tomb, though many people are. The testimony of the empty tomb requires more than an apathetic or indifferent response. You have to respond to the testimony of individuals like Peter, James, John, and all those who are spoken of in the New Testament as eyewitnesses of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
Both John and Peter run to the tomb, and of course, John humbly tells us that he outran Peter. In , we read that he stooped down and looked in. He saw the linen cloths lying there, yet he did not go in. Mary went to the tomb early in the morning and saw that the stone had been rolled away; she saw that the tomb was empty.
Now, John arrives, stoops down, and looks in. He sees the empty tomb, but he not only sees the empty tomb; he also sees the linen cloths that Jesus had been wrapped in. They were lying there, but he does not 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 also there, empty. However, we are told that John does not go in.
Now Simon Peter shows up. In , we read that Simon Peter came following John and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, just as John had seen in the previous verse.
He saw the linen cloths lying there and the handkerchief that had been around Jesus's head. It was not lying with the linen cloths, but it was folded together in a place by itself. This is a curious detail, 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.
John gets there first and carefully looks inside the tomb. He sees everything, but Peter just blows right past him and goes right into the tomb. This is 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 here is that while John is looking into the tomb and assessing the situation, 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. 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 cloths but folded by itself, very curious indeed.
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 used in Greek is "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, we must remember that in English it simply states 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...
The cloth lying there and the handkerchief that had been around Jesus's head were not lying with the linen cloth but were folded together in a place by itself. In verses six and seven, there is a different word that is translated as "saw" in English. This may not seem to make much of a difference, but there is actually something important going on here, or at least I think there is.
John and Mary saw, using the Greek word "bleppo," which means they just saw the data. However, when we read that Peter saw, it is the Greek word "theoreo." You may be able to hear a hint of an English word that is connected to the Greek word "theoreo," which is the English word "to theorize." Peter saw all the same things that John did, but he was trying to put it all together. He was trying to understand what it was that he was seeing; he was 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."
You can have doubts, questions, and theories. There are different theories that people have. One theory is that the body was stolen. Another is what is 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, outrunning Peter..."
Tomb first, he went in, also in the same way that Peter did, and he saw and believed. We saw at the beginning of this that Mary saw the tomb; it was open and empty. Then John got there, and he saw the tomb; it was open and empty. After that, Peter went in, and he saw the linen clothes there and the handkerchief off to the side. Now, John goes in for the fourth time. He saw and believed.
For as yet, verse 9 says, they did not know the scripture that Jesus must rise again from the dead. The other disciple, the faster beloved disciple, went in, and he saw. You may have guessed it; this is another word we have. The word "bleppo" is used twice. Mary saw "bleppo" the empty tomb. John saw the empty tomb and the grave clothes, "bleppo." Then Peter went in; he saw all this stuff, "theoretto." He theorizes about it. Finally, this last word, this fourth time that we read, John saw and believed. It's the Greek word "ido," and this word 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 him to write these things about the words and works of Jesus, the teaching of Jesus, the "I am" statements: "I am the bread of life," "I am the door," "I am the good shepherd."
All these "I am" statements of the Gospel of John convey the message of Jesus and the miracles of Jesus. He healed the lame man at the pool of Bethesda, turned water into wine at Cana in Galilee, and rose from the dead. The message and the miracles of Jesus recorded in are written 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 believing, you may have life in His name. That's John's purpose for writing this gospel. So, John sees the empty tomb, and now everything comes together.
He saw it, and then he theorized. Peter is theorizing, and now John sees and understands what is going on. That comprehension of what is really happening causes a decision. He trusted and believed. What did he believe? He believed that Jesus was not dead. The evidence of everything 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 did the Scriptures say that He would die and rise, but they also recorded that He did die and 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 that 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 to believe.
Trust and faith in the risen Christ is essential. It is faith that God raised Him from the dead. That is the decision that the story, the testimony of the empty tomb, brings to you and me. You will have to decide what you are going to do with that, but you cannot not do something with it.
We have three individuals in the text who were able to look at the evidence and the testimony of the empty tomb. Some people casually look at these things, a concept referred to as "bleppo" in Greek. Others think about them more deeply; they theorize about it and try to comprehend what it means. 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.
I hope that on this Easter Sunday, this day 2,000 years after these events took place, as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you will not just casually look into these matters with apathetic indifference. I hope you will not merely theorize about it, but that you will truly look into it and comprehend the evidence and the testimony of more than 500 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.
I hope you will take time to think about this and ponder these things.
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 that You did on the cross 2,000 years ago, but to share this good news with others. Every single one of us interacts with people on a regular basis—daily friends, neighbors, co-workers, and family members—people who 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 to also put their trust in You as they think on these things. They have looked into it, theorized about it, and come to an understanding of what the evidence and testimony prove and point to: that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
So God, would You draw people to a faith in You on this Easter Sunday, we pray.
For we 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 the crown. You have won me with Your kindness. 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. With Your blood, You bought my freedom.
Now, Your mercy will be my song. Oh, hallelujah!
Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus. I was a prisoner, but now I'm not. Oh, hallelujah! Thank you, hallelujah.
You, Jesus, I was a prisoner, but now I'm not. With Your blood, You find my freedom. Hallelujah for the cross!
Father God, thank You 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 You for what we're able to do through YouTube and through 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'd 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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