April 20, 2025 • 29 mins
The resurrection of Jesus Christ represents a pivotal moment that transformed both history and our personal relationship with God. When Jesus calls us by name, our sorrows are silenced, our standing secure, and our stories forever shaped by His triumph over the grave.
• Some days change the world – Gutenberg's printing press (1440), American Independence (1776), Pearl Harbor (1941), 9/11 (2001)
• Other days change our personal world – weddings, births, hard news
• Mary Magdalene stood between two world-changing days – Jesus' crucifixion and His unexpected resurrection
• The resurrection silences our sorrow – when Jesus simply spoke Mary's name, her weeping turned to joy
• Our sorrows have an expiration date because of the resurrection (Revelation 21:4)
• The resurrection secures our standing – Jesus now calls disciples "brothers" and speaks of "my Father and your Father"
• In John's Gospel, Jesus mentions "Father" 120 times, but only after resurrection does He say "your Father"
• The resurrection shapes our story – Mary's testimony became simply "I have seen the Lord"
• All believers share this core testimony regardless of how they came to faith
• We are resurrection people not just on Easter but every day
If you don't yet have this story as your own, today can be the day the resurrection changes everything for you. Come talk to a pastor about how you can know Jesus personally.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
much work with the orchestra.
We are beyond blessed.
Will you open with me to Johnchapter 20?
John chapter 20 is where we'llbe for a few moments this
morning.
I'm going to read John 20,verses 11 through 18.
(00:31):
But Mary stood weeping outsidethe tomb and as she wept, she
stooped to look into the tomband she saw two angels in white
sitting where the body of Jesushad lain, one at the head and
one at the feet.
They said to her Woman why areyou weeping?
She said to them they havetaken away my Lord and I do not
know where they've laid him.
Having said this, she turnedaround and saw Jesus standing,
(00:54):
but she did not know that it wasJesus.
Jesus said to her woman why areyou weeping?
Whom are you seeking?
Supposing him to be thegardener?
She said to him Sir, if youhave carried him away, tell me
where you have laid him and Iwill take him away.
Jesus said to her Mary.
She turned and said to him inAramaic Rabboni, which means
(01:17):
teacher.
Jesus said to her Do not clingto me, for I have not yet
ascended to the Father, but goto my brothers and say to them I
am ascending to my Father andyour Father, to my God and your
God, mary Magdalene went andannounced to the disciples I
have seen the Lord and that hehad said these things to her.
(01:38):
Let's pray together.
Lord Jesus, we do.
Thank you for your word.
We thank you for theresurrection that your word
speaks about, the truth of it,the reality of it, how it
changed not just a day 2,000years ago, but changes every day
, both now and into eternity.
Would you speak now throughyour word, transform us by your
(02:00):
word.
We ask in Christ's name, amen.
There are some days that changethe world.
There's some days that changethe world, and there's certainly
days that change our world.
Personally as well, I think ofsome days that changed the world
.
In 1440, a man with the lastname Gutenberg created what's
(02:21):
called the printing press.
You've probably done nine orten things.
This morning, whether you knowit or not, is thanks to that
invention.
If you have a Bible in yourhand, you can say thank you for
that invention.
There was a day in July of 1776where a country gained its
independence.
There was a day in December of1941 in Hawaii when a war
(02:44):
happening over there very muchbecame our war.
There was a day in New YorkCity in September of 2001 that
changed everything for a nation.
There's days, personally, thatdon't just change the world, but
maybe days that change yourworld, Some of them unbelievably
fantastic your wedding day, thebirth of your children, the day
(03:08):
you got the promotion, thefirst day of kindergarten, the
first day of college.
There's fantastic days.
There's hard days that changeyour world as well.
When you get the call youdidn't see coming, when you get
the news you couldn't haveimagined.
There's days that change theworld and days that change our
world For Mary Magdalene.
We come to the tomb today andMary Magdalene's really standing
(03:32):
between two days that changethe world and change her world.
One day was just a couple daysback, when her savior and friend
, jesus, was put on the crossand then laid in a tomb.
Now she arrives at that tomb onthe first day of the week, not
knowing yet how this will be aday that will change everything.
(03:55):
In chapter 20, verses 1 through10, we see the beginning of this
story.
We see Mary Magdalene arrivesat the tomb and when she gets
there, she sees something.
She sees that the stone hasbeen rolled away.
Now, if you know where thisstory is going, you hear that
the stone's rolled away andyou're saying this is fantastic
(04:15):
news.
This is why we're here thismorning.
But for Mary, this was, at thistime, terrible news.
Because Mary says this if thestone has been rolled away, dead
men don't walk out of tomb.
So that means that someone hascome and has stolen the body of
Jesus.
Mary is distraught.
(04:36):
She goes and gets Peter andJohn.
They run to the tomb.
They see that it's empty.
They believe, but Mary's notquite there yet.
Verse 11,.
We see this.
But Mary stood weeping outsidethe tomb.
She's weeping, she's in tears.
This is the same word weepingthat's used outside of another
(04:59):
tomb in John.
In John, chapter 11, when themourners stand outside of
Lazarus's tomb, they are weeping.
This is tears for someone, forMary, who is not only dead but
insult to injury is dead and nowhas been taken.
She's weeping and as she weptshe stooped to look into the
(05:20):
tomb Verse 12, and she saw twoangels in white sitting where
the body of Jesus had lain, oneat the head, one at the feet.
These two angels are thereVerse 13,.
They said to her woman why areyou weeping?
She said to them they havetaken away my Lord and I do not
(05:40):
know where they have laid him.
My Lord, my friend, the oneI've followed now for three
years.
They've taken him away and Idon't have a clue where he is.
Verse 14,.
Having said this, she turnedaround and saw Jesus standing,
(06:01):
but she did not know that it wasJesus.
Now I pause there and ask aquestion how in the world did
she not know that it was Jesus?
Now I pause there and ask aquestion how in the world did
she not know that it was Jesus?
Because this is Mary Magdalene.
And again, mary Magdalene hasfollowed Jesus now for three
years.
She's a close follower, she's aclose friend.
(06:21):
She's been through some thingswith Jesus.
In fact, in Luke, chapter eight, we meet Mary Magdalene because
she's one who has beenoppressed and possessed by the
evil one, and Jesus actuallycast the evil one out, and so
now she is set free from this.
If anybody should remember thatface and know what Jesus looks
(06:42):
like, it's got to be MaryMagdalene, and yet she turns
around in this moment and shedoesn't have a clue who it is.
Now, maybe there's some naturalreasons we could give for this.
Maybe, obviously she's beenweeping, maybe her eyes are
filled with tears and so throughthose tears.
She can't see.
Jesus can't make out who it is.
Maybe there's another naturalreason.
(07:03):
She's been looking into thisdark tomb.
She turns around and fromdarkness to light the eyes
haven't adjusted.
There's plenty of natural waysyou could say it.
Maybe I would argue more is thecase that something
supernatural is at play, thatJesus is not revealing himself
until he desires to revealhimself.
(07:24):
It's like in Luke, chapter 24,when two disciples are walking
with Jesus on the road to Emmausafter Jesus's resurrection.
They have a few miles worth ofconversation and again, these
are disciples.
Yet it's only till abouthalfway through that walk that
Jesus reveals who he actually is.
(07:44):
Jesus doesn't show his identityyet because there's a quick
conversation that's going tounfold Verse 15.
Jesus said to her woman why areyou weeping?
The same questions the angelsasked.
And then next, whom are youseeking?
(08:06):
This is the exact same questionJesus asked that we saw last
week in John 18.
When there's 600 soldierswaiting to arrest him and Jesus
asks them the question whom areyou seeking?
They say Jesus of Nazareth.
And yet that question will leadto his arrest and him being put
(08:27):
on a cross.
He asks it this time and it'sabout to lead to the best news
Mary could ever imagine.
Whom are you seeking?
Then it says this, supposinghim to be the gardener.
Was that so interesting to me?
Mary just thinks he's thegardener.
He's just kind of coming hereat the first morning of the week
tending the garden.
(08:47):
We've been in a few gardenslately In Genesis, we walked
through the garden of Eden for afew weeks, last week in the
garden of Gethsemane, and nowwe're in this new garden and
Mary thinks it's the gardener.
In one sense she's very muchwrong and in another, maybe a
spiritual sense, she's very muchright the gardener who can
(09:09):
bring life up from the ground.
And she said to him sir, if youhad carried him away, just tell
me where you've laid him and Iwill take him away.
Basically, she's saying thissir, if you know anything about
this, if you know where he is,I'll give you an out right now,
(09:31):
no questions asked.
If you can just get the bodyback, he's a dear friend, he
deserves a proper burial, hedeserves to rest in peace.
If you can just give us thebody of Jesus back, that'll be
enough for us.
The very next verse changeseverything.
(09:52):
This becomes a day that changesnot just Mary's life but truly
changes the world.
This is where we see the firstof the three things I want us to
see today, and number one isthis that the resurrection
silences our sorrow.
Look with me, verse 16.
(10:13):
Jesus said to her Mary.
She turned around and said tohim in Aramaic, rabboni, which
means teacher.
Jesus now reveals himself byjust saying a word, just calling
out her name.
(10:33):
He just says Mary.
I think about earlier in John,jesus says that he is the good
shepherd.
And what does he say?
He says the good shepherd.
He knows his sheep and hissheep hear his voice.
He calls them by name.
Well, right in this moment he'scalling one sheep by name and
just says that name, mary and inthat moment not just her
(10:54):
physical eyes but the eyes ofher heart are opened Again.
We saw last week that at thename, when Jesus just speaks one
thing, he says I am all thetroops fall to the ground.
And now this week, all he hasto say is the word Mary and the
eyes of her heart are opened andeverything changes.
For Mary Magdalene, this is nolonger a mere gardener, this is
(11:18):
no longer some kind of graverobbery situation.
Well, in a sense it is a graverobbery, but no one stole a body
.
Now everything is changed,because Jesus has walked out of
the grave.
And not only has he walked outof the grave, he's called out my
name.
He says Mary, and in thismoment her sorrows cease,
(11:44):
they're silenced.
The one who was weeping justlike at the tomb of Lazarus, now
outside the tomb of Jesus, herheart is now filled with joy.
Do you know?
The resurrection silences oursorrow.
What once was hopeless, whatonce was devastatingly bad news
(12:06):
that you and I are more sinfulthan we even thought possible.
Now there is new news, there isa new story to tell that Jesus
Christ has risen and in thismoment, our sorrows are silenced
.
Now you could look at me thismorning and say something.
You say this Taylor, I believein the resurrection.
(12:29):
I know Jesus rose from thegrave.
You're not going to findsomeone who believes that more
than me.
But, taylor, the reality is Ibelieve in the resurrection, but
I got to be honest.
I still have plenty of sorrows,Like there's plenty of sorrows
in my life to go around.
You might say everything is notas it should be right now, and
(12:52):
if that's you this morning, Iwould say this I couldn't agree
with you more.
And we're all in the same boathere that if you know Jesus, we
can say we believe in theresurrection.
But sorrows are real.
We have walked through sorrow,we do walk through sorrow.
We will walk through sorrow.
You may be in this room thismorning and, though certainly
(13:15):
you come in on a beautifulEaster morning and there's a
smile on your face, you're evenhiding some of the sorrow that
lies underneath and you mightsay the reality is in my life
right now.
There are some broken things.
So, pastor, what do you meanwhen Jesus's resurrection
silences our sorrow?
(13:36):
What I don't mean is this Idon't mean that we will never
face sorrow.
Jesus tells us in this world.
You will have trial, you willhave sorrow, you will have
suffering.
What I do mean is this thatbecause of resurrection, our
sorrow does have an expirationdate.
Our sorrow one day will cease.
(13:58):
Because I got to tell you I didwhat you're not supposed to do
when you're reading any otherbook, but I flipped to the end
of the story.
I just got a sneak peek ofwhat's coming and the new
heavens and new as people arestanding before the throne of
the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
What is said of them in verse 4of chapter 21?
(14:18):
.
He will wipe every tear fromtheir eyes and death shall be no
more.
Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore,
for the former things havepassed away.
And he who was seated on thethrone said this Behold, I am
making all things new.
I don't know what you'rewalking through this morning, I
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don't know what you're walkingthrough in your life right now,
but I do know this that Christhas risen from the grave and
therefore there will come a daywhen all of our sorrows will
cease, and from the grave, andtherefore there will come a day
when all of our sorrows willcease, when Christ will sit on
the throne as he is even now,for all eternity.
And every sorrow, every fear,every anxiety, it all has an
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expiration date.
The resurrection silences oursorrow, but I also want to see
this the resurrection securesour standing.
Look with me in verse 17.
Jesus said to her do not clingto me, for I have not yet
ascended to the Father.
Let's stop there for a second.
Jesus says do not cling to me.
(15:26):
That's interesting, I imagine.
In this moment, mary is doingexactly what she should be doing
, exactly what you would bedoing if you saw Jesus Christ on
the cross and in the moment,mary is doing exactly what she
should be doing, exactly whatyou would be doing if you saw
Jesus Christ on the cross and inthe grave, and then, a few days
later, he's standing before you.
It sounds like she falls to theground and just wraps her arms
around his ankle.
She's not letting go.
(15:46):
She's not letting go of Jesus.
This is a seemingly worshipfulposture from Mary Magdalene, but
it's strange.
Jesus says do not cling to me.
What does he mean by that?
Does that sound a little rude?
She's just trying to worshipyou, jesus.
Why are you saying this?
He's not being rude, of coursehe's Jesus.
(16:08):
He's not a rude guy.
But he's basically saying thisDon't cling to me because this
story is continuing.
Mary, don't cling to me becausethere's still work to do.
And in fact, mary Magdalene,you've got a mission.
He's about to send Mary outwith a message, not just to the
disciples, but really to theworld, that Christ Jesus has
(16:31):
risen.
He says this do not cling to me, for I've not yet ascended to
the Father, but go to the worldthat Christ Jesus has risen.
He says this Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to
the Father, but go to mybrothers.
Now let's stop there for asecond.
Already we're seeing things aregetting very personal on the
other side of the resurrection.
Throughout the Gospel of John,jesus talks about brothers, and
(16:52):
yet it always means a literal,biological brother.
There's something about theother side of the resurrection
that Jesus can look at hisdisciples and say my brothers.
But it's about to get even morepersonal.
Go to my brothers and say tothem I am ascending to my father
and your father, to my God andyour God.
(17:14):
Did you catch that?
My Father and your Father, myGod and your God.
Let's start at the end of that,because it may sound a little
strange for Jesus to say my Godand your God.
Taylor, we believe Jesus is God.
Why does it sound like that'ssomeone different from him?
It's no one different from him.
(17:35):
Jesus is God in flesh.
He's just ascending to God, theFather, where he sits at the
right hand of the throne of God,and so in this moment he gets
very personal as we secure ourstanding to my Father and your
Father.
Think about this In the Gospelof John, 120 times Jesus
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mentions the father, useslanguage of father, 120 times.
Every one of those times it isused in one of two ways, where
Jesus will say my father, orJesus will say the father, until
(18:18):
one moment.
It's this moment where theresurrection moves this
relational standing in adifferent direction, where Jesus
can say I'm now ascending to myFather, and here's the change,
and your Father To my God andyour God.
The resurrection secures ourstanding, that you and I, who
(18:44):
were once enemies of God, whowere once dead in sin, because
of the resurrection, christ haswalked out of a grave.
Christ has defeated sin anddeath.
And now you and I, whocompletely don't deserve it, who
have nothing of our own worthor merit to earn our way to the
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Father.
We have nothing of our ownworth or merit to earn our way
to the Father Because now Christis risen from the grave, we're
clothed in the righteousness ofChrist and we too can say this
to the God of the universe youare not just a father or a God,
you are my Father, my God.
That's not just Mary's story,that's your story, if you know
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Christ, jesus.
And I think about that idea offather.
I have two little ones of myown, james and Olivia, five
years old, one year old.
I just wonder this.
Is there anything they could do?
Is there anything they couldsay?
Is there any action that theycould do?
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Is there anything they couldsay?
Is there any action that theycould do that would make me, as
their father, look them in theeyes and say James, olivia, I
just don't know if this isworking out anymore.
Is there anything they could dothat would make me snatch away
my fatherhood?
Is there anything they could do?
You know the answer to thisAbsolutely nothing.
And I tell them very often thatthere's nothing you could do
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that would make me love you anyless.
I even tell them this there'snothing you could do to make me
love you more.
I just love you the full extentthat fatherhood allows.
There's no more to gain.
And, guys, I'm an imperfectfather.
I'm a human, imperfect fatherwho makes mistakes, doesn't
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always get it right, so multiplythat kind of love times.
The God of the universe, whoallows you to come into his
presence and say this, my father, that's how the resurrection
secures your standing, that'show the resurrection allows you
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to be called children of God.
Not only does the resurrectionsilence our sorrow, not only
does the resurrection secure ourstanding.
I want you to see this theresurrection shapes our story.
Look at verse 18.
So Mary Magdalene went andannounced to the disciples I
have seen the Lord and that hehad said these things to her.
(21:18):
She had a whole, you know storyshe was supposed to give.
She had many words that Jesushad said say these specific
things.
But I imagine, mary, she runsto the house where the disciples
are.
I imagine she bursts throughthe door.
I imagine she's completely outof breath and she's got this
whole script she's working on.
But she gets into the room withthe disciples and all she can
(21:39):
say is five words in the English, three words in the Greek.
It's this I have seen the Lord.
That's her testimony.
That is her story.
It's simply this I've seen theLord.
And not only is that Mary'sstory.
If you know Christ Jesus, thatis your story.
(22:00):
I think, about everyone in thisroom, if you know Jesus Christ
personally, that you have astory One.
You have a story, first andforemost, of what Christ has
done the cross, the resurrectionbut you also have a story, a
testimony, of how Christ's workhas come into your life, how he
(22:20):
has saved you.
You have a testimony Maybeyou're in here and your
testimony is that you grew up ina home and your parents had you
at church every time the doorswere open.
But there was a moment whereChrist opened your heart and
that faith moved away from beingmom and dad's faith and it
became your faith.
Maybe there was a moment inyour own life that you spent
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many years not knowing a thingabout the Lord and maybe through
a conversation, throughsomething you read or something
you saw, your eyes became openand over time you saw that Jesus
Christ is the Savior Foreveryone in this room that knows
Christ.
There is a little bit differentof a testimony, a story, and I
praise God for that.
(23:04):
But I think about all of ourstories.
If, for just a moment, you wereto kind of strip them all down,
bring them all the way down tofind the one common denominator
in all of it, I would imagine wecould strip it down just to
this.
For everybody that knows JesusChrist, it's these five words I
have seen the Lord, I've seenhim.
I have seen the Lord, I've seenhim.
(23:28):
He changed everything.
I didn't deserve him, Icouldn't earn it, but I've seen
him.
And I think about this Ifyou're a believer in this room,
if you know Jesus Christ, thattestimony is your testimony, not
just for you.
(23:54):
But please, by all means, remindyourself of that daily.
Wake up in the morning, putyour feet on the floor, remind
yourself of the gospel and ofthe fact that I have seen the
Lord, but then also do this,take it forward, just like Mary
Magdalene did, because there'speople around you that need to
know that you have seen the Lord.
There's people around you thatneed to know of the joy that you
have, of the life that you have.
(24:16):
If you're a believer in thisroom, you have a story and you
have a mission.
If you're in this room andmaybe you don't know the Lord,
maybe that's not a story thatyou have.
You know you've done thingsyou're not proud of, but you
don't know where thatforgiveness is found.
You hadn't yet trusted in theone who can forgive sins.
(24:40):
Maybe you're in the room andyou've been here many years, or
this is your first day in theroom.
Maybe you're watching onlineand you found us on purpose, or
you found us by accident.
Maybe you were just walkingdowntown and they had coffee and
treats and you said I can hangaround for a little bit.
However, you're here, praiseGod.
(25:01):
You're here, but maybe today iswhen this story becomes your
story.
But maybe today is when thisstory becomes your story, when
the reality of those five wordsI have seen the Lord becomes
something that you say in yourlife, because we celebrate a
resurrected Savior.
We celebrate a Savior that wasso willing to take our sin upon
(25:26):
himself, pay for our sin uponthe cross.
If you want to know whereforgiveness is found, it's in
the name of Jesus, the one whois now alive and well, sitting
on the throne of God.
Is today the day that storybecomes your story, that you can
say I have seen the Lord.
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I believe there's no better dayfor it, because I believe in
the resurrection, I believe thatthe resurrection silences our
sorrow, I believe theresurrection secures our
standing, I believe that theresurrection shapes our story.
And so we are resurrectionpeople and we celebrate the
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resurrection.
But we don't just do it onEaster Sunday.
We do it every time we gatherand every time in between,
because, again, we areresurrection people.
I praise God for that day thatchanged everything, changed the
world, changed Mary Magdalene.
It changed me.
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I pray that it has changed youor I pray that even now it will
change you.
How do you need to respond thismorning.
Maybe you are in here and youwant that story to be your story
.
I'm going to be down front injust a moment.
I would love nothing more thanon an Easter Sunday in 2025 to
(26:54):
get to talk to you about Jesusand how you can make that story
your story.
You come see me.
Maybe you want to respond andlet a pastor pray with you.
I'd love nothing more.
Maybe you want to respond on anEaster Sunday to come be a part
of this church family.
However, you need to respond.
Maybe it's right where you'reat, just praying and just saying
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once again Lord Jesus, thankyou, thank you for the
resurrection, but however youneed to respond, I pray that you
would do it.
I'm going to pray for us andthen we'll worship.
Lord Jesus, I do thank you.
I thank you so much for thecross, where you suffered and
died for sin, and I thank youfor the resurrection where you
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walked out of the tomb.
It is only by that resurrectionthat we can have life and have
it in fullness, have itabundantly.
And so, lord, if there is one,if there are more this morning
that do not know you, that wantto make that story their story.
I pray that they would, today,give them boldness.
I just pray.
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If there's any decisions thatneed to be made, lord, would you
let them happen, and I justpray that we would remember
today, and remember every day,that we serve a risen Savior.
We pray this in Christ's name,amen.
Would you stand, I'll be downfront.
Let's continue in worshiptogether.
much work with the orchestra.
We are beyond blessed.
Will you open with me to Johnchapter 20?
John chapter 20 is where we'llbe for a few moments this
morning.
I'm going to read John 20,verses 11 through 18.
(00:31):
But Mary stood weeping outsidethe tomb and as she wept, she
stooped to look into the tomband she saw two angels in white
sitting where the body of Jesushad lain, one at the head and
one at the feet.
They said to her Woman why areyou weeping?
She said to them they havetaken away my Lord and I do not
know where they've laid him.
Having said this, she turnedaround and saw Jesus standing,
(00:54):
but she did not know that it wasJesus.
Jesus said to her woman why areyou weeping?
Whom are you seeking?
Supposing him to be thegardener?
She said to him Sir, if youhave carried him away, tell me
where you have laid him and Iwill take him away.
Jesus said to her Mary.
She turned and said to him inAramaic Rabboni, which means
(01:17):
teacher.
Jesus said to her Do not clingto me, for I have not yet
ascended to the Father, but goto my brothers and say to them I
am ascending to my Father andyour Father, to my God and your
God, mary Magdalene went andannounced to the disciples I
have seen the Lord and that hehad said these things to her.
(01:38):
Let's pray together.
Lord Jesus, we do.
Thank you for your word.
We thank you for theresurrection that your word
speaks about, the truth of it,the reality of it, how it
changed not just a day 2,000years ago, but changes every day
, both now and into eternity.
Would you speak now throughyour word, transform us by your
(02:00):
word.
We ask in Christ's name, amen.
There are some days that changethe world.
There's some days that changethe world, and there's certainly
days that change our world.
Personally as well, I think ofsome days that changed the world
.
In 1440, a man with the lastname Gutenberg created what's
(02:21):
called the printing press.
You've probably done nine orten things.
This morning, whether you knowit or not, is thanks to that
invention.
If you have a Bible in yourhand, you can say thank you for
that invention.
There was a day in July of 1776where a country gained its
independence.
There was a day in December of1941 in Hawaii when a war
(02:44):
happening over there very muchbecame our war.
There was a day in New YorkCity in September of 2001 that
changed everything for a nation.
There's days, personally, thatdon't just change the world, but
maybe days that change yourworld, Some of them unbelievably
fantastic your wedding day, thebirth of your children, the day
(03:08):
you got the promotion, thefirst day of kindergarten, the
first day of college.
There's fantastic days.
There's hard days that changeyour world as well.
When you get the call youdidn't see coming, when you get
the news you couldn't haveimagined.
There's days that change theworld and days that change our
world For Mary Magdalene.
We come to the tomb today andMary Magdalene's really standing
(03:32):
between two days that changethe world and change her world.
One day was just a couple daysback, when her savior and friend
, jesus, was put on the crossand then laid in a tomb.
Now she arrives at that tomb onthe first day of the week, not
knowing yet how this will be aday that will change everything.
(03:55):
In chapter 20, verses 1 through10, we see the beginning of this
story.
We see Mary Magdalene arrivesat the tomb and when she gets
there, she sees something.
She sees that the stone hasbeen rolled away.
Now, if you know where thisstory is going, you hear that
the stone's rolled away andyou're saying this is fantastic
(04:15):
news.
This is why we're here thismorning.
But for Mary, this was, at thistime, terrible news.
Because Mary says this if thestone has been rolled away, dead
men don't walk out of tomb.
So that means that someone hascome and has stolen the body of
Jesus.
Mary is distraught.
(04:36):
She goes and gets Peter andJohn.
They run to the tomb.
They see that it's empty.
They believe, but Mary's notquite there yet.
Verse 11,.
We see this.
But Mary stood weeping outsidethe tomb.
She's weeping, she's in tears.
This is the same word weepingthat's used outside of another
(04:59):
tomb in John.
In John, chapter 11, when themourners stand outside of
Lazarus's tomb, they are weeping.
This is tears for someone, forMary, who is not only dead but
insult to injury is dead and nowhas been taken.
She's weeping and as she weptshe stooped to look into the
(05:20):
tomb Verse 12, and she saw twoangels in white sitting where
the body of Jesus had lain, oneat the head, one at the feet.
These two angels are thereVerse 13,.
They said to her woman why areyou weeping?
She said to them they havetaken away my Lord and I do not
(05:40):
know where they have laid him.
My Lord, my friend, the oneI've followed now for three
years.
They've taken him away and Idon't have a clue where he is.
Verse 14,.
Having said this, she turnedaround and saw Jesus standing,
(06:01):
but she did not know that it wasJesus.
Now I pause there and ask aquestion how in the world did
she not know that it was Jesus?
Now I pause there and ask aquestion how in the world did
she not know that it was Jesus?
Because this is Mary Magdalene.
And again, mary Magdalene hasfollowed Jesus now for three
years.
She's a close follower, she's aclose friend.
(06:21):
She's been through some thingswith Jesus.
In fact, in Luke, chapter eight, we meet Mary Magdalene because
she's one who has beenoppressed and possessed by the
evil one, and Jesus actuallycast the evil one out, and so
now she is set free from this.
If anybody should remember thatface and know what Jesus looks
(06:42):
like, it's got to be MaryMagdalene, and yet she turns
around in this moment and shedoesn't have a clue who it is.
Now, maybe there's some naturalreasons we could give for this.
Maybe, obviously she's beenweeping, maybe her eyes are
filled with tears and so throughthose tears.
She can't see.
Jesus can't make out who it is.
Maybe there's another naturalreason.
(07:03):
She's been looking into thisdark tomb.
She turns around and fromdarkness to light the eyes
haven't adjusted.
There's plenty of natural waysyou could say it.
Maybe I would argue more is thecase that something
supernatural is at play, thatJesus is not revealing himself
until he desires to revealhimself.
(07:24):
It's like in Luke, chapter 24,when two disciples are walking
with Jesus on the road to Emmausafter Jesus's resurrection.
They have a few miles worth ofconversation and again, these
are disciples.
Yet it's only till abouthalfway through that walk that
Jesus reveals who he actually is.
(07:44):
Jesus doesn't show his identityyet because there's a quick
conversation that's going tounfold Verse 15.
Jesus said to her woman why areyou weeping?
The same questions the angelsasked.
And then next, whom are youseeking?
(08:06):
This is the exact same questionJesus asked that we saw last
week in John 18.
When there's 600 soldierswaiting to arrest him and Jesus
asks them the question whom areyou seeking?
They say Jesus of Nazareth.
And yet that question will leadto his arrest and him being put
(08:27):
on a cross.
He asks it this time and it'sabout to lead to the best news
Mary could ever imagine.
Whom are you seeking?
Then it says this, supposinghim to be the gardener.
Was that so interesting to me?
Mary just thinks he's thegardener.
He's just kind of coming hereat the first morning of the week
tending the garden.
(08:47):
We've been in a few gardenslately In Genesis, we walked
through the garden of Eden for afew weeks, last week in the
garden of Gethsemane, and nowwe're in this new garden and
Mary thinks it's the gardener.
In one sense she's very muchwrong and in another, maybe a
spiritual sense, she's very muchright the gardener who can
(09:09):
bring life up from the ground.
And she said to him sir, if youhad carried him away, just tell
me where you've laid him and Iwill take him away.
Basically, she's saying thissir, if you know anything about
this, if you know where he is,I'll give you an out right now,
(09:31):
no questions asked.
If you can just get the bodyback, he's a dear friend, he
deserves a proper burial, hedeserves to rest in peace.
If you can just give us thebody of Jesus back, that'll be
enough for us.
The very next verse changeseverything.
(09:52):
This becomes a day that changesnot just Mary's life but truly
changes the world.
This is where we see the firstof the three things I want us to
see today, and number one isthis that the resurrection
silences our sorrow.
Look with me, verse 16.
(10:13):
Jesus said to her Mary.
She turned around and said tohim in Aramaic, rabboni, which
means teacher.
Jesus now reveals himself byjust saying a word, just calling
out her name.
(10:33):
He just says Mary.
I think about earlier in John,jesus says that he is the good
shepherd.
And what does he say?
He says the good shepherd.
He knows his sheep and hissheep hear his voice.
He calls them by name.
Well, right in this moment he'scalling one sheep by name and
just says that name, mary and inthat moment not just her
(10:54):
physical eyes but the eyes ofher heart are opened Again.
We saw last week that at thename, when Jesus just speaks one
thing, he says I am all thetroops fall to the ground.
And now this week, all he hasto say is the word Mary and the
eyes of her heart are opened andeverything changes.
For Mary Magdalene, this is nolonger a mere gardener, this is
(11:18):
no longer some kind of graverobbery situation.
Well, in a sense it is a graverobbery, but no one stole a body
.
Now everything is changed,because Jesus has walked out of
the grave.
And not only has he walked outof the grave, he's called out my
name.
He says Mary, and in thismoment her sorrows cease,
(11:44):
they're silenced.
The one who was weeping justlike at the tomb of Lazarus, now
outside the tomb of Jesus, herheart is now filled with joy.
Do you know?
The resurrection silences oursorrow.
What once was hopeless, whatonce was devastatingly bad news
(12:06):
that you and I are more sinfulthan we even thought possible.
Now there is new news, there isa new story to tell that Jesus
Christ has risen and in thismoment, our sorrows are silenced
.
Now you could look at me thismorning and say something.
You say this Taylor, I believein the resurrection.
(12:29):
I know Jesus rose from thegrave.
You're not going to findsomeone who believes that more
than me.
But, taylor, the reality is Ibelieve in the resurrection, but
I got to be honest.
I still have plenty of sorrows,Like there's plenty of sorrows
in my life to go around.
You might say everything is notas it should be right now, and
(12:52):
if that's you this morning, Iwould say this I couldn't agree
with you more.
And we're all in the same boathere that if you know Jesus, we
can say we believe in theresurrection.
But sorrows are real.
We have walked through sorrow,we do walk through sorrow.
We will walk through sorrow.
You may be in this room thismorning and, though certainly
(13:15):
you come in on a beautifulEaster morning and there's a
smile on your face, you're evenhiding some of the sorrow that
lies underneath and you mightsay the reality is in my life
right now.
There are some broken things.
So, pastor, what do you meanwhen Jesus's resurrection
silences our sorrow?
(13:36):
What I don't mean is this Idon't mean that we will never
face sorrow.
Jesus tells us in this world.
You will have trial, you willhave sorrow, you will have
suffering.
What I do mean is this thatbecause of resurrection, our
sorrow does have an expirationdate.
Our sorrow one day will cease.
(13:58):
Because I got to tell you I didwhat you're not supposed to do
when you're reading any otherbook, but I flipped to the end
of the story.
I just got a sneak peek ofwhat's coming and the new
heavens and new as people arestanding before the throne of
the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
What is said of them in verse 4of chapter 21?
(14:18):
.
He will wipe every tear fromtheir eyes and death shall be no
more.
Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore,
for the former things havepassed away.
And he who was seated on thethrone said this Behold, I am
making all things new.
I don't know what you'rewalking through this morning, I
(14:41):
don't know what you're walkingthrough in your life right now,
but I do know this that Christhas risen from the grave and
therefore there will come a daywhen all of our sorrows will
cease, and from the grave, andtherefore there will come a day
when all of our sorrows willcease, when Christ will sit on
the throne as he is even now,for all eternity.
And every sorrow, every fear,every anxiety, it all has an
(15:06):
expiration date.
The resurrection silences oursorrow, but I also want to see
this the resurrection securesour standing.
Look with me in verse 17.
Jesus said to her do not clingto me, for I have not yet
ascended to the Father.
Let's stop there for a second.
Jesus says do not cling to me.
(15:26):
That's interesting, I imagine.
In this moment, mary is doingexactly what she should be doing
, exactly what you would bedoing if you saw Jesus Christ on
the cross and in the moment,mary is doing exactly what she
should be doing, exactly whatyou would be doing if you saw
Jesus Christ on the cross and inthe grave, and then, a few days
later, he's standing before you.
It sounds like she falls to theground and just wraps her arms
around his ankle.
She's not letting go.
(15:46):
She's not letting go of Jesus.
This is a seemingly worshipfulposture from Mary Magdalene, but
it's strange.
Jesus says do not cling to me.
What does he mean by that?
Does that sound a little rude?
She's just trying to worshipyou, jesus.
Why are you saying this?
He's not being rude, of coursehe's Jesus.
(16:08):
He's not a rude guy.
But he's basically saying thisDon't cling to me because this
story is continuing.
Mary, don't cling to me becausethere's still work to do.
And in fact, mary Magdalene,you've got a mission.
He's about to send Mary outwith a message, not just to the
disciples, but really to theworld, that Christ Jesus has
(16:31):
risen.
He says this do not cling to me, for I've not yet ascended to
the Father, but go to the worldthat Christ Jesus has risen.
He says this Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to
the Father, but go to mybrothers.
Now let's stop there for asecond.
Already we're seeing things aregetting very personal on the
other side of the resurrection.
Throughout the Gospel of John,jesus talks about brothers, and
(16:52):
yet it always means a literal,biological brother.
There's something about theother side of the resurrection
that Jesus can look at hisdisciples and say my brothers.
But it's about to get even morepersonal.
Go to my brothers and say tothem I am ascending to my father
and your father, to my God andyour God.
(17:14):
Did you catch that?
My Father and your Father, myGod and your God.
Let's start at the end of that,because it may sound a little
strange for Jesus to say my Godand your God.
Taylor, we believe Jesus is God.
Why does it sound like that'ssomeone different from him?
It's no one different from him.
(17:35):
Jesus is God in flesh.
He's just ascending to God, theFather, where he sits at the
right hand of the throne of God,and so in this moment he gets
very personal as we secure ourstanding to my Father and your
Father.
Think about this In the Gospelof John, 120 times Jesus
(17:58):
mentions the father, useslanguage of father, 120 times.
Every one of those times it isused in one of two ways, where
Jesus will say my father, orJesus will say the father, until
(18:18):
one moment.
It's this moment where theresurrection moves this
relational standing in adifferent direction, where Jesus
can say I'm now ascending to myFather, and here's the change,
and your Father To my God andyour God.
The resurrection secures ourstanding, that you and I, who
(18:44):
were once enemies of God, whowere once dead in sin, because
of the resurrection, christ haswalked out of a grave.
Christ has defeated sin anddeath.
And now you and I, whocompletely don't deserve it, who
have nothing of our own worthor merit to earn our way to the
(19:05):
Father.
We have nothing of our ownworth or merit to earn our way
to the Father Because now Christis risen from the grave, we're
clothed in the righteousness ofChrist and we too can say this
to the God of the universe youare not just a father or a God,
you are my Father, my God.
That's not just Mary's story,that's your story, if you know
(19:29):
Christ, jesus.
And I think about that idea offather.
I have two little ones of myown, james and Olivia, five
years old, one year old.
I just wonder this.
Is there anything they could do?
Is there anything they couldsay?
Is there any action that theycould do?
(19:50):
Is there anything they couldsay?
Is there any action that theycould do that would make me, as
their father, look them in theeyes and say James, olivia, I
just don't know if this isworking out anymore.
Is there anything they could dothat would make me snatch away
my fatherhood?
Is there anything they could do?
You know the answer to thisAbsolutely nothing.
And I tell them very often thatthere's nothing you could do
(20:11):
that would make me love you anyless.
I even tell them this there'snothing you could do to make me
love you more.
I just love you the full extentthat fatherhood allows.
There's no more to gain.
And, guys, I'm an imperfectfather.
I'm a human, imperfect fatherwho makes mistakes, doesn't
(20:33):
always get it right, so multiplythat kind of love times.
The God of the universe, whoallows you to come into his
presence and say this, my father, that's how the resurrection
secures your standing, that'show the resurrection allows you
(20:53):
to be called children of God.
Not only does the resurrectionsilence our sorrow, not only
does the resurrection secure ourstanding.
I want you to see this theresurrection shapes our story.
Look at verse 18.
So Mary Magdalene went andannounced to the disciples I
have seen the Lord and that hehad said these things to her.
(21:18):
She had a whole, you know storyshe was supposed to give.
She had many words that Jesushad said say these specific
things.
But I imagine, mary, she runsto the house where the disciples
are.
I imagine she bursts throughthe door.
I imagine she's completely outof breath and she's got this
whole script she's working on.
But she gets into the room withthe disciples and all she can
(21:39):
say is five words in the English, three words in the Greek.
It's this I have seen the Lord.
That's her testimony.
That is her story.
It's simply this I've seen theLord.
And not only is that Mary'sstory.
If you know Christ Jesus, thatis your story.
(22:00):
I think, about everyone in thisroom, if you know Jesus Christ
personally, that you have astory One.
You have a story, first andforemost, of what Christ has
done the cross, the resurrectionbut you also have a story, a
testimony, of how Christ's workhas come into your life, how he
(22:20):
has saved you.
You have a testimony Maybeyou're in here and your
testimony is that you grew up ina home and your parents had you
at church every time the doorswere open.
But there was a moment whereChrist opened your heart and
that faith moved away from beingmom and dad's faith and it
became your faith.
Maybe there was a moment inyour own life that you spent
(22:43):
many years not knowing a thingabout the Lord and maybe through
a conversation, throughsomething you read or something
you saw, your eyes became openand over time you saw that Jesus
Christ is the Savior Foreveryone in this room that knows
Christ.
There is a little bit differentof a testimony, a story, and I
praise God for that.
(23:04):
But I think about all of ourstories.
If, for just a moment, you wereto kind of strip them all down,
bring them all the way down tofind the one common denominator
in all of it, I would imagine wecould strip it down just to
this.
For everybody that knows JesusChrist, it's these five words I
have seen the Lord, I've seenhim.
I have seen the Lord, I've seenhim.
(23:28):
He changed everything.
I didn't deserve him, Icouldn't earn it, but I've seen
him.
And I think about this Ifyou're a believer in this room,
if you know Jesus Christ, thattestimony is your testimony, not
just for you.
(23:54):
But please, by all means, remindyourself of that daily.
Wake up in the morning, putyour feet on the floor, remind
yourself of the gospel and ofthe fact that I have seen the
Lord, but then also do this,take it forward, just like Mary
Magdalene did, because there'speople around you that need to
know that you have seen the Lord.
There's people around you thatneed to know of the joy that you
have, of the life that you have.
(24:16):
If you're a believer in thisroom, you have a story and you
have a mission.
If you're in this room andmaybe you don't know the Lord,
maybe that's not a story thatyou have.
You know you've done thingsyou're not proud of, but you
don't know where thatforgiveness is found.
You hadn't yet trusted in theone who can forgive sins.
(24:40):
Maybe you're in the room andyou've been here many years, or
this is your first day in theroom.
Maybe you're watching onlineand you found us on purpose, or
you found us by accident.
Maybe you were just walkingdowntown and they had coffee and
treats and you said I can hangaround for a little bit.
However, you're here, praiseGod.
(25:01):
You're here, but maybe today iswhen this story becomes your
story.
But maybe today is when thisstory becomes your story, when
the reality of those five wordsI have seen the Lord becomes
something that you say in yourlife, because we celebrate a
resurrected Savior.
We celebrate a Savior that wasso willing to take our sin upon
(25:26):
himself, pay for our sin uponthe cross.
If you want to know whereforgiveness is found, it's in
the name of Jesus, the one whois now alive and well, sitting
on the throne of God.
Is today the day that storybecomes your story, that you can
say I have seen the Lord.
(25:48):
I believe there's no better dayfor it, because I believe in
the resurrection, I believe thatthe resurrection silences our
sorrow, I believe theresurrection secures our
standing, I believe that theresurrection shapes our story.
And so we are resurrectionpeople and we celebrate the
(26:13):
resurrection.
But we don't just do it onEaster Sunday.
We do it every time we gatherand every time in between,
because, again, we areresurrection people.
I praise God for that day thatchanged everything, changed the
world, changed Mary Magdalene.
It changed me.
(26:34):
I pray that it has changed youor I pray that even now it will
change you.
How do you need to respond thismorning.
Maybe you are in here and youwant that story to be your story
.
I'm going to be down front injust a moment.
I would love nothing more thanon an Easter Sunday in 2025 to
(26:54):
get to talk to you about Jesusand how you can make that story
your story.
You come see me.
Maybe you want to respond andlet a pastor pray with you.
I'd love nothing more.
Maybe you want to respond on anEaster Sunday to come be a part
of this church family.
However, you need to respond.
Maybe it's right where you'reat, just praying and just saying
(27:15):
once again Lord Jesus, thankyou, thank you for the
resurrection, but however youneed to respond, I pray that you
would do it.
I'm going to pray for us andthen we'll worship.
Lord Jesus, I do thank you.
I thank you so much for thecross, where you suffered and
died for sin, and I thank youfor the resurrection where you
(27:36):
walked out of the tomb.
It is only by that resurrectionthat we can have life and have
it in fullness, have itabundantly.
And so, lord, if there is one,if there are more this morning
that do not know you, that wantto make that story their story.
I pray that they would, today,give them boldness.
I just pray.
(27:57):
If there's any decisions thatneed to be made, lord, would you
let them happen, and I justpray that we would remember
today, and remember every day,that we serve a risen Savior.
We pray this in Christ's name,amen.
Would you stand, I'll be downfront.
Let's continue in worshiptogether.
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