John 20:1-18 [Easter]
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Benson/Vail, AZ
April 21, 2019
In the name of our risen Lord—our Savior Jesus, dear friends, “Come here, you’re not going to believe this!” I’m sure you’ve been drawn away from your desk or your recliner or the other room more than once by a roommate or spouse or parent or child or friend by that call: “Come here, you’re not going to believe this!” No, it would not be good enough to simply be told that your 4-year-old climbed on top of the refrigerator! It wouldn’t be believable if you were simply informed that the dog was running through the house with the Easter ham in his mouth! Your life would not be the same if you didn’t listen to your husband and stop right there in the aisle of Best Buy and see the 82-inch, LED Q6F Series 2160p Smart 4K TV with HDR! No, No, clearly you must SEE these things in order to BELIEVE them and receive their full impact on your life! There was a lot to be seen on that first Easter when Jesus rose victorious over death. On this beautiful Easter morning, we have the privilege of hearing John tell us about what happened at sunrise on the Sunday after Jesus’ death. We go back in spirit to that morning and I encourage you to SEE AND BELIEVE! SEE what happened and BELIEVE what God says about it! SEE AND BELIEVE! 1. THAT JESUS HAS RISEN! 2. THAT YOUR SINS HAVE BEEN PAID FOR! 3. THAT YOU HAVE ETERNAL LIFE! I find it interesting to hear about those who were there on that first Easter. John’s gospel tells us first about Mary Magdalene. What did she see? Mary saw that the huge stone that sealed Jesus’ grave had been rolled away from the entrance. She assumed that someone had broken the seal on the tomb, moved the stone, and stolen or moved the Lord’s body. Mary was so upset. Now she couldn’t do what she wanted to do for Jesus—anoint his dead body properly, since it wasn’t able to be completely done on Friday. There simply wasn’t enough time after his body was taken down from the cross—the Sabbath started shortly after that, so she and others planned to take care of that embalming on Sunday morning—after the Sabbath. But there’s something wrong with that picture, isn’t there? Mary went there expecting to find a dead body! Jesus had told his followers that he would rise from the dead on the third day. But they went to the tomb expecting a dead Jesus! Even when she SAW the empty tomb, it didn’t occur to her that Jesus had risen like he had told them he would! Mary SAW but she didn’t BELIEVE! So she wept outside the tomb. She didn’t catch on that something special might be going on when angels spoke to her. She didn’t even recognize the risen Jesus as he stood right in front of her! Peter SAW the empty grave but he was confused by it all. We’re not told that he BELIEVED. We are told that he and the other disciple ran to tomb but they just didn’t understand everything about the resurrection and what it meant.
Although John was too modest to mention his own name as he wrote this gospel, he was the other disciple who ran and edged out Peter in the race to the tomb. It simply says “He saw and believed.” But again, he admits that he didn’t understand all the implications of Jesus’ rising from the dead at that point. Mary finally did SEE AND BELIEVE THAT JESUS HAD RISEN as Jesus spoke her name to her. “Mary,” he said. Then she realized that Jesus was alive. Then she SAW AND BELIEVED. Peter finally did SEE AND BELIEVE THAT JESUS HAD RISEN and became a great witness of the resurrection as he spread the gospel. John’s understanding was later fleshed out so that he fully SAW AND BELIEVED THAT JESUS HAD RISEN and he, like Peter, wrote about the love of God in Jesus and spent his entire, long life spreading the gospel. It’s also interesting to consider how people today view Jesus and the historical account of that Day of Resurrection. There are skeptics. There are people who are just not sure about all this Jesus stuff. There are others who believe, basically, but have questions. And some have realized the blessing of knowing their Savior for a long time. They understand and trust this account of Jesus’ resurrection. Their faith in him is cemented like it later was for Mary, Peter, and John. No matter which of those might best describe you and me, the Easter story—the historical record of Jesus’ resurrection is meant for us all. And the God who loves you and all people, wants you to know that it is absolutely true: JESUS HAS RISEN! And that means that all sin is paid for. The sacrifice for the world’s sin was complete on Good Friday’s cross and the rising of Christ from death proves that his sacrifice was accepted by God the Father. John wrote here in verse 9 that Jesus had to rise from the dead. He had to because Jesus’ resurrection was him crossing the finish line in the race of redemption. It was victory for him and therefore victory for us! That empty tomb and a living Jesus are the things that prove victory! They prove that YOUR SINS HAVE BEEN PAID FOR. You can SEE that empty tomb and SEE that Jesus lives—even though he was dead—and by the power of the Holy Spirit, you can BELIEVE THAT YOUR SINS HAVE BEEN PAID FOR! If I offered to trade you my salty, green-yolked, half-eaten, hard-boiled Easter egg for…oh, let’s say…your bike or your car or truck, you might think I’m nuts for even trying to pull that! That would be the worst trade ever! Actually, it wouldn’t. Listen to this: For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit (1 Peter 3:18). That’s how Peter explained it years after he SAW AND BELIEVED. The righteous Jesus—the perfect, sinless, holy Jesus—was traded for the murderers, the foulmouthed, the kids who disobey their parents, the church-skippers, the prideful church-
goers, the drug-addicted and the alcoholics, the greedy, the arrogant, those who don’t care about others in need, the gossips, and all those who right now have no use for Jesus in their life—all sinners of all time—that’s who Jesus, the holy Son of God, was traded for. And this includes us. Christ died for sins—yours and mine—and then was made alive. He rose to send you the strong and saving message THAT YOUR SINS HAVE BEEN PAID FOR AND FORGIVEN! That is the most awesome news ever! Oh, I hope and pray that you SEE that in God’s Word today and BELIEVE it with all your heart! What Easter morning means to you and me is that we don’t have to do anything to get right with God—Jesus has already done everything necessary. He died and he rose and YOUR SINS ARE PAID FOR! And you know what that means? That means that if you trust in Jesus—his life, his death, his resurrection—YOU HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. If you trust in Jesus for your salvation, if you SEE what happened on Easter and BELIEVE it, then you can be assured that when God looks at you, he sees a person who has been washed clean of sin. God sees a person that his Son has made holy. God has done this great thing for you by giving you his Son and sending his Spirit to give you faith to believe. And God has reserved a place for you in heaven! Listen to how the Apostle Peter later explained what the resurrection of Jesus means for us eternally: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you (1 Peter 1:3-4). Can you believe it?!—We have a living hope RIGHT NOW! We know—right now—that heaven is ours! It is a done deal! The good news again is that eternal life in heaven does not depend on us and how good we are. It does depend on Christ who was perfect for us and rose from death to ensure that we will rise from death too because we believe that what Jesus did was enough. No one can change what Jesus did on Good Friday or on Easter morning, so no one can take forgiveness of your sins away and no one can take heaven away from you! Isn’t Easter awesome?! SEE AND BELIEVE THAT JESUS HAS RISEN! THAT YOUR SINS HAVE BEEN PAID FOR! and THAT YOU HAVE ETERNAL LIFE! Look into John’s gospel so that you can SEE AND BELIEVE—and keep looking in God’s Word for that assurance every day—on your own—and each week—here in worship—because Easter joy and the confidence of sins forgiven and a home in heaven aren’t only found on Easter morning. As God’s people we have that every day and we celebrate that every time we meet together! May God bless you on this Easter morning and always and every time we join here in worship, rejoicing over the love, the forgiveness, the salvation that God gives us because Jesus Christ has risen! Amen. Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.