27th March 2024

27th March 2024


Pray (ACts)


Read (John 20:1-18 focus v1-9)


Message (Alan Burke)


Many of us have known the grief that comes with loss first hand, death comes to all and we have stood at the grave side of those whom we have known and loved all too often. As we are introduced to Mary Magdalene here in John’s gospel she was on her way to the tomb early on that first Lord’s day morning while we are told it was still dark, she was in the midst of the grief that we all know too well. She knew sins curse acutely that day, the punishment of sin that befell on the human race in the fall it overshadowed her in a very real way as she made her way to the tomb, little did she know that that grief would soon be dispelled to joy. We read these words and they are familiar to us, we know them well, in a sense they have lost their wonder but for Mary that first Lord’s day what greeted her was totally unexpected. 


Nothing is mentioned of the soldiers who had been appointed to guard the tomb, why had the stone been moved, had the tomb been robbed, had someone taken the body of Jesus. The last thing on her mind would have been that Jesus had been raised from the dead. While John doesn’t tell us if Mary looked or entered the tomb, Luke does (24:2). We know that Mary entered and did not find the body of Jesus. In response she ran to find someone who could come, to do what though? The first thought of Mary was that someone had taken the body of Jesus, the body of Jesus had been stolen. In this the emotion of those involved is clear, the grief, the distress, anguish, after hearing what Mary had said Peter and the disciple Jesus loved, John ran to the tomb. 


Both men found the same thing, the body of Jesus has gone, all that was left were his grave cloths, nothing is told to us except that they believed but they did not understand from the scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead (9). Their expectation and grief had blinded them to the reality of what was occurring before their very eyes. John in this account gives great detail to the grave cloths, almost unnecessarily so, why would John focus on the grave cloths in such a way if they were not significant. But they are significant for they testify to how that although the body of Jesus was gone that his body had not been stolen. No grave robber would have stolen the body and left the linen strips that the body had been wrapped in there. Look at what we are told as Peter who was playing catchup went in ahead of John who was stooping down (v5) looking into the tomb, seeing the grave cloths. 


We are told Peter v6 that Peter; …he saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. But then as John went inside we are told he saw and believed. Believed what? For we are told in v9 that they still did not understand from scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead, so what did believe, what had changed in the midst of this all, it was that now the penny was starting to drop, for what they had seen in the tomb was proof that Jesus body had not been stolen, no grave robber would leave the linen strips that wrapped the body of Jesus, and we are told that the face cloth that had been around Jesus head was folded up was separate from the linen. Even the way that the grave cloths were laid were a sign to the followers of the truth that he had risen, that he was alive. 


While hey did not understand fully at this stage they would, but in the mean time they return home, unable to make sense of it all, still to an extent filled with grief and loss. But in what had unfolded they were being exposed to the truth of the resurrection for themselves, in time they would begin to piece together all that Jesus had taught them and what the scriptures had been teaching. The grave cloves were helping to open the door of understanding that would give them a grasp of all that had taken place so that they could articulate their faith fully. Jesus had risen, he on the cross faced the full weight of sins curse and the wrath of God for sin so that we who are sinners might be forgiven. Jesus has done all that was required for us. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q104 What do we pray for in the fourth petition?
In the fourth petition, (which is, Give us this day our daily bread, (Matt. 6:11)) we pray, That of God’ s free gift we may receive a competent portion of the good things of this life, and enjoy his blessing with them. (Prov. 30:8–9, Gen. 28:20, 1 Tim. 4:4–5)
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