When We See Jesus
“I Have Seen The Lord” vs. 18
John 20:1-18
Rough Week
I felt God leading me this year to stretch myself. I felt one thing I needed to do was to love people more; to really empathize with others and to spend more time with people. That sounds great but what I have experienced is that I really struggle more when others are hurting. Here are some things that happened to me and affected my week.
- First, well let’s just say I didn’t win the lottery
- Sierra Lamar, kidnapped girl in San Jose been missing for 3rd week
- There was a shooting in an Oakland School and 7 people are dead, hundreds of peoples lives changed forever.
- A tornado sweeps through the Dallas, TX area. Many homes, businesses, etc are damaged and destroyed, luckily no lives are lost.
- A Friend’s sister passes away/College Professor of mine passes away
- Thomas Kinkade Passes Away
- Remebrance of the death of Christ
So how was your week? Was it rough? Today we are going to look at someone who had a really rough week
Read Passage – John 20:1-18
1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15“Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” 18Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Mary of Magdelene’s Week
Mary Magdalene was a disciple of Jesus. She was a woman who had several demons in her. When you are demon possessed, you don’t have a lot of control on your life. It i9s scary for those around you and even scarier for those who have them. They have very little control and live in a oppressed state many times. Most likely, people probably looked down on her and would not associate with her. Mary was one of those people. Jesus came along and he cast those demons out of her. In a moment of time her life is changed. She is whole, she is in control of her own body, she is free. So what does she do? She devotes her life to Jesus and followed him from town to town helping with ministry. And now, this man who freed her and set her free? She watched him be arrested for no reason. She sees (or hears) him being tortured. She sees him led up a hill and crucified on a cross like a heinous criminal. She’s standing at the foot of the cross with his mother and all that she had hoped and dreamed he would be and accomplished seems to have vanished. They not only kill him but they kill the dreams of those who have been following him. Her week was in many ways unthinkable to her. And now, she just wants to take care of the his body by honoring him with the spices and things that are necessary to care for the dead. Even this seems impossible to do because when she gets there the body is gone. If we thought our week was bad, how must she have felt after this week? Death is a difficult thing for us. When death occurs, certain things happen.
–Things become blurry and confused
I think the first thing I noticed is that things become blurry and confused in those times. Things can go on around us and we can’t really make sense of them, we get confused. Notice what happens in verse 3:
“They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him.”vs. 3
They forget that Christ told them he would rise again. Another thing that happens is that things don’t look the same, they become blurry; Verse 14:
“She turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize it was Jesus.”vs. 14
Mary doesn’t’ recognize Jesus. Were not told why. Was it all those tears she shed. Maybe just her perspective was confused. The difficulty from her heart reached her vision and it was difficult to even recognize the things that are familiar.
–Depression overwhelms
Secondly, our depression overwhelms us. Verse 11:
“But Mary stood outside the tomb crying.” vs. 11
Sometimes the best we can do is just cry. Depression leaves us empty, in a deep dark place, and many times inert.
Ex. Recently I was talking with a friend and he was struggling with some things at home and he was having difficulty understanding what his wife was going through. I said I thought I knew. She was depressed and that was playing itself out in her actions. She wasn’t functioning in her normal way because of the depression.
Deeper in Thought
It’s here that the story takes an interesting twist. Mary enters the tomb and sees the linens laying there. The angel asks Mary a question. He says in verse 13:
“Woman, why are you crying?” vs. 13
It must have seemed like a ridiculous question. Why am I crying? She must have thought; Don’t you get what has been happening? When you think about it, she’s probably been crying for at least three days. It’s a been non-stop time of mourning and grieving. But Jesus shows up (who she thinks is the gardener) and asks her the very same question, but he adds a twist, he takes it deeper. He says in verse 15:
“Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” vs. 15
I think that Jesus is doing something that we can take note of; he tries to get Mary to think deeper in the situation; to look at it differently, to get a different perspective. He takes it to a new level, a deeper level, and gets Mary to contemplate and change her focus. Mourning can become a prolonged period and we sometimes can continue mourning and not move on. We get stuck. Stuck in that same place and stuck in the moment. We are no longer able to look ahead. He gets her to move on. He gets her eyes off the death (those images can be haunting) and back on to Jesus himself and what is to come.
Meeting Jesus
As you know, this year we are looking at some lesser known people in the Bible. Today we discover through mary of Magdalene, how our lives change when we meet Jesus and see things in a new way. So let’s look at the second part of this story where things change. I propose to you…There is hope when we see Jesus.
- Hearing Your Name Gives Comfort
The first thing is that hearing our name brings us comfort. When do things change for her; vs. 16:
“Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).” vs. 16
When he calls her name and she recognizes him – how important it is to listen, especially when God is talking. There are many times that God is calling us and we just don’t listen. But when we do, it is really comforting. It means he hears our cries. This may be the point where Mary stops crying. It means he is aware of our needs and tending to them. It means he cares and loves us and is always pursuing us. It also means we can turn to him in our times of grieving and mourning and he will be our comfort. He never forgets us or our name. And when we hear his voice, we recognize it and respond to it. John 10:3-4:
“He calls his own sheep by name…and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.”John 10:3-4
Ex. Ever been in a situation where you can’t remember someone’s name? You nod and say “Hey you” or something like that. You try to pretend or stall for more time to remember. Not God, he knows, he always knows. And if we open our ears and hearts, we recognize His voice.
- Brings Joy
Second, meeting Jesus can bring joy. And isn’t that what we all really want? Joy! Our grief will turn to joy. John 16:20 and 22:
“I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.” John 16:20
“I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy,.” John 16:22
The ultimate result is pure joy. Here is the promise; the sadness, the depression, the tough times, they are temporary. They won’t last forever.
Ex. Think back to time in high school when I was broken up with, it seemed like happiness would never be possible again.
But meeting Jesus brings joy and it’s a joy that cannot be explained or known by the world.
- Restored Hope
And finally, meeting Jesus brings restored hope.
“Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” vs. 17
Hope is a key ingredient for us. Here’s how I approach this. Hope is: to desire with anticipation or to expect with confidence.
“Now these three things remain; faith, hope, and love.” 1 Cor. 13:13
Hope is one of the basic foundations of life. You can’t take it away without taking a major part of us out of our life. Hope is hat gets us going and moves us forward. If we are stuck, inert, unable to move, when we discover hope, in any situation, we begin to look ahead again and move forward, into new places.
In A Way You Can Understand
Do you remember the movie “Oh God” starring George Burns and John Denver? While the movie was theologically distorted and disturbing, there is one scene in the movie where Burns, who plays God, appears to this supermarket assistant manager (Denver) wearing tennis shoes, glasses, and a fishing hat. When asked why he looks the way he does, Burns answers, “I picked a look you could understand.”
God loves you and continues to give you hope and to reveal himself to you. But it’s different for each of us; an in different ways for each of us but as George Burns so aptly puts it “In a look you can understand.
How and where are you seeing Jesus in your life?
