John 20:1-18

Diet advertisements make great use of before and after pictures. Here is the individual when he weighed 475 pounds. Here is that same man (supposedly) after two weeks on the diet and losing 225 Pounds! What an amazing difference!

While we may look dubiously upon diet photos here is one photo we must take seriously. In these verses we behold an amazing before and after photo of the disciples. The "before" photo shows us lives of hopelessness and grief. The "after" photo taken Easter morning shows us lives filled with renewed, faith and joy after the fact of the resurrection grasps their lives. Which of those photos best describes your life?

The joyous and confusing discovery.

I don't think we should be surprised that Mary Magdalene thought Jesus had been moved. Remember, you and I are reading this text from way after Easter. I'm certain that if we were where Mary was we would have concluded the same thing. Mary knew that Jesus had been placed in a borrowed tomb. Maybe the rightful owners had come and removed him! After all Jesus had been placed hastily in this tomb.

As soon as it became clear to Mary that Jesus was alive she went back and told Peter and John. A foot race between the two disciples began to the tomb. John being younger out ran Peter and beat him to the now empty tomb. All they had to do was see the tomb and believe. Why? Why would just seeing the burial cloths be enough for them believe?

If someone had moved the body, especially for re-internment, it's unlikely they would unwrap take the grave cloths from the body. Jesus was wrapped tightly with 75 pounds of spices and oils. It appears as though Jesus had passed through the cloths! The cloths simply collapsed as he rose from death and laid where Jesus had been. After Peter and John saw that, they believed.

Now, the interesting thing was that these folks still did not understand what was going on! They still did not understand that Jesus had to die and be raised from the dead. This truly was a joyous, yet confusing discovery.

Mary's struggle to believe

Peter and John believe but have not yet seen the risen Lord. Mary Magdalene does not believe, or at least she struggling with the fact that Jesus is not there. That would soon change.

Two angels announce to her that Jesus had been raised. Yet she still believes he has been moved and not raised. Then she sees Jesus. We should not be surprised that she doesn't recognize Jesus at first. She turned and saw Jesus and mistook him for the gardener. Jesus simply called her name and she immediately recognized him!. From that point on her life was changed! She was moved from inconsolable grief into boundless joy; from hopelessness into hope.

Before we are too hard on her we need to cut her some slack for two important reasons. I'm certain you would agree that it is not ordinary for the dead to be raised. We do not expect the deceased to walk away from the funeral home and neither did Mary. When was the last time you saw a dead person resurrected?