miracle

THE WEDDING AT CANA – John 2:1-11

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Don’t you love weddings!  They are such joyful occasions!  I’ve heard people say that they didn’t like going to funerals, but I’ve never personally heard anyone say that they didn’t like going to weddings.  There is the beautiful ceremony, the exchange of vows between the bride and groom, and those words:  “I now pronounce you husband and wife . . . You may kiss your bride.”  Then there is the reception afterward:  all the good food and drink, the joyful conversation, the photos taken, and the wonderful memories.

THE SETTING (verses 1-2)

The setting for this passage of Scripture is a wedding in Cana of Galilee.  Verses 1 and 2 tell us that “Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited.”  Jesus and His mother must have been friends of the bride and groom. Notice that John uses the term “mother of Jesus“.  He never calls her “Mary” in his Gospel.  In all the Scriptures the place of preeminence is always given to Jesus and not to Mary.

First-century Jewish weddings differed in many ways from our typical American weddings, but the receptions were similar.  The three stages to a first-century Jewish wedding are:  the “betrothal” (for a year – somewhat like an engagement), the “procession” (led by the groom, who goes to her parents’ home and takes her to his parents’ home where the marriage is consummated), and “the feast”.  This passage is talking about the wedding feast.  This feast could go on for several days, a week, or even longer.

What would be one of the worst things that could happen at a marriage feast?  What would cause the most embarrassment for the families of the bride and groom?  What would provoke anger among the guests and cause many of them to leave?  Running out of food and drink, right?  That would destroy the joy of this happy occasion because it would be saying to the guests, “We don’t want you here any longer!”  “Go home!”

II.  JESUS’ CONVERSATION WITH HIS MOTHER (verses 3-5)

Mary may have been helping with the feast because she knew that they were out of wine before the guests realized it.  In verse 3 she said to Jesus, “They have no wine”.    Was Mary expecting her Son to perform a miracle?  I don’t think so.  The apostle John tells us that this was His first miracle (see verse 11); so Jesus did not perform any miracles during His childhood.    Based on her previous experiences with her Son, I think she had a different reason for bringing this need to His attention.  In Luke’s Gospel, chapter 2, and verses 41-52, Jesus is 12 years old and went with His parents to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover feast.  Afterward. without their knowledge, He stayed in Jerusalem.  When they searched for Him, “they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.  And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.”  When His mother expressed their concern, Jesus said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me?  Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?”  Jesus did return with them to Nazareth, and “Mary treasured all these things in her heart”.  Verse 52 says that “Jesus increased in wisdom”.  I believe that Mary brought this need to Jesus because she was convinced that He had the wisdom to come up with a solution to this problem.  I don’t think that she was expecting a miracle from Him.  That’s my opinion.  If it is right, Mary witnessed much more than she expected.

His response is, “Woman, what do I have to do with you?  My hour has not yet come.”  This is a very controversial passage of Scripture.  I read it in 20 English versions so far.  Many of the translations and paraphrases seem disrespectful on the part of Jesus, and a few of them are brutal.  This is not the first time that this expression appears in the Scriptures.

After studying verse 4, I’ve personally come to the conclusion that this was a private conversation between Jesus and His mother.  John records it because he was there at the wedding, always stayed close to Jesus, and must have witnessed that conversation.  He wrote it down because this was the first of Jesus’ signs, pointing to His true identity as the Messiah, the Son of God (John 20:30-31).  Mary did not make a request of Jesus.  She merely presented a need.  His response was respectful and, judging from her reaction, she realized that Jesus was willing to do something about that need.  I believe that Jesus always did the right thing.  Rather than trying to imagine the exact meaning of His words and the tone of His voice when He said them, I am content to treat verse 4 as a private conversation, spoken in Hebrew, and look, rather, at the results of it.  Let’s move on to verse 5 and see what happened.

In verse 5, Mary obviously understands, from His response to her concern, that Jesus is willing to respond to this situation.  So she tells the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”  Those are Mary’s last words spoken in the Gospel of John.  Her words are good advice for us today, aren’t they?  “Whatever He says to you, do it.”  By saying those words, Mary was stepping back so that the focus would be on Jesus, and so that He could deal with the situation in His own way. 

III.  THE MIRACLE ITSELF (verses 6-10)

I agree with Warren Wiersbe when he says that this is a “quiet miracle”.  Mary, His disciples, and the servants may have been the only ones who witnessed this event and realized that Jesus performed a miracle.  It’s quite a contrast to the last miracle of Jesus recorded in John’s Gospel:  “And He cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth’.  He who died came forth . . . “.  Let’s take a look at this miracle here in John chapter 2.  It raises some questions and teaches some lessons.  Verse 6 says, “Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each.”   There is a reason for John’s detailed description of the waterpots.  These pots were part of a religious tradition.  The Mishnah was a collection of the traditions of the elders passed on from generation to generation and then put into written form in six large volumes.  The largest volume was devoted entirely to the subject of ceremonial washing of hands and vessels for eating, not to remove dirt but to make them “ceremonially clean”.  They had to perform these washings before and after every meal.  The Scriptures did not require this practice.  Only the priests were to cleanse themselves (Leviticus 22) before offering a sacrifice or eating consecrated food, and only if they had come in contact with a leper or an unclean animal or person.  So the Jewish traditions had expanded God’s Law way out of proportion, and they insisted upon their observance very rigidly.  A Rabbi named Rabbi Akiba, who was imprisoned by the Romans and given scarcely enough water to sustain life, preferred to use all that water for his ceremonial washings and to die of thirst.  This may seem like a long side-track but you will see how it fits into this passage of Scripture soon.

In verse 7, “Jesus said to them (the servants), ‘Fill the waterpots with water.’  And they filled them up to the brim.”  Those six waterpots now contained a total of 120 to 180 gallons of water; maybe even more since they were now filled to the brim.  That’s a lot of water!  If you drank a gallon of water a day (and most of us drink about half that much in a day),  the water in those pots would last you from four to six months, or even longer!  Jesus had a reason for telling the servants to fill those pots to the brim.  He wanted there to be no doubt that there was “only” water in those pots, and that there was no room to add wine to them.  There was no way that those servants, or any people nearby, could come to the conclusion that this was a trick, or that wine had been added to the water.

When those servants completed their task and had returned to Jesus, He said to them in verse 8:  “Draw some out now, and take it to the headwaiter.”  The Scripture says, “and they took it to him”.  They obeyed Jesus’ request, but can you imagine what they must have been thinking to themselves and saying to one another as they were taking this “water” to the headwaiter for him to sample.  “Is he going to be angry with us and make fun of us for bringing him water to taste?”  That brings up my first question:  When did the water become wine?  John does not record that Jesus touched the water, or spoke words such as “become wine”, and he doesn’t record any “waving of the hand” by Jesus to indicate the moment of transformation.  When do you think it happened?  We don’t know for sure, but I’ve changed my personal opinion as a result of my study of this passage.  I now believe that it didn’t become wine immediately after they filled the pots.  It didn’t become wine when the servants drew the water, nor as they were on their way to the headwaiter.  I personally believe it became wine an instant before the headwaiter tasted it.  I have reasons for this personal belief.  For one thing, I don’t think there was a smell of wine after the vessels were filled.  I think that six vessels holding a total of 180 gallons of wine would have given off quite an aroma (or “bouquet”).  I also don’t think it was wine when the servants were carrying it to the headwaiter.  If I were one of those servants, I would try to hold the ladle or cup up near my nose to smell it, and also look at it to see if there was a change in color.  If I could get away with it, I might even take a sip, and that’s a no-no!  So the suspense must have been unbearable as they watched the headwaiter bring it to his lips, take a swallow or two and call out to the bridegroom, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.  But you have kept the good wine until now!”  So I personally think that the water from the waterpot didn’t become wine until just before the headwaiter tasted it.  Verse 9 says that the headwaiter did not know where it came from, so he was able to be impartial in his response. His proclamation to the bridegroom indicates that Jesus not only turned water into wine, but into aged wine; performing in an instant what would normally have taken many years to happen naturally.

Second question:  How much of all those waterpots full of water actually became wine?  We don’t know that for sure either, but I have my recently-formed opinion on that question also.  I don’t personally believe that any of the water in any of those pots became wine until it was drawn out for use.  Whatever was not drawn out for use remained water.  That may sound ridiculous, but based upon Warren Wiersbe’s comment that this was a “quiet miracle”, if Jesus performed the miracle in this way, the only people who would have known that this was truly a miracle would have been His mother, His disciples, and the servants.  The headwaiter and even the bride and groom may not have known that a miracle was performed by Jesus.  If His miracle had been performed in this manner, there would be no traces of a miracle left behind – no stone waterpots still full of wine, and no empty waterpots having the smell of wine.  Maybe this was part of the intent of Jesus’ words to Mary in verse 4 – “My hour has not yet come.”  It wasn’t the time yet for some people to be proclaiming that He is the Messiah while others are seeking ways to kill Him.

Does this theory still seem farfetched?  You may want to read chapter 6 of John’s Gospel.  The five barley loaves and two dried fish were being multiplied as Jesus was breaking them up and putting them into baskets for the disciples to distribute.  Once again, the miracle itself was not visible to anyone except His disciples.  Only the results were visible to others.  Amazing, isn’t it?  I think it makes the miracle even more amazing if it was truly performed by Jesus in this way.

IV.  RESULTS AND CONCLUSION (verses 11-12)

Verse 16 says, “This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.”  It appears that the Lord Jesus’ primary audience for this miracle was His disciples, who were with Him and watched the whole event up-close.  The intended, and actual result was that they saw a manifestation of His glory and “believed in Him”.

You may be wondering when I’m going to keep my promise and return to the topic of purification:  the ceremonial washing of the hands and vessels for eating – the reason those large waterpots happened to be there.  Is there more to be learned from this miracle of Jesus?  Let’s find out.  Psalm 104:14-15 speaks of God’s goodness and generosity to mankind.  It says, “He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the labor of man, so that he may bring forth food from the earth.  And wine which makes man’s heart glad . . . ”  Wine represents joy, celebration, and festivity.  That’s why it was so important to the wedding feast.  But there was no true joy in Palestine at that time.  The daily ceremonial washings and other rituals made life tasteless for the people.  It took their focus away from their personal relationship with God.  Have there been times when going to church and attending Bible studies has been little more than a ritual for you?  Have there been times when it seemed that there was nothing to be joyful about?  We’ve all experienced those moments, haven’t we?  If we know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we have every reason for joy.  What we need is a fresh realization of the glory of God.  Psalm 16:11 says, “In His presence is fullness of joy . . . “.  He is always present with us, and in us if we are His children, and He always desires to have fellowship with us.  When unconfessed sin, or circumstances, people, things, or worry rob us of joy, let’s pray David’s prayer in Psalm 51:10-12 and allow the Lord to put our lives back into proper focus:  “Create in me a clean heart, O God, . . . Restore unto me the joy of my salvation.” 

Amos 9:12-15 and Joel 3:18 tell us that an abundance of wine is also a symbol of the presence of the Messiah.  That was certainly true of Jesus’ first public appearance!  “The mountains will drip with sweet wine”.  Let’s remind ourselves of His coming, why He came, what He did for us and what He is continuing to do for us as our High Priest.  Let’s also remind ourselves that the greatest wedding and wedding feast is soon to come.  Revelation 19:7.9 says, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. . . . Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb”  Participation in this marriage and marriage feast in heaven is by invitation only, and the joy of this event will last forever.  Is your name on the invitation list (The Lamb’s Book of Life)?  If not, become a child of God through a life-changing faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior today (John 1:11-13).

I’d like to see you there, at the marriage supper of the Lamb.  That is my prayer.  “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all.  Amen.”  (Revelation 22:21)


 

 

CONSTRUCTION SITE:

Thank you for visiting this construction site.  I hope you will come back to view some of the other sermons on this site.  May the joy of the Lord be your strength today.

JESUS CHRIST, IDENTIFIED AND MAGNIFIED – John 1:15-17

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Have you ever had something really wonderful happen to you and you could hardly wait to share it with your family and friends?  As you write the letters, send the emails, or make the phone calls, in your excitement you begin with the big picture, the main event.  In just a few action-packed and emotion-filled words you release your excitement.  Then you begin to explain the details:  what led up to the event, the event itself, and what has been happening to you afterward.  You might also talk about the effects it might have on your future.  Does that sequence of events sound familiar to you?

The apostle John has reached that point in his gospel.  Verses 1-18 are his prologue, the introduction to his book.  He has been describing the “logos” in order to gain the attention and interest of his Greek-speaking audience.  In verse 14 he comes to the exciting main event:  “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us“!  In his excitement, John is saying, “Isn’t that amazing!”  “Isn’t that exciting!”  He spends the rest of his book telling them, and us, about it.

I.  THE TESTIMONY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST (verse 15)

To verify his statement, John directs our attention again to the words of John the Baptist, for a brief moment, because John the Baptist was the first person to publicly identify the Logos.  Though John the Baptist was six months older than Jesus, he says of Jesus in verse 15, “He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.”   He shouted those words as loud as he could because he wanted to get everyone’s attention.  He wanted everyone within earshot to hear from his lips who Jesus truly was,  John the Baptist is referring to Jesus’ eternal existence, and therefore His deity.  He will have much more to say about Jesus in the next passage of Scripture that we will be studying – verses 19 and following of John chapter 1.

Some people consider Jesus Christ to be only a man, and indeed He is a man.  Some people point to Him as an example, and He is that also.  But if that’s all you can see in Jesus Christ, then your view of Him is incomplete and contrary to the Scriptures.  For the first and most important thing said about Jesus Christ is that He had no beginning, and that is the same as calling him God.

The Old Testament, which was completed 400 years before the birth of Christ, contains many occurrences of His appearing to people.  The terms “the angel of the Lord” or “the angel of God” are used often in the Old Testament to refer to an appearance of Christ.  He appeared to Abraham in Genesis 18 and is referred to as “the Lord”.  In John 8:56 Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”  He appeared to Jacob in a dream in Genesis 31 and introduced Himself as “the God of Bethel”.  Jacob wrestles with a man in Genesis 32, and the man says, “You have striven with God”.  Jacob then says, “I saw God face-to-face”.  In Exodus 23:21 He appears to Moses and is identified by God as having the power to forgive sins because God says, “My name is in him”.

There are many other references to “the angel of the Lord” in the Old Testament.  It’s interesting to note that this “angel of the Lord” never appeared during the lifetime of Jesus Christ on this earth.  Why?  Because Jesus Christ is the “angel of the Lord” making an “extended appearance” for thirty-three years as a human being.

II.  CHRIST’S SUFFICIENCY (verse 16)

In verse 16, the apostle John continues where he left off in verse 14.  He said that the Word was “full of grace and truth”.  Now he adds, “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.”  We might ask the question:  “What is it that we have received from Jesus Christ?”  A better question might be:  “What is it that we have not received?”  From Him we have received a new life, peace, joy, God’s Word, the Holy Spirit, and all that the believer needs for this life and for eternity.

Have you ever filled a glass or bucket to the brim with water and then tried to walk while carrying it?  You couldn’t keep it from spilling the water all over the place, could you?  The apostle Paul, in Colossians 1:19, says of Jesus;  “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him.”  Paul’s prayer for the church at Ephesus was “that you may be filled with all the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 3:19).  The great preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, declared, “I have heard our Lord compared to a man carrying a water pot.  As he bore it upon his shoulder, the water, yielding to the movement of his body, fell dropping and spilling about so that one could easily track the water-bearer.  So should all of God’s people be carrying such a fullness of grace that everyone knows where they have been by the tracks they leave behind.”

The apostle John describes this “fullness” as “grace upon grace“.  Out of Christ’s “fullness” we have received one grace after another.  It is an inexhaustible supply of fresh grace.  I lead worship services at several healthcare facilities and we have been studying the miracles in the Old Testament.  I think that the miracle we studied this week is very appropriate to this verse of Scripture.  In I KIngs 17, after Elijah told King Ahab that there was going to be a drought, God told Elijah to hide at the brook Cherith and He would provide Elijah with food daily.  Many of you are probably familiar with the “Meals On Wheels” program.  For a modest fee they will bring a hot meal to the door of a person who is unable to prepare a good meal for himself.  I think that God had an even better idea.  I call it “Meals on Wings”.  Twice a day ravens brought Elijah meat and bread — airmail, special delivery!  This continued for months, maybe for a year or more.  What a demonstration of the continuing, faithful grace of God!

When John describes how that fullness is bestowed upon us, he uses the Greek preposition, anti, which has been translated into English in many different ways.  The most popular translation appears to be “grace upon grace“.  However, there are several other translations such as:  “grace for grace”, “grace on grace”, “grace after grace”, “grace in place of grace”, “grace over against grace”, as well as many paraphrases of those words.

Which translation of “anti” is correct?  Do they all convey the exact same meaning?  What was the literal meaning of that word in common usage during that period of time?  My own conclusion, so far, is that the Greek preposition “anti” usually means “instead of” or “in place of”.  It does sound awkward to say “grace instead of grace” or “grace in place of grace”.  There needs to an explanation so that we can put the phrase into understandable English.  I think I found that explanation.  It makes sense to me and I hope it will make sense to you as well.  Joanie Yoder gives the following explanation and illustration in an Our Daily Bread devotional:

Years ago, Amy Carmichael shared some helpful insights about the phrase, “grace for grace.”  Drawing from the writings of Bishop Moule (1841-1920), she wrote that the Greek word translated “for” literally means “instead of”.  He illustrated the meaning by describing a river.  “Stand on its banks,” he wrote, “and contemplate the flow of waters.  A minute passes, and another.  Is it the same stream still?  Yes.  But is it the same water?  No.”  The old water, he explained, had been displaced by new — “water in stead of water,”

The same is true of grace.  Your life today may carry yesterday’s problems, but remember, God’s grace is new each morning, exactly what you need to meet each new challenge.  It is an inexhaustible and ever-fresh supply.

Thank you, Joanie, Bishop Moule, and Our Daily Bread Ministries for those insights.  As the prophet Jeremiah said in Lamentations 3:22-23, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.  His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness (RSV).  I personally like the translations “grace after grace” and “one grace after another”.

The following illustration describes grace in terms of “dollars and cents” if that gives you a clearer picture.  A generous man decided to give a thousand dollars to a poor minister.  (This illustration was written back in the day when a thousand dollars was a lot of money; when one hundred dollars a week was the average wage of a blue-collar worker.)  Thinking that it might be too much all at once, he sent fifty dollars with a note which said, “More to follow“.  A few days later he sent a similar amount with the same message.  At regular intervals he sent a third, then a fourth, and a fifth, and so on, all accompanied by the same promise, “More to follow“.  The surprised and happy minister soon became familiar with those cheering words and his gratitude to God overflowed each time he read them.  In the same way, every blessing God gives us in Christ comes with a reminder, “More to follow“.

CHRIST’S FULLNESS BY COMPARISON (verse 17)

In verse 17, John contrasts this grace with the Old Testament law when he says, “For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”  The law was “given“.  It was engraved on tablets of stone by the finger of God.  Grace and truth “came“.  They were wrapped up in the Person of Jesus Christ.  People saw and experienced His grace.  Peter said, “Jesus went around doing good” (Acts10:38).  The Lord Jesus also spoke the truth, and with authority.  In the gospel writings you will notice that the Lord Jesus often used the words, “Truly, truly, I say to you”, or “I tell you the truth”.  In John 7:32 the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to seize Jesus.  They returned empty-handed.  When asked why they didn’t bring Him, the officers answered, “No one ever spoke the way this man speaks.” (John 7:46, NIV)  Grace and truth were Jesus’ essential perfections.  They set Him apart from the rest of the world.  Those two attributes, grace and truth, need to come together in our own lives also.  It is difficult to receive, and impossible to really enjoy, a gift that comes from someone we don’t trust.  Are there people who don’t trust you?  By the grace of God, what are you going to do about it?

CONCLUSION:

There is joy and excitement in the New Testament, especially after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the focus is upon “the grace of God” and “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ”.  It was continually in their minds of the apostles, as well as on their hearts, in their speech, and in their writings.  Get out a concordance, look up the word “grace” and see how many times it is mentioned in the book of Acts and in the epistles.  Look at the opening paragraph and closing paragraph of the epistles and see how many times it is there.  It appears to me that this is the way the first-century Christians said hello and goodbye to each other.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t think about those words and say them often enough.  I can never think about them or say them often enough.  When I turn off this computer I’m going to write the words, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ” on a piece of paper and put it on my refrigerator, where I’ll see it several times a day.  I have a little wooden “pocket cross”, a gift from a friend.  I’ve stopped putting it in my pocket, but it is going back in it again.  Every time I put my hand in my pocket to get my keys or warm my hand, I want to be reminded of the grace of God.  If you have reminders that you use, I would appreciate hearing from you about it.  Let’s be of encouragement to one another.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

 

 

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”  II Timothy 2:15 (NIV)

CHRIST’S RESURRECTION AND FIRST APPEARANCE – John 20:1-18

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I.  INTRODUCTION:

Christians meet together for worship and fellowship on Sunday morning because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  The Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week, and Christians have been worshiping on Sunday ever since. Throughout the centuries men have tried to honor their heroes by erecting lavish monuments.  The massive pyramids of Egypt were built as resting places for the Egyptian Pharoahs;  the glistening Taj Mahal in India is the tomb of an Indian emperor and his favorite wife.  Lenin’s tomb in Russia’s Red Square is where the body of the Marxist leader is preserved by some mysterious process;  and the burial vault at Mt. Vernon is the site of George Washington’s’ body. Jesus’ simple grave can’t compare with these costly burial places.  But the tomb of Jesus excels all of these in the most important respect.  It’s empty!  He is not there!  At the heart of the Christian faith is the claim that Jesus Christ, on the third day after His death on the cross, rose from the dead and is alive forevermore.  No other world religion has dared to make such a claim about its leader.

I.  MARY AT THE TOMB (verses 1-2)

Let’s look at what happened in John’s Gospel on the third day after Jesus’ death on the cross.  In Verse l, Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb very early on the first day of the week.  Luke’s Gospel tells us that Mary was bringing spices to prepare  His body for burial.  She must not have known that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had already done so. Why did Mary wait until the third day after Jesus’ burial?   The Jewish traditions taught that the soul hovered over the body of a dead person until the third day, when it finally left.  Friends and family were often in the habit of going to the grave up to the third day, when corruption was supposed to begin, in order to make sure that the person was really dead. The first thing Mary sees is the stone that had been rolled away from the tomb.  The stone was a large disc-shaped stone that had  been rolled down against the entrance to the tomb.  It would have taken many men to move such a heavy stone away from that tomb. Mary must have been in a state of shock as she ran to tell Peter and John what she had seen.  She tells them in verse 2 that “they have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid Him”.  Notice that Mary says, “WE do not know”.  Luke tells us in his Gospel that Mary was accompanied by Joanna and Mary the mother of James, as well as other women, when she went to the tomb.

II.  PETER AND JOHN (vs. 3-10)

After listening to Mary words, Peter and John have a foot race to the tomb in verses 3 and 4, and John wins.  It’s interesting to see the differences in these two men.  Verse 5 says that John looks inside the tomb, sees the linen wrappings, but does not go in.  Peter, however, is more bold.  He goes into the tomb, sees the linen wrappings lying there, and also sees the face-cloth rolled up in another place. In verse 8, John also enters the tomb, sees the linen wrappings and believes.  What did John believe and why did he believe it?  John believed Jesus’ promise that He would rise from the dead, and he believed when he saw the linen wrappings.  The wrappings were strips of linen cloth.  The spices placed between the wrappings were like glue, and they held the strips of cloth together.  It was like a cocoon around Jesus’ body from His shoulders to His feet.  Jesus’ glorified body somehow passed through those wrappings, leaving them flattened but still wound together. A little boy once said sadly to his mother.  “I’m so disappointed!   You told me that something beautiful would come out of that brown thing I picked up the other day, but when I just now looked at it, I found a hole in it and only an empty skin was left!”  The mother said, “My child, you have looked in the wrong place for what I have promised.  Come with me.”  The mother took the boy back into the other room, and there, not too far from the empty cocoon, was a beautiful butterfly.  It had perched on the window sill so that it could dry its wings in the warmth of the noonday sun. Jesus’ disciples did not understand that Jesus must rise from the dead in fulfillment of Scripture, so verse 10 says that they went away to their own homes, to go back to their old way of life.  In much the same way these friends and followers of Jesus looked in the wrong place when they looked for the Savior.

III.  MARY AND THE ANGELS (verses 11-14)

In verse 11 we find Mary Magdalene remaining at the tomb weeping, and then when looked inside the tomb again, she saw two angels sitting one at the head and one at the feet of Jesus’ empty wrappings.  However, Mary did not realize that they were angels.  In verse 13 they ask her, “woman, why are you weeping”, and Mary gives her reason.  She says, “They have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid Him.”  Mark’s Gospel tells us that the angel on the right tells Mary:  “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified;  He is risen;  He is not here.”

IV.  MARY AND JESUS (verses 15-18)

You can imagine Mary’s confusion in verse 15 when she turns around and Jesus is standing there.  But Mary didn’t recognize Jesus, nor did anyone recognize Him.  He was changed.   He now had a glorified body and His physical appearance was changed.  Jesus asks her basically the same question that the angel asked her.  Mary didn’t recognize Him until verse 16 when Jesus said her name.  Then she recognized His voice and the way He always said her name.  She calls Him “Rabboni”, which means Teacher. Jesus is not chiding Mary in verse 17 when He says to her, “Stop clinging to me . . . “.  He is actually gently letting her know that the time is short and there is much to be done.  Then, in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus gives her a commission when He says, “Do not be afraid;  go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they shall see Me.”  Mary does so in verse 18.

CONCLUSION: Today we celebrate the resurrection  of Jesus  Christ from the dead.  We serve a risen Savior, don’t we?  The resurrection of Christ is mentioned 108 times in the New Testament, and it is the greatest miracle in the New Testament.  For the believer, the cross of Jesus Christ closes the door to hell, and the empty tomb opens the gates of heaven.  Andrew Blackwood makes this observation:  “There is not a single pessimistic note anywhere in the New Testament after Christ’s resurrection.”  The risen Christ became a source of rejoicing for all who followed Him.  They were reminded  of what Jesus said to them in John 16:22 before His death:  “Now is your time of grief,  but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” Are you experiencing the joy of the resurrected Christ?  Is He living and reigning in your life?  May we experience that joy and peace this Easter day and every day of our lives.  Let’s not let a day go by, let’s not let a waking hour go by without thinking about and thanking God for the death and resurrection of  His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.