Because Jesus is Alive

One of the major themes of John’s gospel and of the whole Bible is the theme of “truth.” A few weeks ago, in John 19 we saw Pilate retort to Jesus—and Jesus is the truth! He didn’t just know a lot of truth or always spoke the truth, which he did—but he is the very embodiment of TRUTH! Pilate retorted to the embodiment of truth, “What is truth?”

Truth apparently in the times of Jesus had fallen on hard times. I think we can safely say and agree on the fact that truth has fallen on hard times today as well. There are certainly times and places in the world where that is more true than others. For example, North Korea would be a place where truth is probably more difficult to come by than where we live today. But I think we can all agree that truth is very important, and that truth is far from agreed upon in our community and culture today.

Nonetheless, being able to evaluate what is true is an inescapable reality that we live with every single day.

• STORY: Two weeks ago, on Tuesday morning I had the privilege of being called in for jury duty. So I did my citizenly duty and showed up for jury. I wasn’t picked to be on the jury, nor did I even make it into the box to be questioned to potentially make it for jury duty. Instead I watched 26 other individuals get questioned.

• The line of questioning that I found most interesting was, “How can you tell if someone is telling you the truth?” That’s a critical question when you have a jury trial where 13 individuals have to hear witnesses give their testimony and then render a verdict of guilty or not guilty.

• If lying wasn’t part of society, then we’d never have to ask this question.

• If issues of memory and recalling the events clearly wasn’t an issue we also wouldn’t need to evaluate what is true, because we’d know no one lies and no one remembers anything incorrectly.

• Also, if perspectives weren’t different we wouldn’t have to evaluate whether things are true are not.

• Pretty much every juror that was asked that question said something along the lines of, “Well, their body language, their eye contact, and their confidence and boldness…that’s how I’d tell if they were telling the truth.”

• I loved the attorney’s response at one point… “Have you ever had someone confidently and boldly lie to you?”…there was a pause from the juror, followed by a simple, “yes.”

• The point very clearly is, just because someone is confident doesn’t mean they are telling the truth.

• The attorney asked, “Do you think that a witness might be nervous to be on the stand in front of people, in a court of law, with everyone looking at them?

• The obvious answer is, “Yes.” That’s pretty likely for many people.

So, the question the attorney asked is still very important. How can you tell if someone is telling the truth?

• The simplest answer to that question is, their story accurately accounts for all the facts. Or if there are facts that aren’t included the inclusion of those facts doesn’t change the overall thrust of the story.

Well, in the jury case that I was called in for, it had to do with battery and moderate bodily injury. For the defendant, the verdict of guilty or not guilty carries with it significant consequences! But not just for the defendant. Also, the alleged victim has a lot at stake in the verdict as well. The wrong verdict might put an innocent man behind bars, or it might be a victim at further risk of being attacked again. Either way, the truth really matters.

Well, when we turn to evaluate what is true when it comes to matters of eternity…heaven vs. hell, salvation vs. damnation, redemption vs. wrath, the stakes for getting truth right REALLY matters!

For Christianity, the most critical aspect of the truthfulness of the Bible has to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Lee Strobel who wrote the book The Case for Christ, which also had a movie made based off of it, was advised to begin with evaluating truthfulness of the resurrection of Jesus, because “If the resurrection of Jesus doesn’t happen, it’s a house of cards.”

• And that’s exactly right. If the resurrection of Jesus is true, then we need to return everyone’s tithes and offerings, sell off our campuses and probably distribute funds back to the members.

The apostle Paul said it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:19 ¹⁹ If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

• In other words, if Jesus isn’t resurrected, the Christians are the most pitiful people on the planet!

Our annual theme this year is Enjoying Life in His Name, and as part of that theme we’ve been studying through the gospel of John verse by verse. Enjoying Life in His Name is only possible Because Jesus is Alive!

Enjoying life vs. being the most pitiful is a big difference, and it all rises and falls on the truthfulness and historicity of Christ’s resurrection. The passage we are going to be studying this morning is John 20:1–18. I’d encourage you to turn their in your Bible’s this morning, or to pull it up on your phone or use one of the Bible’s in the chair in front of you.

• When we’re trying to evaluate truthfulness, sources matter…so I want you to open up to the source…I want you to lay your eyes on the source and evaluate for yourself the evidence of the resurrection.

Now, for those of you who are Christians and have trusted in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus I’m asking you to consider this text from two angles:

• First, ask God to help you see it afresh. The resurrection of our Savior is certainly one of the most central and familiar parts of the Bible to us. Do not let that drain the power, amazement and joy that God has for you from this text.

• Second, listen to this in such a way that you’d be able to help others understand why you believe in the resurrection of Christ.

If you aren’t sure if you believe in the resurrection or maybe are here with family that believes but you do not believe, then I’d encourage you to listen in such a way and ask yourself, does this sound true? Does the Bible sound like a made-up story, a legend or a fairy tale? Or does it sound like it has the ring of truth?

• There are a lot of arguments against the Bible. I’d encourage you to take an honest look at what the Scriptures say for themselves.

Follow along as I read…

With the time we have remaining we are looking at 2 Reasons to believe that Jesus rose from the dead.

The first reason to believe that Jesus rose from the dead is because the empty tomb fulfills Scripture.

The empty tomb fulfills Scripture (vv.1–10)

This is one of the most amazing aspects regarding the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Jesus had only been raised from the dead and his tomb was empty, but there had been any prophecy and prediction regarding his resurrection that would still be amazing!! But, not only did Jesus rise from the dead, but the prophets spoke about his resurrection centuries before it ever happened!

That’s why John 20:9 says “For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.”

Notice that, John says according to the Scriptures Jesus had to rise from the dead. There is debate about specific Scriptures that might have referred, but the “singular” word for Scripture there probably is just referring to the Old Testament as a whole.

So consider how the empty tomb fulfills OT prophecy about the Christ.

It fulfills Old Testament prophecy about the Christ.

For example, Psalm 16:10 ¹⁰ For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

King David is the one who penned those words in the Old Testament. And we know from the Davidic Covenant that God cut with David in 2 Samuel 7, that God would raise up one of David’s own offspring to be King.

2 Samuel 7:12–13 ¹² When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

The problem with establishing any single human king’s kingdom forever is that people don’t live forever! So, the expectation had been for the Messiah to come from the line of David to establish this promised Kingdom. However, in order to do that this coming King needed to not be abandoned to “Sheol” as Psalm 16:10 says…his soul needed to not be delivered over to death and decay.

What is revealed through the Holy Spirit and through Peter’s preaching in Acts 2 is that David was prophetically speaking of his future offspring—Jesus—who wouldn’t be abandoned to death.

In Acts 2:25–28, Peter quotes Psalm 16:8–11 and then says,

Acts 2:29–32 ²⁹ “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day (if David’s tomb from centuries ago was known, certainly others could have gone to Jesus’ tomb and proven that the tomb wasn’t empty if Jesus was really dead!). ³⁰ Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, (that’s what we just read about in 2 Samuel 7)³¹ he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. ³² This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.

Not only is Psalm 16:10 fulfilled in Christ’s resurrection, but also Isaiah 53:10. I’m going to read a couple verses before so we can see the context.

Isaiah 54:8–10 ⁸ By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? ⁹ His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. ¹⁰ But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.

What I read prophesies about Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. The detail of the prophecy is stunning! We read last week about Christ crucifixion as a criminal. That point was emphasized because he was crucified in between two criminals. But then, remarkably as Pastor Green noted last week Jesus, was actually given a proper burial.

• The Romans often wouldn’t bury criminals.

• And the Jews wouldn’t give a proper burial to criminals, rather they would throw them in a mass grave outside the city.

• Not only was Jesus’ death and burial unusual concerning the specific circumstances, but they astounding considering they were also a specific fulfilment of Isaiah 53:9 that was written 700 years before Christ was even born!

But for our purposes this morning, focusing on Christ’s resurrection, v.10 is of interest to us. V.10 mentions that he would be a “guilt offering.” If you read the instructions for a guilt offering in Leviticus 5&6, a guilt offering meant the sacrifice was killed. So how could Jesus offer himself as a guilt offering and yet “see His offspring” and have his days prolonged? The answer? Because the tomb of Christ is empty! Jesus is alive!

So as John writes in v.9, according to the Scripture He must rise from the dead. Those two verses are pretty straight forward prophecies concerning just that.

In Luke 24, after Jesus’ resurrection, Jesus says to two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus who are saddened about his crucifixion and death that occurred three days ago…

Luke 24:25–27 “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ ?Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”? ²⁷ Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

We don’t have time to go through all of the Old Testament and explain how they point to Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, but please don’t miss the fact that according to Jesus there are way more than just a couple verses concerning his resurrection!

I want to provide one quote for you just to give you a taste of the depth of fulfillment that is occurring with Christ’s resurrection.

In the book The Resurrection of the Son of God, NT Wright says,

John declares from the start, with the obvious allusion to Genesis 1:1, that his book is about the new creation in Jesus. In chapter 20 he makes the same point by stressing that Easter was ‘the first day of the week’ (20:1, 19; when John underlines things like this he clearly wants us to ponder the point). On the sixth day of the creation narrative, humankind was created in the divine image; on the sixth day of the last week of Jesus’ life, John has Pilate declare, ‘Behold the man!’ The seventh day is the day of rest for the creator; in John, it is the day when Jesus rests in the tomb. Easter is the start of the new creation.

This is reinforced by the themes of light and life. ‘In him was life, and the light was the light of human beings,’ shining unquenchably in the darkness (1:4–5). Now Mary comes to the tomb while it is still dark, and discovers the new light and life which has defeated the darkness. (The Resurrection of the Son of God; NT Wright, pg 667)^[1]

Now, there was a ton packed into that quote. But what I hope is clear, is that the gospel and facts of Christ death, burial and resurrection are simple enough that a young child can understand and believe, but at the same time the depth of Scripture is so vast that the oldest and most mature Christian will never be able to plumb its full depth in this life!

So why believe that Jesus is alive, because the tomb is empty and the Old Testament predicted just that!

Moreover, the empty tomb fulfills Jesus’ own words about his resurrection.

It fulfills Jesus’ own words about his resurrection.

All the way back in John 2 Jesus predicted his death and resurrection after cleansing the temple.

John 2:18–22 ¹⁸ The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?” ¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰ The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But He was speaking of the temple of His body. ²² So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

That’s exactly what happened. They destroyed Jesus’ body on the cross and then now on the first day of the week—three days later he raised it back up!

In John 10, where Jesus calls himself the good shepherd, he says in John 10:17–18 ¹⁷ For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. ¹⁸ No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

• - Jesus claimed that his death was going to be at his own volition. That’s exactly what we see on the cross. He died at the right time. He bowed up his head and committed his Spirit into his father’s hands only after he said “It is finished.” And he died before the soldiers came and broke his legs in fulfillment of Scripture!

• - But not only did he lay down his life of his own accord, he has the authority to take it back up again. The empty tomb is proof of that very point!

When we layer in the other gospels, we understand that Jesus specifically prediction of his own death at the hands of the chief priests and the Romans and his resurrection three days later multiple times! One such place in Mark says it this way:

Mark 8:31–32a ³¹ And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³² And He was stating the matter plainly…

If that’s the case, that the OT prophesied Jesus’ resurrection, and Jesus himself prophesied his own resurrection 3 days later, then you may rightly ask, “Why is Mary and John and Peter not at the tomb on the 3^rd day waiting for the resurrection?” Why are the mourning, and confused and bewildered by the empty tomb?

You’d expect as soon as Mary sees the empty tomb she’d run back and say, “The tomb is empty! Do you think that Jesus’ prediction to rise on the 3^rd day is true!?”

Then perhaps you’d have John and Peter still engaged in their foot race, simply because they want to see it for themselves. But you’d expect to read as soon as they get to the tomb they see the grave clothes and they believe and they hug and rejoice and go tell the other disciples! But that’s not what we see.

Now, we are told that when John enters into the tomb and sees, that he believed. The text doesn’t seem to indicate that Peter believes at this point. Peter seems to be wrestling with the facts of the empty tomb and the grave clothes and face cloth that are left behind and laying in place. John, according to his own testimony believes. But his faith seems to be a fledgling and tentative faith at this point. He doesn’t shake Peter and declare that Jesus is alive or run back and tell the rest of the disciples that Jesus has raised from the dead as Christ predicted.

Why isn’t that what happened?

I think the difficult and hard reality that we must square up with is, that facts are not enough for genuine belief.

Facts are not enough for genuine belief.

Here’s what I mean…the disciples walked with Jesus for three years, and heard Jesus predict his death, burial and resurrection multiple times and plainly. His enemies heard him predict by what kind of death he was going to die—we saw that at the end of John 12.

Not only did Jesus specifically predict his death—which happened just as he said it would—but the disciples also witnessed Jesus do more miracles than they could even record!

John 21:25 ²⁵ And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.

So a miraculous resurrection shouldn’t honestly have been that much of a surprise!

Furthermore, it wasn’t very long before Jesus’ own resurrection that he raised Lazarus from the dead! The disciples were with him when he did this. In John 11, before he raises Lazarus from the dead, he declares, “That he is the resurrection and the life.”

• - That’s a bold claim!

• - Then he proves it by raising Lazarus from the dead.

But when Jesus calls Lazarus out of the tomb do you remember how the text describes Lazarus and what must happen with Lazarus that is very different than Jesus’ resurrection?

John 11:43–44 ⁴³ When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” ⁴⁴ The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Why does Peter focus on the grave clothes and the face cloth still lying in their place? Why is it that when John goes in and sees those things lying there that he believes?

• - It’s because even if Jesus simply raised from the dead, the question is, “How did he get out of the grave clothes?”

• - If the body was stolen, “Why leave the grave clothes?”

• - If the body was stolen, “why would the robbers go to the trouble to leave the grave clothes in such a way that it looks like the body just vanished out of them?”

If facts were enough to bring about belief, then Mary and Peter would have believed. But the text indicates that Peter…the spokesman of the disciples, doesn’t understand or believe yet.

And as we see as we turn our attention to Mary, she doesn’t get it either.

But before we turn our attention to Mary, I need to pause and turn the attention on you.

Have you let the facts of the empty tomb and the prophecies of the resurrection of Jesus move you to believe in Jesus?

• - It’s not enough to acknowledge that Jesus lived and died and even that he was raised again. Facts alone don’t bring a person to belief in Jesus Christ, such that you will have eternal life in his name.

• - This gospel that we’re studying was not written simply to be an academic exercise or even simply historical.

• o The gospel is certainly meant to be studied as we have been doing week by week, verse by verse this year.

• o And the gospel is certainly giving us history.

I want to ask you, “Are you sure that you’ve believed in Jesus that way?” Through the remainder of the sermon, if there is doubt in your mind about whether you just know facts, or whether you truly believe in Jesus then pray to the Lord right now to help you answer that question even in the remainder of the sermon.

Non-Christian friend, if you’re here and you have doubted or even tried contesting the fact of the empty tomb and the fulfillment of Scripture, can I ask you why you’d still be doubting?

• - The closest disciples of Jesus and some of the people that loved him the most were not easily lead into believing that Jesus was really alive. What does that tell you?

• - If anyone had a motivation to believe that Jesus was alive, wouldn’t it have been the disciples? Wouldn’t it have been those closest to him?

Friend, the critique that the first followers of Christ were gullible or easily lead astray just doesn’t accurately account for all the facts!

Furthermore, if they were trying to convince people of Jesus’ resurrection—if it didn’t really happen—how is any of the details regarding the blindness, confusion and stubborn lack of belief on the part of the disciples and those closest to Jesus a smart persuasive strategy?

• - Simply put…it isn’t a good persuasive strategy. Which either means John who wrote this gospel is really dumb…which on examination of his writing just doesn’t add it…or it means that John tells us all of this because that’s actually what happened!

Remember the question I posed in the introduction this morning “How can you tell if someone is telling the truth?” I hope you’re seeing how the empty tomb is what accounts for all the facts accurately!

But there is still more to get through if you’re not yet convinced! Which brings us to the 2^nd reason to believe that Jesus rose from the dead, which is the eye-witness testimony of Mary.

II. The eye-witness testimony of Mary (vv.11–18)

This portion of the narrative begins with Mary’s eye-witness testimony and it ends with Mary’s eye-witness testimony. Where she begins and where she ends can really only be explained by one fact…the tomb really is empty and it’s not because of grave robbers—JESUS IS ALIVE!

Her mourning (vv.1–2, 11, 13, 15)

Consider her mourning.

In vv.1–2 we are not told that Mary is weeping, but when we consider the rest of the text it’s hard to imagine that she isn’t weeping and mourning over the death of Jesus at this point. Mary is certainly going to the tomb early in order to mourn. Her expected mourning over the death of the Jesus that she loved dearly was dramatically changed to the frantic grief of believing that Jesus’ dead body was stolen.

John 20:1–2 ¹ Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and *saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. ² So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

In vv.11–15, the text emphasizes her grief by stating she was weeping twice and then being asked why she is weeping twice.

• - If Mary didn’t genuinely believe that Jesus died and was still dead, what would explain her tears?

• - What would explain her testimony to John and Peter that the Lord’s body is taken?

• - What would explain her question to the supposed gardener concerning the location of Jesus’ body?

Friends, the best explanation is that the tomb is empty because Jesus is alive!

The facts are almost too obvious to miss…consider for a moment that Mary looks in the tomb and sees two angels in white! She sees angels…we are not told at all what she thinks about them…but that seems very peculiar.

• - We also know from the other gospels that appearances of angels at the tomb after Jesus’ resurrection are quite dazzling and frightening! Mary seems to be completely blinded to the peculiarity of the two angels or two of anything just sitting in the tomb beside the grave clothes.

Then they ask her why she is weeping? Giving no response, she turns and sees Jesus and YET she doesn’t recognize him. Why not? Because she isn’t expecting a resurrected Jesus she is looking for the scourged, beaten, bloody, body that is was killed 3 days earlier. There are lots of facts staring her right in the face that she lead her to the conclusion that Jesus is alive, but she is blind to the facts because her conclusion is Jesus is dead and the only explanation is that the body must have been taken.

What explains the 180 degree turn around from rugged unbelief in the resurrection of Jesus and mourning to absolute assurance and joy?

Jesus calls her by name (v.16)

The answer…can you guess? Is that Jesus is actually alive, and he is doing what he promised. Jesus calls her by name.

Remember Jesus promise as the Good Shepherd in John 10?

John 10:3 ³ … and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

When does Mary believe?

• It’s not when she sees Jesus. She supposes him to be the gardener.

• It’s not when Jesus asks her why she is weeping or who she is seeking.

• It’s when he simply says her name…

John 20:15–16 ¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher).

I don’t know about you, but this is one of my favorite parts in the whole gospel. How does Mary go for unbelief in the resurrection to belief? When the Good Shepherd calls her by name! That’s when her eyes and heart are opened to see and understand that her Lord is risen and standing right in front of her!

Her joy swallows up her grief (vv.16–18)

There is an immediate change as a result. Her joy swallows up her grief! The tears of mourning are completely gone. If there are tears, they are tears of exuberant joy in the good news of Jesus resurrection!

At the beginning of the text and the start of the first day Mary runs back to report on the horrible news of Jesus’ missing body…now at the end of the text Mary is running back to report the good news—to report the gospel! In her words…

John 20:18 “…I have seen the Lord”…

Friends, what could account for that kind of change? What kind of story accurately accounts for all of the facts?

• It’s that the tomb is empty because Jesus really is alive, just as Mary testified to!

Moreover, Jesus even predicted this kind of emotional transition the night before his death! In John 16 we read…

John 16:20–22 ¹⁹ Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? ²⁰ Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. ²¹ When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. ²² So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

Friends, how can you tell if someone is telling the truth?

• I believe that if you really let this text and this gospel speak, you’ll find that it most accurately explains all the facts.

For example, if Jesus really did die and stay dead, why is Jesus still the number one most known person to have ever lived?

If Jesus really did die and stay dead and the disciples knew it, why would staunch Jews have broken away from Judaism and began Christianity?

If Jesus really did die and stay dead, what explains the fear, and confusion of the disciples that is turned into boldness and clarity that ends up turning the entire world upside down?

Friends, I don’t believe there is any way to explain the Bible, or explain history following Jesus death up to today unless Jesus really did rise again!

• If you have more questions on this please reach out to one of the pastors…we’d love to sit down and answer any questions that you have, so that you might come to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that in him you might have life in his name!

But I want to conclude with this…Jesus is the Good Shepherd that really does call his sheep by name. Unless Jesus calls, there is no coming to him. But the way he calls his sheep by name today is a little different than what we see with Mary…

None of us have seen the resurrected Lord, and none of us have had the resurrected Lord audibly call our name out loud.

So what does the Lord calling you by name look like?

• There is an experience that many people when the come to church and hear the Bible preached, or they sit down with someone who opens the Bible with them to counsel…they feel like the pastor or that person across from them knows them intimately…

• It’s a little more jolting in a setting like this, and usually people end up saying something along the lines (or thinking it to themselves without telling anyone), “Did the pastor know I was coming because I think he was speaking directly to me?”

• What is happening when someone feels like the pastor is speaking directly to them? That’s one way the Jesus calls people by name.

• So I’d encourage you, and plead with you if you’ve been coming for a while or even if this is the first time and you feel like I’m speaking directly to you…that’s honestly not me that knows you so intimately and well…I probably don’t know your name, but there is someone who does, who is alive, and that someone is the resurrected Lord, Jesus!

Christian, if you’ve already heard and responded to Jesus calling you by name, can I ask you, “Are you responding to the resurrection like Mary?”

• Are you running to tell others that “I have seen the Lord?!”

• Of course we haven’t physically seen the Lord, through his word and through the power of the Spirit inside of us we know beyond a shadow of doubt that Jesus is alive…is that single fact in your story having the impact that it should?

• I pray that as a church, we’d grow in our belief and boldness in declaring that Jesus is alive.

^[1] N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God; London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2003), 667.