Jesus Christ our Lord has risen indeed!
Comment: Jesus has now been crucified and buried. That was on a Friday, the day before the sabbath day. John’s account of the resurrection is very difficult to harmonize with the other Gospels. I’m not going to go through this in this sermon but just to make note.
1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
Comment: The first day of the week here is Sunday, meaning that Jesus had been in the grave or dead for three days. We read that it was early and still dark, meaning that it was very early in the morning on Sunday. John tells us that Mary and specifies that it was Mary Magdalene, John tells us that Mary came to the tomb very early Sunday morning and we know from Mark 16:1 that it was to anoint Jesus with spices according to tradition. We also know from Mark 16:1 and Luke 24:10 that Mary Magdalene was not alone. Others were Mary mother of James, Salome and Joanna. Now, because they were going to anoint Jesus with spices, they certainly believed that Jesus was still dead. They did not believe that Jesus will rise from the dead as He said He will. Therefore, the suggestion that Jesus’s resurrection was not true but planned by His disciples, is not true since they themselves did not believe He could rise from the dead.
So, when Mary got to the tomb and saw that the stone was taken away from the tomb, she ran to Peter and the other disciple, whom we believe to be John, the one who wrote this Gospel of John. So Mary, ran to Peter and John and told them that Jesus’s body was taken out of the tomb and they, meaning herself and the other women who were with her, don’t know where they have taken Him. Another proof that they had nothing to do with the resurrection. Mark 16:3-4, tells us that these women, on their way to the tomb, were asking themselves who will move the stone for them, so, they could not have moved it. Matthews 28:2-4, tells us that it was an angel that moved the stone. According to Mark 16:5 and Luke 24:3, the women did go inside the tomb and saw that Jesus was not there, this is why John here tells us that Mary ran to Peter and John and told them that they had taken the Lord out of the Tomb and they don’t know where they have taken Him.
In summary, the women believed Jesus to be still dead because:
- They were carrying spices to go an anoint the body of the the dead Jesus as per tradition
- They did not move the stone and could not move the stone
- An angel moved the stone
- They were shocked that the stone was moved
- They believed Jesus’s body was taken away and they say they did not know where.
How, then could these women have participated in a false resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ?
Message: Jesus Christ our Lord has risen indeed!