“While It Was Still Dark” [Matt's Messages] ~ Matt Mitchell

“While It Was Still Dark”

Life in Jesus’ Name - The Gospel of John

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

November 24, 2024 :: John 20:1-18

Jesus was dead and buried.

For the last several weeks, we’ve been reading how our Lord Jesus was betrayed in the darkness, arrested in the darkness, interrogated, denied, slapped around, drug around from court to court, mocked, scourged, shamed, and executed.

Our Lord was crucified. Jesus was made to carry His own cross and then was nailed to it and then suffocated on it. Excruciating pain and thirst and agony.

And Jesus cried out, “It is finished!”

And then He died. No more breath. No more brain waves. No more beating of the heart. Jesus was dead.

And then He was buried. We just proclaimed it in the Apostles’ Creed. His corpse was placed in a tomb.

A couple of His followers went from secret to public. Joe and Nick took His dead body and wrapped it in 75 pounds of spices intertwined in linen strips. Even though He died with nothing and was treated as less than nothing as He died, in His burial, He had been treated as royalty.

There was a little garden near Skull Hill where Jesus had been killed, and in the garden was a newly dug, unused tomb. And that’s where they put Him. Jesus was dead and buried.

But that was not the end of the story!

If this was anybody else’s story, the next chapter, if there was one, would be about the effect of that dead person’s life on the people who lived after them. But that’s not what this chapter and the next is about! Because something amazing happened...“While It Was Still Dark.”

I thought this week, “God does some of His best work in the dark.”

Darkness has almost been a character in this book all along. Judas slipped out into the darkness to betray Jesus. “And it was night.” Nicodemus came at night to question Jesus. John has said that humans love darkness because their deeds are evil.

But John has also said that the darkness will not win (1:5).

Jesus has been dead and buried for two days. Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. And now it’s early early on Sunday (the first day of the Jewish week) when we open chapter 20. Look at verse 1.

“Early 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.”

By the way, this is the reason why most Christians now worship together on Sunday mornings. Maybe we should start meeting at 6:00am!

It was still dark. The sun was slowly creeping over the horizon. Mary was one of the women who was there on Friday and had to watch that monstrous thing happen to our Lord. She went to the tomb, the other gospels tell us, with some of those other women to finish the rush job that Joe and Nick had done on Friday evening as the Sabbath fell.

I like to get up while it’s still dark and go for a walk. I wear a “high viz” reflective vest and carry a flashlight. I wonder if she had any light with her? Probably not.

I’m sure she felt the darkness. The special Passover Sabbath was over and all that’s left is grief. Her Teacher and Lord had died. And with Him, all of her hopes and dreams. All of that talk about the Kingdom coming. All of what He had said about Himself.

It was over. Because Jesus was over. The story was over. Jesus was dead and buried. “It is finished.”

But the story was not over. The story was not finished. Even Jesus was not finished!

And when Mary reached the tomb (v.1), she “saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.” There must have been enough light to see that. No stone!

And what did Mary think? Does she think, “Hooray! Jesus is alive again!” No. She thinks, “Oh, rats, grave robbers. Joseph and Nicodemus put 75 pounds of expensive spices in that tomb. Myrrh and aloes. Somebody has made off with the body. I better go tell Peter.” Verse 2.

“So 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!’”

She might think that culprits are the Jewish leaders. They might not want Jesus to be celebrated as a martyr, so they have stolen His body so the tomb doesn’t become a rallying point.

All Mary knows is that the tomb is empty. And she’s distraught. Not only is Jesus dead, but His body has been stolen. Can it get any worse?

So she tells Peter and the other disciple, who I am pretty sure is John the gospelwriter himself. He can’t get over how beloved he was. And so he was filled with grief, as well.

Peter and John take off running. There’s a lot of running here. Mary runs to Peter and John run to the tomb, leaving Mary behind. And John is faster. Verse 3.

“So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)” (vv.3b-9)

I love that detail that John was faster. He doesn’t actually say his name, but he’s got to get in that dig.

It definitely has the ring of truth to it, doesn’t it? What interesting details to remember! John gets to the tomb first, but Peter goes in first (classic Peter!). And apparently, there is now enough light that he can see inside of the tomb. Maybe he has a torch. We don’t know.

Peter sees the layout with his own eyes but doesn’t know what to think. The other gospels tell us that he went away marveling over this and trying to figure it all out.

This does not look like the work of grave robbers, does it? They left the strips of linen. That’s where the spices were. That’s where the money was. And the head cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, it was folded up and carefully set in another place. Grave robbers folded up the head cloth? I doubt it! Anyone that raided that tomb. Who would do that?

It’s more like Someone sat up and pulled off the strips of linen and folded up the head cloth and dropped it aside. Like Someone had started breathing again. Someone had started using His heart and brain and lungs again. Someone had started using his arms and legs again. His hands and feet again. That’s what it looks like.

And at that moment, John “got it.” He understood. Verse 8 says, “He saw and believed.”

You can just about see the realization cross John’s face. “He’s alive, isn’t He?! That guy! Look how He neat He is. He folded up the face cloth and put it over there. Jesus is alive again. I believe!”

I have three points of application for us this morning, and that’s the first one. It’s been the main application for the last 50 messages as we’ve studied the Gospel of John together: Believe!

#1. BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS ALIVE AGAIN!

Because He is. That’s a fact. It’s not a myth or a fable or a fairy tale. It’s not just a metaphor or a nice little story that we tell the children. No. It is reality. It is a historical fact, and it changes everything. Jesus Christ died and was buried and has risen from the dead!

And, I know that it’s Thanksgiving, but we just have to do this:

Christ Is Risen!

He Is Risen Indeed!

John believed. And that’s why He wrote this book because He wanted you and me to believe, too. Because when you believe this, what happens? You get life. Right?

At the end of this chapter, John is going to proclaim that “these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God [risen from the dead!], and that by believing you may have life in his name” (Jn. 20:31).

The lights were coming on for John. Now, he didn’t yet understand how the whole Old Testament had predicted this. Verse 9 says, “They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.”

But John did understand that it had happened!

He might have all of a sudden thought of all of the ways that Jesus had predicted it.

Like when Jesus tossed the tables in the temple, and He said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (Jn. 2:19). John might have been like, “Wait a second. Was His body the temple?”

Or when Jesus had said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep....I know my sheep and my sheep know me..and I lay down my life for the sheep...only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again” (Jn. 10:11-19). John’s like, “Wait a second. What if He meant that He was going to take it up again?!”

Or when He said that He was the “Resurrection and the Life.” What if He is the Resurrection so much that He doesn’t just have the power to raise Lazarus, but to raise Himself?!

Or when He said just the other night, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” What if He is so much “The Life” that He can’t stay dead?!

Eventually, John would go back and read His Old Testament in the light of the resurrection and see it all over the place. Jesus had to rise from the dead. You see that in verse 9? Jesus had to rise from the dead.

That’s what He meant by, “It is finished.” Sin is paid for. The mission is completed. Jesus can’t stay dead because He was victorious! Passages like Psalm 16, verse 10 and Isaiah 53, verses 10 through 12 predicted it most clearly.

Jesus had to rise from the dead. John didn’t understand that yet, but he believed that Jesus did. Do you?Do you believe that Jesus is alive again?

I do. Our church does. And we invite you to put your trust in Him today. We believe that He is everything He ever said He was. And that He had to rise from the dead. Death could not keep Him.

He paid for our sins, and He promises us eternal life.

John says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16).

Believe!

I love how John has not yet seen the Risen Jesus and yet he already believes. Because that’s like you and me, right? Have you seen the Lord? It would be wonderful to see the Lord with our own two eyes, and one day we will.

Somebody is just about to in the next part of the story. And her name is Mary. Mary did not yet believe. She didn’t understand what had happened. Apparently, she had made her way back to the garden and missed Peter and John and everybody else. And she just stood there outside the tomb and cried. V.10

“Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying.”

By the way, I never thought about this before yesterday, but I realized that John probably went home and told Jesus’ mother that the tomb was empty! She had just moved in with him on Friday. They adopted each other. We don’t know, but in verse 10 John might have gone back to his home, and told Mary that he believed that her son was alive again.

But it’s a different Mary that is crying at the tomb. This was a follower whom Jesus had rescued from demonic oppression (Luke 8:2). We don’t know much more about her than that she had loved and followed Jesus and was there at the crucifixion.

Now she’s crying. “Crying” is a weak word for it. “Wailing” is more like it. It’s the same word for the weeping that the family of Lazarus was doing in chapter 11. She was full of grief. She was sobbing. She was overwhelmed by emotion. Confused and dismayed.

And then she saw something she didn’t expect. She saw two angels. Look at verse 12.

“As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. [These are the only two angels that appear in the Gospel of John.] They 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.’”

It feels like the darkness has won. “My Lord is dead, and his body has been stolen.” She doesn’t ask, “Who are you?” She’s just done. She just feels done.

And then she senses that there is someone else there. V.14

“At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.”

I’m not 100% sure why that is.

Could be because it was still so early and dark.

Could be because she was looking through tears.

Could be because she was somehow kept from recognizing Him.

Could be because He looked different after having been tortured, either worse because of the torture or more likely better because His body had been glorified.

We don’t know.

I tend to think it’s just because was beside herself and just didn’t expect to see Jesus. Jesus was dead.

And then He speaks. Verse 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.’”

I see a twinkle in His eye. He can see what’s going to happen when the light dawns for her. She is seeing what she expects to see. She’s in a garden, she expects a gardener. But He was not what she expected. Verse 16.

“Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ [Just like He always did.] She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means Teacher).”

What a moment! This is the first believer to ever see the risen Lord!

Can you imagine? Can you imagine what she felt like? His sheep know His voice (John 10:27).

It was Him!

It was the Teacher!

It was the Lord!

Jesus is alive again.

In my mind, Mary falls at His feet and grabs Him around the knees. She has never been this happy before!

The darkness has not won. The Light of the World has come. The story wasn’t over. And it’s not going to be!

Jesus says, “Okay. Okay. Let me go.” Big smile on His face. Verse 17.

“Jesus 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.' Mary 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” (vv.17-18).

I don’t think that Jesus is saying that Mary can’t touch Him. He’s going to invite other to touch Him.

But to not cling to Him because this is a special and unique time between His resurrection and His ascension. He is alive, but He’s not staying. He’s still going.

And Mary has a job to do. Instead of holding onto Jesus, she’s supposed to bear witness to Him.

#2. TELL OTHERS THAT JESUS IS ALIVE AGAIN!

Jesus is telling Mary that she has a mission to fulfill. She’s supposed to go to Jesus’ brothers (I think that’s His disciples in this context) and tell them that He is alive and He will be ascending soon. He’s going to be returning to His Father.

But notice that He’s not just Jesus’ Father. He’s “your Father.” The disciple’s Father. Mary Magdalene’s Father!

“Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Even though He’s Jesus’ God and Father unlike anyone else’s because He’s the One and Only (monogenays), He is now also their God and Father.

Through adoption! Because of what Jesus has done on the Cross and now that the Tomb is empty, the Father has adopted the disciples through faith in Jesus. It’s John 1:12, isn’t it?

“[Jesus] came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God–children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God” (vv.11-12).

It’s happened! It’s worked! Because Jesus is alive again, everyone who believes in Him gets adopted into God’s family.

So, we need tell people!

Mary did. She ran to disciples and with the good news (v.18), “I have seen the Lord!”

The first eyewitness of the Risen Jesus was this woman. But she should not be the last. You and I are called to go and tell others that Jesus is alive again.

While it was still dark, Jesus stood up once more. The stone was rolled away, and He has made our way to the Father. So that the Father is our Father.

This week, I was thinking about this, and I had the thought: “I’m so glad we’re studying this section of John at Thanksgiving. What could be greater for us to be thankful for than that “It is finished”? That Jesus died for us on the Cross. And then I thought, only one thing and that is that Jesus is alive again today. He came back to life to give us life.”

While it was still dark, the Son rose!

Let’s tell others. Who could you tell this week? When you go around the table and say something you’re thankful for, how about the resurrection? How about the fact that because Jesus is alive, everything has changed?

#3. GIVE THANKS THAT JESUS IS ALIVE AGAIN!

We’re going to spend at least two more Sundays in the Gospel John thinking about the implications of the resurrection.

Because Jesus is alive again, we can take heart. He has overcome the world and even death.

And that makes all the difference for us today, tomorrow, and forever.

“Because He lives, [we] can face tomorrow,

Because He lives, all fear is gone;

Because [we] know He holds the future,

Life is worth the living,

Just because He lives!” [Bill and Gloria Gaither, #213]

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