On the last night before Jesus was crucified, so much happened within such a short period of time. Jesus and the disciples shared their last supper, they got up and went to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus was arrested. At approximately 4 am the 6 trials began (3 by the Jewish leaders and 3 by the Romans).
As we know, the case finally came back to Pontius Pilate and though he feared passing judgment on Jesus whom he knew to be innocent, he finally sentenced Him to death by crucifixion. By 9 am that same morning, Jesus was crucified on the cross at Golgotha between two thieves.
He suffered for the guilt of the world’s sin and in His last moments on the cross, knowing that all things had been accomplished that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, He cried out, “It is finished.” And then Jesus gave up His Spirit.
The Sabbath would begin at sundown that evening and especially because it was the Passover weekend, the order was given to hasten the deaths of Jesus and the two thieves being crucified with Him. Jesus was already dead so they quickly took Him down from the cross and His body was taken by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus who covered His body with myrrh and aloes, wrapped it in linen, and placed it in Joseph’s nearby tomb.
For three days, Jesus was in the tomb, the faith of the disciples was shaken to the core, and they were in despair.
John 20:1-29
We can see here that the account of Jesus’ resurrection is written in the past tense but it is very interesting to note that in the original Greek, John actually wrote the account in the historic present tense as if the event had just happened and is vividly etched into his mind.
The purpose for John writing in this present tense is so that in the listener’s imagination they are participating in the event as if they are an eyewitness.
The Empty Tomb
John tells us that when Mary arrived it was still dark, almost dusk and as she gets closer to the tomb she sees that the stone was removed (taken out of its track and moved away) and that the tomb is empty. When she sees the empty tomb she runs to tell Peter and John that “somebody has taken the body” and “we” referring to the other women, have no idea where they (implying it might have been the Sanhedrin or Romans) took Him. In Luke 24:11 the disciples thought that the women's words were nonsense and it was clear that no one believed Jesus was risen.
What they did not know is that on Saturday, the day after Jesus’ crucifixion, the Pharisees had made a request to Pilate to place a Roman Guard (anywhere from 4 - 16 Roman soldiers) to stand watch at the tomb.
Matthew records in his Gospel, that a severe earthquake occurred that Sunday morning, as an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled away the stone which covered the tomb.
When the soldiers felt the earthquake, saw the angel whose appearance was like lightning and clothes white as snow, the guards were paralyzed with fear at the sight of him and became like dead men. Matthew also records that while the women were on their way to the tomb, the guards were on their way back to the city to tell the chief priests everything that happened.
The chief priests and Jewish elders got together to devise a story and bribed the soldiers to say that the disciples had come and stolen Jesus’ body while they were sleeping. Remember Matthew had written this over 50 years later and so most likely this was still the prevailing story of what happened to Jesus’ body.
That is why the guards were not there when Mary came in the morning. And so when Peter and John heard from Mary that the tomb was empty, they ran to see for themselves what happened.
At the time, the empty tomb only added to their sorrows and the disciples went back to their place in Jerusalem but Mary stayed next to the tomb and cried.
Resurrected Savior
In vv. 11-13 Mary is standing outside the tomb crying, and when she looked into the tomb she saw two angels in white sitting there. They asked her, “Woman why are you crying?” Obviously, she is not responding in faith to this question and basically tells them that she is looking for the dead body.
But, all of a sudden, she realizes that someone is standing behind her and she turns around and hears the same question.
““Woman why are you crying, who are you looking for?””
She assumed He was the gardener, and thought that He may have taken the body. Then Jesus said her name in Aramaic, “Mary” and she immediately knew it was Him. This woman was the one that Jesus healed of seven demons, saw His miracles, supported the ministry, witnessed Him being crucified, watched Him die, and saw where He was buried. Now she sees Him alive, resurrected from the dead and grabs a hold of Him.
Jesus tells her, I am not leaving quite yet so you do not have to hang on to me as if I were about to disappear permanently.
This is a time for joy and sharing the good news. Stop clinging to me, but go and tell my disciples that I am risen and will be ascending to my Father and your Father.
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" and she told them what He said to her.
What did she mean she saw the Lord? Does this mean she had seen a spirit being, or she was hallucinating, or that Jesus had simply come back to life like He was before. This is what we would call “resuscitation.”
If Jesus had simply been resuscitated after the crucifixion he would have been in pretty bad shape. But when Jesus appeared to Mary, to the disciples, and to over 500 eyewitnesses, they saw His resurrected, glorified body for 40 days. Although it is His same body and still has the wounds from the cross, it was transformed and exhibited extraordinary qualities.
He said to Thomas, “look at my hands and my feet. You can see that it is really me. Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have" (Luke 24:39).
Jesus was not merely resuscitated, He was dead for three days and was resurrected.
“What is the significance of the Resurrected Savior?”
Its significance is that Jesus Christ is who he said he is, the Messiah, the Risen Lord who has conquered death, sin, and the devil, and the power of hell. He was who He claimed to be and fulfilled His Word to them.
By dying on the cross He paid for all of our sins, once and for all, exchanged our lives with His. He took all of God’s wrath for the sins of the world on His own body, removed everything which alienated us from God, redeemed us, and reconciled us to God, once and for all. But through His resurrection He defeated death, sin, and the devil once and for all so that we would one day be resurrected, never to taste death.
Launching of the Kingdom
Every religion can talk about a prophet and even one who did great miracles, but only Christianity can point to evidence of a historical, physical, resurrected Christ. It was the resurrection that convinced his own brothers who didn’t believe He was the Messiah, that He must be the Son of God.
It was the resurrection that transformed his cowardly disciples into courageous, bold defenders of the Christian faith who willingly gave their lives for the truth of the Gospel.
And what is equally remarkable is that Jesus entrusted His disciples to take this message of the Gospel to others.
“The resurrection of Christ is the foundation for our Christian belief.”
The Apostle Paul said in I Cor 15 that if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is in vain, pointless, and if Christ has not been raised your faith is worthless, unfounded, and powerless and you are still under the control and penalty of sin. If Christ has not been resurrected, we are of all people most miserable and to be pitied.
Before the resurrection, Jesus preached the Kingdom, but after the resurrection, Jesus launched His Kingdom. After the Resurrection, believers could enter the Kingdom of God through their identification with Jesus in His life, death, and resurrection. Before the resurrection, Jesus said, “Peace be with you”, after the resurrection, I can experience His peace.
Before the resurrection, Jesus speaks about eternal life, after resurrection, I can be secure in having eternal life but also experience it now.
“Our old life was crucified and buried with His and now because of the resurrection we have given new life. ”
The only way I can experience resurrection life now is to die to my own life. If I seek to save my life, I will lose it. But if I die to my own desires, my own ways, stop promoting a personal agenda, living merely for my own benefit, I will experience resurrection life and my life will be used to bring life to others.
If Christ lives in me, I can face any sorrows, any suffering, the suffering and death of my loved ones and even my own death, because I have hope in the resurrection.
Because of the resurrection, I know that one day all things will be made new, the world, the heavens, even my own body will be resurrected (Matthew 19:28; Acts 3:21; Isaiah 65:17). Our future hope speaks into our present reality.
As followers of Christ, we are commissioned by Him to share the Good News of Christ, the cross and His glorious resurrection, and to advance His Kingdom until He returns. When He comes back for us He will make all things new. Because of the resurrection redemption, reconciliation, and resurrection life has been made possible for all and thanks be to our Lord and Savior, we have peace with God.
