The Resurrected Jesus
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2010 · 4 April 2010
Today is Easter and this evening I want to study together what Jesus did right after His resurrection meeting with specifically those people who love Him. Jesus gives us evidence that is irrefutable that He is alive by literal face- to-face contact with those human beings that loved Him.
John 20:11-18, “But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.13 Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” 14 Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.”
15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, 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, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.”
As we begin this passage Peter and John have seen the empty tomb. Jesus has done what He said He was going to do, He overcame and conquered death. Before the rising of the sun on the third day, Jesus had already risen.
And there is much proof that Jesus Christ rose, the stone that was sealed and guarded by Roman soldiers was rolled away and the tomb was empty. The grave clothes were lying on the ground except they did not contain a body. And there were angels that corroborated the fact that He had risen.
And now to announce and provide further proof that He had risen, Jesus appeared eleven times to the people who loved him totaling 500 people. So there at least you have 500 personal testimonies that the Lord Jesus rose again.
It is interesting to note that He only appeared to believers. He never appeared to the unbelieving Jews and scribes. Critics have said that if Jesus really did rise He should have appeared to the skeptics to prove them wrong. In reality the believers themselves were the skeptics.
Peter and John themselves acknowledged in John 20:9, “For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.” And because they did not know they could not have fabricated a resurrection. They were totally shocked every time Jesus appeared and they even thought they saw a ghost.
And another reason He did not appear to unbelievers is that He does not use miracles as a way to reveal who He really is. His plan for the church is that you and I and every believer would be His witnesses and that we with the power of the Holy Spirit would go take the gospel to everyone who does not believe.
Remember Luke 16:19-31? There was a rich man who died and went to hell and Lazarus, the beggar at his gate who died and went to heaven? The rich man was tormented and he asked Abraham to send someone who was resurrected to warn his five brothers to repent lest they also would go to hell.
And listen to what Abraham said to him in Luke 16:31, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’” Even if Jesus Himself would have appeared from the death to unbelievers, they would not have believed it. Their minds are blinded by the god of this world.
Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene and He did that to not only show that He was alive but that He was faithful to her. He appears to show her personally that He had not forgotten her and that He loved her no matter how insignificant a person might think she is or society thinks she is.
Mary was saved when Christ cast out seven demons (Mark 16:9), she was nothing special, she was not an apostle and she did not have a special place in ministry. Jesus is a loving God and so He picks out the one person that may be loved Him the most. Jesus shows us here what kind of God we have.
So the first thing that Jesus did was to show those people who loved Him that He also loved them, that He knows what they are feeling and that He is there in time to comfort them. Beyond all the things that He had to do before He ascended, He wanted to take care of those that loved Him.
How do people know that you care? First you remember their needs and remember their hurts and their concerns. Loving somebody means that you think a lot about them and that you are there for them when they hurt. And Jesus did that for Mary, so you and me would understand that Jesus will do that for us too even from heaven.
Look again at verse 11, “But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping.” She was really sobbing. She could not figure out where Jesus was since the tomb was empty. She was very much like us, crying for fear of the things of life that we do not understand.
Then in verse 11 and 12 it says, “And as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.”
The angels then spoke and in verse 13 they said, “Woman, why are you weeping?” Now she did not recognize that they were angels. Luke 24:4 says that there were two men. And here were two angels in the form of young men sitting where Jesus had lain.
And based on what she said, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him,” she did not have any idea who they were. Do you notice what she said? She said “my Lord”, Jesus is her Lord. How do you look at the Lord, is He your Lord too who controls your life?
What we can see here is her love for Jesus. I hope that everyone will have that kind of love for Christ where if we are separated from Him just a little it will cause us to break out in tears. It is so easy nowadays to become indifferent and to live without this personal connection to Jesus that is so important.
When was the last time you have talked to Jesus in a personal intimate way? Maybe some of you have never experienced the fullness of Him and because of that you don’t even seem to mind. And may be you don’t even comprehend what Mary was going through at that time.
Now notice what happens in verse 14, “Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.” Now isn’t that a little strange? Why if she was so close to Him does she not recognize Him?
Some say that because her eyes were blurry from all that crying she could not recognize Him. Others have said that because she never expected that Jesus would be alive, she just never imagined Jesus could be there. And very often we meet people that we not really look at closely.
But there is also another explanation. The reason that Mary did not recognize Jesus is that He was no longer in his earthly body but now in His glorified body. His body is now supernatural, He could still eat fish and honey but He could also go through walls and disappear and reappear at will.
Do you remember on the road to Emmaus where Jesus walked for a long time together with two disciples who had known Him well before. And they also did not know who He was during their long walk together. Only after Jesus prayed and broke the bread the Bible says in Luke 24:31, “Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.”
In John 21 Jesus showed Himself also to the disciples at the Sea of Galilee. They had been fishing all night and caught nothing. And John 21:4 says, “Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know it was Jesus. Jesus even talked to them and said in verse 5, “Children have you any food? And they answered, “No.”
Only after Jesus said to cast it on the right side of the boat and they were unable to draw it because of the multitude of fish, only then because of this miracle Peter recognized Jesus and jumped into the sea to get to Jesus as fast as he could.
So only when Jesus Christ revealed Himself to the disciple’s minds and hearts did they know who He was. This is consistent with what the bible teaches that no one is capable of knowing God apart from divine revelation.
Now let us go back to Mary and see what happens in verse 15 when Jesus said, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”
Mary had been crying and she is looking for the Lord without mentioning His name. She just assumes that this individual knows. And she thought that He was the gardener, thinking that the only person that would come so early would be a gardener. Her love for the Lord at this point was not rational anymore, where would she take His body?
But listen to verse 16, “Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni! which means Master.” Jesus spoke to her in her own language, the name that intimate friends knew, the name that Jesus had always used for her. And Mary turned around and said ‘Rabboni’, which in Aramaic is the word for God.
When you love someone you will recognize his voice right? Listen to what it says in John 10:3, “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”
Do you know that Jesus knows your name? Do you know that Jesus knows everything about you beyond your name? Do you know that Jesus loves you in a personal way? This what God is teaching us here, we do not have a cold calculating Christ, no we have a warm and personal and caring Christ who loves us.
And then Jesus says in verse 17, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’”
Mary loves Jesus so much that she does not want to let go of Him. And Jesus explains that He has to go back to His Father. What He means is that the relationship of followers to Jesus can no longer be a physical relationship, but it has to be a spiritual relationship.
He says that our relationship to God will be totally new where the Holy Spirit, God Himself, will be inside of you and living in you. It is no longer a limited physical relationship to the followers of Jesus at that time; this relationship is now spiritual for all believers all over the world.
There is a phrase in verse 17 that we need to pay attention to. Jesus says “go to My brethren.” This is a new phrase for the disciples, they have been called servants, they have been called friends, but they have never been called brothers until now.
Christ is giving a new relationship to those who believe in Him. How can we be brothers with Christ? Because Jesus Christ died on the cross and was resurrected, we are now in Christ. We are accepted as perfect and holy by God because of our union with Christ, His righteousness now becomes ours.
So in the eyes of God we become equal to Jesus as in Romans 8:29 it says, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Here we are called brothers.
And what happens to Mary? Verse 18 says, “Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.” Mary becomes a changed woman, she has seen the Lord.
Do you know that this is also our testimony? We do not say, “Well, I have read the Bible and I agree that it is accurate.” We say, I have seen the Lord in my life and I have seen Him work many wonders! Our witness should not be theology; our witness should be first hand experience of how God works in our life!
He also appears to the rest of His disciples. Look at John 20:19-22, “Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
Now here Jesus Himself shows up on the first day of the week, Sunday, to his disciples. They were very scared of the Jews, the temple police that would put them in jail. When everything was locked, Jesus comes in right through the wall. Wow, just imagine their faces!
There is nothing impossible for God! Luke 24:37 says that they were scared to death. “It’s a ghost,” they said. And Jesus said in John 20:19, “Peace be with you.” This is not just a greeting; this is the true peace from God. You are given peace in that in your relationship to God you now are forgiven and holy.
Christ came to His followers after the resurrection because He had a commission for them. John 20:21-22, “So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
All of you who believe are going to be the sent ones, yes you and me. My beloved brothers and sisters, that is our task on this Easter Sunday, we need to carry the gospel to the entire world as our continuing ministry, Amen?