Rev. Doug Floyd

Easter 2
Rev. Doug Floyd
John 20

Our story begins in the dark. The characters, Mary Magdalene, Peter, John, Thomas, are in the dark. They understand what is happening. They struggle with fear and doubt and sadness. The light that overcomes the darkness has already begun to rise.

Mary arrives at the tomb of Jesus in the dark. She sees the stone rolled away from the tomb and misunderstands what is happening. Running to the disciples, she exclaims, “They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb!” “We don’t know where they laid him!” You can imagine her crying out in fear and grief. The night of Jesus’ death feels endless.

Peter and John take off. Our story of resurrection unfolds bit by bit. Mary saw the stone rolled away. John sees the linen burial cloths. Peter sees the face cloth that had been over Jesus folded and to the side. This time the response is not fear but the beginning of belief. They don’t understand what has happened and yet there is some initial sign of faith. The story says “for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.”^[1] They return home.

Back to Mary. She is weeping outside the tomb. Bit by bit the stories of resurrection continues to unfold. This time two angels appear in the tomb. “Woman, why are you weeping?” “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”^[2] She turns around and suddenly faces Jesus. She doesn’t recognize him. Jesus speaks to her, “Woman why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She misunderstands. Thinking Jesus to be the gardener, she supposes that he has moved the body.

Into the middle of her confusion, Jesus calls her name, “Mary.” Suddenly she beholds him. “Rabboni!” My master! Jesus replies, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”^[3] Now Mary runs a second time to the disciples. “I have seen the Lord.”

The disciples are hiding behind locked doors. Jesus steps into their midst. “Peace be with you!” He shows them his hands and side. Their fear slips away and joy overtakes them. The Lord is here. Jesus repeats the word of peace and then commissions them. “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”^[4] Just as God breathed on the clay in forming Adam, Jesus breathes on His disciples, imparting the Holy Spirit. “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” ^[5]

Thomas hears about this appearing of Jesus. It is too much. He cannot grasp it. He must see for himself before he can believe. “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”^[6]

Eight days later, Jesus stands in their midst. “Peace be with you.” “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”^[7] Thomas answers, “My Lord and my God.” Jesus responds, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”^[8]

Immediately after this story, John turns to us the reader and says that he has written these specific stories so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and by believing we might have life. He is telling these stories to help awaken faith in us.

Our story of resurrection in John 20 has a pattern. Our story begins in the dark. The dark of unbelief and misunderstanding. Just as the light of day begins with a glimmer on the horizon and moves to the full of light of day, our story moves from fear to faith, from confusion to the confession of Jesus as Lord and God.

We have three sets of stories. The story of Mary Magdalene. The story of the disciples, specifically Peter and John, and the story of Thomas. There are two stories for each character, and each time the story moves from limited faith and misunderstanding to a fuller understanding and greater faith.

Chapter 20  begins while it is dark. John often conveys lack of believe through darkness. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” ^[9] Nicodemus comes by night by he doesn’t come to faith yet. The woman at the well encounters Jesus in the full light of day and she ends up evangelizing her town for Jesus.

Jesus walks on water to disciples in the dark and they fear, thinking he is a ghost. In the Gospel of John, darkness consistently represents lack of faith and lack of knowledge. Our story in John 20 begins in the dark but it is moving into the light. This is the pattern of our faith from darkness to light.

Paul writes in Colossians 1, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”^[10] This is the pattern of John 20: they are moving from the darkness of unbelief and misunderstanding to the light of truth in the face of Christ.

Mary begins in the dark and thinks Jesus’ body has been stolen. There are times in the walk of faith where we do walk through the dark. In season, understanding comes from the Lord. Peter and John come to the tomb, and we see a little knowledge opening. They enter the tomb; they behold the empty graveclothes. John believes but he doesn’t yet understand that Jesus will rise from the dead. Our passage reads, “for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.”^[11]

We the readers understand. We already know the resurrection has happened. But they are in the story, and they cannot see the whole picture. At least not yet. When Richard Wurmbrand was in a Romanian prison for his faith, he spent three years in total darkness in an underground cell. In that place, he could not see what was to come. But now his experiences could be read as a story. Eventually, he would be released and come to America and tell his story. Then in a great twist of irony, he bought the prison and turned it into a school.

We are in a story that God is telling. We don’t know what lies ahead. There are times when it may feel like we believe but as yet we do not understand the Scripture or the story. We simply trust and keep walking, knowing that God has not forsaken us.

In the second Mary story, she comes into the light of faith. First, she encounters two angels. Then when she turns around, she encounters Jesus. She doesn’t recognize Him until He calls her name and then her eyes are opened. Jesus tells her, “Don’t cling to me.” What does he mean?

I’ve heard many different theories over the years, but I think in light of the story it makes the most sense to say that Jesus is telling Mary that she cannot return to following him the way things were before. After the resurrection, she will know him and follow him differently. Think of how a child climbs up in his mother’s lap for comfort. There comes a time when the relationship is different. The teenager or young man can no longer climb up in his mother’s lap. He still is close to her but the nature of the relation has changed.

Jesus is calling Mary forward. Go and tell the disciples. Mary is sent on mission with a word to the disciples. In our walk of faith, we are going forward where Jesus sends us. I had some wonderfully experiences of faith in college, but that life is over. I cannot go back. I go forward to where Jesus is leading.

In the second encounter with Peter and John, Jesus stands before all the disciples. “Peace be with you.” He is present and His peace is sufficient. Each Sunday we are reminded of this truth. Jesus is present and His peace is sufficient. Jesus commissions His disciples, breathes the power of the Spirit upon them, and gives them the ministry of reconciliation.

Finally, we come to the story of Thomas. In light of how the rest of the chapter moves from darkness to light, from unbelief and misunderstanding to faith, we can see that Thomas’s story is part of a greater movement. He also must pass from darkness to light, from unbelief to faith. He must see and feel to know. When Thomas finally faces Jesus he exclaims the great confession of faith, “My Lord and my God!” This is the confession that John wants us to have.

Our life of faith is not static. We are moving from faith to faith, from glory to glory. As we remember the resurrection, we also remember the Resurrected One who is leading us into the fullness of His love.

^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 20:9.

^[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 20:13.

^[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 20:17.

^[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 20:21.

^[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 20:22–23.

^[6] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 20:25.

^[7] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 20:27.

^[8] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 20:29.

^[9] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 1:5.

^[10] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Col 1:13–14.

^[11] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 20:9.