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This morning, we’ll be reading John’s account of the resurrection from John 20:

John 20:1-31 - 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.  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!"  ³ So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.  ⁴ Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.  ⁵ He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.  ⁶ Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there,  ⁷ as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.  ⁸ Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.  ⁹ (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)  ¹⁰ Then the disciples went back to their homes,  ¹¹ but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb  ¹² and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.  ¹³ 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."  ¹⁴ At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.  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."  ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).  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.'"  ¹⁸ 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.  ¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"  ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.  ²¹ Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."  ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.  ²³ If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."  ²⁴ Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.  ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."  ²⁶ A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"  ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."  ²⁸ Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"  ²⁹ Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."  ³⁰ Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.  ³¹ But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

This morning, I’ve been entrusted with an impossible task.  The death and resurrection of Jesus are the pivotal moments in world history, the events which opened the door to knowing God.   I can preach a sermon, but I know I could never communicate to you the majesty, the awe-inspiring wonder, of what happened that Easter 2000 years ago, and what the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ could mean for your life today.  Words can not do justice to the majesty of the resurrection.  So I need to pray before I go any further, and you need to pray as well that God would make it real to your heart. 

The resurrection is critical to our faith, so critical that if Jesus was not raised from the dead, we should all just go home and not bother ourselves with this church business any more.  Listen to how Paul put it:

1 Corinthians 15:13-22 - If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.  ¹⁵ More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.  ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.  ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.  ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.  ¹⁹ If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.  ²⁰ But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  ²¹ For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.  ²² For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive

We’ve been looking at the last days of Jesus life these past few weeks, trying to explain the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  In the past few days, Jesus has been deserted by friends, betrayed by a disciple, rejected by the people he came to save.  He has been flogged and beaten to within an inch of his life by the Roman authorities, and then nailed to a cross.  And worst of all, he has been forsaken and left to die by His Father in heaven, the one with whom he enjoyed the most intimate of love relationships for all eternity.  And you think you’ve had a bad week!  This morning as we meditate on the cross and the empty grave, I want to talk about the most obvious of realities, the most predominant theme of the story, one that carries throughout the rest of the New Testament – death and resurrection.

There are two truths concerning death and resurrection that I would like to bring out:  the first is that our God is a God who brings resurrection out of death, who brings new life out of sacrifice, and glory out of suffering.  For those of you who are suffering, who plan on suffering, who will die one day – this is great news.  The second truth is this – the way to glory, to life to the full, to resurrection, is through suffering, sacrifice, and death.  If you want to experience resurrection, if you want to experience glory, if you want to experience life to the full, you have to suffer, sacrifice, and die first.  For those of you who want to know God or want life to the full, this is the challenging truth that you need to face this morning.