Services | The Missing Body of Jesus

Bulletin

Hymn # 448 “Because He Lives”

SCRIPTURE READING – Galatians 2:20

Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – NO SURVIVORS

Praise and Worship
“Behold the Lamb”
“Great I Am”
“Promise Land (Glory Hallelujah)”

Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“The Missing Body of Jesus”

PRAYER TIME / Time of Reflection

“Grave Robber”
Benediction “Praise You Anywhere”



Sermon Notes
John 20:1 & 2 Mary Magdalene went to the tomb while it was still dark, saw the stone rolled away and assumed someone took Jesus’ body
John 20:3 – 8 Peter and John run to the tomb after being told that Jesus’ body was missing, entered into the tomb, did not find the body, but found the linen wrappings
John 20:9 They didn’t understand the Scriptures about Jesus rising from the dead
John 20:10 Petere and John went home
John 20:11 – 14 Mary while weeping looked into the tomb and saw two angels, who ask her why she is weeping
John 20:15 Jesus asks her why she is weeping and she turns around, thinking that Jesus is the gardener asks where the body was taken
John 20:16 When Jesus says her name she recognizes Him
John 20:17 Jesus tells her to stop clinging to Him and tells her and go to His brethren and tell them that “I ascend to the Father”
John 20:18 Mary does as instructed
1 Corinthians 15:3 - 8 Jesus’ resurrection according to the Scriptures

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Scritpures

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Transcript of Service

Turn to the Gospel of John, the 20th chapter.

Now the context is in the 19th chapter, Joseph of Arimathea asked for the body of Jesus so that he might bury him in his unused tomb and Nicodemus brought 100 pounds worth of spices to care for the body and they had to quickly because time was fleeting and at sundown would be both dark and the high Sabbath of Passover they had to be done quickly.

And so the context if you will is because it was hurriedly done and I think having been a husband I know that we men try to do things in a particular way and you ladies like it done differently.

I give you an example, I would try to clean up the house and do a few things and try to be a good husband and liberty would appreciate it but she would always complain how come you don't clean the sink?

Because I don't care.

But so it was never good enough to her standards. Now again she wasn't upset that I tried to help it was just why didn't do it fully and right.

So I kind of think it's the same way when we had Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking care of the body that the ladies go I'm sure they didn't do a good job and we need to do the right job both because I'm sure they didn't do a good enough job and for them to express their last love and to be able to serve him by caring for his body as they would consider properly.

So they decided to come after the final Sabbath which was on Saturday to come to the tomb to care for the body.

And so John only talks at this point about Mary Magdalene, the other gospels talk about the other women coming to the tomb but he concentrates on Mary Magdalene. And so on chapter 20 verse 1 it says this, "Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb while it was still dark and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb." Now I want you to see it's not sunlight yet, it's still dark. She's getting there early so that she can take the full day that she might need to do to care for him. The tomb had been covered by a stone and the other gospel tell us that they had stationed Roman guards there so that no one could tamper with the tomb. And so if you notice this tells us the stone was already moved and the Roman guards were already gone.

So something is amiss.

So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him." And so she has made an assumption because the tomb is empty that somebody stole the body because the body is missing.

We've got supposedly Jesus who was crucified pierced through, dead, placed in the tomb and now his body is missing.

Which I'm sure she's considering another indignity. Not only did they treat the Lord so shamefully and despicably, now they can't even let him lay and rest in a tomb. And so she's upset and as anyone would be and notice she says, "And we," so therefore probably the other women were also aware that something was amiss.

So Peter and the other disciple who was John went forth and they were going to the tomb. So these two disciples said, "We need to see what's going on. We need to see for ourselves what happened to the, maybe this woman is so upset and she just missed the body." And so they're going to go.

The two were running together. Now again, they're not taking a casual stroll. All of a sudden something like that is very amiss and they want to know and it's an urgent situation for them. So they're running to the tomb and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first.

Now I don't know why John was faster than Peter. Maybe he was younger. Maybe he was more fit.

Maybe he was more anxious to see and Peter was a little more unsure. But John wins the race and gets to the tomb first.

And stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.

Now again, I don't know why he didn't go in. It could be that some people are a little afraid of the dead and tombs and graveyards and whatever. So that might have been or it might be that being an observant Jew that he didn't want to be unclean by entering into a tomb, but he is reluctant to enter in even though he's seen that the body isn't there, but there is linen wrappings.

And so Simon Peter also came following him and entered the tomb and he saw the linen wrappings lying there. Peter, this is Peter.

Peter is the bull in the China shop. He just runs. He's not worried about whether you're clean or unclean or whatever. He's going to go in and I want to see for myself what's going on. And so he enters into the tomb.

Not only does he see the linen wrappings lying there and the face cloth which had been on his head not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.

Now this is significant.

Why is it significant?

It helps us to understand where the missing body might be.

Because if somebody stole the body as Mary Magdalene had assumed, they wouldn't bother unwrapping the linen wrappings and they wouldn't worry about taking the face cloth and rolling it up. They just grab everything and take off. They had to worry about the Roman soldiers. They had to worry about the stone. And they had no time if they were going to steal the body to do it quickly. So it makes no sense to take the body without the grave clothes.

And you wouldn't certainly take the head covering while you're quickly trying to steal the body to roll it up. Now there are other people who say there's some significance to the face cloth being rolled up. I'll let them tell you what that is.

My observation as a forensic criminologist is to say people who steal things don't leave your house in a nice order. They trash it.

But yet if the body had been stolen, they would have taken the time to roll the head covering. So this is giving us an indication that someone did not steal the body. Because why not take everything with them?

So the other disciple again, John who had first come to the tomb then also entered and saw and believed.

John came to the conclusion based on what he had seen that Jesus had rose from the dead.

Now Jesus has been telling them during his pretty much three and a half year ministry with them that it was necessary for him to live, suffer and die and rise again in various different ways. He would tell them about the sign of Jonah. He would tell them other things and he would speak plainly to them.

But now when John sees the empty tomb, he now believes. But I want you to see something. For yet they did not understand the scriptures that he must rise again from the dead. Now I want you to understand something. When people come to faith, they don't have to be theologians. They just need to see.

Now John is later going to understand the scriptures and going to teach us about the scriptures and be an apostle.

But he came to faith by seeing an empty tomb.

You don't need to understand how Jesus's death causes you to be born again. You simply need to believe that he's not there.

That he rose from the grave.

That that happened.

As Paul tells us, we must believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead. That is faith, to believe that the empty tomb.

And so once you come to that belief, yes we need to now go on to understand the scriptures more fully.

But it's not a requirement.

Now the sad thing is so many churches only talk about the New Testament because the Old Testament is old.

But how do you see that Jesus lived, died and rose again according to the scriptures, unless you're familiar with the scriptures. And you then get to understand more fully the impact of that resurrection and what that resurrection imparts to you and me.

Faith comes, understanding sometimes comes more completely later.

So a lot of people will put off making a commitment because they don't know it all.

Well if you ever met know it all you don't want to be around them.

We all are operating and walking by faith and there are things that we don't understand fully.

I kind of have an idea about the Trinity but as soon as I try to describe it I'm a heretic.

I kind of understand that all of my sins have been forgiven and yet I still haven't committed them all yet.

How can a person like me be called a child of God?

How can by having faith make me righteous?

See these are all scriptural understandings but none of those do you any good until you have seen that the tomb is empty.

So John has now figured out the body is not missing and pretty soon Mary is going to see the same thing.

So the disciples went away again to their own homes which I find kind of interesting.

If they went to the tomb and it was empty and they did and if John came to faith by understanding that Jesus rose from the dead why did they go home?

Why didn't they go to the other disciples?

But I'm sure they were so overwhelmed by the gravity and impact of this day. I'm sure they were trying to absorb it and figure it out but again I would kind of think that if something really awesome happened I'd want to tell people but then again they're kind of like us. We come to faith and then we go home.

So Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping and so as she wept she stood and stooped and looked into the tomb. So now we see that she not only made an assumption that somebody stole the body she actually visibly seized by stooping in and looking into the tomb but she didn't see what she was expecting.

And she saw two angels and white sitting one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been lying.

So now we have two angels and I know one of the gospels says there's one angel let me give you a clue to have two you had to have one.

One is a lesser included number and two so just because one says one and one says two doesn't mean they're at odds. It simply means one talked about one angel and the other said there were two guys there

and they were sitting where the body would have been.

And they said there are women why are you weeping?

And again in our culture just call somebody a woman is kind of whatever not in this culture this is still a sign of respect to them. It says why are you weeping?

So they're asking for a reason why? So I find this question interesting the angels ask for a reason and she said to them because they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him.

So again she continues to make the assumption that somebody stole the body because otherwise why would it not be there because he was dead. But again she hasn't observed the linen wrappings because oftentimes when we are faced with grief facts are difficult to observe.

We feel and she feels that somebody has done something inappropriate to her Lord and she wants to find him his body reclaim it and care for it the way it should have been cared for.

So she says that's why I'm basically that's why I'm crying because I don't know where they've laid the body it's missing.

When she had said this she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus. Now again this is not uncommon after the resurrection when two men were walking to Emmaus they were talking and Jesus came up and started conversing with them and talking about how it was necessary for the Messiah to die and rise again and then they didn't understand it was Jesus until he broke bread and thanked him. There is a common times when people don't recognize who it is. Also there are times as the scripture says sometimes we entertain angels unaware.

Sometimes we just don't know who we're dealing with and so again she's going to make another assumption and Jesus said to her Mary and she turned and said to him in Hebrew for boning which means teacher. So now when he has called her name I'm sorry I jumped one which is important let's go back to the previous.

Jesus said her woman why are you weeping and whom are you seeking?

And supposing him to be the gardener she said to him sir if you carried him away tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away.

Because Jesus question is whom are you seeking?

Why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? So Jesus has made a critical question I don't need to know necessarily why. Who is it that you're crying for?

And again Mary makes that assumption that he's somebody different and he's the gardener because it's in a garden and so she's going to think well obviously he knows where they would have taken the body. So she says tell me and I'll secure it. And Jesus said to her Mary and Mary turned and said to him in Hebrew for boning which means teacher.

And so she now recognizes who Jesus is.

She calls him teacher and in rabbun it's even a more masterful title than just rabbi. It's master teacher. So she's expressing that to him and I'm having trouble so if you can.

So Jesus said to her stop clinging to me or I have not yet ascended to the father but go to my brethren and say to them I ascend to my father and your father and my God and your God. Now I can kind of understand what Jesus because he's saying stop clinging to me stop holding on I still have things I need to do.

Now Mary both because she loved Jesus as the disciples did he'd been missing.

She just wants to hold on to him because there for a while she was panicked his body was missing but here he is alive and she's clinging to him.

And Jesus gives her the marching orders go to my brethren go to the disciples and tell them that I'm going to ascend and that to my God and your God my father and your father. Now I want you to notice something Jesus does make a distinction here because there is a distinction the relationship of Jesus to the father is unique.

He's a unique son of God he's the only son of God so his relationship to the father is different while we as believers are also children of God and he is our father we are in a different place as children.

So when Jesus says that we are my father and my God your father and your God he makes that distinction of our relationship but yet he is our God and he is our father. As a matter of fact the only time Jesus really talks about our father is when he taught the disciples what we call the Lord's Prayer which isn't the Lord's Prayer it was a disciples prayer and so he's teaching how to pray and he says our father who are in heaven he doesn't tell us how to pray he's not telling them how he prays.

And so again he makes that unique distinction he tells them tells Mary I want you to go to the brethren and Mary Magdalene came announcing to the disciples I have seen the Lord and that he has said these things to her so she tells them what she experienced that she saw the Lord and she lets them know that he told me what to say and I'm communicating that to you.

Now how is it that I know that Jesus rose from the dead?

Well there are a lot of proofs one of the proofs is there is an empty grave so I can have faith in that.

I also have faith that the gospels written are accurate.

How is it that I know that?

Well because usually when mythology happens it usually happens some hundreds of years after the fact when no one was there.

No one was there when Zeus was around.

Jesus was a real live person.

The gospels were written and even other writings like Paul's writings were written within just a couple of decades of the resurrection.

So it happened in a timely manner because they discovered you know those people who saw these events are dying so we need to have a recording of what happened to pass it down to future generations like you and me so that we might know what happened and so those who witnessed the situation are telling us what happened.

It was written and observed in Jerusalem.

No one said I was taking a trip to Rome and there I bumped into Jesus.

No he rose again in Jerusalem and for a period of over 40 days he still wandered around in Jerusalem and in Galilee.

So it wasn't a one stop and then it was over.

The other reasons why I can rely on it is because they just recorded the first person who observed Jesus resurrected was a woman.

Now I just said that women aren't to be disrespected but at the same token in Jewish culture at the time a woman was not a legitimate witness.

You could not take a woman into court and prove anything.

So if that was the case why did they try to say that a woman was the first person who observed him? Because a woman was the first person who observed him.

The other reason why I believe it is because as they wrote the Gospels all the disciples are idiots just like you and me.

Jesus tries to teach him something and they miss it.

They miss the fact that he is going to be raised from the dead.

They would ask him questions and they would say you are talking to us and talking to them and so they had their issues.

So even in this situation it wasn't like they said oh yeah I didn't even have to run to the grave because I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and just as he said now I am going to take my hike and go up to Galilee because that is where he told us to meet him.

No they say that there are doubts and we are going to see in the next message how great a doubt they had.

So if they were making up this story everybody wants to release the writer so at least John would say I believed all the time. I was just there with Peter because he didn't understand.

They accepted the fact that they were dark until the light shone.

And the other reason I believe that he rose from the dead is Paul writes in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 starting with verse 3. "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures."

You see as we talked before we know that Jesus is the Messiah because he died according to the Scriptures and that he was buried and I might add according to the Scriptures as we saw last week and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

How is it that I know? Because the Scriptures have never failed us at any time.

It has been true since they were written until today and for eternity.

We may wither and dry up and die but his word remains forever.

And then he goes on to say and then he appeared to Cephas which is Peter and then to the 12th. And after that he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time. Most of whom remained but until now some have fallen asleep.

So Cephas, Paul wants to remind us that it wasn't just a couple of disciples who saw it that he saw him in numerous occasions and numerous different people and even 500 at one time.

And then he appeared to James which is his brother then to all the apostles and last of all as to one untimely born he appeared to me also. Paul says, "While I was on a journey to persecute the church I came face to face with the resurrected Christ."

So he goes, "You can add me to the witnesses."

And so because the scriptures say how he was to die and how he was to be buried and how he was to raise again I know that he is the Messiah just as I know that there is an antichrist who will be wounded mortally in the head and will rise again and that tells me that he will die and rise again according to the scriptures but not as Messiah but as the antichrist.

So the scriptures tells us who to and what to watch for.

And the whole world mostly at this period of time when the antichrist appears is going to be misled because it's not every day you see somebody rise from the dead but because they don't understand the scriptures they are misled.

Only so that you might know in the psalm it talks about that Jesus his body will not undergo decay.

Scriptures tell us that he rises from the dead and there are other scriptures so we have reasons. So no I was not there to see the empty tomb myself and I have yet to see it but I believe those who have seen it and I believe those who have written of it and I believe that the word of God has demonstrated he has risen from the dead and that his spirit testifies to my spirit that he is God and they raised him from the dead. When I take all of those combined I can firmly say I walk by faith not by sight but I walk by faith with reason not with just superstition. So if he rose from the dead and he did what does that mean for you and me?

For some people they acknowledge it and continue living their lives. Other people acknowledge it attempt to get fire insurance and go on with their lives. And other people acknowledge it and say you are my Lord and I will do as you say even though it may be very difficult for me. As we read I have been crucified with Christ. His crucifixion is my crucifixion. His death is my death. And his life is my life. And that is the invitation he gives to everyone.

And all God's people said.