John 20:1-10
Jesus’ words speak life that takes us from a misguided perspective to experiencing the understanding, protection, and future we have in Jesus.
Introduction
Jesus’ body has been tucked away in the tomb. The stone has been rolled in front of the entrance. The disciples went home to deal with their grief and pain and to figure out what their future held for them. The King had died. They thought it was over. Of course, this was only the beginning. However, misguided in their grief and what had been lost, they could not see the impact of the resurrection. Amid all the prophecies that had come to be in the last few days, the disciple’s crushed hopes and grief caused them to be blind and deaf to the very words Jesus had spoken. Everything He said would happen was happening. Jesus’ words speak life that takes us from a misguided perspective to experiencing the understanding, protection, and future we have in Jesus.
Misguided Understanding (Jn. 20:1-2)
• Jesus had cast seven demons out of Mary Magdalene (Mk. 16:9; Lk. 8:2).
• Mary Magdalene deeply loved Jesus as He had set her free. She stayed at the cross during His suffering and death and was even at the tomb the night before as Joseph and Nicodemus cared for Jesus’ body (Mt 27:61; Mk 15:47).
• Before the light has even broken through the sky, she returns to the garden tomb where Jesus’ body is supposed to be.
• When she realizes something is wrong (the stone rolled away), without waiting to investigate, Mary turned and ran back into the city to tell Peter and John that the body had been stolen (Jn 20:2).
• This is her first thought. Someone had stolen His body. It didn’t matter that she had watched as the prophecies of Jesus’ crucifixion came to be or the very words Jesus had spoken about His resurrection. She could not dare to hope.
• Her grief was crushing her, and she could not move past it to see that Jesus was alive. He had risen from the dead.
• So, instead, in her misguided understanding of loss and despair, she believed that Jesus’ body had been stolen. There was no other explanation.
Misguided Protection (Jn. 20:3-7)
• Peter and John run to investigate. Knowing what we know about these men, we can almost be sure they were going to “handle some business.”
• In other words, they may have been looking for a way to express their feelings. If someone stole Jesus’ body, they were going to handle it. They would protect His body.
• So, now they have an outlet. So, they took off running, and John does not leave out the detail that he ran faster than Peter. Often, we laugh at this because it shows their competitive nature.
• John beat Peter in the foot race, but the word “following” is translated to mean “hot on the heals,” so he wasn’t far behind.
• When John gets to the tomb after sprinting, he stops- he doesn’t enter. Instead, he stood at the doorway, leaned forward, and glanced inside. From there, in the dim light, all he saw were the linen strips that had been wrapped around Jesus’ body. He may not have realized that the wrappings were empty at that point.
• There are many possible reasons for this. John may have wanted to show respect, which seems to line up with what we know of his character. Remember, John was the disciple who always seemed to be in proximity to Jesus. He also might have felt fearful.
• When Peter came, he didn’t hesitate as John had but walked directly into the tomb.
• What he saw shocked him once he drew close enough to examine the linen wrappings still lying on the shelf.
• The wrappings were intact, but the body had disappeared. If someone had stolen the body, they would have picked it up and carried it out, so the wrappings would have gone with the body. Peter also noticed that the cloth bound around Jesus’ face and head (Jn 11:44) had been rolled up or folded carefully and put away from the rest of the wrappings.
Misguided Future (Jn. 20:8-10)
• Peter must have said something when he saw the wrappings because John joined him inside the tomb.
• Then John saw the same thing as Peter and tells us that because of what he saw, he “believed.” But he quickly adds that neither he nor Peter understood the spiritual significance of what they saw.
• They realized that some miracle had occurred, but they were still confused. Maybe they thought Jesus’ body had been taken up into heaven like Elijah, who went up in a whirlwind (2Ki 2:11) because John says, “…they did not yet know the Scriptures that He must rise again from the dead.”
• They did not yet understand that Jesus was not only alive spiritually but that He had broken the grip of death and was now alive physically in an immortal body.
• At that moment, neither John nor Peter knew why that would be important because they didn’t understand what the Bible teaches about how Jesus’ resurrection is connected to the salvation and future resurrection of all believers and even the resurrection of all unbelievers (Jn 5:28-29; 1Co 15:22).
• One of the clearest pieces of evidence of Peter and John’s lack of understanding was what they did next: They went home.
• This is such an anti-climactic moment. Jesus has risen, but their misguided view of the future has caused them to miss all that Jesus had taught them. So, they had no direction. There is no plan except to return to what they did before Jesus.
• Interestingly, the religious leaders put guards at the tomb to eliminate any possibility that Jesus’ disciples might try to steal the body and claim that He had risen from the dead.
• For some reason, that hostile group of religious leaders had understood Jesus to say that He would come back to life after three days (Jn 2:18-21; Mt 27:62-66), and they had taken steps to prevent it.
• But on that resurrection morning His own disciples seemed to have no memory of it even though Jesus had explicitly and repeatedly taught them that truth (Mt 16:21; 17:22-23; 20:17-19).
• The disciples were living in Jesus’ death. That is the future they saw at that moment. We do not have the whole gospel story without acknowledging His death, but we aren’t saved until we believe in the resurrected Jesus (1 Cor. 15:3-4).
• They were not living in His resurrection. We must also decide if we will live in the resurrection power or a misguided future.
Conclusion
It’s not hard to relate to the emotions and responses the disciples were experiencing on that Resurrection Sunday. Though Jesus was alive, they could not reconcile that with their misguided responses. Thankfully, they would not have to wait long for Jesus to speak to their lack of understanding and unbelief. Jesus’ words speak life that takes us from a misguided perspective to experiencing the understanding, protection, and future we have in Him.
Discussion Questions
- Can you think of a time when you struggled with misguided understanding? How did that impact you and others__?
- When dealing with grief and sorrow how can you allow Jesus to speak in those places__?
- What does it look like to live in the resurrection rather than Jesus death__?