Text: “40 But God raised him from death three days later and caused him to appear, 41
not to everyone, but only to the witnesses that God had already chosen.........” Acts 10
This is Easter Sunday. Yes,
but in contrast to our bright spring morning John chapter 20, begins with a
scene of utter desolation there in the Garden, for we first meet Mary standing
outside the tomb in the garden, weeping. Think of her for a moment, she is not
only traumatised at the death of Jesus in those
indescribable circumstances on the Cross three days before, but she is also enduring the shock of
bereavement. And what she
now finds when she stands at the entrance to the tomb would be enough to bring
anyone to the very edge........ after the trauma of
His death, enduring the numbness of bereavement she now finds to her deep shock
that the body of the Lord is not there.
Mary still has enough presence
of mind to calm her self,
and pull herself together and try to think through what might
have happened.......
The tomb is empty, so its obvious, the body of the Lord Jesus has been moved. In Mary’s
confusion, grief and numbness...... she tries to think....who would have moved
the body of Jesus ? and where
to ?
She now sees two strangers at
the tomb, and she says to them ‘They have taken my Lord away and I do not know
where they have put Him...’ ‘They’, Mary is talking about the authorities. Perhaps,
she thinks, the authorities, in their harsh, cold, evil, sinful calculating,
have moved the body of Jesus. So that in death He still has no place to lay His
head, still despised and rejected in death.
At this moment, a man appears walking
through the cool, green shade of the palms and olives there in the garden. Here
is another possibility this man, the gardener....... may have moved the body of
Jesus - after all, the tomb may have only been available for two or three days.
Perhaps this man, the gardener has simply moved the body. Surely Mary’s sorrow must have deepened. The
Lord Jesus, who was crucified outside of the city in death, now laid somewhere
outside even the shelter of the tomb. If you have taken Him away, she says to
the gardener, tell me where you have laid Him and I will get Him........ So, this
is the situation the gospel begins with, Mary’s utter desolation there in the
Garden, Mary
standing outside the tomb in the garden, weeping.
We will come back to her
desolation, grief, and sorrow...... later.................
What happens next ? Jesus meets her !
The man who appeared in the
garden is not the gardener ! it
is the risen Jesus Himself !
Coming to meet Mary in person.
The risen Jesus Himself comes to meet Mary in person, and Mary sees Him with her own eyes, there in the garden He speaks to her. Now, this is really quite extraordinary - and so often we read or hear the gospel, and miss how extraordinary what happens in the garden really is.
That Jesus, is One risen from the dead........ Mary had seen Him die on the Cross, three days earlier....... yet Mary sees Him with her own eyes, there in the garden He speaks to her. It is extraordinary........
You see, the angels Mary met, do not
simply point to the empty tomb, and then tell her that Jesus has returned to
heaven.......
No Mary sees Him with her own eyes,
there in the garden Jesus speaks to her.
There is, you see, a deep purpose
in all the things that happen in the garden, and in
That’s what Peter declares in the Book of Acts...... God raised Jesus from death and caused Him to be seen, not by everyone, but only to those that God had already chosen.......
Isn’t that striking....... that when men and women meet with Jesus, risen from the dead, this is not random or accidental - God caused Him to be seen..........
God caused Jesus to be seen......... so here as the risen Jesus meets Mary, God’s deep, deep purposes
are unfolding................
What are those deep, deep purposes ?
Well, the first is that Mary
should see the Lord Jesus...........
That’s what she said to the disciples
later.................
I have seen the Lord,
You know, the Prophet Isaiah
also saw the Lord
It was in 742 BC the year that
King Uzziah died at the age of 57, after long illness.
King Uzziah had made the land secure, fought off
enemies, brought peace – now he was dead………….
But for the prophet Isaiah, one single day in that same year was a turning point in his
life. For on that day, he tells us - I saw the Lord. In a rich, and deep
encounter on that day in the
I saw the Lord says Isaiah...........the radiance, the glory, the
holiness of the Lord.
But now, turn to the garden, here, raised from the dead by the Father, the Lord Jesus appears in the garden walking through the cool, green shade of the palms and olives. Here, as the breeze gently moves the olive trees, as the perfume of the flowers drifts, as the sunlight dapples the ground........ the risen Jesus speaks with Mary ! Yet, there is no radiant light ? And Mary, rather than being stricken with guilt or sinfulness, reaches out and holds on to Jesus.........
Isaiah,
was crushed by a single glimpse of the majesty and power of God, overwhelmed by
a deep sense of his own guilt, and sinfulness.
But...... not Mary. Here she stands, the Lord Jesus has come near and speaks to her.........
But is this not the message of
the whole Gospel ? that the
living God has come near to us once and for all, and for ever, in Jesus. The
Lord Jesus born as a baby of a human mother, the One
single utterly faithful, utterly true, perfectly holy, completely righteous
man. He has lived among us as a human
being like ourselves........ He has come near to us..........
He knows the needs and longings of human
life.
He knows our frailties and limitations
and our sinfulness, and yet He really has come near to us........ not in a
blaze of radiant light that would blind us, or in holiness that would overwhelm
us......... no, He comes near to us, as He came that day to Mary.........
so here as the risen Jesus meets Mary, God’s deep, deep purposes
are unfolding................ He has come near to us in Jesus........
this is God’s deep, loving purpose for us.............
Here as the risen Jesus meets Mary, God’s deep, deep purposes
are unfolding................ He has come near to us in Jesus............
The prophet Isaiah had once
said that, when the Lord comes to redeem us, when He comes 4
Every valley shall be
raised up, every mountain and hill made
low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
Well, the great barriers in
old
when
the everlasting God, comes He will break down the barriers that separate us
from Him, He will come to meet us on level ground. Well, here, in the garden,
we see just that - Here is the risen Jesus, standing, speaking to Mary. Jesus,
who has faced the
world’s rejection, who has taken our sin away, who has passed through death
itself, the risen Lord Jesus comes near and speaks to Mary. Just as the prophet
declared, long ages before.............the everlasting God has come in Jesus at
the Cross He has broken down the barriers that separate us from Him, He comes
to meet us on level ground.
As the old hymn says, and
these could be the very words of Mary herself: Just as I am – Your love unknown has broken every barrier down – now
to be Yours and Yours alone, O lamb
of God I come.
Jesus comes near, to the
garden to meet Mary........
He comes to comfort her. To speak with her.......
so that, there in the
garden, we see the love of Jesus, His mercy and grace –
He comes, and comes near to us ! through
every barrier............
The Book of Acts declares: God raised Jesus from death and caused Him to be seen,
when men and women meet with Jesus, risen from the dead, this is not random or accidental - God caused Him to be seen..........
God caused Jesus to be seen......... so here as the risen Jesus meets Mary, God’s deep, deep purposes
are unfolding................
here as the risen Jesus meets Mary, God’s deep, deep purposes
are unfolding................
now, there is so much more that could be said........
let me simply return to....... where we began.........
think
back to Mary’s utter desolation there in the Garden, Mary standing outside the tomb in the garden,
weeping.
Now see - as the risen Jesus meets Mary, how God’s deep, deep purposes
are unfolding................
at the moment of deepest
darkness for Mary, the Lord Jesus comes to meet her, He comes not in His own
radiant light, nor in the blaze of holiness.........
No - Jesus meets Mary in a way she can
understand.......
she recognises
Him, hears His loving and tender voice, she knows that this is Jesus,
the risen Jesus has come
near to Mary, as He comes near to us - in Person
Why ? because
the deepest that we can know in human life, is another person...........
here as the risen Jesus meets Mary, God’s deep, deep purposes
are unfolding................
To go back to the beginning.............. we see in the gospel........ the utter desolation there in the Garden, that’s where the gospel begins... we met first of all Mary standing outside the tomb in the garden, weeping. Grieving at the death of Jesus in those indescribable circumstances on the Cross three days before, bereaved, she finds the tomb empty..........
in that moment of darkness,
bereavement, numbness, emptiness, ....... she says words of utter forsakenness.............’They have taken my Lord away’
Then it is that Jesus comes
near, to the garden to meet Mary........
He comes to comfort her. To speak with her.......
so that, there in the garden,
we see the love of Jesus, His mercy and grace –
He comes, and comes near to us ! through
every barrier............
in those extremes of human life, utter darkness, and confusion, and numbness......... ........
the risen Jesus comes to meet her, speaks with her,
And in those moments - Mary’s
whole situation is transformed, in ways she could never have
imagined...........
this is the resurrection power of Jesus,
If that is true for the
extremes of life, then we know that when all plans fail, our strength ebbs,
everything we built our life on collapses,
in any time of utter darkness, and confusion, and numbness......... ........
That is then that Jesus comes
near, to meet us, to comfort us..... .......
and we will come to know
in new ways, the love of Jesus, His mercy and grace –
He comes, and comes near to us ! through
every barrier............
Yes ! this is God’s deep, loving purpose for us.............
He has come near to us in Jesus........
and those deep, deep purposes of God are still unfolding