Mary Magdalene Experiences the Resurrection

It's great to See all of you here today. Thank you so much for choosing to, worship with us this morning and what an event that we're gathered here today and every Sunday of the year to celebrate. This is why we worship on Sundays in celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and of all Sundays, this is the day, where we give special focus to this reality, this event in human history. of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. And to that end, I wanna invite you, if you brought your Bibles with you to turn in your Bibles to John chapter 20. John chapter 20, we're gonna be looking at verses 1 through 18 this morning, and if you want to give a title to the message, it would be Mary Magdalene Experiences the resurrection. We're gonna see the event of the resurrection from her perspective as she encountered the risen Christ for the very first time. On Monday of this week, I was on Facebook and I saw a video that someone had posted, so I, I watched the video. It was a video of a woman. Who was receiving, she had received a cochlear ear implant enabling her to hear for the first time in her life. And I'm a sucker for these videos. on most of these videos, the person breaks down emotionally and weeps when they hear for the first time because it is such an overwhelming and powerful experience, for, them. And in this particular, video, The technician turns the dial. On the implant and suddenly the woman with the implant quietly laughs. And then she begins to cry as soon as she hears her own laugh. Then she begins to cry all the more as she hears herself crying. The technician looked at her and said, you hear yourself, huh? And the woman nodded that she did and then she apologized for her tears, but the technician assured her that her tears were totally OK. soon thereafter, as you see in the picture, the, the woman's boyfriend who is sitting in front of her. looks at her and says, can you hear me? And her, the, the woman says, yes, but you sound funny. It was then that the man moved forward in his seat. Moving towards her, and he said to her, well, I wanted to make one of the first things you hear. And at that point he paused and dropped to one knee. And pulled a ring out of his pocket and kneeling before her, he said to her, I love you so much. You are my best friend. I wanted to make the first thing you hear. Is me asking you to marry me. She started crying as soon as she saw him dropping to one knee and she happily said yes. They hugged. And she cried and I cried. And he put the ring on her finger and then they kissed and the video ends with the boyfriend saying to her, I love you baby, and she responds by saying, I hear your voice. I hear your voice. Our story today in John chapter 20 is no less moving. In our story today, a woman named Mary Magdalene hears the resurrected Lord speak her name, and she is profoundly moved by that experience. All she can do. Upon hearing him speak her name is to cry out and worship and cling to him. In John chapter 10, Jesus teaches that a good shepherd calls his own sheep by name. And he says, My sheep hear my voice. And in our passage today, Jesus calls Mary. By name, and she hears his voice and recognizes him. And as we work our way through this passage today, I wonder if any in this room might hear the voice of Jesus speaking to them, maybe for the first time. Mary Magdalene is an interesting person in the gospel accounts. We learned in Luke chapter 8, verse 2 that Mary Magdalene had once been possessed by 7 demons, meaning that she knew the cruel torments of evil, probably like none of us in this room this morning. Yet in Mark chapter 16 verse 9, we learned that Jesus had cast those seven demons out of her. When no one else could deliver her, Jesus could, and he did. On that occasion, Mary was rescued by the voice of Jesus when he rebuked the demons in her and commanded them to depart from her. We're not surprised to learn in Luke's Gospel that Mary was intensely devoted to Jesus after that deliverance. She was one of the women who traveled with Jesus wherever he went. And she was among those who were contributing to Jesus' ministry out of her own private means. We learned that in Luke chapter 8. We know that Jesus knew Mary on a first name basis. She knew what it was like to hear Jesus speak her name. The voice of Jesus that caused the demons within her to tremble and depart from her was the same voice that spoke her name in many, many friendly conversations. According to Matthew's gospel, Mary was among those who traveled with Jesus on his final trip to Jerusalem. It was while in Jerusalem that tragedy struck when Jesus was arrested and crucified and seemingly overcome by the powers of darkness. Matthew's gospel tells us that Mary Magdalene was present at his death. She watched him die, and Matthew also tells us that she watched him being buried in the tomb. Well, now it's Sunday in the gospel narrative and Jesus has been resurrected, but Mary does not know that as the curtains open on John chapter 20. In our passage today, we find 4 references to Mary weeping. From one standpoint, she has good reason to weep, for her grief is a double grief. She is grieving the loss of one that she loved deeply. And who had delivered her. She's also grieving with a grief that is intensified by the danger that she would now feel like she is in. If the only person in the world who was strong enough to deliver her from the forces of evil is now himself overcome, By the forces of evil. Then Mary has good reason to fear that there is now nothing to stop those demons from coming at her and repossessing her with full fury. And vengeance. Mary has a dark and uncertain future now that Jesus, to her way of thinking, is dead. Her only consolation is to come to the tomb of Jesus on Sunday morning and that's where our story picks up today in John chapter 20. The way we're gonna break down this account is we're gonna observe seven developments in the story of Mary Magdalene's experience of the resurrection of Jesus. And the first development we see begins in verse one, and that is that Mary sees the opened tomb and misunderstands its meaning. She sees the open tomb and misunderstands its meaning. In verse one, the text says, 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. So Jesus has already been raised, the stone was removed, not so that he could get out, but so that anyone could look in and see that he was gone. We know from the other gospel accounts that Mary was coming to the tomb on this morning with other women in order to find some way to further anoint the body of Jesus for his burial. The other gospel writers cast a wide enough spotlight. To include those other women in their account, but John focuses only on Mary Magdalene. According to the text, when Mary arrives at the tomb, she sees the stone is removed or taken away from the tomb. And upon seeing this site, Mary immediately arrives at an interpretation of what she sees. She does not even bother looking inside of the tomb. She immediately concludes that Jesus' body has been taken from the tomb and placed somewhere else. That's how far the thought of his resurrection was from her mind. So look at what she does in verse 2. Verse 2 says, so she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and that's John the apostle, and said to them, they have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. From this statement from Mary, we can piece together at least three facets in her thinking at this point. Number one, in her thinking, the authorities or Jesus' enemies have taken Jesus' body out of the tomb. Secondly, they have laid his dead body in another place. And number 3, Jesus is still dead. And his corpse is lying somewhere. Notice her language to Peter and John. She says, we do not know where they have laid him. Notice the word we. Her use of the word we is a solid indication that Mary was not alone when she came to the tomb of Jesus, but that other women were with her who arrived at the same conclusion initially that she did. And the likelihood is that the other women stayed behind at the tomb while Mary Magdalene turned and made a beeline for Peter and John to tell them the news, as well as her interpretation. of what she saw. Well, how do Peter and John respond? This brings us to the next development in the story of Mary's experience of the resurrection, and that is that Mary prompts Peter and John to visit the tomb. Verse 3, so Peter and the other disciple, that's John, went forth and they were going to the tomb. What was their manner of travel? John says in verse 4, the two were running together. Obviously, they were anxious to get there as quickly as possible. John then inserts one detail and says, and the other disciple, that's John, who's writing this book, ran ahead faster than Peter. And came to the tomb first. Peter probably read this and thought, that's nice, John. Thank you. You had to mention that little detail. But this is the way eyewitnesses talk. We ran, he's saying, and I, I ran faster. I got there first. Observe what John does once he arrives at the tomb, verse 5, and stooping and looking in, he, John, saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. And as John is looking in, Peter arrives, and verse 6 says, and so Simon Peter also came following him, and he entered the tomb. It's not enough for Peter to look into the tomb and see that it is empty. He wants to examine things closely and do some detective work. This is a crime scene in his mind at this point, based on Mary's testimony. And so Peter enters the tomb and looks around and what he sees does not fit at all with what Mary had told him. First of all, the text says in verse 6, and he saw the linen wrappings lying there. In all likelihood, Writers talk about how What Peter is likely seeing is the linen wrappings as they had been wrapped around the body of Jesus, but now deflated. And their pattern because nobody is inside of those wrappings any longer. It would have appeared to Peter in all likelihood as if Jesus' body had passed right out of the linen wrappings. Peter keeps investigating and notices something else. The text says in verse 7, and the face cloth which had been on his head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up. In a place by itself. Evidently the cloth that would have covered Jesus' face and been wrapped around his head was neatly rolled up and carefully put in a place inside the tomb. As one writer says, whatever the specifics of the situation are, what is clear is that John is plainly describing an orderly scene, not one of wild confusion. This would clearly demonstrate that Jesus' body had not been stolen. Thieves would have never left the linen wrappings like this. They would have never taken the time to fold the face cloth so neatly after removing it from Jesus' head. By the way, ancient apologists for the Christian faith. Not only pointed to the empty tomb to prove Christ's resurrection, but they also pointed to the linen wrappings and the folded face cloth as additional evidence. This is not a scene of somebody stealing his body. They would never unwrap his body in this way. They would never take the time to fold the facecloth and put it away neatly. At this point, Peter is the only one in the tomb, but John gets up his courage and he enters the tomb and he surveys the scene. The text says in verse 8, so the other disciple who had first come to the tomb, then also entered and he saw and believed. Remember those words, he saw and believed. In other words, he saw the linen wrappings without a body in them and a face cloth neatly rolled up by itself. And John believed in his heart that Jesus was raised from the dead. A sharp reader of the narrative at this point would ask, why is John only now believing Why didn't he believe prior to this point, given the fact that Jesus repeatedly promised that he would die and rise from the dead on exactly the 3rd day. And why is John the only one who is said to believe here? What about Peter? Well John addresses these questions in verse 9 by making a humble admission. He says in verse 9, for as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise. Again from the dead. John is writing verse 9 as a personal confession. He's ashamed as he writes verse 9. Speaking of himself in verse 8, he writes the words he saw and believed. He's saying, I saw and then I believed. Had he understood the Old Testament scriptures and believed them, he would have believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ without even needing to see. A point that he will drive home later in this very chapter. John is admitting right here that he's really no better than Thomas. who later had to see before he believed. Verse 10 tells us what Peter and John did next. Verse 10 says, so the disciples went away again to their own homes, marveling over this thing that they had seen. At this point, the camera comes back to Mary Magdalene, who has made her way back to the tomb. And after telling Peter and John, she, undoubtedly did make her way back to the tomb, she may have arrived when they were still there and then she stayed behind after they had left, and this leads us to the next development. In the story of Mary's experience of the resurrection, and that is that Mary sees angels in the tomb and continues to misunderstand. She sees angels in the tomb and continues to misunderstand. In verse 11, the text says these words, but Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping. Mary is weeping over Jesus' death. She's also weeping over the loss of his body. This was her last connection with Jesus in her own thinking at this point. That's why she's showing up at the tomb on a Sunday morning, not because she was expecting some resurrection from the dead, but because his dead body was her last remaining connection with this one that she loved so much. But now this body has been taken according to her own understanding. She doesn't know where it has been laid. And this adds to the 1000 sorrows in her heart that she is already feeling. She's lost the one who meant more to her than any other, the one who delivered her from evil. She's also sorrowing over what her own future might now look like. With Jesus being dead. As I mentioned At the beginning of our message, if the one who had delivered her from evil is now dead and overcome by evil, Then What is to stop those demons from coming back into her? On top of the sorrows and uncertainties and forebodings, Mary is now here weeping over his missing body. Observe what happens next. The text says in verse 11, and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb. You have to give Mary credit here. She is weeping but she's willing to look as she wept. She wept, but she was willing to put herself in a position for God to show her something. Her example teaches us that it's OK to weep. So long as we don't weep with our eyes closed. Keep your eyes open when you cry. Give God a chance to show you something. In the midst of your sorrow, and that's what Mary does. Look at what she sees as she looks into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying, and they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? The truth is Mary has nothing to weep about right now, right? But she doesn't know that actual circumstances warrant incredible rejoicing. The angels know that, but Mary doesn't know that, so they ask her, why are you weeping? Look at her answer, verse 13, she said to them, because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. Think about this for a moment. Mary sees two angels dressed in white, no doubt dazzling in their appearance based on the other gospel accounts, and they ask her why she's crying and she answers their question without freaking out. She's so lost in her sorrow. That she doesn't seem to be processing that powerful angelic beings. are right there in front of her. She gives an answer. She says they've taken away my Lord and I don't know where they have laid him again, she's indicating her belief Jesus' body has been taken away, his body has been laid somewhere else and that Jesus is still dead. That's her interpretation up to this point. Part of John's intent is to show us how hard it was for the truth of Christ's resurrection to dawn upon Mary. She sees an open tomb. And concludes that his dead body was removed and laid somewhere else. She now sees two angels in the tomb. At the head and the feet of right where Jesus' body was laid, and she saw where his body had been laid when he was buried, and she still believes. That Jesus' dead body has been removed and laid elsewhere. However, right as Mary is answering the angels, something happens that causes her to turn away from the angels and to look behind her. Perhaps she hears the sound of someone walking behind her, outside the tomb. Perhaps the angels look over Mary's shoulder as she is talking to them. Either way, Mary turns away from the tomb to see what it was, and this brings us to the next wonderful development in the story of Mary's experience of Christ's resurrection, and that is that Mary sees Jesus, but amazingly, she continues to misunderstand. Verse 14, when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. And did not know that it was Jesus. All right, so up to this point, Mary has seen a stone rolled away from the entrance of the tomb, and she did not believe. She's seen two angels inside the empty tomb, and she still did not believe, and now she is staring right at Jesus outside of the tomb. And she doesn't even know that it's Jesus. That's how far removed any thought of his resurrection was from her mind. She's staring at the greatest miracle in human history, and she doesn't even recognize what she's looking at. Jesus talks to her, and he asked her two questions. He asked her the same question the angels ask with an additional question. He says in verse 15, the text says, Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom? Are you seeking Notice that Jesus says, whom? Are you seeking? Not what? Whom are you seeking? Mary's actually there seeking a corpse, but Jesus is turning her thoughts in the right direction with this question and the way that he words it. She was looking for a corpse, but at the bottom of her quest was really a search for a person. At the bottom of all of our searchings. is ultimately a quest for someone, a person. And that is Jesus. So look at her response. Jesus says, why are you weeping? And whom are you seeking? Verse 15, the text says, supposing him to be the gardener. She said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. This request from Mary reflects an interesting shift in her thinking. She looks at Jesus and she supposes him to be the gardener who tended to these grounds where the tomb was and then thinking he's the gardener, Mary begins thinking that maybe it was he, this gardener, Who was involved in removing the body of Jesus from the tomb. She seems relieved at the thought of this possibility. Maybe it wasn't the enemies of Jesus who stole his body after all, maybe the person who moved the body was this gardener, who seems like a nice enough man who's asking me why I'm crying. And wanting to know whom I am seeking. So with a hopeful heart, Mary says, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him. Away In Mary's mind right now, best case scenario in her thinking is that this gardener would tell her that he had laid Jesus' body elsewhere, and that he would tell her where the body of Jesus was and give her permission to take the body and go give it a proper burial. Mary would have been eternally grateful. If somehow this gardener could have produced the dead body of Jesus and given it to her. That's the highest. That her heart would have hoped for. At this point, She would have been happy at this point with a dead Jesus. Here she is standing before Jesus himself, and she's making request of him, hoping that he might provide her with the corpse. Of Jesus. Imagine if Jesus had given her what she's asking for. As one writer says, we should all have had cause to weep to all eternity if what she wept for had been given to her. The dead body of her lord. But Jesus He's a savior who doesn't always give us what we ask for, right? why? Because he wants to give us something even better than what we're asking for. Amen. God is a God who can do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, and Mary is about to receive something that is infinitely beyond her highest hopes in this moment. She wants from this gardener, a dead body, and God is about to give her the living Lord. This brings us to the next development in the story. How Jesus responds to Mary in this moment really reveals volumes about him. At this point, he wants to reveal himself to her, but how does he do that? How does he go about doing that? He could have revealed himself to her by saying, I am Jesus, see my wounds, my hands, my feet, he does that to the disciples. But he doesn't reveal himself to her in these ways. Instead, he chooses a most personal way possible to reveal himself to Mary, and that brings us to the next development. And that is Jesus reveals himself to Mary by speaking her name. Verse 16 The text says Jesus said to her, Mary This is sheer genius. With one simple word, Jesus reveals to Mary his identity. He reveals his identity by letting her know that he knows her identity. He reveals himself to this weeping woman through the speaking of her name. Jesus had no doubt spoken Mary's name on many other occasions. That fact is clearly implied in what happened here. If Jesus had never spoken Mary's name before, then the sound of her name on his lips would not have awakened in her the realization of who he was, right? So Jesus reveals himself by stating Mary's name. As far as Mary knows, he's just the gardener, and she doesn't know who he is. He wouldn't know who she was. This is a man she does not know and yet in saying her name, Mary would instantly realize that this man knows who she is. And there must have been something in the way Jesus said her name. That was so familiar to her. That she instantly knew. Who he was. Again, back in John chapter 10, Jesus is talking about how he is the good shepherd. He talks about how a good shepherd calls his own sheep by name. And in John 10:27, Jesus says, My sheep hear my voice, and part of what he means is they recognize my voice and know it's me. Fittingly, Jesus calls Mary by name as a wonderful, good shepherd. And being one of his sheep, she recognizes his voice instantly. And what a universe of good. is contained inside that one word, the speaking of her name. As one writer beautifully says, And hearing Jesus' voice, Mary is hearing the voice that she thought had been stilled in death forever. Here it spoke again with all that intimate quality that distinguished it from all other human voices. One word, yet so full of meaning. It was addressed to Mary in her deep grief and instantly turned that grief to joy. It found her with her faith crushed and left her with faith instantly revived. And that one word and its tone was all the love, the sympathy, and the helpfulness. Of Jesus One word, that's the power of one word from the lips of Jesus. Through his words to us, we discover him. And at the same time, we realize that we are discovered by him. Through his words. We find Jesus. And through his words we realize we are found. By Jesus How does Mary respond? The text tells us, how do you respond at this point? What is the right thing to say? she had no time to think about this, she's so moved. In verse 16, it says she turned and she said to him in Hebrew, Rabboni. Which means teacher. Notice the language of the text, the, the fact that the text says she turned. indicates that she had evidently turned away from Jesus as she was speaking. To him. Perhaps she had started to look back at the empty tomb after she had answered his question. She's in the presence of her savior. She doesn't know that it's him. And she's not even looking at him, but when he says her name, She instantly knows it is Jesus and she turns back to him and says, Rabbona. John knows that the word rabona would mean nothing. To us, so he tells us very helpfully, this word means teacher. Hence, in calling Jesus Raabboni, Mary is recognizing that this man standing in front of her is the one who had been teaching her over the past several years. Interestingly, in rabbinical Hebrew, Back in this day, the title Rabboni is often used actually to refer to God Himself, who is called Rebano Shel Ola, which means rabbi of the world. And I say this to emphasize that the title Rabboni is an exalted title, exalted enough for God Himself. Mary is calling him Rabboni partly because all that Jesus had taught her, all that he had promised to her regarding his death and resurrection is now flooding into her consciousness. She is now realizing. The power and the truth of his teaching like never before, and she expresses that realization by calling him Rabboni, which means teacher. Even in simply speaking her name, Jesus is teaching her volumes, teaching her that he is alive and that he knows her. And that he loves her It's interesting to note that all the other disciples are convinced by sight. Mary was not convinced by sight. She saw an open tomb. And was unconvinced. She saw angels inside the tomb and was unconvinced. She saw Jesus. And was unconvinced. But when she heard Jesus' voice speaking, Her name She was convinced As one writer says, Mary was not convinced by sight. But through the personal voice of love. We're not told this in the text, but What Jesus says next clearly implies this, and that is that Mary, upon saying Rabboni and realizing that it is Jesus, that she would have run toward Jesus and seized hold of him. She's probably doing as the women do in the other gospel accounts, falling at Jesus' feet and grabbing his feet and worshiping Him. And that's all well and good. We would expect Mary to do this. It's what the other women do as well in Matthew's gospel. The problem is that Mary grabs hold of his feet or grabs hold of Jesus and she won't let him go. And that makes for an awkward situation. But who can blame her? She's not gonna lose him again. This leads us to the next development in the story of her experience of the resurrection, and that is that Jesus commissions Mary to tell the good news to his disciples. Mary is clinging to Jesus, so observe what Jesus says, verse 17, Jesus said to her, stop clinging to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. His point is this, don't cling to me, Mary. If I let you cling to me without end, it would hinder me from ascending to my Father. There is a moment coming in the near future when I will ascend to the Father and you will not be able to relate to me in a physically clinging way as you are right now. You will still have me and I will totally be there. For you, but our relationship will not be such that you can physically cling to me anymore. Jesus then says in verse 17, but go, go, go to my brethren. Jesus wants Mary to leave him right away and to go spread the word about his resurrection and think about it. That's a hard thing to ask of her, right? And clinging to Jesus, Mary is clearly indicating that she would have preferred to stay there for hours, clinging to Jesus in a very private and prolonged moment of personal worship of Jesus. But Jesus is literally telling her to walk away from him. And to go spread the word. As DA Carson says on this passage, Jesus is basically saying, this is a time, Mary, for joy and sharing the good news, not for clutching me as if I were some jealously guarded private dream come true. And for those of you, including myself that are Christians, We all need to remember Jesus is not our private dream come true. He's commissioned us to go. And to share the good news about him so that we can invite others to come. And enjoy him together with us. That's what he's essentially commissioning her to do. And sending Mary to the disciples, Jesus specifically tells Mary what to say to them. In verse 17, he says, go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father and my God and your God. There's so many beautiful things that are happening here. First of all, just note the word brothers. Brethren Jesus is referring to his disciples as brethren. This is the exalted Christ, God the Son in a resurrected state, about to be ascended to the right hand of God and this exalted one is referring to these disciples as my brothers. Referring to his disciples as my brethren also conveys amazing grace. That I think we all can appreciate, the disciples had all abandoned Jesus on the night in which he was arrested. They bailed on Jesus in their darkest hour, Peter denied Christ with an oath. 3 times. And when we learn in scripture that he cursed and uttered an oath, when Peter denied Christ, that either means that he cursed Christ. Or he pronounced a curse on himself and said something like, may I be damned if I'm lying when I say I don't know that man. That's the behavior. Of these disciples. And yet the exalted resurrected Lord refers to this stumbling bunch of defeated men. As my brothers. What exaltation. What mercy, what grace. And how the disciples must have drank in such a label when they heard it from Mary's lips. That's the Lord that Jesus is, a Lord who will never ever let you down. And who will always stand ready to forgive you whenever you let him down. And continue To call you brother Or sister. When Jesus says, my Father and your Father and my God. In your God, he's emphasizing the shared privileges that he and his brothers share together. The disciples knew that Jesus stood an absolutely unique relationship with God the Father, and yet Jesus here is wanting to emphasize that the relationship that he enjoys with God the Father is something that they've been elevated to share in also. Jesus is wanting Mary to go to the disciples and announce the fact of his resurrection, and also the fact that his resurrection means a next step and that is his ascension to heaven. Jesus has not been raised from the dead as an end in itself. He has been raised in order to soon be ascended to the right hand of God the Father, the highest position. Of lordship and authority imaginable. So how does Mary respond? This brings us to the final development in the story of Mary Magdalene's experience of the resurrection of Christ and that is Mary obeys Jesus and imparts the good news to his disciples. Verse 18 Says Mary Magdalene came. Announcing to the disciples, I have seen. The Lord and that he had said these things. To her Mary obeys Jesus. She actually left him. She walked away from him to do what he had told her to do, which took tremendous faith on her part. She would only walk away from him. Because she's now certain that she will never lose him again. And imagine her joy as she ran to the disciples. All the fear, the grief, her tears are now a distant memory. She's now overflowing with amazing joy. She must have felt like she was running on air. On her way to the disciples. And when she found them, she burst forth with this news that she had seen the Lord and she told them every single thing that Jesus had said. How he had called them brothers. How he had been raised and how he is now going to be ascended to the right hand of God. We're gonna stop here in the narrative this morning, but let's just ponder a few things as we close. First of all, let's, let's just appreciate the fact that according to this account, Mary Magdalene is the first eyewitness and messenger of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and that in and of itself is proof that this story could not have been written by man. And Jewish and Roman legal practices of the day, did that in the first century, a woman's testimony was not even admissible in a court of law? Because women's testimony was considered legally unreliable. Yet Jesus intentionally chooses a woman to be the first eyewitness and messenger of his resurrection and of all women, Jesus chooses a woman that was once Possessed by 7 demons. If you're living in the first century and you're wanting to write a story and have the world believe what you're saying happened, you would never make up a story like this. There's only one reason John tells the story the way that he does here and that's because it actually happened this way. And because this is the savior that we have. A savior who rises from the dead. A savior who reveals himself to broken people. And who uses broken people to share with others the good news about him. Imagine what he can do with you. Despite all of your brokenness that may exist even up to this day, if you were to believe in him as your Lord and Savior. Mary Magdalene was as broken. And as hopeless as any woman has ever been ravaged, tormented, and possessed by 7 demons, I cannot imagine what that was like for her. Yet she was rescued from the demons by the voice of Jesus, and here she's being rescued from her sorrow and from her despair by the same voice. Here this formerly broken and outcast woman is being exalted to the incredible honor of being the first eyewitness to the resurrection of Christ and being made. The first messenger of his resurrection to the men who would later lead the church. And I just ask you, Is there any savior like this in any other religion? A savior who delivers the hopeless causes and exalts them to these kinds of heights and who uses them to be messengers for him. If you're here today and you've never believed And Jesus, I am happy to represent him this morning based on the teaching of His word. I know that Jesus has the power to save you. And the desire to save you. Whatever sins you have committed, and whatever sins bind you, now, Jesus can deliver you just as he delivered Mary Magdalene. He died on the cross and he took upon himself the full fury of, of evil. He let himself be killed and then 3 days later, he came back from the dead. And if you're gonna believe in a savior and everybody believes in a savior, whether that's themselves or in something or someone else, if you're gonna believe in a savior, and everyone does, don't you want to believe in a savior that is personally stronger than evil? And stronger than death itself. Jesus died. And he was raised from the dead so that if you believe in him, you can experience the forgiveness of all of the sins that you have committed in your life and be rescued from the chains that bind you. And after delivering you, Jesus will show himself to be a friend to you. Unlike any other friend you've ever known. He will call you by name, he will relate himself personally to you. You will learn to recognize his voice. When he speaks to you. And you will find yourself Startled and amazed and blessed by all the ways. That he will choose to use you in the lives. Of other people To fulfill his purposes. In our story today, Mary Magdalene. At the beginning of the story, was looking for a corpse, but she found Jesus, or more accurately, Jesus found her. And I'm not sure what you're here today looking for. Perhaps you're looking for peace. Perhaps you're looking for a blessing. Perhaps you're here looking for comfort. Maybe you're here looking for answers. But what if instead of giving you those things, God wants instead to give you a person? God wants to give you Jesus, because inside of Jesus is all the blessing and all the comfort and all the answers. That your heart is seeking. Jesus stands before you today just as he did Mary Magdalene. Don't mistake him for somebody else. He is no gardener. He is not merely a good man or a wise teacher. Jesus is God in the flesh, crucified, risen again, and he stands before you today. Calling you To himself Again, in John 10, Jesus says, my sheep, Hear my voice and I know them. And they follow. Me I just ask, is Jesus calling you? Today Do you hear his voice? Speaking to your heart and beckoning you. To come If you do hear his voice, You need to realize how amazingly blessed you are. That he's calling you, do not harden your heart against him. Instead, Say to him, Jesus, I hear your voice. And if he's touching your heart this morning and speaking your name. Today, I challenge you to respond. By giving your heart to him. And by calling on his name. Let's pray together there's anyone here in this room this morning that Christ is speaking to your heart and calling you to Himself. The procedure of response is so not complicated. All you need to do is write where you're seated. I look to him. And say, Lord, I hear your voice. And I believe, and I'm asking you to save me. Rescue me. From the guilt of my sins. And rescue me from The sins that bind me. Just respond to him. In the quietness of this moment, right where you're seated, and Jesus says, anyone who comes to me, I will not, I will not, I will not ever cast them away. He welcomes all who come to him. And if you've got additional questions, we would love to help you. Just let us know that on the back of the connection card and put that in the offering bag as it goes by in just a moment. Or come and talk to us after the service, we would be thrilled to speak with you. If you've Responded to his call this morning, let us know that. Or if you would like to talk further, please seek us out at the welcome table or at the door and we would be thrilled to speak with you more about Jesus. Lord, we thank you for The wonderful, touching and tender ways that you reveal yourself to us. There is no savior like you. You are so exalted. In glory, and yet you condescend so low to speak of us as your brothers and sisters. And to call us by name. And to relate yourself to us the way that you do. We just worship you. And cherish you today for the God and for the Savior that you are. Help us to do as Mary did, and that is to go forth and to carry this precious freight, this amazing good news to others, and thank you for the privilege that you've given to me this morning to stand before this audience and to speak to them of you, Lord. And of your greatness and your glory. I pray that if there are any here today that have not responded to your voice, that you would touch them deeply, Lord, and draw them to yourself and into your embrace and save them today. We thank you for this opportunity that we have to give of our offerings to you. In this moment, Lord, and we ask that you would receive the funds that are given and do much with every penny that is given. For the glory of Jesus and the spread of the good news about Him. We ask these things in the name of Jesus and all God's people said.