Please turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 20 page 947 on your P Bible We're looking at verses 10 through 18 this morning beginning in verse 10
Then the disciples went back to their homes But Mary stood outside the tomb crying as she wept she'd been over to look into the tomb and Saul two angels and white seated where Jesus body had been One at the head and the other at the foot They asked her woman. Why are you crying? They have taken my Lord away. She said I don't know where they have put him At this she turned around and saw Jesus standing there But she did not realize that it was Jesus woman. He said why are you crying? Who is it you're looking for Thinking he was the gardener. She said sir if you've carried him away tell me where you have put him and I will get him Jesus said to her Mary She turned toward him and cried out an aromatic rabona, which means teacher 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 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 It's right Lord Jesus we call upon you to send your spirit Because we need you we need you because we're discouraged We need you because we're confused We need you because we doubt In Lord you come to confused doubters that are discouraged Come near to us Lord Jesus Speak to us and if there are those who are in this sanctuary this morning who feel like they are They're an exception to the gospel Convince them go after them and show them your deep compassion That you rose from the dead For those who think their exceptions For those who are so discouraged for those who are so guilty and liberate them Show us the hope of the resurrection today Jesus and in your name we pray on in Easter Sunday This is my first Easter Sunday To preach as a senior pastor. It's quite an honor I was thinking about Easter You know if Jesus Christ is not alive. This is the weirdest holiday This is chocolate bunnies and eggs and bright pastel colors and you look good by the way Striking but if Jesus Christ is not alive then as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 We should be pitted above all men If in this life, we've hoped in Christ, but there is no resurrected Jesus. We are pathetic Do you realize what we're saying this morning? That Jesus Christ the man from Nazareth Who was really killed Who died on a cross Over 2,000 years ago is alive right this very moment. He's not dead There is no tomb Containing the bones of Jesus Christ. That's an outrageous statement But Christianity hangs upon that statement and if Jesus Christ is alive And you trust in Jesus Christ your sins are forgiven If you trust in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is alive, though you die You will rise again and you will spend eternity in Paradox and a restored heaven and earth If he's not alive, let's go eat ham if he is alive, then he's Lord and we must submit to him
Jesus Christ came into this world for the hopeless And that's what we're going to be looking at this morning a Picture of hopelessness first point and the remedy for hopelessness a Picture of hopelessness in the person of Mary Magdalene and the remedy of hopelessness the Only remedy of hopelessness the risen Jesus Christ Let's look at our first point a picture of hopelessness Mary Magdalene you know our last name is not Magdalene She's from a little town on the northwest Corner of the Sea of Galilee called Magdala And in a hermetic her name would have not been married would have been Miriam. She's Miriam Magdala Miriam from Magdala And Luke eight tells us that Miriam was from Magdala and she lived in Magdala and She was Healed From a very profound spiritual problem Luke 813 tells us that Jesus Christ came to her town and Liberated her from seven demons Now we are we don't talk about demon possession. We don't know about those types of things, but they're very it's a very real thing It still occurs to this day even though in our Sophisticated technological society we we don't think that that happens, but it totally does all over the world and especially in the Gospels profound spiritual That the word that the number seven just means that she was possessed by numerous demons That she was someone who was in bondage morally and psychologically even physically
She's not the woman who cried at Jesus' feet. There's no evidence that she's the woman as we as church history Has told us that she's the same woman that it wanted Jesus' feet This prostitute Luke seven that cries at Jesus' feet That's not necessarily. That's probably not Mary Magdalene In fact Mary Magdalene is worse A woman who had likely let herself be exposed to spiritual forces beyond her capacity And someone that was possessed by demons had three classifications One, they are socially isolated Two, they are profoundly self-destructive Three, they are spiritually oppressed. How do I know that? One day Jesus and his disciples Mark tells us In Mark chapter five that he was crossing the See a Galilee actually on the opposite side Of where the city where Mary is from the place called the Gargocens And he approaches Jesus approaches a a man who'd been possessed by demons and listen how he's described It helps you understand what Mary's experience was probably like This man comes to Jesus He had lived in the tombs He lived in the he lived in tombs
No one could bind him not even with the chain For he'd often been chain hand in foot but he tore chains apart and he broke the irons on his feet No one was strong enough to subdue him and listen to this social isolation psychological and mental psychological and physical pain Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out And he would cut himself with stones
Mary was too far gone She was someone that we would institutionalize Ship them away and in that day she was not only possessed by demons and had to be socially isolated She was a woman on top of that She had no rights in society
She was a lost cause
She was worse off than the prostitute in Luke 7
and then in the words of Bono Love came to town and be king Love came to town That's what Jesus did Jesus went to town and he didn't spend his time He didn't go to the dignitaries and all the the power players You know he went he went to the places where people were possessed by demons and he freed those people just like he did to the man in Mark chapter 5
His first sermon That we have in Luke 4 Says that he came for those who were bound those who were oppressed those were who who who lived their lives and Chains and in fear to lift them up and to free them And like a good preacher he actually practiced what he preached
Those who lived in spiritual cages for lemons for lost causes See at Spurgeon preaching a sermon on Mary Magdalene said this it should encourage all of us And Jesus going to Mary Magdalene says poor trembling soul Jesus can come to you if you cannot come to him Even if you're mister even if your miseries have shut you up You cannot shut Jesus out. That's what happened when loves comes to town
And so what what was what what do you how do you respond to someone who who frees you from such spiritual oppression and social isolation And self-destruction that we don't even understand
She said I'm going to follow him And that's what she did I'm going to serve him my whole life has been has been recast because Jesus came to my town And that's what she did she and the other ladies The other women they came and they took care of Jesus and the disciples They bought things and they cooked things and and they they watched them and they they cared for Jesus and the others How could she do anything else?
Do you know that she's one of the only ones Mary That has said to have been a witness not only to Jesus's betrayal But to Jesus his crucifixion his death his burial You know why? Because when Jesus came to town he freed her and she wanted to serve him and so her life was defined by taking care of Jesus Christ I'll take care of him in life and I'll take care of him in death like a true friend would
The Apostle John Love to tell stories about Jesus's one-on-one relationships Do you know that John only records 21 days in the life of Jesus? He's so particular about what he keeps And he wanted to show you how much Jesus loved other people and how much people loved Jesus And he's telling us no one loved Jesus like Mary from Magdala and that's why she's outside his tomb whaling because not only is her master her teacher dead His body is gone
Such devotion that this woman says if you'll tell me where you've laid him I'll I'll go get him She's gonna carry a man a dead man With a hundred pounds of spices and things that were put on his body Do you see the devotion? She lost everything See hopeless people have lost the meaning For their life What is the one thing that if you lost you would lose your meaning What is the thing that if you lost you would lose your identity? What is that thing
Some of you have lost children some of you have lost spouses some of you lost parents And you lose those things don't you know the feeling of meaninglessness? What do I do now?
Mary is weeping because she loved Jesus so so much And she watched him die How devoted do you have to be to someone to watch to honor them by watching them die on a cross when all the other disciples except for John scattered To what do you see see Jesus through the eyes of Mary? I will watch him die and I will go and take care of him. I'm never leaving his side even in death But now his body's gone She's a picture of hopelessness
Which is why the surprise is so Wonderful Look at verse 11 with me Of John 20 Mary stood outside the tomb crying Wailing the word is wailing the same word that she used for Lazarus The people wailing around wailing Weeping outside his tomb and she bent over and she looked into the tomb and she saw two angels in white Seated where Jesus's body had been one at the head and the other at the foot and 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 At this she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. She didn't realize it was Jesus Woman why are you crying it? Who is it you were looking for thinking he was the gardener she said sir if you've carried him away Tell me where you've put him and I will get him Jesus said to her Mary and she said teacher Teacher Jesus is surprising her
Of all the places that Mary that Jesus could be he is with Mary from Magdalene Do you know that Mary's the first person that Jesus goes to after his resurrection?
And I said in the first service if I had risen from the dead You know the very first place that I would go Pilot's house What's up Bad idea pilot But when you have really good news. I mean the best news Who do you tell first? The person you love the most I don't know what you think Jesus of Nazareth is like But he is someone that has the best news that the universe has ever known And he wants to tell a woman from Magdalene that no one cared about
It's me Mary Who do I want to tell I want to tell the hopeless But I want to tell I'm alive those who are fast bound in sin and in nature's dark night you mint the end It's me which brings us to our second point The remedy for hopelessness and if you are here this morning and you are in quiet desperation I want you to see Jesus through the eyes of Mary from Magdalene the remedy of hopelessness We got our first point under that He calls her by name In the first way that Jesus will remedy hopelessness He calls her by name and you know when you're a close friend, you know how someone says your name I know that voice She couldn't she couldn't see who Jesus was we don't know why Maybe it's too dark maybe Jesus had blinded her for a moment to let her not see Maybe Jesus Looked so much different now that he was raised he they could still tell it was Jesus, but he was glorified So he said her name like a friend who like a friend would
That's what the risen Jesus is like Mary it's me Mary Jesus fixes broken things
Too far gone Mary remember it's me Mary I'm alive not dead
The one who was beyond repair the lost cause Mary I want to see you first When we lived in the delta We lived next to a A couple that was from the greatest generation
Raised in the depression And I'm convinced that mr. Homer Ballard thought I was a spoiled city boy Because when I broke something I put it on the curb And one day I broke a rake Because I was so good at gardening
I broke a rake and so I just put it on the curb maybe if someone wants it if not they'll throw it away Mr. Homer Ballard fixed my rake And quietly put it on my back porch And then I broke a sprinkler how do you break a sprinkler I did And so I was like well I'm part of the Walmart generation I'll go get another sprinkler so I put the sprinkler A sprinkler is a piece of garbage you just put it out there it's whatever it's broken mr. Homer Ballard Rebuke me silently and he fixed the sprinkler sprinkler And it was in the exact same place
Some of you feel like you are lost causes And that you're like a broken rake on the curb You feel like you're a broken sprinkler And no one's gonna pick you up and the world's just sort of tossed you away How about this you've getting you've tossed yourself away
Jesus Christ It's like Homer Ballard He comes and he finds things that are broken And he fixes them That that's really what the gospel is he not only fixes something he makes it brand new because that's what he's telling Mary Look what he says Don't hold on to me Mary For I have not yet returned to the father go instead to my brothers And you tell them I am returning to my father and to your father to my god and to your god He is saying to her Mary I have not just freed you from being spiritually oppressed and socially isolated You're a daughter of god now Mary I did this for you Mary and now you will spend eternity with our father
things have changed The John Calvin said that Jesus went down below Mary's hell so he could lift her above heaven
Some of you think you're too far gone this morning
Some of you push Jesus away this morning Because you think that Christianity is for good people
People that have it together or people at least that want to look like they have it together right And we're all hypocrites Jesus is speaking to Mary And he's telling her if you will listen to me Listen to me I beat death And I beat sin And I did it for lost causes Listen to me do not push Jesus Christ away. I don't care what you've done or who you are or how far you think you've gone We are all broken rakes on the curb Jesus fixes broken things don't push him away because you think you're too far gone don't do it That's what Easter means Some of you are pushing Jesus away because you don't know how far gone you actually are That to believe this gospel is to be weak It's to need a crutch you've heard that Christianity religion is a crutch
It is Do you know why because I can't walk
And some of you reject Jesus because to admit you need Jesus is to admit you need charity But don't you need charity and that you're absorbed as T.S. Eliot said in the endless struggle to think well of yourself Here's an Easter gift for you Easter is the day for giving up on trying to think well of yourself
Give up on trying to be good enough for Jesus Christ And see that Jesus Christ is the man who's walking outside the tomb for people that are too far gone
Let Jesus Love you That he goes to people who are too far gone, but he also does this He gives us new meaning He gives us a new purpose in life Go instead and tell my brothers I am returning to my father and a year father and to my god and to your god Do you know what Jesus is saying right there He's returning to the father do you know what it means to return to the father He is returning to father ascending to the father to be seated at the right hand of the father When kings were seated you know what it meant? They won the war Jesus is telling Mary I won I did everything I was supposed to do I never gave up not for one second you go tell my disciples my brothers Through by the way are scouring scared and crying Away from Jesus go tell my brothers I won
The gospel is not just the cross of Jesus. It is the resurrection of Jesus. If Jesus is alive everything is changed immortality has been brought to light Here's what it means As one theologian said Easter is God's new creation launched upon a surprised world Don't you need don't you need to be surprised this morning with good news
Easter is God's new creation launched upon a surprise world listen to this pointing ahead to the renewal the redemption The rebirth of the entire creation every act of love every deed that is done in and by Christ and by the spirit Every work of true creativity doing justice making peace healing bodies healing families fighting temptation seeking and winning true freedom for the oppressed is part of Jesus's resurrection that's what Easter means Memphis you think Memphis is too far gone what we vote what we voted like the third worst city in the world
Memphis is not a lost cause do you know what Jesus is alive Mint Memphis is going to be restored Get to work build beautiful buildings Teach people heal the sick give to the poor until it hurts Because Jesus loves lost causes and he loves Memphis
Make beautiful music and since I'm a rock and roll guy I have to use one more line Kick the darkness till it bleeds daylight
Don't let this just be another Sunday
Don't let Jesus Christ pass you by this morning do do not let the victory of Jesus Just be something that you hear today Jesus Christ Has one and the first person he wants to tell is us
Let's pray Ferris Lord Jesus We cherish you and we honor you and we love you and some of us don't love you And we and we want to love you more and we're sorry that we don't but you're so patient with us Call out our names Woo us away from this world help us not give into despair Let us love Memphis let us love our neighbors Lord Jesus. We don't we love ourselves Help us love this place through us Thank you for all you've done in Jesus name