His First Steps Led Outside His Tomb

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

The scene in the Tomb of Jesus is dramatic.  It is cold, dark and silent.  Then it happened.  Jesus body came back to life as his soul returned to his body.  Was it a slow gasp or a calm breath?  Did he wiggle his toes?  Then the linens that wrapped his body no longer hold his body as Jesus stands.  His first activity?  Some laundry!  Jesus neatly folds the burial cloth that had been over his face.  Jesus is alive, new, glorified and risen from the dead!  Then, according to John’s gospel,

His First Steps Led Outside His Tomb

To Mary, who at first, was so confused

Jesus’ work to save us by dying on the cross was done, but now was the time to announce his victory by appearing to those who still thought he was dead. Can you imagine how emotionally drained his followers were? Imagine what it was like for Jesus’ disciples who actually lived through the nightmare of Good Friday! Was that day even more horrific for the women who followed Jesus? After all, the gospel writer John makes sure we know that “Jesus’ mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene were standing near the cross” (John 19:25).  Watching anyone die is difficult enough, but what they saw could not be erased from their memory! If anything could cause a post-traumatic stress disorder, I’m thinking that would do it!  These women who loved their Lord so much were also the first to visit his tomb on Easter morning. They carried “the spices they had prepared”(Luke 24:1). They came to pay their final respects to their dead teach. As they drew closer to the tomb, they worried about how they would move that massive stone out of the way. But there were also other concerns, weren’t there? How were they going to talk their way past the Roman guards and break the seal Pilate had placed on the tomb? I don’t know. They didn’t know!

And that certainly included Mary Magdalene, who went to the tomb at the crack of dawn. The first time Mary arrived there, she saw “that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she left and ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,’ she told them, ‘and we don’t know where they put him!’ ”(John 20:1,2). After sharing this report, Mary followed Peter and John back to the tomb. Once those two arrived, they went inside and checked everything out. Yes, the tomb was empty. Yes, Jesus’ body was gone. So back home they went. There was nothing else they could do there. John even adds this unflattering editorial comment to his record: “(They still did not yet understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead)” (John 20:9). At times, can we also be a little slow in grasping the height, depth, length, power, and certainty of all our Savior’s promises? Perhaps especially at a challenging time like now?

“But Mary stood outside facing the tomb, weeping. As she wept, she bent over, looking into the tomb. She saw two angels in white clothes sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and one at the feet. They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’” (John 20:11-13).Because her heart was broken! Because she was in shock and confused!  Matthew records that she had gone to the tomb and seen the angels!  They were dressed in white!  Wings?  Halos?  Harps playing in the background?  I doubt it.  But, all Mary could think was this: “They have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid him” (John 20:13b).  Last time she saw her Lord Jesus he was hanging on a cross then laid in the tomb by Joseph of Arimathea.  These images were seared into her heart and mind (Matthew 27:55,56,61)!

Like Mary we also weep and sob at the death of a loved one. Grief wells up from deep inside you and comes crashing out.  You can’t hold it back.  All Mary could think about is her dearly loved Jesus to be dead. And along with him died all those promises, all those hopes, and all those dreams she had tucked away in her heart.  Any of us who has experienced trauma may understand at least a little of the confusion Mary was going through that first Easter morning. It’s why she seemed oblivious to the angels, frozen to the spot, struggling to think straight. But our Savior is a caring Savior who understands each one of us better than we understand ourselves! He knew exactly what Mary needed. That’s why his first steps led outside his tomb to Mary who was so confused.  

“After she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?’ Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, ‘Sir, if you carried him off, tell me where you laid him, and I will get him.’ ”

John 20:14-15

Mary didn’t recognize Jesus. The Emmaus disciples didn’t recognize him at first either.  We can guess at all sorts of reason why not: (1) Jesus didn’t want her to, yet, because he’s God and can do that. (2) Mary has been crying and couldn’t see clearly.  (3) Jesus may have looked different than he did before his resurrection.  (4) Or about this: Jesus would also be the very last person they’d expect to see.

O the application for us!  All too often we have seen the Lord, heard his teaching and yet so easily forget that he is right here!  Sometimes it’s because you don’t want to remember him as you engage in your favorite sin.  Sometimes it’s because you’re doubled over weeping from guilt like Judas.  When we get stuck grieving over a spouse, parent, child or friend the Lord took home, worrying about how we’re going to pay our bills now that we’re out of a job. How can we live with hope and peace during these uncertain times?  There are so many concerns and so many fears that threaten to keep you and me mired in the bleakness of this cruel world!  But there is only one way to roll back our massive stones of fear, sorrow, worry, and weeping! Only Easter can do that! The risen Savior, who knew exactly what confused Mary needed that first Easter Sunday, knows exactly what we need this Easter Sunday! We need to have our attention focused on Jesus. We need to see how his first steps led outside his tomb!

To Mary, who then confessed, “I have Seen The Lord!”

Just one word was all it took for Jesus to lift the fog, the fear, and the darkness from Mary’s heart and mind.

“Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned and replied in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means, ‘Teacher’). Jesus told her, ‘Do not continue to cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father­—to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord!’ She also told them the things he said to her.”  

John 20:16-18

The King of kings and the Lord of lords finished his work to pay in full the sins of the human race; who had chained Satan in the dungeons of hell; whom the Father would exalt and give “the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11); that risen and glorious Christ is our RISEN SAVIOR who changed Mary’s heart from confusion to confession!

So Jesus simply said, “Mary.” And the darkness of Good Friday began to be pierced by the sun that is Easter. “Rabboni!” (Teacher!) Mary replied. I suspect her tears continued—that’s the way human emotions work; you can’t just turn them off like a faucet—but now they became tears of surprise AND JOY. Of wonder! Of relief that began to sweep through Mary in waves. So she hugged her Lord! She held him tight! This was clinging. She didn’t want to ever let him go again!  But that wouldn’t work. Jesus had other places to go, other people to see, more names, like Thomas, for example, to speak. For our Savior intended to have hundreds of witnesses ready to swear to us in the pages of Scripture “I have seen the Lord!”

His first steps led outside his tomb, and Jesus made sure he met Mary, because he knew she needed him. Then our Lord sent Mary to his “brothers” to share the Easter news with them, because he knew they needed him. And through the pages of Scripture, Mary and so many others stand together, shoulder to shoulder, shouting to us as one: “We have seen the Lord!”

The message of Mary and the disciples continued on!  Peter records for us, “To be sure, we were not following cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the powerful appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Peter 1:16).   There’s John, an old man who could never forget:

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have observed and our hands have touched regarding the Word of Life—the life appeared, and we have seen it. We testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We are proclaiming what we have seen and heard also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us.”

1 John 1:1-3

Yes, we love this fellowship to encourage each other when the tough days come looking for us.  We love to share with each other God’s promises and listen to the witnesses recorded for us in God’s Word!  Easter is real! The Lord’s forgiveness of sins is real!  God’s grace for you is real, as real as it was for all those who had scattered on Good Friday.  Jesus First Steps after his Resurrection led to Mary Outside the Tomb so we can be as Confident As Mary, The Disciples, and all his followers!  Jesus died and rose again for us all!  He Is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!  Amen!