Study inJohn’s Gospel

Presentation 96

Resurrection Faith - A First

Chap 20v1-9

Presentation 96

IntroductionOne of the great historical evidences of Jesus' resurrection is the empty tomb. But the remarkable and startling fact is that when Peter and John arrived at the tomb on the first Easter morning, it was not quite empty.

Jesus’ body was gone, but it was what was left behind that was responsible for stimulating what is the first recorded statement of faith in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

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Events of Easter MorningLet’s remind ourselves of the background. Jesus had been crucified on the Friday. Immediately after the Sabbath [Saturday] the women arrived in the early hours of Sunday morning with a selection of spices to anoint Jesus’ body.

On reaching the tomb they were astonished to find the stone removed from the entrance. Who moved it? Had the tomb been pilfered? Had Jesus’ body been stolen? Had Joseph of Arimathaea removed it to another place? What were they to do? They sent Mary Magdalene to report to the disciples. No one at this stage imagined that Jesus had been raised from the dead.

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Events of Easter MorningOn receiving the news Peter and John raced off to the tomb, leaving Mary far behind. John arrived first, he looked through the narrow opening, and then Peter arrived, brushed John aside and plunged into the tomb. The common Greek word for ‘seeing’, ‘blepo’ is used to describe John’s first glimpse inside. Peter’s more careful scrutiny of the grave-clothes is described by the word, ‘theoreo’. We are told what Peter saw in v 6-7... At this point John entered, but now the word is ‘orao’, which means “to see with understanding” is used. John believed in Jesus' resurrection before seeing the risen Jesus. What made him believe?

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Jewish BurialIn order to answer that question we need to know something about the mode of Jewish burial. Bodies were wrapped in linen bands and as the bandages were bound round and round the body, dry spices were inserted and for those who could afford it the body was placed in a rock tomb cut into the hillside. The head, neck and upper part of the shoulders were not bandaged. The head was covered with a turban like cloth.

We have every reason to believe that Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus buried Jesus Christ in this way and in the process one hundred pounds of dry spices were inserted into the folds of the linen. Powdered aloes and myrrh were often used.

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The ResurrectionIf we had been in the tomb when Jesus was raised from the dead, what would we have seen? Would we have seen Jesus sit up, and begin to struggle out of the bandages - like some kind of human butterfly trying to break free of its chrysalis? No. That might describe a resuscitation, not a resurrection.

Unlike Lazarus, Jesus did not simply get his old body back and need help to remove the bandaging; rather his body was transmuted into something new, different and wonderful. It made it possible for him to pass through the grave-clothes and out of the sealed tomb just as he was later able to pass through closed doors.

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The ResurrectionAnd after Jesus’ body passed through the grave-clothes, what would have happened then? The linen cloths would have subsided once the body was removed because of the weight of the spices that were in them, and they would have lain undisturbed where the body of Jesus had been. The cloth which surrounded the head would have lain by itself separated from the body cloths by the space where Jesus’ neck and shoulders had been.This is exactly what John says he and Peter saw when they entered the tomb. And there was something about them that attracted John's attention.

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The ResurrectionAnd John stresses this point. In Greek grammar there is what is called an ‘emphatic position’ in a sentence. If there is something that you want to underline, put in bold italics, focus your readers attention, then the way to do that is to bring it to the very beginning of the sentence. That is what John does here.

It was the arrangement of the grave-clothes that struck him! The bandage like strips of grave-clothes still formed a cocoon; the weight of the spices would have caused the shape to collapse once the body had passed through them. And the linen face-cloth lay separately where the head would have been. When John saw this he believed.

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The ResurrectionI imagine that he might have explained it to Peter like this. "Don't you see, Peter, that no one has moved the body or disturbed the grave-clothes? They are lying exactly as they were when Jesus was laid in the tomb. Yet the body is gone. It has not been stolen. It has not been moved. Clearly it must have passed through the cloths, leaving them as we see them now. Jesus is risen."

John Stott says, "A glance at these grave clothes proved the reality, and indicated the nature, of the resurrection…

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The Resurrection…How foolish, in the light of such evidence, are the non-Christian explanations of the events of Easter morning. Some claim that the body of Jesus was stolen, but in that case the presence of the grave-clothes is inexplicable. They would have been removed along with the body. Others believe that Jesus revived in the tomb and escaped after having unwound the linen bands. In that case the linen would have been displaced. Even if we can imagine that Jesus replaced the clothes where they had been and somehow moved the stone, there is still a problem with the dry spices, for these would have been scattered about the tomb. Of this there is not the slightest suggestion in the Gospel. No, none of these explanations will do. The disciples saw everything in order, but the body was gone. Jesus had indeed been raised, and in a resurrection body.”

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Pressing ApplicationThere are a number of lessons to be drawn from these verses. First, God has provided perfectly adequate evidence of the resurrection of Jesus. The evidence consists of the claims of those who saw Jesus between the day of his resurrection and the day of his ascension into heaven, the empty tomb, the changed character of the disciples, the authenticity of the records, and the evidence of the undisturbed burial garments. The evidence is there, and the evidence of the grave-clothes alone was sufficient to quicken faith in John. If men fail to believe, it is not because the evidence is lacking.

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God does not expect us to believe without evidence. He has given us evidence and the help of his Spirit to understand it. If we do not believe, assuming we have looked at the evidence, it is surely because we do not want to surrender our lives to Christ.

At the same time, there are those who do believe. They have seen the evidence and have responded to it in faith. These are comforted to know that their faith rests, not upon wishful thinking, but upon the power of God and his visible activity in history.

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Pressing Application

Secondly, this passage stresses that the body of the Lord was glorified. And in this body Jesus lives, seated at the right hand of God where he prays for his people until it is time for him to return again in judgment. We must not think of Jesus as the vulnerable Jesus of history. This was not the Jesus who confronted Paul on the road to Damascus.

No! It was the exalted, glorified Lord, surrounded by a light so bright it blinded the apostle.

Today we worship a powerful, exalted Lord who will return one day to take his own to be with him in glory.

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Pressing Application

Finally, the transformation of the body of Jesus Christ points to a new mode of life for all believers. He is the first fruit. We, the harvest, shall be like him in our bodies as well as in his traits of character.

Our resurrection bodies will be better than our old physical bodies. They will not be these physical bodies resuscitated. Our bodies hamper us. They tie us to earth, to habits, even to traits of character that we have inherited from our parents through their genes. They slow our thought processes. When we are sufficiently tired they doze off in sleep. Eventually they die.

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Pressing Application

But when Christians die they are gifted a resurrection body of which Jesus’ resurrection body is a prototype. A body that will not hamper us but instead fill out our freedom. A body that will know no pain, suffering, or want. No exhaustion but unlimited wakefulness and unlimited opportunities for service will be its significant characteristic.

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Pressing Application

ConclusionD. L. Moody tells the story of a bright young girl of 15 who suddenly became paralyzed on one side and nearly blind. But there was nothing wrong with her hearing. As she lay in bed one day she heard the family doctor say to her parents as they stood by the bedside, “She has seen her best days, poor child.” The girl was a believer, and she quickly responded, “No, doctor, my best days are yet to come, when I shall see the King in all his beauty.” Her hope, like that of every true believer, lay in the resurrection.

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