1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." 3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes. (John 20:1-10)

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The apostle John is a perfect candidate to speak to us about his experience on Resurrection Sunday almost two thousand years ago. One reason he is an ideal messenger is because he was a young man when he went into Jesus' empty tomb, but an old man when he penned his gospel.

What this means is that whatever was unlocked in him when he went into that tomb had lasting power. Far from being only an emotional moment in the life of an emerging adult, John had an experience in that tomb and in the subsequent appearances of Christ that fundamentally altered the way he saw everything. His moment, running out to the tomb at the report it was empty, waiting for his older (and slower) friend Peter to arrive there as well, and going into the hollowed-out cave-like tomb after Peter all made a permanent impression on John.

John saw the world one way before the empty tomb, and gained a completely different view of the world once he went inside the tomb. He went in, saw, and believed (8). He would never be the same.

This paradigm-shifting, lens-transforming, perspective-altering event is what so many thirst for today. We crave something true, something good, something that can satisfy us at the core. And we want it to last because so many of the people we've believed in have failed us, because so many of the dreams we've hoped for have not come to pass, and because so many of the relationships we have leaned on have crumbled. We are hurt people in need of someone to believe in, something to anticipate, and someone who loves us (whom we can love in return).

This is what John found when he stepped into the tomb that day. Years after this event, writing to the church, Paul the Apostle said that the great virtues to continue in are faith, hope, and love (1 Cor. 13:13). On his way running out to that tomb, John had lost all of them—he'd lost all faith, all hope, and the one he loved.

He thought Jesus would be the deliverer they had waited centuries for, but now he was dead. He envisioned conquests and the overthrow of their Roman oppressors, but now Jesus was dead. He considered himself a man whom Jesus loved, but now Jesus was dead. He had a bit of faith and hope and love, but now they were all dead with Jesus.

The landscape of John's heart was like the decimated ruins of a post-apocalyptic world. Where there had been life and goodness and a future, all John could see was death and decay and hopelessness. Like a man lost in a dense forest, John's sense of direction had abandoned him. Like a drowning man gasping for his final breath, John's emotional and spiritual oxygen departed with Jesus' last breath. Like a marathoner who hits the wall at the twenty-mile mark of the race, John had been floored by the events of Jesus' arrest, trials, beatings, crucifixion, and burial. And now he hears that Jesus' body is no longer in that tomb, no longer available for him to venerate, no longer there for him as the object of his grief.

He did not expect a resurrection. For John, the story had ended. Now, it was time to make sense of the three years he'd enjoyed with Jesus and, somehow, move on with his life.

John respected his elders, so he waited for Peter to arrive. By the time he wrote his gospel, Peter was dead and John was everyone's elder, so he was sure to include the detail that he had outrun Peter on their race to the tomb (4). He stooped to look in and saw the grave clothes of Christ. His heart stirred, but still he did not go in. When Peter arrived, he went straight into the tomb (6). There was no body, but it clearly had not been taken as they suspected because the linen cloths were lying there as if Jesus' body had passed right through them (7). And the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, was not with the linen grave cloths but folded up in a place by itself (7).

Then John, identifying himself again, to our great amusement, as the one who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed (8). The grave clothes were lying there, but Jesus' body was not, which told John that Jesus had not risen in the way Lazarus had. John watched as they cracked Lazarus's tomb open in the face of Martha's objections. He'd seen Lazarus respond to Jesus' call to come out. He'd heard Jesus tell them to unwrap Lazarus from his grave clothes.

But this was different. Where Jesus' lifeless body had laid, now only his linen grave clothes lay lifeless. Jesus had conquered death and come into resurrection life, and he merely passed through those garments and the sealed tomb door—and John believed. Later, he would watch Jesus pass through locked doors and eat a meal with his disciples, showing himself to be physically raised but with a body unlimited by the dimensions John and Lazarus, and all of them were restricted by.

And when John believed, all the faith and hope and love that he had lost while he watched the life and blood and water drain from Jesus' side returned. No. It did not only return. It returned and multiplied. He had more to believe in than he ever thought. He had more to hope for than he'd ever dreamed. He had more love to receive (and give) than he'd ever expected.

And I submit to you today that the resurrection of Jesus Christ provides anyone who believes it the ultimate of paradigm shifts, the ultimate in faith, hope, and love.

Someone to Believe In (Faith)

First, Jesus' resurrection gives us someone to believe in. We call this faith, but it is not blind or based on illogical claims. Sure, if one obstinately decides that resurrection is impossible, then, of course, there is no discussion. But if you can release that precondition, you have to wonder how a small group of people became willing to suffer torture, infamy, poverty, marginalization, and death to tell their whole world about Jesus. People might become zealots for lies they think are true, but a group of people will never become martyrs for something they know is a lie. And these early Christians—five hundred of them at one point—saw Jesus risen and became convinced about who he was (1 Cor. 15:6). This is why they became willing to suffer as they did. There is really no other feasible explanation.

This is one reason John concluded his gospel record with a story about Thomas. You might have heard him called "doubting Thomas" because when everyone told him they'd seen Jesus rise, he said he would not believe it unless he touched Jesus and his wounds. You might say to yourself, "Yes, if I could do that, then I would believe." John's point, however, is not that everyone should take Thomas' posture, but that as an apostle who would suffer intensely for the message of the resurrection, it was important for Thomas to be a skeptical witness on our behalf. When Jesus appeared to him, he let Thomas touch him, and Thomas believed. Thomas was skeptical, saw Jesus, and touched Jesus all so that we wouldn't have to. Because of his hesitancy, he became our stand-in witness. He is our proxy eyewitness. Then Jesus said, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:27-28).

But I am not here to quibble about the fact of the resurrection. I believe it to be true partly because I have seen its effects thousands of times in the countless lives I've seen who have been radically altered by it. What I am here to proclaim today is that Jesus' resurrection gives us someone to believe in.

This is all-important at a time when we find it hard to trust anyone. Those we lean on so often fail us—leaders and loved ones, CEOs and senators, parents and pastors have all let us down. For many, the family is so unreliable our society is trying to rewrite it, politics is so toxic they are trying to ignore it, and leadership is so fraught no one wants it. I wonder if this is one reason we love our celebrities and athletes more than ever—just entertain us; we don't need you for much else.

Out of this fog steps Jesus. His resurrection changed the game. The gospel writers all present a theological, testimonial, and biographical history of him that makes a claim on us. John's story—and Matthew's, Mark's, and Luke's stories—aren't there to entertain us or produce a nice script for a biopic on a wonderful man from the first century. They are there to tell us that there is no one else under the sun in whom we should place our faith except for him. He came for us. He died for us. He rose for us. And he can be trusted.

Something to Anticipate (Hope)

Second, Jesus' resurrection gives us something to anticipate. When John saw Jesus cave under the pressure of the brutality of crucifixion, his hopes perished with Jesus' body. Like all Scripture loving Jewish people of his time, John would have wanted Jesus to be the one the prophets depicted would come—the great deliverer.

All the way back in Genesis, after sin entered our species through the insidious temptation presented by the wicked one in the form of a serpent, God rebuked that serpent figure by telling him that one day, even while biting the heel of a great deliverer, the heel of that great deliverer would plunge down and crush his head (Gen. 3:15). The Hebrew people awaited this great figure—the serpent crushing, devil-smashing, conqueror over cosmic powers that dissuaded us from trusting God.

When Abraham heard God's voice, he heard that he would be blessed with a land, with a family, and with a mission. God would bless him so that through his family line, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And not just his family line. His seed—singular. And everyone was waiting for that single descendant who would crush the serpent and end the chaos of darkness forever.

When David arose and slayed a giant warrior arrayed in scaled serpent-like armor, people might have wondered if David was the one. He was not, but God showed him that a descendant of his would arise to become a king with dominion forever—the snake crusher was still to come (2 Sam. 7).

So the people waited. And waited. And waited. And as they did, the prophets did their best to stoke their desires for the snake crusher to arise. Isaiah told them about a servant who would come and suffer for everyone before reigning in glory. Micah told them about a Shepherd-King who came from eternity past and would usher them into an age of glory. Jeremiah told them about a day when God would somehow produce a new covenant where he would write his laws on our hearts, changing us from the inside out. Ezekiel told them about a Good Shepherd who would be king and prince forever. Daniel told them an anointed one would arise who would vanquish evil while simultaneously being cut off for that evil. On and on, the prophets went, declaring to God's people that the deliverer was coming.

And when John heard Jesus' invitation to leave his nets and follow him, he began to wonder: Is this the one? Will he bring us into the golden age of peace? Will he crush the demonic powers that have done their worst to ruin our world? Has the conqueror arrived?

But when Jesus died, so did John's anticipation. For three dark nights, John was without hope of any kind. The glorious kingdom age the prophets spoke of would have to wait if it happened at all. But when John went into the empty tomb, he began to understand, and he believed. Jesus has risen, and all the hopes for our creation and world have risen with him!

I realize that for many people today, hope is at a low ebb. Many young people think the future is bleak—that they won't ever own a home, won't have it better than their parents, and won't ever witness political civility. And many older generations grieve all that has been lost while wondering how the world has changed so rapidly for the worse. So many of the institutions upon which people built their hopes have crumbled. Like many who thought Rome would be "an empire without end," only to become disillusioned by its quick demise, many have become disillusioned by all they used to trust in.

But when Jesus rose from the dead, he kicked hopelessness and despair in the teeth and made way for all the eschatological hopes of the old prophets to make their home in our hearts right now. Make no mistake, Calvary, we reject a hand-wringing, get-us-out-of-here, hold-on-for-rapture Christianity. I'll speak for myself: I am concerned with the job—the task of making disciples of anyone anywhere willing to listen. We are a hopeful people. The gospel is enough to heal anyone. We have a mission. And we have something to anticipate—one day Jesus will return and establish his perfect and glorious reign.

In an age of uncertainty, shifting sands, and wobbly foundations, I hold out to you the great anticipation of what Christ has done and will do. Even if you cannot believe in the resurrection, you should want it to be true. The Scriptures teach that because he rose, Jesus will one day unlock justice for all, eradicate poverty and hunger, and eliminate disease and every conflict among nations, all while ushering in the renewal of this decaying creation. The resurrection tells us that the planet will not merely expire with the death of the sun but that we have a glorious destiny created by Christ. In him, we have something to anticipate.

Someone Who Loves Us (Love)

Third, Jesus' resurrection gives us someone who loves us (and whom we can love in return). John had felt Jesus' love. Even in our passage today, he used the autobiographical phrase "him whom Jesus loved" instead of his own name. He knew he was loved by Jesus, but Jesus' death ended Jesus' love.

Or so John thought. Once Jesus rose, he remembered Jesus' words: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Now, it made sense. It was God's love that John had witnessed on the cross. Yes, he was watching death. Yes, he was watching the cosmic powers of darkness do their worst. Yes, he was watching a gruesome spectacle.

But he was also watching the love of God unleashed upon the world. When the veil in the temple was torn in two, God was communicating that his love had found a touching point on earth. No longer do we have to be separated from him. Our unholiness is no longer an obstacle to his holiness because he loved us so much he died in our place.

As we've noted today, Paul said the great virtues are faith, hope, and love. The resurrection shows us that someone loves us. It is a love so strong it was willing to come for us, to die for us, and now it lives for us. It is love so powerful it broke out of the tomb and into resurrection life. It is the love of God wrapped up in his Son, Jesus.

As John wrote in one of his letters to the church, "See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we (those who have trusted his Son) should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" (1 John 3:1, NIV). Like a master sculptor sees the potential in a crude stone, God loved us in our crude state, knowing what he could make in us by the power of his Son's death and resurrection.

And now we can love him in return.

Study Questions

Head (Knowledge, Facts, Understanding)

1. What are the key differences noted in the sermon between John's emotional state before and after entering the empty tomb, as depicted in John 20:1-10?
2. Based on the sermon, how does the apostle Paul summarize the great virtues in 1 Corinthians 13:13, and how are these virtues connected to the events of Resurrection Sunday?
3. Describe the significance of the grave cloths and face cloth arrangement in the tomb, as explained in the sermon. What does this detail suggest about the nature of Jesus' resurrection?

Heart (Feelings, Impressions, Desires)

4. How does the sermon suggest the disciples’ feelings and hopes were transformed by the resurrection of Jesus?
5. In what ways does the sermon connect the resurrection of Jesus to personal feelings of hopelessness and desire for something true and lasting?
6. Reflect on a time when you experienced a shift in perspective or belief. How did it affect your feelings and desires?

Hands (Actions, Commitments, Decisions, Beliefs)

7. What actions does the sermon suggest are appropriate responses to believing in the resurrection of Jesus?
8. How can the belief in Jesus' resurrection influence your commitments and decisions in daily life?
9. Discuss how the message of the resurrection can impact the way you interact with others in your community.