{"id":2912,"date":"2014-04-22T11:07:02","date_gmt":"2014-04-22T18:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/?p=2912"},"modified":"2014-04-22T11:07:02","modified_gmt":"2014-04-22T18:07:02","slug":"easter-sunrise-sunrise-miracle-john-201-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/?p=2912","title":{"rendered":"Easter Sunrise – “Sunrise Miracle” (John 20:1-18)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A-49<\/a>Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.<\/p>\n

What was Mary Magdalene thinking? John records for us, \u201cNow 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.\u201d<\/em><\/span>Just why was she going to the tomb? When Jesus died on Friday, she saw the tomb sealed with a massive stone. Did she think that somehow she would be able to dislodge the stone? And even if she could, then what? Jesus was dead, the body already starting to decay. When Lazarus died, his body was in the tomb for four days and everyone knew that there was certainly an odor from his dead and decomposing body. Jesus was dead for three days so the stench of death was certainly present in His tomb as well. Maybe she wanted to cry outside of Jesus\u2019 tomb, to somehow feel connected to Him. Whatever the reason, she goes to the tomb of Jesus and something is amiss; \u201cthe stone had been taken away from the tomb.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

What a sight to behold, the stone rolled away. She doesn\u2019t even dare to enter the tomb. Whatever she was planning on doing when she arrived at the tomb, all of that goes out the window and she immediately runs to Simon Peter and John to tell them what she saw. Without skipping a beat, both of the disciples make a mad dash to the tomb to see it for themselves. Just who would have had the strength to dislodge the stone? What was the purpose in disturbing Jesus\u2019 earthly resting place?<\/p>\n

Peter and John do what anyone who is curious would do \u2013 they enter the tomb of Jesus. Upon inspection, the linen burial cloths were lying there, along with the face cloth. However, something was missing, or rather, someone was missing! Jesus\u2019 body was gone. Someone must have made off with Jesus\u2019 body. Everything was too pretty to be graverobbers. Graverobbers wouldn\u2019t have tidied up after themselves.<\/p>\n

What happens next is unexpected: the two disciples went back to their homes. What?! What do you mean the disciples went home? What about all the things that Jesus said, statements like, \u201cThe Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.\u201d<\/em><\/span> Who was Jesus talking to when He made that statement? He was talking to the disciples. Surely Peter and John were present when Jesus said that. But John records something in his Gospel: \u201cfor as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

How sad is that! Members of Jesus\u2019 inner twelve did not get what Jesus was all about. And so Mary Magdalene is left at the tomb by herself, dealing with everything that has just happened: she goes to the tomb to find it empty, Peter and John arrive and inspect the tomb only to go home without realizing what has just taken place. What is Mary Magdalene to do? She weeps outside of the tomb. As she weeps, she sees two figures in the tomb that weren\u2019t there earlier; two angels inquiring about her weeping. As distraught as Mary was, she didn\u2019t catch on to the significance of the angels\u2019 presence as they asked her why she was crying. She simply answered that people had taken her Lord and she didn\u2019t know where they had put Him. But she didn\u2019t have time to think about who these two strangers in white were or to hear anything more from them because she turned away and saw a gardener who asks the same question. As she stood weeping in front of the tomb, she still didn\u2019t think that Jesus had risen.<\/p>\n

With just a single word, all is revealed. All this gardener has to say is her name and she knows that it is not a gardener but it is her risen Lord. Today, your risen Lord speaks your name following His resurrection and you are assured that Christ is indeed risen from the dead. What God spoke to Adam and Eve in the garden has come true. Everything that the prophets of old had foretold has come true. Everything that Jesus spoke about Himself has come true. What Jesus told the disciples regarding His death, that message that they did not understand, \u201cThe Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised\u201d <\/em><\/span>has been fulfilled.<\/p>\n

Jesus your risen Savior reaches out to you today. His Gospel invitation is personal, for His death was personal. His death was meant for you personally, as He died personally so you would not die. And today, He speaks your name following His resurrection. Harkening back to His final words from the cross, \u201cIt is finished!\u201d<\/em><\/span> His death marked the completion of God\u2019s master plan of salvation for His creation. And now, our Lord harkens to you, this time with a word that tells us that He is indeed risen from the dead. And if Christ our Lord is risen from the dead, then we know that we too shall be raised from the dead, not by our own devices, but by the blood of Jesus that was shed upon Calvary\u2019s cross, that blood that washes over us forgiving us all of our sin.<\/p>\n

If Christ had not risen, then the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross would be meaningless.\u00a0We would still be in our sins.\u00a0The confusion of sin would reign.\u00a0We would be looking forward to an eternity of punishment.<\/p>\n

But Christ has risen.\u00a0Our salvation is sure.\u00a0We are children of God.\u00a0Our eternity is with Christ. When the end of this age comes, God will remove all evil to hell.\u00a0He will create a new heaven and a new earth.\u00a0At that time He will raise us just as Jesus rose.\u00a0He will reunite our bodies with our souls.\u00a0He will clothe us in immortality.\u00a0We shall all know the joy that Mary shared as she fell to the ground and wrapped her arms around the feet of her risen Savior.<\/p>\n

Christ has risen!\u00a0He has risen indeed!\u00a0Alleluia!<\/p>\n

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Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier. What was Mary Magdalene thinking? John records for us, \u201cNow on the first day of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18653,9016],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-easter","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2912"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2914,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2912\/revisions\/2914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}