Why did Mary Magdalene assume that someone had stolen Jesus' body? Should we place our faith in the empty tomb? Stay tuned for Renewing Your Mind, Weekend Edition. Welcome to this weekend edition of Renewing Your Mind with author and teacher Dr. R.C. Sproul. Dr. Sproul is also the Senior Minister of Preaching and Teaching at St. Andrew's, a Reformed congregation in Sanford, Florida. When Mary Magdalene and the other ladies went to prepare Jesus' body for a proper Jewish burial, they came to a shocking discovery. The Roman guards were gone, and so was the body of Jesus. The tomb was empty. Mary's first thought was that someone stole the body. But why would that be her first assumption? As Christians, 2,000 years after these events, should we place our faith in the empty tomb? Today, on Renewing Your Mind, we'll continue our way through the Gospel of John. In today's message, Dr. Sproul will explain where we're to place our faith. Here's Dr. Sproul with today's message, The Resurrection. This morning I will be reading from John chapter 20, verses 1 through 18. Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. And then she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved and said to them, they have taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him. Peter therefore went out and the other disciple and were going to the tomb. And so they both ran together and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there, yet he did not go in. And then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. And he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who came to the tomb first went in also, and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. And then the disciples went away again to their own homes. But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. And when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? And she, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. And Jesus said to her, Mary, And she turned and said to him, Rabboni, which is to say, teacher. Jesus said to her, do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father, to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things to her. He who has ears to hear the word of God, let them hear. Let's look at the text that we have before us. We notice that when John gives his account, he only mentions Mary Magdalene, which makes John's version different from the synoptic versions. The other versions tell us that there were other women who were present with Mary on that morning, and that these women had designed together to come to the tomb to give more attention to the body of Jesus with fragrant spices and so on. But it is customary in Scripture when a group of people is together that that group can be mentioned just by reference to one member of the group, particularly the one who is in a position of leadership. And since this chapter here in John's Gospel focuses attention on this intimate encounter that takes place between Mary Magdalene and Jesus, which we'll look at in a moment, it's not strange that he should mention Mary and only Mary Magdalene in his account. There is another possibility, and that is this. If we look at all of the records of the Synoptic Gospels together with John, we will see these little variations, which may bother some of you unless you're turkey hunters. And that is, some of the Synoptic Gospels say that the women came early in the morning Another account says that they came at dawn. Another account says they came at sunup. Now those are all consistent, aren't they? Dawn, sunup, and early in the morning. But John tells us that Mary came early in the morning while it was still dark. Maybe she got there ahead of the other ladies and that's the only reason for this variation of the report. Or as I said, if you're a turkey hunter and you go into the woods very early in the morning before dawn, you could get an argument that would last forever as to exactly what point the dawn breaks, because the darkness of those moments attending the dawn tends to linger, particularly if you're in the woods and you're trying to see the outline of a turkey or a deer. But in any case, we are told here that Mary Magdalene comes. She's the only one mentioned, but later on in the text she uses the plural form we, so that would strengthen the idea that she's at the head of this group of women who are coming to the tomb. And Mary comes early in the morning to the tomb while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Now initially one would think that would be good news because in the other accounts this was the great concern that the women had. They're coming in grief to express their devotion towards Jesus with more spices and fragrances, but they don't know whether they're even going to be able to anoint the body because they know that Jesus has been buried in a tomb whose entrance is guarded by this massive stone. And so they had a conversation among themselves on the way to the tomb saying, who can we get to move the stone? When Mary comes, the stone's already been moved. And as I said, that should seem to evoke happiness in them, but instead it provokes a certain measure of fear. She saw that the stone had been taken away, so she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, presumably that's John the author of this narrative, and said to them, They've taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they have laid him. Mary's response to the empty tomb is not exaltation in faith and hope in resurrection, but rather her heart is plunged into grief. As I said in our adult class last week or so, that the faith of the Christian church in the resurrection of Christ does not rest on an inference drawn from an empty tomb, because an empty tomb could indicate many things, the last of which one would expect to be a resurrection. Because in Jesus' day, there were no resurrections except by His own hand. When people died then, just as today, they tended to stay dead. But there were multiple instances of grave robbings that plagued the landscape. And particularly, robbers would like to break into tombs of the wealthy. with the hope that there would be artifacts present there. And more ghoulish enterprises could be involved for those who would steal not only the artifacts but the bodies themselves. And so when Mary Magdalene comes and she sees that Jesus is not there, the tomb is empty, she's filled with grief because the assumption is somebody has committed the ultimate form of vandalism. They've desecrated the grave of her Savior, and they've stolen the body away. And so she runs to Peter and to John and she says, they've taken him. They've stolen the body and we don't know now where they've put him, where they have laid him. Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and they were going to the tomb. And they ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter. I guess John felt that as long as he didn't name himself, he was being appropriately humble in this foot race, to mention that he won the race. And he came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there, but he didn't go in. And then Peter came. And he did go in the tomb, and he also saw the cloth and the handkerchief or the headpiece that was folded up neatly in the corner. But the idea that comes through in the Gospels, as I mentioned last week, is that the grave cloths of Jesus were not disturbed, but the body was gone. Now there are two or three somewhat arcane incidences that are reported in the New Testament that create questions about the nature of Jesus' resurrected body. You have the event of the vanishing in Emmaus, the sudden appearance in the upper room of where the implication of the text is that Jesus somehow just went right through the door without opening it, and now this reference to the grave clause that had not been unraveled raises all kinds of questions about the constituent nature of the glorified body of Christ. But in the great resurrection, our bodies will be glorified and they will be patterned after the resurrected body of Christ. But we don't know yet, as John tells us in his epistles, what we will be. only that it'll be different from what we presently enjoy, and not only different, but far better than the bodies that we currently enjoy or fail to enjoy, whatever the case may be. So, that's just a note in passing on the grave clause, but in any case, What I find most moving about this account is the exchange that takes place between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. After John and Peter go to their own homes, Mary is standing outside the tomb, and again there is speculation that she came back with Peter and John after they had first reported to the disciples, and now on her second visit to the tomb after they leave, she is left alone in the garden, still in a state of grief still believing that Jesus' body has been stolen. And so she's standing outside of the tomb weeping, and now as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus is laying. And they said to her, Why are you weeping? This is not an occasion for grief. You're sobbing. You're beside yourself. These angels from heaven see her peering in her grief into the tomb, and they say, why are you weeping? She said, because they've taken away my Lord. I don't know where they've laid him. And when she said that, she turned around and she saw Jesus standing there. But she didn't know that it was Jesus. Now, we were told that when Jesus appeared to the couple walking on the road to Emmaus, that his visage was hidden from them, so that God had prevented them from recognizing him. But that explanation isn't given here for why Mary didn't recognize Jesus, although it could be the same reason, or it could be that her eyes were so clogged from the tears that she didn't recognize here the one who was standing outside the tomb. Jesus said to her, woman, why are you weeping? whom are you seeking?" And she thought he was the gardener. So, I mean, she's just been asked that question by the angels. Now she's asked it again, supposedly from the gardener. She said to him, sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you've laid him, and I will take him away. At this point, she's desperate. She's not thinking straight. She's not seeing straight. Her grief has just gone to a whole new dimension, and she supposes that the one standing there is the gardener who is responsible for this desecration. Her entire grief, her entire confusion, Her entire devastation is ended with one word. He speaks her name, Mary. When she hears her name uttered by her Savior, recognition is instant, and she says, Raponi. Now we can only guess, but presumably she falls on her face and grabs him about the ankles and holds on tenaciously. And we'll look at that in just a moment, but I can't resist mentioning in passing that just hours before this, when Jesus was on trial before Pontius Pilate and had that discussion about truth And when Pilate asked if Jesus was a king, you know, he said, for this cause was I sent into the world to bear witness to the truth. And those who are of the truth hear my voice. This is the testimony of Jesus throughout his earthly ministry. He said, I know my sheep, and my sheep know me, and my sheep hear my voice. Yesterday afternoon, I was sitting in the chair watching The Lone Ranger. I have watched more cowboy movies in the last six months than I ever want to see for the rest of my life. That's about all I can do with this vertigo. And so I'm watching Jay Silverheels there with Tonto and The Lone Ranger, and there he is with his mask on. His face is hidden from me. And I'm watching this episode of The Lone Ranger, and Vesta's in the other room. I said, Vesta, come here, please. And she said, what's the matter? I said, am I going crazy? She said, well. I said, look at this episode. She said, are you watching The Lone Ranger again? I said, yes. I said, honey, what's wrong with this picture? And she looked at it, and then she shut her eyes. She said, that's not his voice. I said, right, I said, that's not Clayton Moore. That's not the Lone Ranger, that's an imposter. And so when the screen credits came up at the end, sure enough, it was Jay Silverhill, says Tonto, but it was some other guy, never heard of him, as the Lone Ranger. But I want to tell you something, folks. Lone Ranger fans know his voice. And all the masks in the world couldn't fool me. I knew that wasn't Clayton. What a wonderful incident. All he did was say her name, Mary, and the grief vanished. And she clung to Him, and now what follows is one of the most difficult texts in all of Scripture to unpack, and I'm not sure I can do it, but I'll mention it, and that is Jesus says to her, don't cling to Me. For I have not yet ascended to My Father, but go to My brethren and say to them, I am ascending to My Father and to your Father, to My God and to your God. Why did he say, don't touch me, don't hold on to me, when just a few hours later he asks, put your finger into my hands and into my side, and so on. And some have argued that Jesus' body was still in transition and was still going through this metamorphosis to the glorified state, and so he tells her, don't touch me because it's not finished yet, I haven't ascended into heaven. But he still hasn't ascended into heaven when he invites Thomas to touch him, so that doesn't hold any water with me. And again, I could spend the rest of the morning talking about some of the speculative views that try to unpack this, but I think the answer is very simple. She's hanging on for dear life. And he's saying, it's okay, I'm not leaving yet. We still have some more time. I'm going to come and be with the disciples. I'm going to be with you for 40 days or so. So you don't have to hold me captive here. I think that's all he meant by saying, let me loose, as it were. Do not cling to me, for I haven't gone yet. But tell my brethren, you have a mission on the other side of your grief. Once your grief has been ministered to, and now you know the truth of resurrection, out of grief, out of discovery, comes mission. That's why Easter is the great impetus for the mission of the church. Because he is risen, we go and we tell. And we preach, and we proclaim, because He is risen. You're listening to Renewing Your Mind, Weekend Edition, with R.C. Sproul, as he takes us through the Gospel of John. What was the Protestant Reformation all about? What difference does it make in your life today? It was during the Reformation when the Word of God was let loose and the Gospel was recovered. In the providence of God, Luther was a man of the hour to stand up to the most powerful human organization, the Roman Catholic Church, not to destroy, but rather to bring her back to the Word of God. In this new 10-part series, R.C. takes us back to the 16th century to walk through the unfolding drama in Luther's shoes, as it were, during that tumultuous time that we may get a sense of the urgency when it comes to the proclamation of the gospel. Our hope is that we understand that the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone and all that was recovered is ever in danger of being lost. This week, we're offering the entire 10-part CD series, Luther and the Reformation, for your donation of any amount to the ministry. Call our toll-free number today to reserve your copy. 1-800-435-4343. Again, that's 800-435-4343. Or visit rymoffer.com. That's R-Y-M as in renewing your mind, and the word offer.com. That web address is for this week's special offer only. Today's message, Protestant View of Justification, is part of a new 10-part CD series by Dr. Sproul entitled, Luther and the Reformation. In this series, Dr. Sproul walks us through the life of Martin Luther, tracing the pivotal moments that led to and shaped the Protestant Reformation. Call us toll free to reserve your copy of Luther and the Reformation. 1-800-435-4343. Again, that's 800-435-4343. Or visit rymoffer.com. That's R-Y-M as in renewing your mind, and the word offer.com. That will bring a close to this Weekend Edition of Renewing Your Mind. Thank you for being with us. Be sure to join us again next weekend as Dr. Sproul continues to take us through the Gospel of John. Until then, join us on Facebook.com slash Ligonier. 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