Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Dial In - John 20:11-18 (Ep. 52)

Episode Date: July 14, 2020

Dial In is a devotional series with the intention of helping followers of Christ understand God’s word and love Him more. Jonny seeks to communicate the profound depth of scripture in a digestible and condensed format each weekday. The goal of the podcast is that our “minds would be renewed” as we behold who God is in His word. In this series, Jonny is walking sequentially through the Gospel of John.In this episode, Jonny covers John 20:11-18Watch VideosVisit the Website Follow on InstagramFollow on Twitter

Hey guys, my name is Johnny Artavanis and this is Dial In. In this episode, we look to John chapter 20 verses 11 through 18. Let's dial in. John chapter 20 verses 11 through 18. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping?

Whom are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rabboni, which means teacher.

Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the 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 went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord and that he had said these things to her. Okay, so we're back at the empty tomb and here in this passage, we read at the first eyewitness account of the risen Christ. Jesus here doesn't make his first appearance after his resurrection to a group of religious leaders or Pharisees or scribes, or even to his disciples, but to a woman named Mary. We first read of Mary Magdalene in Luke chapter eight, when we read that she was

possessed by seven demons. We don't know much about her life beyond that point, but obviously her sins were vast in order for her to be a residence of Satan's minions. It should strike us as remarkable that such a woman with such a past and with no religious pedigree would be the first person to see the risen Christ. But this isn't the first time we have seen Jesus do something like this. If you recall in John chapter four, there's a Samaritan woman whose life is characterized by sin. We don't even know her name, but we know that she had been married many times and that she was an adulterous woman. And it was to this woman that Jesus for the first time declared that he was the Messiah.

Galatians 3.28 says that in Christ there is neither male nor female. And all throughout the scripture, God has exalted women in the truest and purest way by giving them a significant role in the ministry of Jesus Christ. We read at the beginning of Matthew 1, the genealogy of Jesus. Now you might typically skip over these sections of scripture, but they reveal to us the heart of God. Matthew 1 details that Jesus comes through the line of Abraham and David, that he is both a Jew and that he is kingly, that he has royal blood. Genealogies like this typically consist of men and their sons but this one amazingly has four women back in Matthew chapter 1 verse 3 Jesus the Messiah the son of David the son of Abraham

Abraham the father of Isaac Isaac the father of Jacob Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Tamar prostituted herself to seduce Judah in an ugly, immoral act. And then we continue to read in verse 5, Rahab, in Jesus's lineage, a Canaanite prostitute. And then there's Ruth, who was a Moabite woman. Moabites were idol-worshiping outcasts by the Jews. And then we read in verse 6, Bathsheba, who had been the wife of Uriah, who had committed adultery with David, and then by them was born Solomon,

who is in the Messiah's line. Bathsheba was an adulterer and a catalyst for the murder of her husband, but she's one of the four women orchestrated by God before the foundation of the world to be a part of the bloodline of Jesus Christ. God is giving us from the very beginning of the New Testament,

a message of grace, a message of grace extended to both men and women. And we see particularly his elevation of woman. And that's what Jesus is doing right here in John 20, as he appears for the first time after his resurrection to a woman. Now, we need to remember that the resurrection is not a marginal event. The resurrection is the most important event in history, the most important event in scripture. Without it, there is no salvation. There is no forgiveness of sins. There is no hope of heaven, only darkness, only death. Now we saw at the beginning of chapter 20 that Mary had gone to the tomb early in the

morning to anoint the body of Jesus. She sees that the tomb is empty and her immediate conclusion is what? That Jesus has risen? No, that someone has stolen the body of Jesus. She tells the disciples and they come and see and they finally understand and believe. But Mary, she is confused. She is grieving in her mind. Someone had stolen the body of her beloved teacher and friend.

There is no thought of a resurrection in her mind. And she is left alone in this garden, still believing that Jesus's body had been taken. And then through a veil of her own tears, she looks into the tomb and sees two angels in verse 12. We'll read that passage. Verse 12 says, and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, woman, why are you weeping? And she said to them, they have taken away my Lord. And I do not know where they have laid them. The angels asked Mary, why are you weeping? This is not an occasion for grief because they have taken away my Lord. She responds, this woman who had been rescued by seven demons has been following Jesus for some time, and she's there at the tomb to anoint

and to honor his body. In verse 14, it says, having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, women, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? And I love this. Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary. And she turned to him and said, Rabboni. Now this is just amazing. All of her grief, all of her devastation, all of her confusion is ended with one word, Mary. In John 10, we saw that Jesus knows his sheep by name and the sheep know their shepherd's voice. And Jesus here calls Mary out by her name. And she instantly recognizes that it is the voice of her shepherd. It is the voice of her teacher.

And she looks at him and says, Rabboni. And we can imply from the text that she instantly clings to Jesus Christ. Because in verse 17, Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God. I want to stop there because this is the first time in John's gospel that you and I, if we're in Christ, have been called brothers. This is new. Throughout the gospels, we have been called friends, slaves, but never brothers. This is the first. So the

question is, how did we become brothers? The answer is through the cross, through the cross. Hebrews 2 verse 9 says that Jesus suffered death so that he could bring his own to glory because he's not ashamed to call them brothers. In Romans 8 16, the spirit of God testifies to us that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. When Jesus says, go and tell my brothers, he is calling you and I, if we are in Christ, his siblings. And that means, as he continues to say in verse 17, that God is our father.

I love this. Galatians 3.26, you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. I love what J.I. Packer says, and we'll be done with this. You can sum up the whole New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one's holy father. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, Packer says, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child and having God as his father. Jesus

here for the first time makes his appearance following his resurrection to a woman and then tells this woman that she is now a sister of Jesus Christ and that God now is her father. Stay dialed in.