Sermon John 20: 1-18 "Coming to Belief"
Pittsgrove Presbyterian Church
Easter Sunday
April 12, 2020
Home Worship
The following songs are performed by Nick, Jennifer, and Samatha. They recorded their voices at home and their voices were brought together for this virtual performance.
Man of Sorrows
He Lives
Raise a Hallelujah
The Day of Resurrection
Easter Order of Worship
Bulletin Insert
One Great Hour of Sharing
Watch a video of this sermon
Good morning and welcome to Pittsgrove Presbyterian Church this Easter morning. We are still worshiping at home because of the virus. So please use this for home worship with your families.
John 20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally, the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
Today is the day we remember the greatest event in all of history. Numerous people of impeccable character testified to the undeniable fact that Jesus was raised from the dead. The only question left is whether or not we believe it. We will get to this, but first, let’s pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
The Gospel of John is about belief. The key text in this important book comes from the third chapter and the sixteenth verse “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” The promise of Easter is that you will have eternal life. You will live forever in the presence of God. But before we receive this promise we must first do something. We must believe. But believe in what? What are we supposed to believe to receive this wonderful gift of eternal life? The content of our belief is what we celebrate on Easter. We believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. But how does someone come to this belief? What is the process of conversion from unbelief to belief? The twentieth chapter of John gives us two examples of people coming out of the darkness of unbelief into the light of faith.
You heard, in the first line of today’s scripture these words. “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark”. On that Easter morning, the world was shrouded in darkness; belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ had not yet started. Then after a missing stone and a foot race the disciple that Jesus loved looked into an empty tomb. This disciple became the first person to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He came to believe because of what he saw, or in his case what he didn't see.
Sometimes we come to believe in Jesus by seeing God in the world around us. We see God in the beauty of our forests and streams and rivers and coastlines. We see God in the faces of believers as they volunteer in church, or in other non-profits. We see God in the stories shared by seniors in nursing homes. We see God in the children as they learn Bible stories. We see God as we share bread and wine in the Lord's Supper. God has blessed us with eyes with which we can see him in the world he created. The disciple Jesus loved saw an empty tomb, he remembered Jesus' teachings and he knew that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead. He believed in Jesus Christ and was promised eternal life.
So I urge you this Easter to look for Jesus in the world around you. Look for Jesus when the children enjoy their chocolate bunnies and jelly beans. Look for Jesus when your family sits down for a meal. Look for Jesus in the loving eyes of those caring for children or for aging parents. Use your eyes to look for Jesus in the world and you will be blessed with belief that he was truly resurrected from the dead with the promise for you of eternal life.
But seeing with our eyes is only one of the two ways we have of coming to belief. The other is contained in the twentieth chapter of John, verses 11-18.
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 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.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her,
“Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” 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.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because 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.’ ” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”, and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Mary Magdalene saw Jesus with her own eyes, but even though she saw she still did not believe. For some of us, we need more than just seeing God at work in the world around us for us to come to belief. Sometimes we just don't believe what we see. Like Mary, we need something more. Mary turned away from Jesus and was not looking at him when the following happened. Jesus spoke to her and said her name. Mary Magdalene came to belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ not with her eyes but with her ears. She believed in Jesus Christ when she heard Jesus say her name, and she received the promise of eternal life.
We can hear God's voice calling us through the scripture we read and hear proclaimed. We come to belief in Jesus Christ by allowing God's voice to speak to us through the Bible. That's why it is so important to start every day with God's word and prayer. That's why it is so important to study God's word. That's why it is so important to hear God's voice through the proclamation of the Gospel each Sunday morning. Through all of these things we can hear God call our names and like Mary Magdalene come to belief with the promise of eternal life.
Once Mary Magdalene heard Jesus call her name, her eyes were opened and she could see him in the world. This is what happens to us. After we hear God's voice in our meditations, study, and worship we then begin to see God in the world around us. The Bible was written by people who had heard God's voice and saw God doing things. They wrote these things down and the church has preserved them for us. So as we are immersed in the Scripture we are better able to see God in our world. Our study of the word of God helps us to see God in the world. So our eyes and our ears work together to bring us to belief in Jesus Christ. With our ears, we hear God speak to us in the church through the pages of the Bible. This helps to recognize God in the world we see with our eyes. Though hearing and seeing we come to belief.
Later that night the disciples gathered back in the upper room. They heard Mary Magdalene's report of her encounter with the risen Jesus. Then they saw Jesus in the room with them. They heard with their ears and saw with their eyes and came to belief. Like these disciples, we are a people who have heard God speaking to us through the scripture. We are also a people who can see God at work in the world around us. So we are a people who believe. And on this Easter Sunday, we believe with the disciple that Jesus loved and with Mary Magdalene and with the other disciples that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. This belief comes with a promise. Because we believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has promised us eternal life. This is what we celebrate at Easter.
And like Mary Magdalene and the disciples we just can't wait to proclaim to the world what we have heard and seen. “I have seen the Lord”, said Mary to the disciples. What will you say to the people you meet about what you have seen and heard? I urge you to go and tell everyone the good news that Jesus Christ has been resurrected from dead. All who believe this receive the gift of eternal life. This may sound like something too good to be true. But it is true, we have heard it and seen it. So proclaim it as the truth to everyone you meet so they will hear it too and come to belief.
The Easter story in John begins with the darkness of unbelief. But then through hearing and seeing belief comes into the world. This belief is that Jesus Christ, the light of the world, has been resurrected from the dead. He lives! Believe in your heart what others have heard and seen that Jesus conquered death. As believers, you will now receive the gift of eternal life. Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, we thank you for the gift of faith. Through your voice in scripture and through your work in the world we have heard you and seen you. So we believe in your resurrection from the dead and anticipate our own resurrections when we will live forever with you, God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit. Help us to proclaim this good news to everyone we know. This we pray in your holy name. Amen.
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