Scripture: John 20:1-18
In today’s sermon I want to communicate the meaning of Easter in three points. Number One: death is defeated. Number Two: sin is forgiven. Number Three: we are family forever.
But let’s begin with Mary Magdalene… because before we understand what Easter means, we need to see how it begins.
Verse 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.” We know from the other three gospels that Mary wasn’t by herself; there were other women who were with her… But like John I want to focus only on her today.
The first question to ask is, “Why was Mary at the tomb before sunrise?”
In part because she and the other women went there to prepare Jesus’ body for a proper Jewish burial.
Remember: Jesus died around 3:00 on Friday afternoon. It was early spring, and sundown—and with it, the Sabbath—was approaching fast. That meant his body had to be taken down and buried quickly, because no work could be done once the Sabbath began.
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus prepared his body—John tells us they used about 75 pounds of myrrh and aloe and wrapped him in linen cloths. But they had to hurry. There wasn’t time to do everything as carefully as they would have liked.
So Mary and the other women came back early Sunday morning, after the Sabbath, to finish what had been started.
And here’s something important to understand: Jewish burial was often a two-step process. A body would be placed in a tomb, and about a year later—after decomposition—the bones would be collected and placed in an ossuary, a bone box. Which meant tombs were reopened.
That’s why bodies were wrapped in spices and perfumes—not just as an act of honor, but very practically, to lessen the odor when the tomb was opened again.
Okay, so that’s the main reason Mary was there this morning… But notice how early she was there: “while it was still dark.” She wants to be with Jesus as soon as her day begins. And also notice that even after she goes back to Peter and the unnamed disciple “whom Jesus loved”—otherwise known as John—in verse 11 she has returned to the tomb… again, in an effort to be with Jesus.
In doing so, Mary Magdalene is being a model disciple. After all, in the gospel of Mark, when Jesus first calls the disciples, we’re told that he appointed them “so that they might be with him”[1]—that’s the first job description of a disciple. Before we do anything else for Jesus, we are supposed to be with Jesus… to spend time with him… to know him.
And notice something else in verse 16: when does she recognize Jesus? When he calls her by name. Indeed, they are living out what Jesus said earlier in this gospel, in chapter 10, verses 3 and 4: “The sheep hear [the shepherd’s] voice, and he calls his own sheep by name… and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” Mary knows the Good Shepherd’s voice—because she has spent time with him.
There’s another Mary in Luke chapter 10—the sister of Martha and Lazarus—who gets scolded for not helping with dinner. Why doesn’t she help? Because she’s sitting at Jesus’ feet… being with him… listening to his voice… letting him teach her. Because that’s what disciples do.
And Jesus tells Martha and the others, “Mary has chosen the good portion”—she’s chosen the best thing: to be with Jesus… to listen… to know his voice.
Now, you might say, “But Mary Magdalene thinks Jesus is dead. At best, she expects to be with a lifeless body.”
That’s true—but that should convict us even more. How often do we drag our feet about spending time with Jesus—even though, unlike Mary, we rise each morning to meet a living Lord? Even though we can be closer to him than she was, because he lives within us by his Holy Spirit? And even though he can speak to us any time we want to hear from him through his Spirit-inspired word… which we carry with us at all times?
So let’s learn from Mary’s example… because everything begins here: being with Jesus.
Okay… Next question: Why was Mary surprised to find the tomb empty?
If you’re unfamiliar with the Easter story—or if you’ve only heard it from popular skeptics—you might assume that these simple, gullible ancient people rushed to the tomb early Sunday morning because Jesus had told them he would rise on the third day… and they just couldn’t wait to greet their risen Lord.
Because of course they believed it, right?
But our modern world has a stereotype about ancient people—that they were gullible… that they easily believed hard-to-believe things like virgin births and resurrections.
The Bible itself contradicts that stereotype. Even in the Christmas story, Joseph plans to divorce Mary because he doesn’t believe her claim that she’s pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Why? Because he knows—just as much as any of us—that women don’t get pregnant apart from human fathers.
And here in John 20, Mary doesn’t go to the tomb expecting resurrection. When she finds it empty, her first thought isn’t, “He’s risen.” It’s, “They’ve taken the Lord… and we don’t know where they’ve laid him.”
The disciples aren’t any better. They’re not celebrating—they’re hiding in fear.
And this is despite the fact that Jesus had told them he would be resurrected. But that idea was so far outside their expectations that they must have assumed he was speaking in parables again—if they understood him at all.
No… these disciples knew, from experience and common sense, that when people died, they stayed dead.
While it’s true that most Jews believed in a future resurrection, that only happened at the end of history, for everyone at once. No one believed it would happen to one person in the middle of history. That went against everything they thought they knew—and all of Jesus’ followers were devout Jews.
And consider this: there were many would-be messiahs around this time. Like Jesus, they had followers. Like Jesus, they were executed by Rome. But when they died, not one of their followers claimed that their leader had been raised from the dead.
Not once!
Why?
Because in the case of Jesus alone, his disciples were convinced that he was resurrected—so convinced, in fact, that most of these men would later lay down their lives for this conviction. And you may say, “Yes, but people die for false religious beliefs all the time—what about the 9/11 terrorists?”
Well, sure, people get martyred for false religious beliefs—but they don’t do so while knowing that those beliefs are false.
I could go on… but let me give you one more detail.
In all four Gospels, the first eyewitnesses to the empty tomb are women—like Mary Magdalene.
If the disciples were inventing this story, they would never write it this way. In the first-century world, a woman’s testimony wasn’t considered reliable—it wasn’t even admissible in court. If you wanted people to believe your story, you wouldn’t make women your primary witnesses.
In fact, a second-century Roman critic named Celsus mocked Christianity for this very reason—calling the resurrection an “idle tale” told by “hysterical women.”
So why do the Gospels tell it this way?
Because that’s what actually happened.
And they were committed to telling the truth—even when it made their story harder to believe.
Listen: I know I can’t argue anyone into believing in Jesus based on historical evidence, however strong. But look at Jesus’ question to Mary in verse 15: “Whom are you seeking?”
That may be the most important question any of us can answer: Whom are we seeking this morning? A dead religious philosopher who taught profound moral truths—“turn the other cheek,” “judge not,” the Golden Rule? Thomas Jefferson was seeking that kind of Jesus—so much so that he literally cut the supernatural out of his Bible.
But if Jesus was resurrected—as we Christians claim, and as the evidence supports—you have to admit… that changes everything about this life… and the next.
So… what kind of Jesus were you expecting to find when you came here this morning?
Because here’s the truth: you won’t find a Jesus who stays safely in the tomb. You’ll find a risen Savior who calls your name… who meets you personally… and who invites you into a relationship that calls for your very best.
And the reason he can do that is this: the tomb is empty—and here’s Point Number One—death has been defeated.
We see this with Peter and John in verses 3 to 10. When Mary reports the empty tomb, they run to see for themselves. John is faster than Peter… likely because he’s younger. But he’s not only the first to arrive—he’s the first to believe that Jesus has been raised.
Why?
Because of something about the grave clothes. I like the way Warren Wiersbe describes the scene:
Grave robbers do not carefully unwrap the corpse and then leave the graveclothes neatly behind. In fact, with the presence of the spices in the folds of the clothes, it would be almost impossible to unwrap a corpse without damaging the wrappings. The only way those linen clothes could be left in that condition would be if Jesus passed through them as He arose from the dead.[2]
And this makes sense. Jesus’ resurrected body is physical—Mary embraces him. Elsewhere he eats and drinks. Yet later in this chapter he passes through a locked door. He invites Thomas to touch his scars. He appears and disappears—like with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. His body is real… but changed. Physical, yes—but more than physical as we understand it.
And here’s the clue that helped John believe: he remembers what happened just weeks earlier, when Jesus raised Lazarus. In John 11:44:
The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Lazarus comes out still wrapped—still bound—and others have to free him.
But Jesus? He has no trouble with his grave clothes. Whether he passed through them or not, they’re left behind—even neatly arranged. And that detail is what John sees… just before he believes.
What does it mean?
It means Lazarus was resuscitated—brought back to his old life. Still mortal. Still subject to death. He would die again.
But not Jesus.
Jesus wasn’t resuscitated—he was resurrected. His body was transformed. His life is indestructible.
Lazarus escaped death for a time. Jesus conquered it forever.
And the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15 that what Christ’s glorified body is now, ours will be one day—after the resurrection, in a renewed and restored world where heaven and earth are one. We’ll have bodies like his—no longer frail, no longer subject to sickness or decay… bodies that last forever.
Because Easter means death has been defeated.
That’s Point Number One.
What else does it mean? Point Number Two: Easter means sin is forgiven…
When Mary Magdalene returns to the empty tomb in verse 11, she stooped into the tomb and looked in for the first time. And listen to John’s description of what she sees in verse 12: “two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.”
Notice those words: One at the head and one at the feet.
What Mary sees is a quiet but profound theological picture. The two angels, one at the head and one at the feet where Jesus’ body had lain, evoke an image of the mercy seat on top of the Ark of the Covenant. It’s described in Exodus 25, verses 17 to 22. The ‘mercy seat’ was the solid gold lid of the Ark—but it was no ordinary lid. It was formed with cherubim—angels—on either side, facing one another across it. This was the place where, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice between the cherubim—where atonement was made… where sin was covered… where forgiveness was secured.
Even back then… with the Ark of the Covenant, God was pointing forward to Easter. Because this empty tomb—the place where Christ’s body lay—became the true and final mercy seat—not covered with the blood of sacrificed animals but fulfilled through Christ’s own once-for-all sacrifice. The angels do not merely announce the resurrection with words—they frame the spot where atonement has been accomplished.
In this way, God shows Mary—and us—that what was foreshadowed in Israel’s worship has now been fulfilled in Christ: the cross and the empty tomb together reveal that the place of death has become the place of mercy, where sin is dealt with and reconciliation is secured.
So Easter means death is defeated… Sin is forgiven… And what does that mean for us?
Number Three: we are family forever.
Let’s look at verse 17: Jesus said to Mary, “Go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and yourFather, to my God and your God.’”
If we weren’t so familiar with the story, this ought to surprise us… shock us, even!
After all, if Jesus were like us, what might Jesus have told Mary to say to these disciples?
Considering how most of them abandoned Jesus in his hour of greatest need;[3] considering how they fell asleep on him when he was sweating drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane; considering how one of them—his closest disciple—even denied knowing Jesus three times; considering how none of his disciples believed him when he told them that he would be crucified and resurrected; considering how they were nowhere to be seen while he was suffering on the cross; considering how, even now, when they should be celebrating Easter Sunday, they’re instead cowering in fear in the upper room behind a locked door…
Considering all these things, we might expect Jesus to say to Mary, “I want you to go to those no-good, lousy, sinful, lying, cowardly bunch of traitors who call themselves my disciples, and I want you to warn them that I’m giving them one more chance not to mess things up! One more chance and then I’m through with them!”
That’s what he might have said… That’s what they deserved to hear. But no… Instead, he talks about the change in statusthat has happened to his disciples as a result of his death and resurrection: “Go to my brothers,” he says. “Tell them I’m going see my Father and your Father.”
There’s no anger toward these disciples. No threats… No punishment… Only acceptance… only love without condition… only grace.
Why? Literally nothing has changed so far in the lives of this no-good, lousy, sinful, lying, cowardly bunch of disciples! At the moment Jesus speaks these words to his disciples, they are still the same.
No… The only thing that happened… here on earth… since last we saw these disciples on Thursday night when Jesus was arrested and Sunday morning when he was resurrected is… Christ’s atoning death on the cross—on which Jesus took all of our sins and suffered the death penalty for them, and suffered hell for them, in our place… so we wouldn’t have to. So that we could indeed live forever with God!
The resurrection proves that our sins are forgiven!
If you’re in Christ, God our Father looks at you, even you—with all your sin, with all your failures, with all your mistakes—and he says, “It doesn’t matter what you do. You’re perfect. I couldn’t love you more!” If you’re in Christ, the resurrection means that God is not mad at you; he’s not disappointed in you; he’s not wishing you were someone else; he’s not holding a grudge against you.
The resurrection means that you’re his son… You’re his daughter… Can you even imagine?
The resurrection means that “neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, not height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”[4]
Now, brothers and sisters, hear this…
Because of Easter… you don’t have to be afraid of death.
You don’t have to carry your guilt anymore.
You don’t have to wonder where you stand with God.
You are his… Forever.
So rest in that… and live the rest of your life like it’s true… Because it is… The resurrection proves it.
Amen.
[1] Mark 3:14 ESV
[2] Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary: New Testament Vol. 1 (Colorado Springs: Cook, 1989), 388.
[3] John 16:32
[4] Romans 8:38-39