John 20:1-18

20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.

20:2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him."

20:3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb.

20:4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

20:5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.

20:6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there,

20:7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.

20:8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;

20:9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

20:10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.

20:11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb;

20:12 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.

20:13 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."

20:14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.

20:15 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."

20:16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher).

20:17 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.'"

20:18 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.

INTRODUCTION:

Mark was three years old when his pet lizard died. Since it was her grandson's first brush with death, Grandma suggested that Mark and an older boy in the family hold a "funeral" for the lizard. Grandma explained what a funeral was: a ceremony where you say a prayer, sing a song, and bury your loved one.

Grandma even provided a shoe box and a burial place in the backyard. The boys thought it was a great idea, so they all proceeded to the backyard. Taking the lead, the older boy said a prayer. Then he turned and asked little Mark if he wouldn't like to sing a song. With tears in his eyes, Mark clasped his hands, bowed his head, and belted out "Hit the Road, Jack." by Ray Charles. (1)

That's exactly what Pilate, Herod, the Scribes, Pharisees, Sadduccees, Caiaphas, Ananias and everyone else who had plotted the death of Jesus was singing on Friday. That as their fondest wish. "Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more, no more, no more, no more. Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more."

They wanted this upstart itinerant preacher out of their system for good. So, they nailed him to a cross and watched him die. Then sealed him in a tomb and walked away singing to themselves: "and don't you come back no more." They were through. Pilate had washed his hands of the whole affair. Everyone else returned to their places and it was business as usual.

I. THE WORLD'S FINAL ANSWER:

A. If this had been a round of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, you would have heard Regis ask each of the players: "Is that your final answer?"

Pilate who had washed his hands of it all might have asked: "What is final?" And then said, "Yes, that's my final answer, though I wash my hands of the consequences of the answer."

Herod, angry because Jesus wouldn't perform any miracles for him might have said, "Yes, and good riddance, he wasn't much of an entertainer."

Caiaphas and Ananias would have looked at each other with self satisfied smirks on their faces and said, "Messiah, my foot. Yes, there's no room for blasphemy in our faith. Yes, that's our final answer."

The scribes, Pharisees, the Sadduccees would have broken their uneasy alliance formed to get rid of Jesus and looking at each other with untrusting eyes would have simply said, "Yes, that's our final answer." Except for a few like Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who refused to answer.

The Roman soldiers and guards would have said, "Absolutely, we saw him die. That's our final answer."

If you had polled the world wide studio audience that weekend, ninety-nine percent probably would have answered, "Yes, that's our final answer."

B. Even the disciples and followers of Jesus would have answered that way. Their hearts were broken and their spirits shattered. They would have had to answer, "Yes. That's our final answer." They saw him brutally beaten and ridiculed. They saw the cruel crown of thorns jammed onto his head. They saw him nailed to the cross. They saw him die. They not only saw him laid in the tomb but they watched as the guards sealed the tomb. It was over.

They gathered in the Upper Room. They gathered for comfort and out of fear. They gathered because there was nowhere else to go. Where do you go and what do you do when your dreams are completely crushed and destroyed? How do you go on when the one whom you loved and followed, the one who supplied all of your needs was suddenly, almost instantly gone? What do you do? Where do you go, when the final answer is death and defeat?

They huddled together in shock, in grief and in terror of the same thing happening to them. Sin, the cross, death, the tomb all seemed to be the final answer.

II. RESURRECTION: GOD'S FINAL ANSWER:

A. If Regis were running this show, he would have noted that all the life lines were gone. The fifty/fifty had been used up by Peter, when he denied knowing Jesus. Peter had a fifty/fifty chance of getting it right, but just like Jesus predicted, Peter got it wrong.

The phone a friend didn't pan out at all, either. Judas was absolutely no help. As a matter of fact, he was one of the reasons the contestant was in this predicament. Instead of helping out, he'd sold out. Judas had sold out to one of the other game shows, Greed.

And we know what the studio audience said. They voted and ninety-nine point nine percent said, "Yes, Death was the final answer."

B. But the contestant just smiled. God smiled and early on Sunday morning, just about the time that the women in the group were headed toward the sealed tomb of Jesus, God said, "Let me think about this a little bit. All my lifelines are gone. I know the studio audience has voted and ninety-nine point nine percent of them said death is the final answer. But you know, I think their wrong. Despite all the plotting, despite all the evidence, I think their wrong. And I've got a surprise for everybody. My final answer is Resurrection."

And just at that moment, the stone was rolled away from the tomb. Because Resurrection is God's final answer.

But you need to know something. The stone was rolled away, not so that Jesus could get out. Jesus had already been raised from the dead when the stone was rolled away. No stone, no matter what the size, could have held Him. The stone wasn't rolled away for Him to get out. It was rolled away so that we could get in and see that the tomb was empty. It was rolled away so that Mary and all the others could step inside and see the cloths lying there where the body had laid. The stone was rolled away so the disciples could step inside and see that not even Death could hold Him captive. The was rolled away and the tomb was empty.

Because Resurrection is God's final answer.

III. GOD'S ANSWER CHANGES EVERYTHING:

A. And that answer changes everything. Resurrection shows us that love is stronger than hate. That good is stronger than evil. That life is stronger than death. The truth is that when Jesus rose from the dead, it was the end of death. It was the death of death. It was death whose fate was sealed, not Jesus. It's time to sit down and write out a sympathy card to send it to sin and death. Or better yet, make it an April Fool's card. Because, through the Resurrection, God had the last laugh.

B. God's answer changes everything.

Five year old Kyle, showed his whole Church how the Resurrection changes everything. And he did it at the annual Easter egg hunt. Andrew was only two and a half but he wanted to be out there with all the other preschool kids hunting for eggs. So, Mom had bought him a little Easter basket. And right of the bat, Andrew found one. But his little legs were so short that he couldn't keep up with the other kids. And it looked like that was going to be his only egg.

Kyle noticed that Andrew wasn't finding any eggs, so Kyle began an act of selfless, Christ-like love. Kyle started running just a little ahead of Andrew and putting one of the eggs from his basket, one of the eggs he had found, down for Andrew to find and put in his basket.

Children don't always get it right. But sometimes they are God's messengers sent so that we can hear the Word of God and see the risen Christ in fresh ways. God used Kyle in this selfless act of love.

Because Resurrection is God's final answer.

C. God's answer changes everything.

We can see how the Resurrection changes everything in everyday life. Do you remember the Palm Sunday tragedy that struck the United Methodist Church in Piedmont, Alabama a couple of years ago? While the church was celebrating Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, a tornado struck and destroyed their church. A number of people died. Rev. Kelly, the pastor, lost her six year old in that tragic storm.

And yet, despite the storm, despite the loss of lives, despite the overwhelming sense of death and defeat and the loss of their Church, these peoples' faith continued. They found God to be a God of comfort and hope. A God who never leaves us.

Battered and bruised Rev. Kelly boldly proclaimed the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Still grieving, still battered and bruised, the courageous survivors of this storm held their Easter services in the midst of the ruins of their Church. They proclaimed the Good News of the resurrection, of new life, of Christ with us; they proclaimed the message of hope to the community around them. How?

Because Resurrection is God's final answer.

D. God's answer changes everything.

A man named George was accustomed to driving his wife, Rosie, to church every Sunday. And every Sunday, they parked in the same spot. George and Rosie had been married for forty years and they loved each other very deeply. They did everything together. They were inseparable in almost every area of their life, except one. When George drove his wife to church Rosie went in and George remained in the car. Where he would read the Sunday paper.

Rosie died, and for many Sundays after, church members looked wistfully at the parking lot because George's car was no longer seen there. Several months later, on Easter Sunday, George's car again appeared, and George went into church.

The preacher delivered a stirring resurrection sermon and then, as was his custom, invited the members of the congregation to respond. No sooner had the words left his mouth than George stood up and with deep emotion said firmly, "Rosie lives!" And then he began to sing: "My wild Irish Rose, the sweetest flower that grows . . ." One person joined in, then another, and another. Finally, everyone present was joyfully singing what someone later described as "The most beautiful Easter hymn ever sung in our church." (2)

George came to know first hand, the truth of God's final answer. And it gave his life hope.

Because Resurrection is God's final answer.

E. God's answer changes everything.

Back during the times when nearly everyone kept chickens a boy was walking down the street carrying a basket of eggs to sell to the local grocery store. Unfortunately he tripped on the curbstone, dropped the basket, and smashed most of the eggs. A crowd gathered around the boy. Someone said, "Oh, what a pity!" Somebody else said, "I'm sorry he is crying. Let's see if we can't comfort him."

Then a man stepped forward, reached into his pocket, and said, "I care a dollar. How much do you care?" (3)

We have the power to transform personal tragedies into triumphs. Why?

Because Resurrection is God's final answer.

CONCLUSION:

Let me illustrate it one more time in this way. You all know that I like magic, not the occult kind of magic but magic tricks. And you probably remember that I can do a couple of tricks. Well I've got another one for you this morning. What you see here is a Magician's Changing Bag. This morning I want to use it to illustrate the events of the Resurrection. Inside the bag we find three silk cloths. One is purple, one is red and the other is black. (lay across arm). And now the bag is empty. (Turn bag inside out and show it is empty.)

Each of the colored cloths represent some aspect of the Crucifixion. The purple cloth represents Jesus Royalty. He was and is the Son of God. Of course, it also represents the purple robe that they place upon him while the mocked him and ridiculed him. Purple is also the color of the bruises on his battered body. It is the color of the Passion. It goes into the bag.

Black represents sin and death. It represents the blackness of the hearts that condemned the innocent Son of God to die on the cross. It represents our sin that died with Him. And it represents the dark that descended on Jerusalem that day, as God watched His only Son die for our sins.

The Red cloth represents the blood of Christ. The blood from the whipping he took. The blood of the crown of thorns that was jammed onto his head. And of course the blood from the wounds caused by the nails as He was nailed to the cross.

(Pull cloths out and show the empty bag again. Then show cloths again). The Purple is His robe and the Passion. The black is our sin and His death. And the red is the blood shed for you and me. All of these were sealed in a new borrowed tomb. For three days, the world was filled with despair. For three days, it looked as if Sin and Death were going to have the final answer.

But early in the morning, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. There she found the stone rolled aside. She ran and told Peter and the others. They ran to the tomb and when they got there it was just as Mary had said, the stone had been rolled away. They went inside and all they found were the linen wrappings where Jesus had laid. And folded up in a place all by itself, the cloth that had been on Jesus' head. The tomb was empty. (Show the empty changing bag).

Now I don't want you to take this wrong. I'm not implying that what happened to Jesus was magic or an illusion. Jesus died on that cross. He was as dead as the two thieves who died with Him. They buried Him in a borrowed tomb and sealed Him away, forever. Or so they thought.

And while Sin and Death were clapping there hands in glee, singing "Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more." God began singing, "Up From The Grave He Arose." God had the final answer. and that answer changes everything.

Resurrection IS God's final answer.

1. Lois Wyse, YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT MY GRANDCHILD . . . (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994).

2. James Colaianni, ed., Sunday Sermons, Vol. 1, page 137 (Voicings Publications, Pleasantville, NJ.

3. From RICH THROUGH GIVING, a sermon by King Duncan, Dynamic Preaching, April/May/June 1991

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