Imagine that you’d watched Jesus die that horrible death on the cross. And then, on the third day you go to His tomb and discover that it’s empty. What would you think? How would you react?

An Empty Tomb Well I’m excited. This is the last week in a four week series that I’ve called "Who is Jesus?" And over these last few weeks we have just been looking at little snapshots of who Jesus is from the different gospels. From Mark and John and Matthew and Luke. And today of course we are going to talk about the empty tomb.

And maybe you have been having a long week end because its Easter but two thousand years ago it wasn’t some long weekend they were celebrating in Jerusalem it was a brutal crucifixion. A burial and then something that nobody would have expected.

Imagine you have a friend or relative that has just died, tragically killed. You have watched them die. You go to the funeral. You’ve seen them buried and you get what you think is closure. Closure is one thing but the mourning process goes on. And then three days later you go down to the grave to leave some flowers, to reflect on the life that was so tragically taken, and the grave’s been dug up. The coffin is up on the ground, the lid’s off and it's empty. What would you feel? What would you do?

A friend of mine was interviewing Barry McGuire for a radio program in New Zealand recently. Now Barry McGuire is a well known rock protest singer from the sixties. And over a period of 10 years or so he lost more than 20 of his closest friends to drug overdoses and sexually transmitted diseases. Now these were TV and movie stars and politicians who committed suicide. They were personalities of such promise and yet they turned out not to be what they promised.

Marilyn Monroe, Michael Hutchins of INXS. These were fallen stars. See people have placed their hope in these stars and then they failed to deliver. And Jesus must have looked the same. He had rock star status the crowds followed Him everywhere. He was very definitely Jesus Christ superstar.

Over the last 3 weeks we have been looking at who this Jesus is. And we have seen how He healed people. And people flocked to Him to see His miracles and to hear His preaching. Jesus had this wisdom that confounded the religious critics. And they tried to trap him and yet He cared for the widows and the prostitutes and He did these amazing miracles healing the lepers, the blind and the lame. He was passionate, He was profound, He had a wisdom about God and yet He was so relevant. He touched people deep inside, and so these huge crowds.

Jesus held out so much promise. I mean, here He was in the first century in Israel. It was an oppressed land, occupied by the Romans. Most of these people were subsistence farmers. They were poor. They needed someone to believe in, someone to hope in and that someone looked like it was Jesus. And yet the events of that first Easter long week end, you know, the Passover festival, the crowds in Jerusalem. And then the unexpected. The lynching the mob baying for Jesus blood. They cried out, “We want Barabas” and “Crucify Jesus”. And this hope, this Jesus who was a miracle worker and such a powerful preacher, the hope turned into to despair.

Jesus was crucified on a cross and he was buried. And he was buried just before the Sabbath. And so on the Sabbath people couldn’t do anything. But on the day after the Sabbath they went down to his grave because he needed to be embalmed they didn’t have any funeral parlors in those days or an undertaker. So this just had to be done. Let’s have a listen to the story. Let’s pick it up. If you have a Bible open it up. In John Chapter 20 beginning at Verse one. John Chapter 20.

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. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. And she said to them, “They have taken our lord out of the tomb and we don’t know where they have laid him”. Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. The two were running together. The other disciple out ran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there but he didn’t go in.

Then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb. He too saw the linen wrappings just lying there and the cloth that had been on Jesus head not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the disciple who reached the tomb first also went in and he saw and he believed. For as yet they didn’t understand the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

The first reaction of Mary was to run back to Peter and the others and say they have taken the body out of the tomb. Then Peter and the other disciple run down there and sure enough the stone’s been rolled away, the linen wrappings are lying there folded neatly. They saw and they believed. You see Jesus had been telling them that He would rise from the dead. Now you read on and they had a mix of pain and fear and tears and hope and confusion but there it was a glimmer of hope that these next few weeks would show something different.

I mean, they had seen Jesus killed and yet they had hope. They had hope before. They hoped in Jesus and it was lost on the cross and now here was this empty tomb. No Jesus. Hope. We can casually brush over this Easter story dozens of times, lots of times during our lives and miss out what was going on in the hearts of His followers. These were people who had lost hope and now they discovered new hope. Many years later the apostle Peter wrote these words.

If you have a bible turn with me to First Peter, Chapter one. He writes this in Chapter one Verse three.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ by his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

See Peter writes looking back on this that through the resurrection of Jesus Christ God has given us a new birth into a new living hope; hope that we can have here and now a hope that is eternal; hope of glory and joy and peace; a hope of an eternal life of no tears and no pain for ever and ever. That hope began on that first Easter morning when the disciples went down to the tomb, and they discovered that it was empty.

The Local Gardner I hope that you’re having a great Easter and that you have had a great Easter. But we do we brush the Easter celebration aside so quickly each year. A day or two later we have forgotten all about it. It wasn’t like that on the first Easter, this brutal crucifixion the pain, the mourning, the fear. They had lost someone that promised so much. They had lost hope. And then on the day after the Sabbath when a few of his followers went down to the tomb they discovered that it was empty. He was gone. There was confusion there was hope there was despair there was fear. Maybe? No, surely not. Was there hope? Had He risen? He always said He would. But nah! Couldn’t.

Some found it easier to come to grips with than others. But Mary, Mary Magdalene, was the women who first saw the empty tomb and she couldn’t come to grips with it. She thought some one had taken His body away. And then she talked to the local gardener.

I hope you’ve been with us over these last few weeks as we’ve been looking at who this Jesus actually is. What He said and what He did. And as we've looked at Him in these last couple of weeks as we’ve looked these last couple of weeks, what happened leading up to His crucifixion and now what’s happening after his crucifixion. If you have missed any of the programs you can listen to them again at our web site, www.christianityworks.com

Mary Magdalene was a devoted follower of Jesus. She is the first one down to the empty tomb and her immediate reaction is the one that sticks out. They’ve taken His body. Who’s "they"? The Romans? The religious leaders? Other followers? Don’t know! But it’s not an unreasonable reaction in fact it’s the most plausible reaction. In john chapter 20 beginning now at verse 11 why not join me as we read this.

So Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept she knelt to look into the tomb and she saw these two angels sitting there dressed in white one at the head the other at the foot of where Jesus’ body had been laid. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping”. (See, there is this supernatural intervention going on) And Mary says, “They took my Master and I don’t know where they have put Him”. After she said this she turned away and she saw Jesus standing there but she didn’t recognise Him.

She was sort of surprised. She wasn’t expecting to see him alive. And Jesus spoke to her and said, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” And she thought He was the gardener and said, “Mister, if you took Him tell me where you have put Him so I can care for Him”. And then Jesus said “Mary”.

Turning to face him she said in Hebrew, “Raboni” meaning ‘Teacher’. Jesus said, “Don’t cling to me for I haven’t ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God. So Mary Magdalene went telling the news to the disciples, “I’ve seen Him! I’ve seen the Master!” And she told them everything that He said to her.

See, Mary was locked in the reality of her grief. Isn’t that so often the way. We’re locked in the here and now, the physical circumstances, the pain or just the plain old life that we live in, we are locked into our reality. And we brush by Easter and we barely notice that something profound has happened; we barely notice that Jesus has risen from the dead. Mary looked with her own eyes at Jesus and what she saw was the gardener. “Listen Mister”, she said.

I think that is really funny, it always makes me laugh. Can you imagine? The son of God has just risen and Mary looks at Him and thinks He is the gardener. And in the same way we can look at Easter and see chocolate and Easter bunnies and all that stuff. That’s such a tragedy. But then, you see, then He spoke her name. He said, “Mary”. (There is something special about someone who knows our name; someone whom we can trust.) And then she knew it was Him. He was alive! Instantly her grief turned to joy; instantly her hope was restored; instantly she knew she need never have lost hope at all.

See, the disciples, Peter and the others, believed first, and then they went back to their lodgings. But Jesus knew her grief. He lingered there waiting for her. She was the first one to see Him alive and yet she didn’t know it. And then He spoke her name. have you ever brushed past Easter? Have you ever been so locked in the present circumstances of life you can’t take in that Jesus rose again for you? Today, today He is speaking your name; today He’s whispering hope into your heart; today if you’ve lost hope He wants to bring that back to you again. The master’s speaking your name, can you hear him?

Listen deep inside. Listen. Jesus wants to give you a new hope, a new start, a new life. The gardner is one explanation but when we believe, when we truly believe He rose again we know the joy of Jesus who waited there for Mary.

The Promise Keeper Well, Jesus is risen. Here we are almost at the end of this 4 part series called "Who is Jesus?" We’ve been just asking and exploring this question, exactly who is Jesus? What I thought would be great is to finish up the series by having a look at one of His last promises. For me there’s nothing worse than when someone makes a promise and then they fails to keep it. It’s really lousy. Jesus makes quite a number of promises in his three-and-a-half years of public ministry. But this one, this was a parting promise. He said it was also His Father’s promise, and it was a promise that ended up changing the course of human history. What was it? Did he keep it? What happened?

In human terms promises are wonderful things. You look at the promise of marriage. There are two types of promises or covenants that we can make, or treaties if you like. There are unilateral promises and bilateral promises. A unilateral promise is an unconditional promise: no strings attached. A bilateral promise is a conditional promise: I’ll do this if you do that but if you don’t do that then I will do this.

These are the vows that I shared with my wife Jacqui when we were married have a listen to this.

Jacqui today I take you to be my wife and I set myself apart from the rest of the world for you and you alone. Everything that I am and everything that I have I give to you, in the heights of our joy and in the depths of our sorrow. I promise to be by your side, to hold you, to encourage you, to honour you, to cherish you, and to protect you. This is my solemn promise to you, that I will always seek to love you just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. All of these things are yours until we are parted in death.

Now I just talked a little a bit about a unilateral promise, which is an unconditional promise and a bilateral promise, which is a conditional promise. So, these wedding vows, which one is it, unilateral or bilateral? See we think as wedding vows as being bilateral; two parties make a vow to each other. But actually, whenever you read or hear a wedding vow it is an unconditional promise. There is nothing in the promise that I made to my wife Jacqui or in the promise she made to me which depends on what the other party does. Nothing in what I read you says, “Well, my darling wife, if you love me and you are good to me then I will be faithful to you but if you are not I wont be."

No, that is not what I said. I gave her an unconditional promise of relationship. No matter what you do, this is what I will do for you. Anyone who’s married will know that it is tough some days and those days love is a decision. Marriage is a great promise. Its says, when you fail I wont attack you, I wont reject you, I will stick by you, I’ll hold you, I’ll cherish you, I’ll lift you up. When one of us is down the other one can lift the other up. That’s the beauty of an unconditional promise and in sense it’s kind of the same thing this final promise that Jesus made to his disciples.

If you have got a bible open it up to Acts chapter 1 beginning at verse 3. This is what it says:

After His death He presented Himself alive to them in many different settings over a period of forty days. In face to face meetings He talked to them about things concerning the Kingdom of God. As they met and ate meals together He told them they were on no account to leave Jerusalem but must wait for what the Father promised, the promise you heard from Me. John baptized you with water, you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit and soon. When they were together for the last time they asked, “Master, are you going to restore the kingdom of Israel? Is it time?”

You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the fathers business. What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you’ll be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem. all over Judea and Samaria and even to the ends of the earth. These were his last words. As they watched he was taken up and disappeared in a cloud. They stood there staring into the empty sky.

Suddenly two men appeared in white robes. They said, “You Galileans, why are you just standing looking at an empty sky. This very Jesus that was taken up from you into heaven will come as certainly and mysteriously as He left.”

See they didn’t get it. They were still thinking this Messiah was coming to save them from the Romans. “When are you going to restore the Kingdom of Israel?" "Is now the time?" They still didn’t get it after three-and-a-half years with Jesus. Crucified and resurrected they still didn’t get it. But Jesus wasn’t promising them release from the Romans. Jesus was promising them something much better.

What you get is the promise of the Father. You will get the promised Holy Spirit. John baptized you in water but not too long from now I’ll baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

These were his last words.

See, when a husband and wife promises each other something they become one flesh and here Jesus promised an intimacy. He promised the Holy Spirit. He said, "You’ll be baptised; you’ll be dripping; you’ll be drenched; you’ll be dunked." You know when you have a crumpet and you put some butter and honey on it and its soaking in this sweet honey, that is what the word "baptise" means. You’ll be drenched with the Spirit of God. That is the promise of Jesus to each person who puts their faith in Him. Isn’t that an awesome promise!

It’s like the marriage promise. It’s not a conditional promise any more, This is the new covenant, the new promise. This is what Jesus died and rose again to give us and it’s open to every person who believes that Jesus Christ died for them on the cross and that he rose again for them to give them a new and eternal life. This promise is open to each one of us. A promise of a new intimate relationship.

And if you read on in acts Chapter 22 you will read about the day of Pentecost, the day that God indeed poured his Holy Spirit out on every one who believes. That’s exactly what happened. What does that mean? Well for the disciples these bumpkins, these fishermen, these tax collectors, God filled them with the power, the strength and the wisdom and the godliness to go out and kick off this thing called "church", and its still going today two thousand years later. God empowered them amazingly.

Can I tell you, God has filled me with a power and strength and a wisdom and a desire and a passion and a closeness and intimacy with him that makes me want to do what I’m doing now to tell you about Jesus. We need never be alone. Can I ask you, what about you? Have you accepted this Jesus yet? Have you received that promised Holy Spirit yet? This Spirit of the intimacy and the closeness and the presence of God dwelling in you. So this is who Jesus is. This is what He did. He said, “I will come and make my home with you”. He wants to be with us every step of the way.

One of His other promises just before he ascended to heaven was, “I will never leave you or forsake you”. Who is Jesus? Healer, teacher friend. Lord, Saviour, wise, kind, powerful, humble, creator. Everything. He is everything God is. He wants to baptise us with, He wants to drench us with His presence. What a Saviour. What a promise. Jesus.