Reliable Resurrection John 20:1-18

We'd like to welcome you to Easter Sunday, you know, this is the day that we celebrate our Lord who rose from the dead for our sins. You know, without without Christ doing that we'd be living a pretty miserable existence, right?

Because of that we have hope for eternal life with Christ for eternity and that can't can't be overstated at all. Today I just want to go through a few announcements. We obviously didn't have we didn't have Sunday school this today obviously because we had the little mini potluck back there, so that'll pick back up next week.

The next Bible study, which is where we're going over the book on prayer is gonna be Wednesday at April 3rd. That's 5 30 p .m. It's also streamed on YouTube so if you could catch it there, if you're not able to make it, it's there as well.

The next unbound will be two weeks from yesterday. So the next one will be on April 13th. Ladies Bible study is the third, just a reminder, it's the third Saturday of each month at 10. So the next one will be April 20th.

And then of course our missionaries of the month, Mr. John and Ms. Becky Knox. They do a ministry in Japan. So they've been doing it since 1987. That's a whole two years before I was even born. So pray for them and just continue to pray for them and and the students that they work with, you know, that they'll find Christ.

And so just keep them in your prayers. And we'll just pray. Dear Lord, we we thank you for bringing us all here today safely, Lord. We thank you again for for Jesus who died on the cross for our sins, Lord.

We thank you that we're you've allowed us here to be here to celebrate that fact, Lord. And we thank you for the hope that it provides so that we can continue to live in Christ and continue to share your gospel with those who need to hear it, Lord.

Lord, we just pray today, Lord, that we can hear what Iljin has to say, Lord, from your word, Lord. And we just pray that the words of the gospel penetrate our heart, Lord, so that we're able to not just hear what we listen to today, but actually leave here and and live it, Lord.

So we love you. We praise you, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

And a blessed Resurrection Sunday. He is risen? All right, that's old school there. But it's a good one. You know, I was thinking this morning that as as we are all preparing our hearts for today and and meditating on what it what it means to think that as we gather to worship people in Christ's Church and God's Church, church, you know, at large, we're worshiping together in their places all across the the globe and one day the believers will be able to gather together in heaven and sing together.

That would be amazing. And so it's just it's an amazing picture to think. We're all, you know, scattered about but when we come together in Jesus in heaven, it's going to be incredible. We're gonna read our first song is going to be One Day and I wanted to read the last verse.

It says, Wonderful day may be beloved. My beloved ones bring. Glorious Savior, this Jesus is mine. One day. And let's stand together as we think about that one day we will be with our Lord. But in the meantime, we can rejoice and be glad.

Today's scripture reading is going to come out of the book of Psalms, Psalm 16. We're reading the whole psalm. Once again, that is Psalm 16. We'll start from verse 1. Preserve me, O God, for in you I put my trust.

O my soul, you have said to the Lord, you are my Lord. My goodness is nothing apart from you. As for the saints who are on the earth, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight. Their sorrows shall be multiplied, who hastened after another God.

Their drink offerings of blood will not, I will not offer, nor take up their names on my lips. O Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup. You maintain my lots. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.

Yes, I have a good inheritance. I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. My heart also instructs me in their night's seasons. I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand and I shall not be moved.

Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will rest in hope. For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life and your presence is fullness of joy as your right hand are the pleasures forevermore.

Thank you for the reading of the word today. If you'd stand with me again as we're gonna sing He Lives. He lives and we serve a Savior that lives. It's not a stone idol. It's not something that's inanimate or something that doesn't give us hope of eternity with him.

But we have a loving Savior and a loving God and he has risen. If he didn't come out of the grave, we wouldn't be standing here today, but he did. So he lives today. So let's sing He Lives.

Me to John chapter 20 verses 1 through 18.

John chapter 20 verses 1 through 18. Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved and said to them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him.

Peter therefore went out and the other disciple and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first and he stooping down and looking in saw the linen cloths lying there yet he did not go in.

Then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb and he saw the linen cloths lying there and the handkerchief that had been around his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.

Then the other disciple who came to the tomb first went in also and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again to their own homes.

But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb and she saw two angels in white sitting one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain.

Then they said to her, woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, because they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him. Now when she had said this she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus.

Jesus said to her, woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? She supposing him to be the gardener 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, Rabboni, which is to say teacher. Jesus said to her, do not cling to me for I have not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father and to my God and your God.

Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things to her. This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Father, we gather here this morning celebrating and praising your son Jesus Christ who rose from the dead after conquering sin and death once and for all.

We are grateful that we get to celebrate this day with him and we're grateful that we get to do this as a church family. We pray that your spirit would work in all of our hearts so that we may experience the presence of the living Lord and Father, we pray that not only today, but every day that we would reflect on what his resurrection means for us because our lives are transformed by his death and resurrection.

Help us to trust him even more today and we pray that people in our lives would learn and to see the truth of the resurrection and that they would also believe the witnesses that we got to see in scripture this morning.

Help us to be confident in Jesus Christ and how he is risen in Jesus name. Amen. We live in a nation where Resurrection Sunday has been gutted. For corporations, it's just another excuse to have a spring sale to sell the things that they didn't get to sell over Christmas and New Year's.

For politicians, it's a photo op with a man in a rabbit suit and apparently this year this administration has made March 31st a so-called transgender visibility day. What a wicked and perverse thing to do on any day, but especially on Resurrection Sunday.

And for many of the secular parents, Resurrection Sunday is just an outdoor activity for their kids to find plastic eggs. And if they're the focus on this day, we've missed the most crucial point. The most important point of today is that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and that's why I prefer to call it Resurrection Sunday because in its name we actually prioritize the event.

People, whether they believe it or not, have to come to the fact that today is special because of Jesus' resurrection. And before we discuss the importance of the resurrection, we need to talk about what happened before.

The crucifixion. John actually structures his whole book with seven signs that point to the crucifixion and resurrection. The first sign being turning water into wine. And then the seventh being the raising of Lazarus.

And what these signs all point to is the hour of Jesus' glory. The seven miracles are signposts that direct us to the cross. And when Jesus is pierced and publicly mocked on the cross, John portrays this as the hour of his glory.

When Jesus hangs on the cross, suffering God's wrath for our sake, that is the sight of God's glory. And this is because the cross clearly shows us who God is. He is the gracious and merciful Lord who takes away our sin through Jesus Christ hanging on the cross.

And if you want to know what God is like, you look to the cross. If you want to know how deep God's love is, you look to the cross. For John, Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection are not two separate events, but one single event.

The hour of glory includes both the cross and the resurrection. And you cannot read Christ's suffering without the resurrection, and you cannot read the resurrection without the crucifixion. And this morning, we have the privilege of seeing the full event unfold.

After Jesus has reversed the course of sin on the cross, he was buried in a garden. John is the only apostle, or the only gospel writer, who notes the placement, the place of Jesus' burial as a garden.

And this background actually sets the context for new creation. Just as the first man was placed in a garden, sinless, the second man, the second Adam, the ultimate Adam, Jesus Christ, is placed in a garden, dead.

While the first Adam was promised life upon obedience about the tree, right? Obey God about the tree, and you will live forever. And yet, he disobeyed God and was kicked out of the garden. Jesus, the second Adam, obeyed God about the tree, unto his death, and was buried in an unnamed garden.

Through the first Adam, whole creation entered into sin. Through the second Adam, whole creation is being renewed. Through the first Adam, we were separated from God. Through the second Adam, Jesus, we are reconciled with God, through his atoning sacrifice on the cross.

Through the first Adam, sin entered, and so did shame, and God had to clothe him with an animal that died. The second Adam, he took on our shame, and he was stripped, and he suffered a humiliating death.

But by that death, he took away our shame. Without the resurrection, we have no guarantee of our restored relationship with Christ. Without the resurrection, we have, as Brendan mentioned, we have no hope.

There's no hope for eternal life. There's no reason to live. The main point of today's text is that because of the trustworthy witnesses of Christ's resurrection, we can confidently live our new relationship with God as his adopted children.

Because of the trustworthy witnesses of Christ's resurrection, we can confidently live our new relationship with God as his adopted children. First, the resurrected Jesus gave enough evidence to witness and believe in his resurrection.

The resurrected Jesus gave enough evidence to witness and believe in his resurrection. On Resurrection Sunday, we are used to referring this day as the third day. But the author of this gospel starts this day as the first day.

First day of the week, according to John. Now, the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. The first day here reminds us of Genesis 1's creation week.

God started creating on the first day. Just as God started creating on the first day, God inaugurates new creation on the first day. New creation, new creation, the restored creation without sin, without death.

And this is not coincidental, especially in gospel according to John. He starts the gospel within the beginning. He knew of Genesis 1 and he knew how it related to new creation. And just as the first day started out in darkness in Genesis 1, Mary Magdalene stands before Jesus' tomb early in the morning in the dark.

Now, Mary Magdalene is a different Mary than Jesus' mother or Lazarus' sister. And this is confusing because a lot of women back then were named Mary. It was a popular name. Mary Magdalene is actually mentioned in Luke 8 chapter 2.

She has not been mentioned before in the gospel according to John. Mary Magdalene comes from Luke 8 too, and she once had seven demons in her and she was one of the followers of Jesus Christ. Now John depicts the historical event from her view.

She saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Instead of exploring on her own, Mary decides to run to Peter, Simon Peter, and John, the author of this gospel. Verse 2, then she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved and said to them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him.

There are two reasons as to why Mary did not enter the tomb. First, it was dark and dangerous. Since her explanation is grave robbery, it would have been dangerous to explore on her own. Second, under Jewish traditions, women's testimony was not admissible in court.

She knew she had to get some male witnesses to view this event in order to be taken seriously. Ironically, God would use women as the first witnesses of Jesus' resurrection in all four gospel accounts.

Four men who wrote the gospel accounts clearly show that women were the first witnesses of the empty tomb. This actually strengthens the case for the resurrection 2 ,000 years later. After all, if Christians were to make up a false religion, why?

Why choose the very people who cannot testify before court and be taken seriously to be the witnesses of the very, really the most important event in Christianity, the resurrection. It would have been counterintuitive to do so if you were making up a false religion, except if this is how it really happened, then there's no other way but to portray women as the first witnesses of the resurrection.

The fact that these gospel authors stuck to the truth of the matter, even if it had been culturally counterintuitive, shows that their accounts are trustworthy. They place truth above convenience. They've placed truth above cultural relevance, and therefore, 2 ,000 years later, we can believe them.

The two disciples here are Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved. John actually does not tell us his name in the whole gospel. He mentions himself as the beloved disciple, and we believe him to be the author of this book, yet he never discloses his name, but only identifies himself as the one whom Jesus loved.

My New Testament John professor would say, one truth that shapes and fills his identity is that Jesus loved him. One truth that shapes and fills his identity is that Jesus loved him. Now, when these two disciples hear that the body's missing, they rush to the tomb.

Peter goes out, and the other disciple follows, yet they both run together, and the other disciple, John, outruns Peter. Now, I do not plan on placing any symbolic meaning behind the race. The most likely explanation is that John is the younger one of the two, and really, there's no warrant to pit the two apostles against each other.

So, what does the beloved disciple do when he first reaches the tomb? Well, he's stooping down and looks in, and he saw linen cloths lying there, yet he did not go in. This is the first evidence of why this is not a case of grave robbery.

Grave robbers do not care to remove the linen cloths wrapping the body before stealing it. In fact, grave robbers would want to keep the expensive linen and the spices that are attached to the linen to sell later.

Second, they wouldn't want to take the time to remove the linen because they're in a hurry. And in verse 6, Peter corroborates John's witness. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb.

He saw the linen cloths lying there, and that really goes along with Peter's personality. He's direct. He doesn't hesitate. He's not careful. He'll go in. It's open. It's empty. Let me check it out. I'll go in.

Now, Peter goes further than the beloved disciple, and he reveals more. The camera zooms in to the tomb. Verse 7, and the handkerchief that had been around his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.

This casts even more doubt of the grave robbery scenario. Also, the better rendering of the handkerchief is, I think, face cloths. The cloth that was wrapped around Jesus' face. And, and this folded face cloths actually contrasts with the first resurrection that we see in John, which is Lazarus, that of Lazarus, in John chapter 11.

When Jesus commands Lazarus to come out, Lazarus does come out. But the difference is that he does come out with the face cloth wrapped around his head, in which Jesus has to order, unbind him. Jesus' resurrection was of a different caliber and quality.

He didn't need to be unbound. The face cloth didn't stick to him. In fact, because he didn't need it anymore, he folded it. This hints at a different type of resurrection, and wherever Jesus is, he is freely unbound.

And wherever Jesus is, he no longer needs the linen cloths and the face binding. After all, a living man no longer needs those items. A resurrected man, who will not die again, will never use those items.

And verse 8 tells us John's response. He also went in as Peter did, and he saw and believed. He saw and believed. This is a crucial point in John's life. Even before meeting the resurrected Christ, John believed based upon the evidence presented before him.

The grave clothes and the folded face cloths were enough evidence for John to see and believe. This moment is a crucial part of John's testimony of faith. He knew it wasn't grave robbery the moment he saw the evidence laid down by Jesus himself.

And John actually specifies that his faith was by the physical evidence rather than scriptural evidence. For as yet, they did not know the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. There are multiple speculations to which specific verses fulfill Christ's resurrection.

Yet, that's not what John considered at that moment. John considered what he physically saw and he believed. Although the disciples saw the physical evidence for the resurrection, they did not quite understand scripture that testifies to the resurrection.

So, they go back to their own homes. And what John teaches us this morning is that he knows and he understands that there will be people who will have to believe in the resurrection without ever meeting the resurrected Christ in person.

After all, he's met the resurrected Christ. The twelve apostles, the rest of the apostles rather, met the resurrected Christ. And 500 other people met the resurrected Christ, according to 1st Corinthians.

However, John's writing this late in the first century. Most of these people are dead. And he's writing this knowing that the future followers of Christ will have to believe in the resurrection. Not by seeing the resurrected Christ, but seeing the witness testimonies.

And that's what we have here. John meticulously wrote three witness testimonies just in the first ten verses of this chapter. So that you too may see and believe. And in fact, that is the most important aspect of the resurrection.

The most important aspect of the resurrection is that it is historical. The resurrection is important because it happened. It's not just a nice idea. It's not just a beautiful concept. It's not just a fitting theory.

It is crucial because it has occurred in history. And this is why John takes the time to write out in detail what he and his friends witnessed on that day. And John opposes any notion that Christianity is a blind faith.

Rather, John shows through these witnesses that Christians believe based upon testimonies of multiple witnesses rather than just based upon feelings. Well, I feel this is right. Or I feel this has to be right.

Christianity is not baseless, but evidence-based. And John takes care to show that there are at least three witnesses. And that's important because according to the Jewish law, you needed two or three witnesses to have a case.

A single witness could not do. And even if John had ended the chapter here, this would have been a credible testimony before the court. And it would have been even more credible compared to various false religions like Mormonism and Islam, which depends on testimony of one person.

Joseph Smith and Muhammad, respectively. We readers are to see and believe the resurrection through these witnesses. And this is similar to how we believe the truth of the matter through trial witnesses during a court case.

After all, you cannot have a replay button of a murder. There is a trial and there are witnesses called because it wasn't filmed and it can't be repeated. We have the privilege of hearing the testimonies of the resurrection from multiple concurring witnesses based upon logic and facts.

The second type of witness is scripture. Although John tells us that they did not consider scripture at that moment, at least the inferences that the Old Testament does make clear that the resurrection of Christ had to happen.

Even hundreds of years before the resurrection, scripture foretold the resurrection of a Davidic Messiah, a king, a chosen king in the line of David. For example, in Psalm 6, which was read today, Psalm 16, rather, which was read today, written by David, its 10th verse says, For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol.

You will not allow your Holy One to undergo decay. And David wrote this at least a thousand years before Jesus was even born. Now, this was actually not true of David's earthly reign. Because we know that David died and he stayed dead.

And, in fact, his body decayed. Does that mean God's Word is wrong? No, because the, this is ultimately actually fulfilled by David's greater son, the Davidic king who is to come, Jesus Christ. And we need to really think about this.

God did not abandon Jesus' soul to Sheol, the underworld, the realm of the dead. Jesus did not stay dead. God did not even allow his body to go, to undergo decay. Jesus' body never rotted because he was raised from the dead.

Even a thousand years before Jesus came to earth, scripture testifies of the resurrection. Psalm 16 is ultimately fulfilled by Jesus Christ. And there are many more scriptural references to the crucifixion and resurrection.

We just don't have the time to go through each one. But many Jews actually came to faith from hearing scripture unpacked. That's why the early apostles went into the synagogues first, to reason with them, not based upon their feelings, but based upon scripture.

Now, next, John shows us the resurrected Jesus interacting with one of his disciples and the interaction is different from before, which leads us to ask, how does the resurrection impact us? How does it change us?

This leads to my second point. Jesus' resurrection permanently changes our relationship with God as adopted children. It permanently changes our relationship with God as adopted children. Even though the two disciples go back home, Mary decides to stay by the tomb.

But Mary stood outside by the tomb, weeping, and as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb. After the focus on the two apostles, Peter and John, the author makes Mary the focus. We get a different angle.

We get a different camera view. As you can see, Mary does not believe that Jesus is risen. In fact, she is still grieving over Jesus' missing body. But when she looks inside the tomb, she sees something that the two disciples missed.

And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. What the disciples, the apostles, John and Peter, what they saw was physical evidence.

Mary gets to see something beyond the physical. Angels are sacred, heavenly creatures. The other Gospels mentioned the angelic presence, but only John notes the placement, their placement, how they are placed inside the tomb.

One at the head and one at the feet. The two ends of where body of Jesus laid. Now, what could this mean? One commentator believes the emphasis on the placement of the angels is a reference to the Ark of the Covenant in which there are two cherubim placed at the two ends.

When God commands Israel to build an ark, it's a golden laid box, golden overlaid box. And the purpose of this is that once a year the high priest would go in by himself with the sacrifice for himself and the whole nation of Israel and put the atoning sacrifice so the sin of the nation would be cleansed.

So that God would continue to dwell with Israel and that blood would be dropped in between the wings of the angels, the two angels on the golden altar. In Exodus 25, 18 through 19, God makes it clear how the angels are supposed to be placed.

And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other. Make the cherubim of one piece with the cover at the two ends. To a Jewish reader, these angels inside Jesus' tomb would remind them of the Ark of the Covenant.

Where the atoning sacrifice for the nation's sin would occur once a year in between the angels. However, unlike the Ark, there's something missing. The atoning sacrifice is missing. The sacrifice for the sin of God's people is missing.

And in one sense, also the presence of God is missing. He's not in the tomb because he's risen. Now, unlike the golden cherubim, these angels speak. Woman, why are you weeping? Their question is rhetorical.

They're not trying to find out why she is crying. They know. The question is rhetorical to get her to think on this. And John actually does this a lot in his gospel. There's a speaker who means something figurative, but the audience receives it as literal.

It happens, John 3, with Nicodemus. How could a man be born again? And Jesus did not mean it literally. And then the woman at the well. Give me this living water so I may never thirst. Right? It wasn't literal thirst.

It was figurative. And this too, John uses irony here. The angels do know why they're weeping. But that irony passes by. After all, the angels are softly rebuking Mary for crying. Why are you crying when the Lord is risen?

You need to be rejoicing, not crying. That's the emphasis of the question. Mary not understanding the rhetoric answers literally. Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.

And this shows that she still believes the body has been taken away. Not that the Lord walked out of the tomb. Now unlike John, Mary's tour of the tomb and even the angelic encounter were not enough to persuade her to believe in Jesus' resurrection.

However, the biggest plot twist happens in verse 14. Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know it was Jesus. Now it is mysterious why she couldn't recognize Jesus.

This actually happens in Luke 24 when the two disciples walk on the road to Emmaus. And Jesus joins them and they have no idea that it's Jesus until later that night during supper when he breaks bread.

As to why, how this happens, it's a mystery. It also could be for Mary specifically that she cannot see clearly because she has tears flowing down her face. However, one thing is clear. Jesus' resurrection was physical.

Jesus did not appear as an apparition before Mary but as a physical person and Mary knew that. Now Jesus also asked Mary rhetorically, woman, why are you weeping and whom are you seeking? She supposing him to be the gardener said to him, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away.

There are a couple layers of irony here. First, the missing body she is weeping about is talking to her yet she assumes he took it. The solution to Mary's problem stands before her and is speaking to her yet she cannot see it.

Second, although Mary did not know it, Jesus is the ultimate gardener who restored the sinful and rebellious world through his death and made it possible for humankind to enter return to his garden once again.

Jesus is Lord yet Mary misses both of these points until Jesus calls her name. Jesus said to her, Mary, this interaction reminds us of what Jesus taught his disciples in John chapter 10. The sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

Mary, who belongs to Jesus, immediately recognizes her shepherd when he calls her name. This points to the kind of relationship we will be under in the new covenant, which is established by Christ's blood.

All of you who believe in Jesus Christ relate to God in a different way under a different covenant than the Israelites did under the old covenant, the Mosaic covenant. And what it really shows is there's a personal aspect to our relationship to God.

Jesus calls Mary's name personally. Remember, Mary was not one of the 12 apostles. She was not the inner circle. She didn't even show up until John 20. Yet the Lord will call Mary's name personally. And for us, Jesus calls your name personally, individually.

You belong to Jesus not because of your ethnic heritage nor your parents' religion, but because of him who called you by your name. For some of you, this happened to you recently when you came to faith.

You heard God's word preached and your heart was pricked and your whole worldview was shaken. The old, old story of Jesus, which you heard hundreds of times before, became freshly new. And you realize you no longer live for yourself, but your new identity is in Christ.

Your identity is not in sin. Your identity is in Jesus. And you have been called from the sinful world into the body of Christ. And the voice of Jesus had the same effect on you as it did for Mary. Jesus' voice opened her eyes.

She could see and believe that Jesus rose from the dead. And at this moment, Mary recognizes her Lord. She turned and said to him, Rabboni, which is to say, teacher. The teacher here is actually a messianic title used for Jesus in the gospel according to John.

He is called the teacher in John 1 .38 after John the Baptist proclaims Jesus to be the Lamb of God. Here's the Lamb of God. And the disciples who heard John say that, they call Jesus teacher. He's also called teacher in John 11 before he raises Lazarus from the dead, which was an important messianic sign.

He raises the dead to life by his own authority. He is the teacher who teaches his people to live. His word gives his people life. That's what kind of teacher that we're looking at here. Not just to learn some theology, although that's important, but he's the teacher who speaks life.

After Mary realizes Jesus is risen, Jesus responds in verse 17. Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my father. But go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father and to my God and your God.

This verse needs to be unpacked here. It's one of the more confusing verses in John among many. Now, this does not mean Jesus did not want to be hugged after his resurrection, right? Jesus, you're pretty cold now that you've risen.

Rather, Jesus reassures Mary here that his time of ascension is not yet. Translation, he will not suddenly leave her right now. You do not need to cling to me because I'm not going to my father right now.

You don't have to stick to me as if I'm going to leave you again. Mary does not have to hold on to him for now. And because Mary does not have to worry of Jesus disappearing once again, she can relay the message to the disciples, his brethren.

There is a transformation in our relationship with him and God. His disciples are not just students, but his brothers. Not only that, God the father is not just his father, but our father. He's not only Jesus' God, but our God.

Through Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, those who follow Jesus enter into a more personal and permanent relationship with God and even the son, God the son. The whole relationship dynamic changes for those who believe in Jesus' resurrection.

And what this tells us is only through Jesus' death and resurrection, we are adopted into his family. And assuming most of us are not from Jewish background, that is terrific news. After all, if you were, if you had been born before Christ, your fate is sealed.

You would have most likely, unless you were a handful of, just a couple of gentiles in the old testament who came to the knowledge of the Lord and converted into Judaism, unless you were those few, the fate is that you grow up worshiping false gods, bowing to false statues and idols, and you curse the Lord's name.

Then you die to be tormented for all eternity. That's the fate of non-Jews in the old testament time. Not only that, a lot of the Israelites ended up there in the place of torment because they also did not believe in the Lord that they're supposed to believe.

Many of them committed idolatry too. But because Christ died and rose from the dead, we're not just only, we're not just forgiven, which is great news already, but adopted into his family. Regardless of your family background, regardless of your ethnicity, regardless of your socioeconomic background, God, who was so far away from us, becomes the closest person in our lives as our Father and our God.

This is a new covenant language. He is our God, our Father. In Christ, the true God is no longer just for the ancient Jews, but for you too. In Christ, God, who is vastly gentler, kinder, more compassionate, and more loving than your earthly fathers, become your Father.

And your heavenly Father will never leave you. Your heavenly Father will never lie to you. He will never be vicious to you. He will never be harsh to you. And you will always have access to your heavenly Father.

And whenever we do pray, we approach the heavenly Father. We don't have to make an appointment. We don't have to worry that he didn't hear us. We can be assured that our message got to the throne room of God.