The Resurrection: An Empty Tomb

John 19:38–20:18

Main Idea: The resurrection of Jesus Christ stands unrivaled as the most radical event in history.

1. The First Radical Change Is in the Power of Death.
2. The Second Radical Change Was in the Position of the Disciples.

Radical has a number of meanings, and one is “revolutionary.” Or, to be more precise, radical change means “an extreme or substantial change in the existing system.” A radical event is an event that takes the current system and flips it on its head. Something truly radical changes all we know in an instant. Nothing brought more extreme changes than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It stands unrivaled as the most radical event in history.

The apostle Paul makes this case in 1 Corinthians 15. Some in the Corinthian church were saying there was no resurrection of the dead. They claimed Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, and it didn’t really matter. “Not so fast,” Paul says in effect. “If Christ has not been raised, . . . your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins” (1 Cor 15:14, 17). That’s how radical the resurrection is. If it didn’t happen, we would still be in sin, and everything we believe about God, Jesus, and salvation would be empty and meaningless. The resurrection brought profound changes in our faith, purpose, and standing before God.

In John 19:38-39 we get the first clue this passage is about change. John includes a detail about each man that reveals a change in his attitude. Joseph of Arimathea had been a secret disciple but was now publicly identifying himself with Jesus. Nicodemus, who had secretly come to Jesus at night when no one would see him (ch. 3), also comes out of the dark and identifies himself as a follower of Jesus. It doesn’t take much imagination to understand the potential danger in identifying with one who was just executed for sedition and blasphemy. If Joseph’s and Nicodemus’s lives weren’t in danger, their reputations certainly were. What change took place in these men? What prompted such courage? In the same chapter where John documents secret disciples who were afraid to follow Jesus, he also records this statement made by Jesus: “Truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces much fruit” (12:24). Like the first flowers blooming in the spring, these two men are the firstfruits of the great harvest that will come from Jesus’s death. They also serve as a signal to readers of the Gospel that changes are coming, and the most radical one is near.

Consider a second change in this passage. Once Jesus laid down his life, the persecution and affliction were over. He had paid our debt to sin. He had fully received the righteous wrath of God. His suffering was complete. Now his body is treated differently. He is no longer abused as the sacrificial Lamb. He is treated with respect as the only begotten Son of God, the true King of Israel (19:40-42).

Mary assumes that the body of Jesus has been stolen by grave robbers or moved by the authorities (20:2). She doesn’t consider the possibility of resurrection. Peter and John—the beloved disciple—enter the tomb, and John deliberately calls our attention to the grave clothes (v. 7). This is actually the second time grave clothes are mentioned in John’s Gospel; the first was at the tomb of Lazarus (11:43-44). When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, Lazarus came out of the tomb still wrapped in the linen cloths. Jesus’s resurrection is different from the resurrection of Lazarus. We aren’t given many details but enough to understand Lazarus will die again; he will need his grave clothes one more time. Jesus will never need his own. He will not see death again. Something happened when Jesus rose from the dead that did not happen when Lazarus was resurrected.

What does John believe when he enters the tomb? He believes Jesus rose from the dead (20:8-10). He doesn’t completely understand it—all of the puzzle pieces won’t fit together until later—but he believes. The appearance of angels confirms what John believes (vv. 11-13). Jesus’s missing body is not due to grave robbers but to the all-powerful hands of God. I wonder if the angels’ question to Mary isn’t a slight rebuke. At this point she still hasn’t considered the possibility Jesus is alive. All she can think about is where his body is, not where he is.

Jesus is the good shepherd, and when he calls his sheep by name, they respond (cf. John 10:3-4). When Mary hears the voice of her shepherd, who calls her by name, she understands it’s him (20:14-16). She wants to hold on to Jesus lest he leave again. He tells her, “Don’t worry Mary. Don’t hold on to me. I’m not leaving for good. I have not yet ascended to my rightful spot at my Father’s side” (v. 17; my paraphrase). He charges her to go and tell his disciples he’s alive and will soon be returning to his heavenly position.

This passage is all about change:

• the change in Joseph and Nicodemus from secret disciples to open followers,
• the change in the treatment of Jesus from affliction to affection and adoration,
• the change in the grave from full to empty,
• the change in John as he looks and believes in the resurrection, and
• the change in Mary from weeping to rejoicing.

These are small changes; they’re the aftershocks. The earthshaking change is the resurrection. When Jesus rises from the dead, the existing system is irrevocably altered. It will never be the same.

The First Radical Change Is in the Power of Death

Birth and death are the common human experiences. They’re simply unavoidable. Human life—that short span of time between womb and tomb—is described by God as a vapor (Ps 39:5). Your life lasts no longer than the steam from your morning shower. We’re like the grass in our backyards: green, lush, and healthy one day, withered and dying the next. This is Mary’s mind-set when Jesus dies. She goes looking for his body, the part of him that’s left when his life is extinguished. Upon finding the body gone, her report to the disciples is essentially, “I didn’t see his body” (John 20:2). But look at what she says in verse 18. She doesn’t say, “I have seen the Lord’s body.” She says, “I have seen the Lord!” Jesus conquered death. He stared into death’s cold, cruel eyes, and with infinite power he defeated death, rendering death impotent. Prior to the resurrection of Jesus, every person walked this earth with an executioner’s blade above his neck, never sure when death would strike, but Jesus disarmed death—he showed us what awaits those who are his once they pass from this life.

The writer of Hebrews said that through his death Jesus destroyed the one who has the power of death, the devil, and delivered all those “who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death” (Heb 2:15). The fear of death causes us to try to minimize the effects of aging. We’re told, “Be younger, eat healthier, color your hair, and remove wrinkles.” We don’t want to face the truth. We’re aging, and every day brings us closer to the grave. We try to cosmetically push death further into the future. If we ignore death, maybe death will ignore us. The fear of death chains our hopes and dreams to the earthly, transient desires of this life. If Jesus hadn’t conquered death, we might as well spend all of our energy eating, drinking, and being merry, for tomorrow we might die, but because Jesus conquered death, we can live for the next life, the eternal life, not this temporary one. We are participants in Jesus’s resurrection, and our priorities should reflect that truth (cf. Col 3:1-2).

Here is why materialism and Christianity cannot peacefully coexist. Materialism is pursuing happiness by accumulating stuff in this life. Christianity is giving up stuff in this life to pursue happiness in Jesus. Materialism is the binding death uses to chain us to this world. We try to insulate ourselves from eternity by mounding up more and more treasures around us. We’re like children building a pillow fort of cars and cash, hoping it will stop death’s progress. It’s a silly and sad way to live. For us as Christians, the resurrection of Jesus brings a revolutionary change in our perspective. We don’t live for the seen but the unseen. Because Jesus conquered death and lives forevermore, death no longer has a claim on us, and we’re free to live for what lasts. We’re able to live with open hands, giving up everything in this life because we’re guaranteed another, greater, eternal life with Jesus.

The Second Radical Change Was in the Position of the Disciples

One hundred eight times in the Gospel of John, Jesus refers to God as “Father.” Twenty-seven times he says “my Father.” Seventy-one times he says “the Father,” and only one time does he refer to God as the disciples’ Father. He does that here in verse 17, as he passes the message to the disciples through Mary. He tells her to say he is ascending to “my Father and your Father.” It’s also the only time in John’s Gospel he calls the disciples his “brothers.” When Jesus rises from the dead, the position of his disciples is radically altered. They’re no longer cut off from God, enemies, dead in trespasses and sins. They’re family members. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ for their sin, and the divine acceptance of that sacrifice demonstrated in the resurrection, ushers them into a new family with God as their Father and Jesus as their brother.

Only when God does a work in our hearts, granting us the gift of faith, do we become his children (1:12-13). From our perspective we must believe on Jesus Christ to become part of God’s family. But that’s not all that needed to happen. Jesus had to do something. He had to pay for our sin so we could be declared righteous. His sacrifice had to be accepted by God so we could be forgiven. That’s why, after he rose from the dead, his first words to the disciples, through the lips of Mary, were that they were now, by faith, part of God’s family—sons of God and brothers of Jesus.

Many wonderful promises become ours because of our position as children of God.

The promise of inheritance: the immeasurable riches of God are eternally ours. This promise helps us move beyond the flat-screen TVs and new cars that occupy so many people’s dreams. We should be willing to die penniless if that’s what God desires, knowing an eternal treasure chest awaits us upon our entrance into the Father’s house.

The promise of love: we are now God’s children. No matter what kind of earthly father you had, you now have a perfect Father. His love for you will not ebb and flow based on his emotions. His treatment of you won’t be affected by your performance. He will love you enough to chasten you when you sin, not because he’s vindictive but because you’re his child and he wants what is best for you.

The promise of acceptance: Jesus’s ascension to the right hand of the Father brings assurance we will be accepted into the Father’s house. We didn’t become God’s children because of what we did but because of what Jesus accomplished. So our confidence in our standing before God doesn’t rest in what we do but in what Jesus has done on our behalf. As long as Jesus stands at the right hand of God, all who follow him will be welcomed into God’s presence. If God accepted Jesus, then he has accepted you.

Who the disciples are is bound up totally in who they have become in Christ. No longer are they merely sons of Adam; they are now sons of God. Their validation won’t come from other people but has come from what Jesus revealed to them about their new position, their new identity. A new identity in Christ, as members of God’s family, radically changes every area of life. For instance, we call one another “Brother” and “Sister” because we relate to one another as members of God’s family. This relationship affects our prayer lives, how we give, and how we care for others.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not trivial. The resurrection is central to our faith. Marcus Borg wrote,

For me it is irrelevant whether or not the tomb was empty. Whether Easter involved something remarkable happening to the physical body of Jesus is irrelevant. My argument is not that we know the tomb was not empty or that nothing happened to the body, but simply that it doesn’t matter. (Borg and Wright, Meaning, 131)

The apostle Paul would disagree: we must believe the tomb was empty because Jesus rose from the dead, was vindicated by the Father, secured our salvation, and brought us into the family of God. He told the Romans, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9; emphasis added). Without the resurrection, there’s no gospel. The gospel is the good news, and the best part of the good news is that Jesus won. Death was defeated and eternal life is ours through him.

Reflect and Discuss

1. If the resurrection is true, where should it be on the list of important events in history? Why?
2. How has your life changed through belief in the resurrection?
3. How do your Sunday gatherings celebrate and remind you of the resurrection?
4. Why does John mention the grave clothes left in the tomb?
5. How does the resurrection free us from the fear of death in day-to-day life?
6. What impact does freedom from fear of death have on the way you spend your money and use your free time?
7. How can you approach God in prayer as his child?
8. What has God promised to his children?
9. How would your daily life change if the resurrection was on the forefront of your mind each day?
10. If the resurrection had never happened, would your life be any different? Explain.