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The Cross Series
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What a joy it's been to celebrate the baptisms we've witnessed today and to hear the stories of what God has done in people's lives. For those visiting Grace Church, you've chosen to join us on the most significant day in the Christian faith.
Without the resurrection, Christianity would simply be an obscure piece of Near Eastern history. But with Jesus's death and resurrection, Christianity becomes the hope of the world. That's the transformative difference the resurrection makes.
Today we're looking at an eyewitness testimony from someone who encountered the risen Jesus. Let's turn to John 20, where we see what Mary Magdalene witnessed.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. And as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They've taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have laid him." Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. And Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" 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." And Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Aramaic, "Raboni," which means teacher. Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my 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." And Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her.
In a world with many religions, there's something remarkable: Christianity is the only major faith where the central figure claims to still be alive. Muslims believe Muhammad died at 62 or 63. Buddhists believe Buddha died in Kushnaga. But only in Christianity do believers claim that the founder and central person of faith is living.
I've been having conversations recently about evidence for the resurrection, and what's beautiful is that when you examine the evidence carefully, it's quite compelling.
Notice that Mary Magdalene is the first eyewitness to the resurrected Christ. In first-century Palestinian culture, this detail is significant. If someone were fabricating a story about a resurrection, they would never choose a woman as the primary witness—in that patriarchal society, women's testimony had no legal standing. The only reason this account would be recorded is if the writers were reporting events they genuinely believed had happened.
Throughout the first century in Jerusalem, various messianic figures were killed by Rome. In every single case, when their rabbi died, followers became despondent, returned to their daily lives, and abandoned their cause. But with Jesus—and only with Jesus in all of history—the disciples immediately began declaring, "I have seen the risen Lord." They started preaching the good news, sharing his teachings, proclaiming his death and resurrection. Many eventually gave their lives for this testimony. That kind of transformation doesn't happen unless something extraordinary actually occurred.
The resurrection was preached in the very city where Jesus died and was buried. Jesus was crucified outside Jerusalem; the tomb was in Jerusalem. Where did the disciples start preaching? Jerusalem. Immediately. They didn't retreat to some distant location where nobody knew who Jesus was. They proclaimed the resurrection in the one place where it could be most easily disproven—where hundreds of people had witnessed the crucifixion and burial.
Theologian Paul Althaus writes: "The resurrection proclamation could not have been maintained in Jerusalem for a single day, for a single hour, if the emptiness of the tomb had not been established as a fact for all concerned."
The evidence is strong, and there's much more to explore. But today's aim isn't simply to examine historical evidence.
While evidence for the resurrection is vital and compelling, the empty tomb alone won't change your life.
There's a fascinating survey from an organization called Talking Jesus, conducted in 2022 across the UK with over 3,000 participants. The results are striking:
But here's the gap: Only 8% of people in our country are professing Christians whose lives are transformed by the resurrection. So 45% believe it happened, but only 8% actually live as though it makes a difference. The empty tomb isn't enough.
Three days earlier, Mary had witnessed the death of her rabbi—the teacher whose instruction had transformed her outlook over three and a half years. She saw him executed. She was in a state of profound grief, suffering, doubt, and despair. She wondered if the last few years had been a total lie.
Jesus had proclaimed an upside-down kingdom: the first will be last, the last will be first. But then his manifesto seemed to crash and burn. The powerful had won. Mary's entire world had been turned upside down.
She came to the tomb not expecting a resurrection, but to complete the burial preparations that the Sabbath had prevented. She was already hurting, steeling herself to do the thing she least wanted to do. And then she arrived to find the body gone. Her situation had gone from absolutely terrible to worse.
Even when Mary encounters the two angels and hears them ask why she's weeping, she doesn't pause. Grief has a way of clouding our judgment, preventing us from seeing what's right in front of us. She can't see the evidence because of the pain she's in.
When she hears Jesus's voice, she doesn't recognize him—why? She's expecting to find him dead. Like the 45% in the survey, Mary sees the evidence but remains in mourning, in pain, in turmoil.
There's a profound irony: she's witnessing the greatest moment in all of history—the resurrection, proof that Jesus has conquered death and is truly who he claimed to be. Yet through her tears, she can't see what's happening.
Then everything changes.
Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned and said to him in Aramaic, "Raboni"—teacher.
What changed everything for her? Jesus called her by name.
In that moment, her entire world was transformed. The pain didn't disappear, but her tears shifted from sorrow to joy. Notice the language shift: she'd been speaking in formal Greek with the angels, perhaps with the gardener. But the instant she hears Jesus call her name in Aramaic—her family tongue—everything changes.
I love that our faith is grounded in facts. It really does matter that Christianity stands up to scrutiny. It really does matter that evidence points toward miraculous truth. But here's the reality: our faith only comes alive when we realize that God is calling us by name and inviting us into relationship with him.
You are known by God. He's calling you by name. He's inviting you into friendship with him. Like any meaningful relationship, it doesn't work if all you do is vaguely acknowledge each other's existence.
I've been married about eighteen years. My wife would say the most romantic thing I did was three weeks into our relationship—I made her a CD, drove to Nottingham, surprised her after church with flowers. But beyond that moment, our marriage has worked because we've been pursuing one another, looking out for each other, loving one another. That's what a healthy relationship looks like.
It's the same with God. God is pursuing you. He's calling you by name right now. He wants relationship with you. He wants to draw you into his loving family.
Jesus says in the passage we just read:
I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.
He's beckoning you into friendship, into relationship. The resurrection and God's call means you have the opportunity to be brought into the very love between Father, Son, and Spirit.
This love—which exists between Father, Son, and Spirit—is what caused the world's existence. It was ordained before the foundation of the world. Through Jesus, this love is opened up to us. He is the one set apart from the Father, sent into the world to become flesh, to become human, to become our brother.
Through the cross, by grace, you're invited into relationship to become a child of your heavenly Father—loved by the very same love, filled by the very same Spirit, united with Christ forever and ever.
This is the greatest news in the world. That's not an exaggeration. Christ has come into the world in love to unite you in eternal relationship with your Father in heaven.
Elsewhere Scripture says: "The good shepherd calls his own sheep by name and they recognize his voice."
Will you be one of his sheep and respond to the call of your Shepherd? Will you come under his love and care?
Maybe you're here and you're going through a crisis moment like Mary—finding it hard to make sense of anything through pain and trauma. Somehow you've found yourself in church, and I believe you're here for a reason. I know from my own experience that when you run into the loving arms of your Father, the difference is absolutely stark.
Maybe you're here and you've heard evidence for the resurrection multiple times. Maybe you're one of the 45% who thinks, "Yeah, I probably do believe Jesus rose from the dead, but there's no sense of relationship." Today you can turn toward the Lord and say: "I am going to lay my life down. I am going to bow before you. I am going to do more than merely acknowledge your existence—I'm going to live under your wonderful, loving rule and reign."
And for those of us who are already Christians, we have a wonderful opportunity right now to reflect on what the cross means for us, what Jesus did through his death and resurrection, bring this to the forefront of our minds, rededicate our lives to him, and worship him.
