Sermon Tone Analysis

*JOHN 20:11-18  *

 

There is something very moving about the first meeting of the risen Lord with any of his followers.

There is, moreover, a wonderful condescension involved, for we have no reason to think of Mary as being a particularly important person.

Yet it was to her and not to any of the outstanding leaders of the apostolic band that the Lord appeared first.

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*MARY AT THE TOMB  *

*1.        **Mary Magdalene *

Everything in the narrative points to the specific ties that bound Mary Magdalene to Jesus:

*a.        **Magdala *

Mary’s origins: “/Mary Magdalene/…” [20:1].

§         ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ - “/Magdalene/” [20:1], denotes an inhabitant of Magdala, modern Migdal, a town which lay about three miles from Tiberias on the west side of the Lake of Galilee.

*b.        **The Person *

Mary’s personal history highlights how the Lord Jesus came to have a special place in her life.

§         She was the subject of demon-possession: “/And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils/” [Luk.8:2].

§         The number “/seven/” [8:2] points to the severity of the demonised state and the complete control the “/evil spirits/” [8:2] had over her life.

§         She had been miraculously healed by the Lord Jesus: “/out of whom he had cast out devils/” [Mar.16:9].

*c.

**The Prominence  *

Mary Magdalene has a prominent role in the account of all the gospel writers with regard to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus:

§         At the cross: “/There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome/” [Mar.15:40].

§         At the death: “/many women were beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him/…” [Mat.27:55-56].

§         At the burial: “/And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid/” [Mar.15:47;

Mat.27:61].

*Summary*

Love in the light of forgiveness: “/Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little/” [Luk.7:47].

*2.

**Mary at the Tomb *

*a.        **The Early Arrival *

The first person at the tomb: “/came early, when it was still dark/…” [20:1].

§         πρωῒ - “/early/” [20:1], ‘before’; ‘early in the morning’;

§         σκοτίας - “/dark/” [20:1], ‘absence of light’;

§         μνημεῖον - “/sepulchre/” [20:1], ‘grave, tomb’; ‘tomb built as a memorial’;

§         A woman would scarcely have ventured outside the city at such an hour with Jerusalem crowded with visitors for the feast.

*b.        **The Intention *

The intention of Mary and the other women is clear from the evangelists:

§         The Matthew account: “/Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him/” [Mar.16:1].

§         The Lukan account: “/the women returned and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment/” [Luk.23:56].

*Application*

Mary comes to the sepulcher, obviously with the purpose stated by all the synoptics.

She was bringing the spices which she, with others, had bought on the Friday evening.

§         It seems apparent that her presence at the tomb was to get close to the corpse as though in revering the tomb the presence of the dead person might seem close at hand.

§         In ministry one frequently encounters people who have lost their spouses, parents, or children, and the grieving person visits the tomb to “talk” to the person who is buried there.

Or the bereaved person may sit at the kitchen table and “speak” with the person who used to sit there.

*3.

**Mary’s Grief *

*a.        **The Discovery   *

The discovery: “/sees the stone taken away/…” [20:1].

§         λίθον - “/stone/” [20:1], ‘stone, boulder’;

§         ἠρμένον - “/taken/ /away/” [20:1], perfect passive participle, ‘to take up, lift up’; ‘to carry’;

§         The women had been concerned about the stone: “/And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?/”

[Mar.16:3].

*b.        **The Conclusion *

*i.        **The Invasion   *

Mary Magdalene concludes that the body has been stolen: “/they have taken away the Lord/…” [20:2].

§         ἦραν - “/taken/ away” [20:2], aorist active third person plural, ‘to take up, to carry’;

§         The /third person plural/ – “/they/” [20:2] – is perhaps ‘a reference to the enemies of Jesus, perhaps especially the chief priests’ or the ‘crucifiers of Jesus’;

§         τὸν κύριον - “/the/ /Lord/” [20:2],

§         ἐκ τοῦ - “/out/ /of/” [20:2],

§         Mary’s concern is not that Jesus is dead but that his body has disappeared.

Among the Jews of the near Orient at the time of Jesus the ‘grave robberies’ were not uncommon.

*ii.

**The Secret Action *

The location of the body was unknown to Mary: “/we know not where they have laid him/” [20:2].

§         οὐκ οἴδαμεν - “/know/ /not/” [20:2], ‘to have seen or perceived and hence know’;

§         The /first person plural/ – “/we/” – indicates that other women were associated with her: “/Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices/…” [Mar.16:1].

§         ποῦ - “/where/” [20:2],

§         ἔθηκαν αὐτόν - “/laid/ /him/” [20:2], ‘to deposit’; ‘to place’;

*Application*

The only display of love left for her to perform, she was now denied because the grave had been robbed.

§         The evidence of the open grave was provided as a trigger to point the way to the truth of the resurrection: “/Simon Peter went into the sepulchre/…” [20:6].

§         The evidence of the open grave plunged Mary Magdalene into a new depth of grief.

§         Mary’s love for the Lord Jesus had brought her to the grave “/when it was yet dark/” [20:1]; Mary’s lack of faith and her lack of knowledge plunges her into the depths of despair.

§         Mary shared her gloom and despair to others: “/they have taken away the Lord/…” [20:2].

§         Here was a loving heart crushed with grief, one groaning over irreparable wrong, without a spark of hope, that death was indeed vanquished.

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*MARY & THE ANGELS  *

*1.        **Mary Magdalene Returns *

*a.        **Mary’s Inconsolable Grief *

Mary returned to the tomb: “/Mary stood outside the sepulchre/…” [20:11].

§         εἱστήκει - “/stood without/” [20:11], ‘cause to be in a place’;

§         κλαίουσα - “/weeping/” [20:11], present active participle, ‘cry, wail’ possibly in the context of ‘ritual mourning’; ‘not a quiet, restrained shedding of tears, but the noisy lamentation typical of Easterners of that day’;

§         ‘the term is used for the anguished crying or wailing associated with mourning as at funerals and in times of bereavement’; “/When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled/” [11:33].

*b.

**The New Evidence  *

Mary peeps into the tomb: “/as she wept, she stooped down/…” [20:11].

§         παρέκυψεν - “/stooped/ /down/” [20:11], ‘to bend over implying looking into’;

*i.        **The Angels *

The heavenly messengers: “/she sees two angels in white/…” [20:12].

§         θεωρεῖ - “/sees/” [20:12], present active, portrays the idea of ‘silent contemplation’;

§         ἀγγέλους - “/angels/” [20:12], ‘messenger’;

§         λευκοῖς - “/white/” [20:12], ‘bright light’ so bright that it appears ‘white’; ‘bright, shining’;

*ii.

**The Markers *

The position of the angels: “/sitting, one at the head/…” [20:12].

§         καθεζομένους - “/sitting/” [20:12], present middle or passive participle, ‘to be seated’;

§         σῶμα - “/body/” [20:12], ‘physical body’; ‘corpse’;

§         ἔκειτο - “/lain/” [20:12], imperfect middle or passive indicative, ‘to recline, to lay’;

§         The presence of the angels is a witness that the powers of heaven have been at work.

The tomb was no longer in the hands of humans; it was at that stage enveloped in the /mystery/ of God!

§         The angels are positioned in order to /mark the emptiness of the space/ where the body of Jesus lay.

*Application*

Mary may have returned hoping to find someone who would let her know where the body of Jesus was.

§         The angels are not merely /interpretive/ angels but evidence that God himself has been at work.

§         The empty tomb cannot be explained by appealing to grave robbers; this is nothing other than the invasion of God’s power.