Jesus, Raised For Us – Part 1 of 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. When the Romans crucified Jesus, he died at the hands of men who were very good at making sure a man was dead.

Soldiers guarded the tomb to make sure he stayed dead. Nonetheless, nothing could withstand the power of God as he brought his son back to life in brilliant glory for us. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, my wife and I recently buried our oldest son, who lies next to his younger brother in a cemetery. Only the promise of their resurrection gives us the strength to make it through our unimaginable grief. Well Dave, as you know, I've been with you in both instances, the burial of your first son, the burial of your second son. And you're absolutely right, as you and your wife go through grief, what you have to hang on to is the promise of the coming resurrection. And you know, there are so many times in our lives when all that we see is darkness, all that we have is unanswered questions.

I can't help but think that there are many people who are listening right now who have similar experiences. And during those times, what we have to do is not live by explanations, we have to live by promises and the promise of the resurrection. And when Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, the promise of scripture over and over again is that all who trust in Christ shall be raised. And the good news is that our bodies shall be like unto his glorious body. So from my heart to yours today, Dave, to you and your wife, we send our sympathy, we send our love, and we send our prayers.

And we do the same for all who are listening today to running to win, who can also point to those times of unanswered questions and darkness, and who cleave to the promises of God. There is a fable that circulates in the Middle East about a Baghdad merchant who wanted to send his servant to the marketplace one morning for an errand. And when the servant was there, he came around a corner and he was met by Lady Death. And he was so startled when he saw her and she had such a look on her face that he hurried back to his master and said, I met Lady Death in the marketplace today and she had such a fearful look.

I want your fastest horse so that I can ride all the way to Sumerah tonight to get away from her. So on his way he went. That afternoon the merchant himself went to the marketplace and met Lady Death and said, why did you startle my servant the way you did this morning? She said, well, I didn't intend to.

She said, it was I that was startled. She said, I don't know what he was doing here in the marketplace in Baghdad this morning because I have an appointment with him in Sumerah tonight. One way or another death is going to come to us. We don't know the time. We don't know the date.

It might be much earlier than many of us ever suspect, but come it will. And at a time like that, what we will need is a savior to save us from our sins. Someone who has redeemed us and bring us into the presence of a holy God and only Jesus qualifies. Today as we think of the resurrection story, I want us to think of a woman who is prominent in the life of Jesus. Her name is Mary Magdalene. Now I know that she got a lot of press during the days of the Da Vinci Code, but no, she was not married to Jesus. But yes, she was a very devoted follower of Jesus and loved him with all of her heart. She is indeed a remarkable woman because the first time we meet her in the New Testament is the Gospel of Luke. It says that she was part of a delegation of women that actually followed Jesus and helped support him in his ministry. And then it includes her and it says Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus cast seven demons.

Now there are some people who look at that text and they think, well, surely this is seven psychological scars. No, in the New Testament you discover that these are actually demons. Demons do exist. They are created beings, but fallen beings, they are evil beings. They are deceitful spirits.

And sometimes they like to harass people and sometimes they even indwell individuals if they have specific permission. These are foul spirits. They are called in the Bible unclean spirits. We don't know how it is that Mary Magdalene had these spirits.

We have no idea. Was it because she was into occultism, which sometimes leads to that kind of invasion of spirits? Was it because she lived a life of unrestrained immorality?

We're not sure of that. Sometimes she has been called a prostitute, but we do not know that she was a prostitute. Whatever it was, there it is in the text, Mary Magdalene, one out of whom Jesus cast seven demons. Can't you just imagine what it was like for this woman to finally be clean? That Jesus speaks the word and the demons leave her sin, which had harassed her also is gone.

The voices of self condemnation and self hatred. They left her. And for the first time in her life she sensed a cleanness, a wholeness, an ability to be able to relate to this world with joy. Jesus gave that to her. I suspect that Jesus was probably the only man she ever met whom she could possibly trust. He was a man with impeccable purity, a man who was able to minister with such a sense, without manipulation, without false motives.

She never had to hear a suggestive remark from his lips. And because of the deliverance that she experienced, she loved him and loved him deeply. The next time we see Mary Magdalene is at the cross. Now I have to tell you that the cross and the crucifixion site was no place for a woman to be, really no place for any person to be. And yet the Bible says that even though the disciples for Sukkim and fled Mary Magdalene and a number of other women, we don't know how many they hung around the cross.

God bless them because they love Jesus. Very interestingly in Mark's gospel, it says that after everyone had gone, Mary Magdalene and another Mary, they're actually six or seven Mary's in the New Testament because it was a very common name. Mary Magdalene and another Mary, they were around until the body of Jesus was taken down from the cross and they went and they saw the tomb and they saw where his body was laid.

What a remarkable story. And that leads us to a few comments I want to make from the 20th chapter of John's gospel. If you have a Bible before you, John chapter 20, if you're using the Bible that is available to you there in the pew, you will find it there at John chapter 20. And I thought I had a marker in the text and didn't, but I know where the gospel of John is. I've come that far. Now, if you have a Bible that is in the pew, it is on page 906, 906.

What happens? We read in chapter 20 verse one. Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. God bless her. Last woman at the cross. First woman at the tomb after the Sabbath. She comes while it is still dark. The other women come later.

The Bible says at sunrise, but Mary Magdalene is there first. She comes and she notices that the stone, the large stone had been taken away from the tomb. What is she thinking?

She's thinking grave robbers. She's thinking that the enemies of Jesus have now not only killed him, but now they want to desecrate his body. Now they want to take him and do something else with him so that the disciples don't know where he is laid.

So she's distressed. And the Bible says in verse two, she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. We know that that is John the disciple. And she said to them, they've taken away the Lord out of the tomb and I do not know where they have laid him.

Well, these two now are in distress too. It says Peter went out with the other disciple and they were going toward the tomb and both of them were running together. But the other disciple outran Peter. That is John outran Peter and reached the tomb first and stooping to look in. He saw the linen cloths lying there, but he didn't go in.

Trust Simon, who was always somewhat impetuous, somewhat always having his put forward. Simon, the Bible says, he came and followed him and went into the tomb and he saw the linen clothes lying there and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus had not lying with the linen clothes, but fold it up in a place by itself. Then John goes in after Peter does and he goes in and he sees and he believes.

Wow. Because the disciples didn't understand that the resurrection was coming. Jesus had told them, but they didn't get it.

And there they are in the tomb. And why is it that the napkin that was about his head was folded nicely off by itself? There is a tradition that says that there was servants and masters, of course, in those days. And the servant would always watch the master to know whether he was done eating because if he wasn't finished, you didn't want to go and begin to clean up the table. And if the master took his nap cloth and simply took it and threw it on the table and it was all bundled up, then you know he was finished. But if he left it folded, that was a hint that he was returning again.

Maybe it was that. Maybe it was just the orderliness of the tomb. John goes in and says, this is not the work of robbers. This is not the work of enemies.

They'd have come in and they'd have desecrated the place. Jesus was raised from the dead. John believes.

Now get the picture. These disciples, the Bible says, they go home. Mary Magdalene then comes because after all they had run and apparently they do not meet. And now we have Mary Magdalene before the tomb alone, before anyone else gets there. Verse 11, 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 there 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, they've taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him. Why is it that she wasn't startled with the angels?

We read this story and we think we're moderns. Do angels exist? Yes, angels exist. Angels were very much connected with the Christmas story and whenever God does something great in history, we sometimes have angels stories as recorded in the scriptures. And you have to remember also that angels oftentimes appear simply as men.

In fact, they're described that way in other gospels. So she is, she is weeping. She's not interested in whom to whom she is speaking. All of it she can do is to say, my Lord is gone.

Where can I find his dead body? Has any woman ever wept like this woman? Has any woman ever loved like this woman?

Has anyone ever cared as deeply as this woman did? And so she is in despair. Now the Bible says that she was standing next to Jesus and didn't know it. Verse 14, having said that she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. And Jesus said to her, just as the angels had, why are you weeping?

Whom are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will come and take him away. Mary is standing beside Jesus in her gloom and in her despair. She does not recognize him.

She thinks he is the gardener. Isn't it wonderful that Mary didn't find what she was looking for? She was looking for the dead body of Jesus. Tragic if she had found what she was looking for. God had something else in mind for her, namely not a dead Christ, but a resurrected one. And you here today may not be here what you were looking for.

You may be looking for simply a sermon that inspires you or beautiful music that inspires you. And you didn't know that God brought you to this moment, to this hour, to the seat in which you are seated to give you something much better than you thought you would ever get. And that is to connect with a risen Lord Jesus Christ. Why was it that Mary didn't recognize him? Well, she didn't recognize him because she was so overcome with her grief and so overcome with her gloom that she couldn't see Jesus, though he was beside her. It's very interesting, she tells Jesus, tell me where you have laid him and I will come and take him away. I mean, Mary, get real. Really? You're going to take him away?

Honestly? Did she actually think that she had the physical power to be able to take the dead body of Jesus? My friends, this is love being optimistic. This is love saying, I love him so much, I can do the impossible. And so she wants to ask the gardener, where did you put him? Right then Jesus says to her, Mary. Oh, the voice. It is him.

I remember him. It is Jesus. And the Bible says that Mary takes and puts her arms around his legs and will not let him go because she has found the savior. Interestingly, she said to the gardener when she thought he was only a gardener, they have taken away my Lord. She still called him Lord at that time, though he was dead. God bless her.

But now he's alive. And she says, Rabboni, which is to say, master, it's a strengthened form of the word rabbi. And she holds him there. It's interesting that Jesus says to her, Mary, stop clinging to me because I've not yet ascended to my father. What Jesus was really saying is, Mary, you need to understand something. You need to realize that I'm still going to be here because I haven't ascended to my father.

Jesus knew that he was going to do that in 40 days of time. So what he's saying is you simply realize that you'll have an opportunity to see me. But Mary, there's something else you have to learn.

And what you need to learn is that our relationship is going to change. No longer are you going to think of me as an earthly person. You're going to have to think about me as a heavenly person. So I would say, first of all, this experience for Mary was a learning experience. She had to realize something that when Jesus would ascend into heaven to be with his father, he would then send forth the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit would give us the same intimacy with Jesus that Mary had when she was here on earth. That's the work of the Holy Spirit of God. To bring the reality of Jesus, not just to one person, but to people scattered all over the world, whether in China or India or the continent of Europe or South America, wherever they are found, if they believe in Jesus and trust him, they can have the same kind of fellowship that Mary had.

So Mary, you have to realize here that our relationship is beginning to change. It was a learning experience. But let me tell you, it was also a very affirming experience.

This ought to bless anyone. Notice what Jesus said. He said, woman, he said, first of all, he says, stop clinging to me. Verse 17, I have not yet ascended to the father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father and to my God and your God.

Wow. I mean, talk about affirmation. What he's saying is, Mary, I want you to be the first witness really to the resurrection. I want you to tell my brothers, that is to say my disciples that I'm raised from the dead.

I want you to tell them what I've just told you that I'm going to be ascending to my father who is in heaven. Jesus was so radically countercultural when it came to women. In those days, the testimony of a woman was not even accepted in court of all things.

They were definitely second class citizens. And here Jesus says, I am entrusting to a woman, the most important message that the church will ever hear, namely of my resurrection. Now, of course, later on the disciples met Jesus for themselves, but at this point it was given to Mary a woman and not just any woman, a woman who had been very troubled, very troubled woman at one point in her life.

Can you imagine the affirmation, but it doesn't end there. Jesus said, go tell my brothers that I'm ascending to your father and my father. Now, if you and I share fathers, if we have the same father, we are brothers. And what Jesus was saying to her is, yes, my disciples are my brothers most assuredly, but you now Mary are my sister.

You're my sister because I'm ascending to your father and my father. I don't know whether or not Mary Magdalene had a family. The Bible doesn't indicate that she was married. I don't know whether or not she had siblings. I don't know whether or not her parents were alive. And even if they were whether she was living with them. But at this moment that didn't matter that much because she had become a part of a more important family, the family of God. And she would be a sister to the Lord Jesus Christ and a daughter of the living God. Obviously also it was also a very redeeming experience, wasn't it?

It was redeeming. We have to back off for just a moment and ask ourselves, how did Mary Magdalene get from point A to point B? How does a woman who is inhabited and struggles with voices and darkness and evil spirits, how does she get from point A to point B being a daughter of God and being used by God?

How does that process work? I'd like to suggest that there are some elements that are very important because we need to know how the process works because we're in the same predicament. Oh our details may change but we need to know too how we can be reconciled to God. First of all her relationship with God was a very honest relationship.

She knew who she was. She knew that there was no way that she could cure herself. No way to get rid of the demons. No way to have her conscience cleansed from her sins.

No way to have the self-condemnation and the self-hate stop. She would need help. She would need a savior and I'm speaking to you very candidly today.

If you and I think that we do not need a savior, if we have learned to manage our sins and if we are content with the way we are then Jesus is of no value to us because we bear our sin on our own and it becomes a messy ugly experience. So she was very honest. She knew she knew that she had a need no question about it.

Secondly I would say that her relationship was very personal. Don't you love it that Jesus spoke her name? Jesus said Mary talk about a personal relationship and I need to tell you today that if your relationship with Jesus is not that personal you will not be saved. Oh we don't hear our names. I've never heard my name spoken by Jesus but I know through the study of the word in my own fellowship with God that Jesus and I are intimate and there are hundreds and hundreds of you who can say the very same thing. My friend today this is Pastor Lutzer and I have to say that I often have trouble remembering names but isn't it wonderful that Jesus calls us by name? And regarding Mary Magdalene I need to emphasize that it is not possible for us to simply walk away from our addictions and our sins.

We have to be set free even as Jesus set her free and he does the same for us. Well today is the second to last day we're making a devotional available for you. It's a 30-day devotional that I've written entitled For Us. This devotional takes into account the events surrounding the cross of Christ, the betrayal of Judas, the Garden of Gethsemane experience, Christ's death on the cross and now of course also the resurrection. Each day you'll receive a passage of scripture to read, an exposition that will bless your heart I trust and then a prayer. I want you to leave every day with some new thought about Christ.

For a gift of any amount it can be yours. Here's what you do go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Remember this is the second to last day we're making it available for you.

The title is For Us. Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60614. Next time on Running to Win, join us for more on how the risen Jesus revealed himself to his disciples. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.