Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / John

John 20:1-8 02/04/07

Title: ‘When Jesus calls your name’pt1    

Text: John 20:1-18

Introduction: Someone once said…

It’s not only a consecration of our abilities that God wants, but of our inabilities as well.

An invalid was told that she could never escape from her prison of pain and weakness. “Oh, well,” she replied quickly, “there’s a lot of living to be found within your limitations, if you don’t wear yourself out fighting them.” “Young lady,” the doctor replied, “I wish I could have you preach to about a hundred of my patients a year.”

The lady was Helen Keller who said, “Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them, but do not let them master you.” (Pulpit Helps)

In our text, a woman with physical, social and emotional inabilities and limitations, did not allow them to master her, to control her, to determine her present or predict her future. She had only one Master, one Lord who not only held her present but her future in his hands…Jesus Christ.

And she wasn’t going to let the little fact that he was dead alter her perception of life. Mary Magdalene’s love for Jesus and her faithfulness to him, would take this woman with her inadequacies and inabilities and place her smack dab in the middle of an extraordinary event.

Transition: Open your Bibles to John 20:1 (pg. 828 in the Bibles under the chair in front of you). It’s here that we’ll see what happens when we choose to acknowledge and accept our inadequacies and inabilities in order to glorify God through then when Jesus calls our name.

I. John 20:1-2    Mary…and the other women

Read: John 20:1-2

In our text we come across another unlikely character in the story of Jesus’ burial and resurrection. Remember, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus stepped out of the shadows of anonymity to bury Jesus’ body while the rest of Jesus’ public disciples was in hiding.

Here, at the beginning of the text that speaks of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, we have Mary Magdalene. And not only is she mentioned in John’s gospel, she’s mentioned at this event in all the gospels. That’s significant, wouldn’t you say? Why the emphasis on Mary Magdalene?

What do we know about ‘who Mary Magdalene was?’

·       Luke tells us that Jesus had cast out 7 demons from Mary. And from that point on Mary followed Jesus and financially supported him and his ministry.

·       It’s believed by many scholars that Mary Magdalene was the woman who anointed Jesus with expensive perfume, washed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.

·       We know that Mary was at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified. And we can assume she was there when Joe and Nic took Jesus’ body to bury him.

·       Now, in spite of what you may have seen in the movie The DaVinci Code, there is absolutely no credible proof that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married or that they had children together. Just so you know, those claims originated hundreds of years after Jesus died by a group called the Gnostics who wanted to turn people away from Christianity.

Mary was a woman with inabilities and limitations who devoted her life to Jesus…and Jesus would reward her for that.

OK, what do we know about ‘what Mary Magdalene did?’

·       Mary went to the tomb on Sunday, after the Sabbath and Passover celebration, to complete the burial requirements started by Joe and Nic.

·       Although John doesn’t mention it, Mary was not alone, there were three other women with her, but John chooses to focus on Mary.

·       Mary gets close enough to the tomb to see that the stone had been rolled away and believes that Jesus’ body was taken.

·       She runs back to where Peter and John were and tells them what she saw and what she assumed happened.

Finally, what do we know about ‘how Mary Magdalene felt?’

·       I think we can only make assumptions based on the situation.

·       It’s likely she didn’t sleep much the night before in anticipation of having to enter the tomb and complete the burial customs on Jesus’ body.

·       I think it’s safe to assume that she was grieving the loss of someone she loved, someone she placed her faith in, someone who had become her friend when no one else wanted anything to do with her.

Why go into such detail about Mary?

·       Because it’s significant that she was mentioned in all 4 Gospels at this event.

·        Because it’s significant that she was the first one to see Jesus when he rose from the dead.

·       It’s significant that she was a woman and I mean that in the most derogatory way possible, as that’s how she was viewed in that day. Inadequate, with limitations as a person.

·       It’s significant because in the heat of the moment, in the midst of her great sadness and despair, Mary in her inadequate faith, makes an assumption that wasn’t true, and later, we don’t find Jesus criticizing her for it.

·       Why, because Jesus knew her heart, he felt her pain and sadness, and he understood… Even though he told her and the rest of his disciples that he would in fact rise from the dead in three days.

·       Not only did he not chasten her, we’ll find that Jesus blesses her in a very great way.

Conclusion

Mary Magdalene was a woman with inabilities and limitations. But to God she was a key player in his plan to redeem the world. Why? Because she loved Jesus, and she wanted to express that love to him by what she did.

ILL: Akeela and the Bee

While resting in our room on vacation I was able to watch a movie called Akeela and the Bee. I highly recommend it.

It is the true story of Akeela Anderson an 11yr old who wanted to participate in the National Spelling Bee…She had one thing going fro her…she could memorize things, but the movie said that talent wasn’t enough. You see she also had a number of inadequacies and limitations holding her back.

·       She was African-American

·       She lived on the wrong side of white street (she lived in an undesirable neighborhood)

·       Her father was shot coming home from work when she was 6.

·       Her mother wasn’t interested in Akeel’s dream because she had her dreams crushed as a child herself and she didn’t want her daughter to be hurt.

·       Her brother was a ‘gang’ wanna be and was too cool to support anything academic.

·       No one from her school had ever gone to the National Spelling Bee.

·       Her school laced the necessary programs to help her…Latin, for one.

·       She was ostracized by her classmates and bullied by them for being smart.

·       She didn’t have nice clothes to wear to the Spelling bee while most of the other contestants were from wealthy and white schools and all had nice clothes.

Akeela, through the help of a mentor, acknowledged her perceived inabilities and limatations and used her ability and she began to place high enough in the tournaments to qualify for the Nationals in Washington DC.

How did she do it? She acknowledged her inabilities and sought help from others…family, friends, community people who came around once she began to win.

Friends, we too must acknowledge our inabilities and limitations, and like Akeela seek help from our friends and family….from one another to follow the moving of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And we must go to God with our inabilities and limitations…he loves and accepts us just as we are…and he will use us…just as we are.

I pray each Sunday morning, not so much for me but for all of us. That God will be with and in all of us. Because we are unable to worship him in a way that will bring glory to him, because we have inabilities and limitations that keep us from properly glorify God in worship.

·       Unconfessed sin

·       Personal preferences about worship style that are so obvious to others that it disturbs their worship.

·       Pain and hurt that hold us back from giving our heart to God in worship.

·       Over-inflated egos

·       Low self esteem

·       Doubt and fear that hinders our boldness to approach the throne of Grace.

·       Some can’t sing well, some don’t feel comfortable praying or speaking in public

All inabilities, all limitations that I pray each Sunday morning God would remove by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit so that we can, together, bring glory to God through our corporate worship experience.

As we come to the Lord’s Table this morning, we all come as people with inabilities and limitations. But, the Lord’s Table reminds us that God sent Jesus to earth to live a life of sinlessness and obedience... because we are unable to do so.

As you participate in the Lord’s Supper this morning, be reminded that you are a person with inabilities and limitations. BUT when Jesus calls your name, he blesses you in an extraordinary way.

Why, because, like Mary Magdalene, you are special, loved, and accepted, God’s treasure through faith in Jesus Christ.

Listen for the voice of Jesus as he calls your name! Come to him in faith.