We invite you to join us in our resurrection Day celebration and fellowship. It will be a bit untraditional, as we have lots of leftover food from our cookout. So, if you’ve had enough of ham, come have a hamburger! We will meet at our usual time, have a shortened service, then adjourn to the back to share a meal.

Our study of John returns to where we left off a couple of weeks ago with chapter 20, verses 1-10. All of the gospel writers share details of this defining event of our faith and history, but there intent is to supply us with information that should lead us to believe, not necessarily to provide a detailed chronology of everything that happened on that day. Many people have attempted to reconstruct the order of events, but there is room for debate as to exactly what happened when.

We may disagree on fine points, but we who believe all agree on this: Jesus came out of that tomb! John, in his usual fashion, lets us in on some specifics that strengthen the other accounts. He mentions the empty grave clothes, and the head cloth folded and separate from the wrapping. From the text One might picture the cloth neatly folded up as we might fold a napkin, but an alternative description of the scene suggests the cloth still folded as if the head were in it. John previously wrote of the 75lbs of spices wrapped with the body in the grave clothes. What Peter and John likely saw in that tomb was the grave clothes and head cloth lying in the shape of a body, but no body. If Jesus had struggled out of the wrapping or if He had been stripped by a grave robber, the wrappings and head cloth would have been in a pile on the floor. Thus, John saw and believed (v. 8.) Jesus would later walk through a wall, so this is not unreasonable. It also suggests the moving of the stone by the angel was for the benefit of those who would see it, not for Jesus. He could have passed through the stone as easily as he would later pass through the wall.

The living Jesus was first seen by the women who came to tend to the body. By the end of the day everyone but Thomas had seen Him. Over the next forty days, he would meet with them on several occasions, and at some point was seen by over 500 people at once. The 11 men who were cowering in fear after his arrest became bold proclaimers of the risen Lord, willing to die for Him as He had died for them.

We celebrate an empty cross and an empty grave. His death paid for our sins, and his life is life in us. We are now presented with a choice. Will we embrace that life, or will we reject it? If we give our lives to Him, we will receive His life in return. It lasts forever!