James Nisbet Commentary - John 20:1 - 20:1

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James Nisbet Commentary - John 20:1 - 20:1


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THE VISIT OF MARY MAGDALENE

‘The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre.’

Joh_20:1

Dark without as yet, and dark within. She is in no mood of exalted expectancy, but in the deepest grief. She is pondering a new trouble that has come into her mind since she left the house. ‘Who shall roll us away the stone?’ She has come to embalm, but she cannot enter the tomb. As she passes from beneath the trees she sees with wondering relief that the stone is rolled away. But the difficulty is removed only to reveal to her that which casts her into the lowest depths of despair and disappointment. The body is not there. ‘But sudden the worst turns to the best.’ She hears a voice; she is conscious of a Presence. She has gone out to find Death; she finds instead Life.

I. What is the meaning of the revelation?—I pass over the more personal joys which must have come to those who had been in immediate and human contact with Christ. These we can only indirectly share. But beneath and beyond these there lay the great treasury of spiritual truth which is shared by them, by us, and all the world. ‘Whatever may have happened at the grave and in the matter of appearances, one thing is certain: from this grave has sprung the indestructible faith in the overthrow of death, and in an eternal life’ (Harnack). Easter brings us the assurance that that life, and all other lives lived in God, are not so crushed; that He Who was dead is alive, and alive for evermore, and holds the keys of death and sin and sorrow.

II. Again, we find that this life of ours is crowned with an infinite dignity.—It is no longer the uncertain existence of a moment, it is the real life springing up into eternity. It is no longer the flickering existence of a perishable body, it is the eternal growth of an immortal soul. To fight with beasts at Ephesus on behalf of that soul’s life is no mere chivalrous folly. To ‘eat and drink, for to-morrow we die,’ is a morality that stands doubly condemned. There is but one conclusion, and that of invincible courage, to be drawn from the Easter story. ‘Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as your labour is not in vain in the Lord.’

III. The great Companion is not dead.—‘I am with you through all the days.’ In that fellowship, the fellowship of Christ’s continual Presence, those first disciples went forth conquerors and to conquer the world without and within. Not suddenly transformed into the Divine Image, but loyally yielding their will to the Spirit within, they knew themselves growing from grace to grace.

Rev. F. Ealand.

Illustration

‘We can hardly visit a cemetery without being filled with solemn and impressive thoughts. As you stand there with multitudes at your feet, all wrapped in slumber, your thoughts carry you back to the past, and on to the future. You look at the cold marble or the green grass which waves over that precious dust, but there is no one able to bid the slumberers arise. There are many such spots where different groups of mourners meet, but there is one tomb above all the rest in which every Christian heart has a common interest, around which all may meet. It contains more sorrows and more hopes than all the graves on earth. It contains no ashes, for it is empty. It is the place where the risen Redeemer once lay. We are met at a strange place, it is true—the one place on earth where we know quite well that Jesus is not. Why, then, you ask, should we spend our time around a spot so cheerless and so Christless? Simply because He once was there, and every spot that Christ has touched is sacred and instructive.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

THE EMPTY TOMB

Mary to her surprise found the stone rolled away and the keepers fled. Fast and far the news travelled. The glorious fact of a conqueror more mighty than death was that morning proclaimed to the world, and no sophistry has as yet been able to explain it away. It was the greatest transaction in history; it was accomplished in silence. It was the mightiest conquest the world had ever known; it was achieved in the dead of night, while the world slept. The Redeemer overcame the world’s most dreaded foe, and broke the bonds of death. He came forth from the tomb a living man. Yes, it is a fact. The grave of Jesus Christ is empty; I suppose it is the only empty tomb on earth; and history records no mightier fact for the instruction and comfort of mankind. What is the significance of this great fact?

I. The Atonement completed.—It means that the Atonement is complete; it means that God the Father has accepted Christ’s work as a satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. It means that the problem of a future life has been solved, and a veritable hereafter revealed. Ours is not the Gospel of a dead Saviour, but of a living, reigning, life-giving one Who lives for evermore. Though a grave, it is the place of life. Since Jesus rose the power of the grave has been broken. It is no longer a dark prison-house, but the gate of life. Now we die to live again. But there is not only life for the body beyond the grave; there is spiritual life in the risen Saviour. As the Lord Jesus lay dead, not in appearance only, but in reality, so do all men by nature lie spiritually dead. Are there not men and women known to you in this world who are dead to every noble aim in life, buried in the world’s follies and sins? So they will remain until they permit the risen and life-giving One to roll all their burden of sin back into the empty grave.

II. A place of comfort.—It is a place of comfort. We do not usually associate the grave with ideas of a comforting nature. We think of it rather as a place of parting and bitter grief. But the first note in the Gospel of the Resurrection was a note of comfort. ‘Fear not ye,’ said the angel to the weeping women. ‘Fear not,’ said the angels to the lowly shepherds when the Christ was born. The Gospel of Christ throughout is a Gospel of comfort. What but it has power to cheer the shrinking soul standing on the brink of the grave? ‘Fear not.’ The past need not trouble you, for Christ has made atonement for sin. The present you need not dread, for you are supported by the everlasting arms. The future is all safe in the power and love of Jesus Christ.

III. A place of hope.—The empty grave is a place of hope. How often our hopes are blighted here, our expectations dashed down! The resurrection of Jesus Christ proclaims the reviving of lost hopes. The brightest hopes were blighted when Jesus died, but when He rose they all revived. How many hopes have been buried in graves! But graves are not dug in the ground alone, or hewn from rocks. Human hearts are sepulchres, and how many hopes are buried there! I do not suppose there is a single heart beating in this church to-day in which there does not lie some unrealised hope, some unfulfilled expectation; but if your hearts are true to Christ, then be sure there is a resurrection day coming. The hope you thought you lost has only gone on before. It awaits you in the glorious hereafter. With Him it rose, with Him it ascended, and with Him it is kept as a sacred trust till you go home to claim it. There is nothing you really value that Christ will not give you back again. There is not a joy, not a hope, that has gone down here in the night of disappointment but will rise in a fairer world where the sun will never set. Every lost affection will return to every loving heart, every hope to the despairing soul, and joy unspeakable to every mourner. All that on earth you have loved and lost will be given back to you in heaven.

—
Rev. J. H. Coward.

Illustration

‘Of all our Lord’s followers on earth, none seem to have loved Him so much as Mary Magdalene. None felt that they owed so much to Christ. None felt so strongly that there was nothing too great to do for Christ. Hence, as Bishop Andrews beautifully puts it,—“She was last at His Cross, and first at His grave. She staid longest there, and was soonest here. She could not rest till she was up to seek Him. She sought Him while it was yet dark, even before she had light to seek Him by.” In a word, having received much, she loved much; and loving much, she did much, in order to prove the reality of her love.’