Resurrection Sunday (John 20:1-10)
Billy Milton - March 23, 2007
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Good morning everyone. Today is the highlight of the Christian calendar. Resurrection Sunday makes sense of everything we do and everything we say. Without the resurrection, Christmas day has little relevance except for a nice family day and worse still, the crucifixion loses its power as well and become simply a good man suffering a miscarriage of justice but ultimately it’s futile. Of all the faiths or religions in the world only Christians can stand and say of their God, with complete confidence, “He is risen”, and have the response come back with joyful certainty, “He is risen indeed.” It’s a day for smiling, isn’t it?
But there’s more! My dad sent me the following information about a month ago and I hadn’t heard this before so I hope it blesses you as much as it has blessed me! Did you notice in our reading how much attention John gives to describing the details of the grave clothes and the napkin that were wrapped around the head and body of Jesus? In verses 5, 6 and 7 either the strips of linen or the napkin which covered his face is mentioned. In fact John tells us a remarkable detail about the burial cloth which I think you’ll have missed up until this point. Its this, the burial cloth was ‘folded up, separate from the linen.’ Here my question, why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection?
In verse 7 John tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes. The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed at the head of that stony coffin. ILLUSTRATE
Is that important and significant? Absolutely! Is it really significant? Yes! In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day.
The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, whilst the master was eating. The servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished. Think of a modern day restaurant. How would you indicate to a waiter that you’re finished your meal? Yes, by the way we leave our knife and fork positioned. Well in Jesus day they didn’t eat with a knife and fork so they had to have another way to indicate that they were completely done.
What happened was this, if the master had finished eating he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table. ILLUSTRATE The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, “I’m done”.
However, if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, ILLUSTRATE the servant would not dare touch the table, because the servant knew that the folded napkin meant, “I’m not finished yet.” The folded napkin meant, “I’m coming back!”
D’you see it? When Peter and John entered the grave that 1st Easter Sunday morning they saw a folded napkin and the message from Jesus was clear, ‘I haven’t finished yet, I’m coming back again’.
If the only message of Easter was that Jesus died – that would be an inspiring message, that someone cared enough to die for us or maybe for his cause. But ultimately it would be just one more story of tremendous courage and self-belief, like thousands of other inspiring tales of courage and valour.
But there’s more to Easter than that. Jesus rose from the dead. Now that’s not only inspiring – it’s also miraculous and challenging. How are you going to respond to the historical fact of the resurrection? Will it make a difference to your life and conduct? But if Jesus had simply risen from the grave and disappeared then we could be forgiven for thinking, ‘Well Jesus is in heaven and I’m on earth and never the twain shall meet.’
But there’s more to Easter than that! Jesus is coming back again and it could be at any time. That’s not just inspiring or miraculous or challenging that’s demanding. Jesus had already told his disciples all this but they hadn’t quite cottoned on to what he meant. So he told them that he expected them to live life in a certain way as they awaited his return, his second coming. And he asks, nay demands, that we too live our lives in a way that would tell others that we serve a risen Saviour. A risen and returning Saviour. As we wait for his coming he demands that we serve him, body, soul, mind and strength and that we don’t live like people who don’t believe he’s ever coming again. He wants our very best to be given as a sign of our gratitude to him for all that he’s done for us.
There is a legend about an ancient village in Spain. The villagers learned that the king would pay a visit. In a thousand years, a king had never come to that village. Excitement grew. “We must throw a big celebration!” The villagers all agreed. But, it was a poor village, and there weren’t many resources. Someone came up with a classic idea. Since many of the villagers made their own wines, the idea was for everyone in the village to bring a large cup of their choice wine to the town square. They said, “We’ll pour it into a large vat and offer it to the king for his pleasure! When the king draws wine to drink, it will be the very best he’s ever tasted!” As a village we can give him enough of this beautiful, vintage wine to last a whole year.
The day before the king’s arrival, hundreds of people lined up to make their offering to the honoured guest. They climbed a small stairway, and poured their gift through a small opening at the top. Finally, the vat was full! The King arrived, was escorted to the square, given a special silver cup and was told to draw some wine, which represented the best the villagers had.
He placed the cup under the spigot, turned the handle, and then drank the wine… it was the purest, clearest …water he had ever tasted! You see, every villager reasoned, “I’ll withhold my best wine and substitute water. What with so many cups of wine in the vat, the king will never know the difference!” The problem was, everyone thought the same thing, and the king was greatly dishonored.
At Easter time we rightly focus on what God has done for us. Let me say quite clearly, salvation is all of God and the only thing we bring to the equation is our own sin. It was his idea that Christ should come to earth and die and be buried in a cold stone tomb and then rise from the dead. All of it was God’s plan. But the response to the marvelous facts of the resurrection is our responsibility. Will you honour the great King of Kings with your very best or will you substitute your best for a pale, watered down, imitation of what worship and honour should be.
Surely nobody notices if I’m a bit off form today and just pretending to worship. Everyone else is going to be fine and so God will never notice. But he does. And if enough of us substitute true worship and service for a pale imitation then, not only will God notice, we’ll notice too. We’ll sense it in our worship and in our spiritual lethargy and Jesus, our king will be dishonoured.
There’s a folded napkin which says, ‘I’m coming again – make sure your ready for my return. But meanwhile give of your very best for me and on the day of my return it’ll be me that honours you with a, “Well done good and faithful servant… come and share your master’s happiness.”’
He is risen – He is risen indeed!