WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:21.679 Death be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so, one short sleep, and we wake eternally, and death, capital D, shall be no more semicolon. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:25.600 Death, capital D, thou shalt die. 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:27.679 Exclamation mark. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:31.760 Imagine if you were there. 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:49.359 Having followed Jesus for three years of his earthly ministry, placed all your faith and hope in him, forsaken family, friends, home, job, and on that Friday watched him lose his life. 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:54.159 And just like that it all seemed to go away. 00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:09.439 The following day, which is the Sabbath, the Passover, you were supposed to celebrate with joy, but you couldn't because frankly you had no more emotion left in you. 00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:12.319 You had wept so much the night before. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:20.799 And as you lay your head on the pillow that Saturday evening, you hoped upon hope that maybe you would fall asleep. 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:29.439 And as you tossed and turned that evening that grew into the morning hours, you realized you weren't going to sleep. 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:48.000 And so you got up even before it was dawn, and sneaking out of the house, trying not to wake anyone else who might by chance be sleeping, you went to the tomb where he laid, and there what you saw would forever change the course of human history. 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:55.439 Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you belong to God. 00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:02.560 That's the message this morning from John chapter 20, the first eighteen verses. 00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:04.879 Let's follow along as I read. 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:06.879 John chapter 20. 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:17.039 Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark, and saw the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 00:02:17.599 --> 00:02:28.400 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:33.840 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:39.039 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:45.120 And he, stooping to look in, saw the linen cloth lying there, but he did not go in. 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:49.199 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:57.439 He saw the linen cloth lying there, and the face cloth which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up in a place by itself. 00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:07.840 Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed, for as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead. 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:10.800 Then the disciples went back to their homes. 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:15.680 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:29.199 And as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 00:03:29.439 --> 00:03:33.439 They said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? 00:03:34.479 --> 00:03:40.240 She said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:47.280 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know it was Jesus. 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:50.879 Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? 00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:52.879 Whom are you seeking? 00:03:54.080 --> 00:04:01.759 Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you've laid him, and I will take him away. 00:04:02.159 --> 00:04:05.599 And Jesus said to her, Mary. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:11.919 She turned and said to him in Aramaic, Raboni, which means teacher. 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:22.639 And Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me, for 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 to my God and your God. 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:30.879 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her. 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:34.000 God's word for God's people. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:35.680 Would you pray with me? 00:04:40.639 --> 00:05:01.519 Lord, on this holy day, filled with hope and anticipation, would you give us your Holy Spirit to understand this text so that we might be different and you might receive glory. 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:03.600 And we pray it in Jesus' name. 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:04.399 Amen. 00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:12.399 I read this book to you seven years ago. 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:15.360 I'm going to read it to you again. 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:22.480 The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown, pictures by Clement Heard. 00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:31.360 Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away. 00:05:32.079 --> 00:05:35.600 So he said to his mother, I'm running away. 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:43.839 If you run after me, said his mother, I will run after if you run away, said his mother, I will run after you, for you are my little bunny. 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:52.000 If you run after me, said the little bunny, I will become a fish in a trout stream, and I will swim away from you. 00:05:52.319 --> 00:05:58.480 If you become a fish in a trout stream, said his mother, I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you. 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:10.959 If you become a fisherman, said the little bunny, I will become a rock on the mountain high above you. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:18.879 If you become a rock on the mountain high above me, said his mother, I will be a mountain climber and I will climb to where you are. 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:30.319 If you become a mountain climber, said the little bunny, I will be a crocus in a hidden garden. 00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:36.319 If you become a crocus in a hidden garden, said his mother, I will be a gardener and I will find you. 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:39.120 There he is right there. 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:49.040 If you're a gardener and find me, said the little bunny, I will be a bird and fly away from you. 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:54.879 If you become a bird and fly away from me, said his mother, I will be a tree that you come home to. 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:06.399 If you become a tree, said the little bunny, I will become a little sailboat and I will sail away from you. 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:14.079 If you become a sailboat and sail away from me, said his mother, I will become the wind and I will blow you where I want you to go. 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:25.279 If you become the wind and blow me, said the little bunny, I will join a circus and fly away on a flying trapeze. 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:33.920 If you go flying on a flying trapeze, said his mother, I will be a tightrope walker and I will walk across the air to you. 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:47.839 If you become a tightrope walker and walk across the air, said the bunny, I will become a little boy and run into a house. 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:58.480 If you become a little boy and run into a house, said the mother bunny, I will become your mother and catch you in my arms and hug you. 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:08.240 Shucks, said the bunny. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:12.800 I might just as well stay where I am and be your little bunny. 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:14.879 And so he did. 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:17.600 Not a carrot, said the mother bunny. 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:38.320 What Margaret Wise Brown has written of and illustrated by Clement Heard, is the condition of our soul that runs away from Jesus and God never ending, never stopping, never giving up, pursuit of us. 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:42.080 What does the resurrection mean for you? 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:45.519 It means that you belong to God. 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:51.679 The resurrection means you belong to God. 00:08:55.120 --> 00:09:06.960 And I suppose that if we were to spend the next five years in John 20, we would never exhaust the riches in this text. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:16.240 And so knowing that, knowing that we can't possibly exhaust it in the next 25 minutes. 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:21.919 Instead, what I want to do is just to think about one particular aspect of it. 00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:23.919 What does the resurrection mean for us? 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:30.799 And the way that I want to think about that is asking the question what does the resurrection mean for Mary Magdalene? 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:35.279 And then apply it to our lives. 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:48.559 For Mary Magdalene, the resurrection means that she belongs to God personally, expensively, and eternally. 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:59.679 To say that she belongs to God, that we belong to God personally, need to understand something of that culture. 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:12.799 It won't come as a surprise, I don't think, to most of us, though it should bother us a good deal, that women in this time were not treated well. 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:19.039 They were not allowed to be witnesses in court or testify in any way. 00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:22.240 They were considered second-class citizens. 00:10:29.840 --> 00:10:35.440 They were altogether considered as possessions in many ways. 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:38.480 Wrongly so. 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:53.840 And yet, every gospel account depicts Mary Magdalene as the first person to see the risen Lord, to bear witness to the resurrection. 00:10:54.320 --> 00:11:08.639 And not only does this begin to prove the credibility of the resurrection, because if you were to be making this up and writing a story about it, then you wouldn't choose someone whom in your culture was deemed unreliable. 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:11.360 Instead, you would choose the most reliable person. 00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:24.480 But not only does it begin to prove the credibility of the resurrection account, but it begins to unfold the actual essence of the gospel itself, and by that we need to understand who Mary Magdalene was. 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:27.120 We meet her in Luke chapter 8. 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:38.159 In Luke 8, we discover that Mary Magdalene is a woman that was possessed by seven demons that Jesus cast out. 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:44.320 Now, later on in Luke chapter 8, we meet another gentleman who is possessed by a legion of demons. 00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:52.399 He is so possessed that he runs around naked, hiding not in his home, but among the tombs. 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:56.320 And the townspeople are so afraid of him that they shackle him. 00:11:57.200 --> 00:12:02.320 We meet another demoniac young boy in Mark chapter 9. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:21.679 This boy is so possessed by this particular demon that whenever it comes upon him, it seizes him and freezes him at first, the text says, and then casts him to the ground, causing him to seize and convulse, gnash his teeth, and foam at the mouth. 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:27.840 And Mary Magdalene, we're told, was possessed by seven demons until Jesus cast them out. 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:36.799 Now you need to understand in the Bible, the number seven sometimes refers to the literal number, but often refers to the idea of perfection. 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:42.320 In other words, she is completely and perfectly overrun by demons. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:51.840 So not only is she a person who has no social standing just in being a woman, but she's a complete outcast. 00:12:53.679 --> 00:12:55.200 She's crazy. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:58.320 No one wants anything to do with her. 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:04.159 And yet Jesus chooses to appear to her first. 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:10.639 James, uh, John, and Peter were there. 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:13.279 He could have appeared to them first. 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:15.919 They even went inside the tomb first. 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:21.440 And not only do they not see the angels, but they don't see Jesus. 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:28.879 But Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene first and listen to what he says to her. 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:34.159 Supposing him to be the gardener, the text says. 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:39.519 After he asks, Woman, who why are you weeping? 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:40.480 Who are you seeking? 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:47.279 Supposing him to be the gardener, the text says, she says, Can you tell me where they've laid him so I can go and take charge of his body? 00:13:48.159 --> 00:13:49.840 And you know what Jesus could have said? 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:53.759 He could have said, Hey, it's me. 00:13:55.600 --> 00:14:00.559 Or, you foolish person, I told you this would happen. 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:05.440 I must have repeated myself a dozen times just in the week leading up to this. 00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:07.919 But he doesn't do that. 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:11.919 He says, Mary. 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:15.200 Why does he say her name? 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:20.559 Because their culture and our culture is obsessed with identity. 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:29.200 And the culture tells her and you that you look inside yourself to determine your identity. 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:37.519 And your actions or inactions, your background, upbringing, your future, all that determines who you are. 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:39.919 But the gospel flips that. 00:14:40.720 --> 00:14:44.320 The gospel says our identity isn't determined within. 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:49.679 Our identity is determined outside of us, that God determines our identity. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:51.039 Think of it. 00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:57.679 If she had identified herself from within on the way to the tomb, what did the culture say she was? 00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:05.120 A social outcast with no home, no hope, no future, and a bad rap sheet with a history. 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:09.200 Mary. 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:19.600 Now she has an identity, meaning, purpose, standing, love, acceptance. 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:22.559 You see how personal it is. 00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:26.399 It's not impersonal, it's very personal. 00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:30.159 You belong to God personally. 00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:35.279 You also belong to him expensively. 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:41.200 Everything about the text screams lavish expense. 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:46.480 Though we might not recognize it at first glance, we can understand it with a little explanation. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:49.200 Jesus is laid in a new tomb. 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:52.799 This new tomb belonged to Joseph of Arimathea. 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:55.519 Joseph was a very wealthy man. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:16:09.519 And to own a new tomb, that is one that not only was newly constructed, but one that was private, and not meaning multiple people in the same place, meant it cost a great deal. 00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:16.320 And not only was this tomb expensive, but the sealing mechanism was expensive too. 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:22.480 Most folk had square stones for stoppers. 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:26.559 But not this, not this guy. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:36.639 He's got a round stone carved, hand-hewn, so that in the track it might be rolled over in place. 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:54.399 And then even in John chapter 19, we learn about Nicodemus, a guy that we meet in John chapter 3, a Pharisee who comes to Jesus at night inquiring about who he is, and Jesus has this interaction with him about being born again that we see that the wheels of faith are beginning to turn in Nicodemus' mind. 00:16:54.559 --> 00:17:02.879 And we see at the end in John chapter 19, Nicodemus brings 75 pounds of perfume and ointments to anoint Jesus' body. 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:05.279 It's lavishly expensive. 00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:12.400 But it's not just the material things that are the most expensive thing here. 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:14.160 It's the body of Jesus. 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:20.240 It is the second member of the Trinity that is the real cost. 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:23.599 That's absolutely invaluable. 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:29.680 You guys have been following the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, the burning of it? 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:31.519 It's just unbelievable. 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:40.880 And the many wealthy people that have a pledge now north of a billion dollars in its reconstruction. 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:49.839 But the reality is, however long and however much it will take, no amount of money in the entire world can ever replace it. 00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:51.599 It's beyond value. 00:17:53.920 --> 00:18:21.119 That's something of the image that we have here in this text that all this stuff is expensive, but really that which is beyond value is the death of Jesus, the second member of the Trinity, the one whom had no beginning and who will have no end, whom the text calls the first and the last, the bright morning star, the angel of the Lord. 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:24.240 He is Jesus, the Messiah. 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:39.759 But what makes it truly incredible is that God deemed you valuable enough to expend his son? 00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:48.160 You see, the resurrection says that you belong to God not just personally but expensively. 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:53.920 You have immeasurable value because of the resurrection. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:00.400 What corner of your soul does that need to apply this morning? 00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:05.279 Maybe you're tired. 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:12.400 And and it's the kind of weariness that no weekend sleep will catch you up. 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:15.440 But it's a weariness of the soul. 00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:26.559 You need to know that the resurrection says that you have immeasurable value in your weakness. 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:43.440 Maybe it's a sense in which the tasks of your job have created a profound sense of the mundane and perhaps even a little of the insignificance. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:49.440 The resurrection says you have immeasurable value. 00:19:53.200 --> 00:20:00.799 Maybe it's a sin pattern that you really don't want anybody knowing about. 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:08.559 And that you're afraid that if anybody really knew, not only would they reject you, but you're afraid that God would reject you. 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:10.720 The resurrection says it's not true. 00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:13.680 You have immeasurable value. 00:20:16.880 --> 00:20:18.640 You belong to God. 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:25.119 You belong to him personally, expensively, and eternally. 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:37.759 When Jesus calls her name, Mary says, cries out, Raboni, which means teacher in Aramaic, and she we imagine the scene. 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:49.039 She runs to him and she throws her arms around him, and you can just imagine just the confusion and excitement and anticipation and questions. 00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:54.079 And then Jesus says something really strange. 00:20:54.720 --> 00:20:57.279 He says, Don't cling to me. 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:00.480 For I've yet to ascend to the Father. 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:04.480 What does Mary really want? 00:21:04.799 --> 00:21:07.039 What is she really after? 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:24.559 She's after this Jesus who delivered her out of everything evil and rescued her life for the pit, who promises to be with her forever, at once was taken away from her, now is back, and she's not going to let him go, but Jesus knows something. 00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:35.680 He knows that if he goes to the Father, he will send his Holy Spirit to come and dwell in Mary's heart so that he will be with her eternally. 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:49.119 I wonder if later on she thought of the words that he said to her and some of his other disciples in John chapter 14 and verse 16. 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:58.480 If you love me, you will keep my commandments, and I will ask the Father, who will give you another helper, to be with you forever. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:13.759 Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him, you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:52.720 That's the promise that Mary has, that we have, that the resurrection brings, that you belong to God eternally, that if you but see your sins crucified on the Savior, and on the third day risen again from the grave and taken his righteousness and given to you, that means not only is every aspect of your life now being used to bring God glory, but also you good. 00:22:54.480 --> 00:23:01.119 And it also means that the eternal trajectory of your life is forever changed. 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:14.079 And that one day your greatest enemy, death, itself, you will see that Jesus has conquered it on the cross and in the resurrection. 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:35.200 The movie Whit is about an English professor whose name is Vivian Baring, who spent her whole career studying the holy sonnets of John Dunn. 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:53.440 The movie is set in a hospital ward because Vivian has cancer and follows the end of her life as she reflects back on her life. 00:23:53.920 --> 00:24:00.480 And different things that happen in the hospital bring different memories to Vivian. 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:12.000 One particular occurrence brings an interaction between Vivian as a graduate student and her mentor, Evelyn Ashford. 00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:32.640 Evelyn, when Vivian arrives in her office, is critiquing Vivian's choice of translation of John Dunn's most famous sonnets, Death Be Not Proud. 00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:44.400 And she essentially says the translation you chose with the punctuation used in that translation is all wrong. 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:46.240 Write your paper again. 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:51.200 This is a clip of what she says. 00:24:51.359 --> 00:25:03.039 She says, Professor speaking, do you think that the punctuation of the last line of this sonnet is merely an insignificant detail? 00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:06.240 English majors rejoice. 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:15.920 The sonnet begins with a valiant struggle with death, calling on all the forces of intellect and drama to vanquish the enemy. 00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:26.079 But it is ultimately about overcoming the seemingly insuperable barriers separating life, death and eternal life. 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:35.839 In the addition you chose, this profoundly simple meaning is sacrifice to hysterical punctuation. 00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:42.319 And death, capital D, shall be no more semicolon. 00:25:42.559 --> 00:25:48.480 Death, capital D, comma, thou shalt die, exclamation mark. 00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:53.039 If you go in for this sort of thing, I suggest you take up Shakespeare. 00:25:54.319 --> 00:26:01.200 She then corrects her punctuation and thereby her interpretation of the sonnet by offering a different reading. 00:26:01.359 --> 00:26:06.079 She says, And death shall be no more. 00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:10.160 Death thou shalt die. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:17.119 Nothing but a breath, a comma, separates life from life everlasting. 00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:18.559 Very simple, really. 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:27.279 With the original punctuation restored, death is no longer something to act out on a stage with exclamation marks. 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:29.359 It is a comma. 00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:31.359 A pause. 00:26:32.720 --> 00:26:34.960 Not insuperable barriers. 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:37.519 Not semicolons. 00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:39.759 Just a comma. 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:46.880 And so it is also with those who have trusted in Christ. 00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:50.880 The resurrection says you belong to him. 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:54.319 And nothing will change that. 00:26:55.200 --> 00:26:59.119 You belong to him personally, expensively, and forever, eternally. 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:10.480 And so to correct the sonnet as I recited it at the beginning, it should most properly be recited. 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:13.359 Death be not proud. 00:27:15.839 --> 00:27:18.559 Though some have called thee mighty and dreadful. 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:21.680 For thou art not so. 00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:29.200 One short sleep, then we wake eternally, and death shall be no more. 00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:34.079 Death thou shalt die. 00:27:36.240 --> 00:27:39.039 You belong to God. 00:27:40.160 --> 00:27:41.440 Pray with me. 00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:51.039 Heavenly Father, what great promises are ours in John twenty. 00:27:52.559 --> 00:28:01.920 The resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the promise of eternal life with you forever. 00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:10.400 Give us this hope as we celebrate and we pray it in Jesus' name. 00:28:10.720 --> 00:28:11.359 Amen.