WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:21.280 Happy Easter. 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:23.199 We're working it. 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:23.600 I get it. 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:24.559 We're getting warmed up. 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:24.960 Good. 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:26.160 He has risen. 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:28.719 Okay, alright. 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:30.000 Well done. 00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:31.440 Oh my goodness. 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:34.640 And wow, by the way, awakening, you look good. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:36.799 You clean up. 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:38.320 Real nice. 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:43.119 If you're new, we're pretty casual around here, so this is something special. 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:50.399 I actually get excited to see, you know, your photos that you take over at our photo booth. 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:54.399 Our family and I just took ours uh right before the first service. 00:00:54.560 --> 00:01:00.799 Because Easter, isn't it one of those times where you want to get that picture perfect, Instagram worthy post? 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:03.759 It's like, oh man, and so post them tag us. 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:05.840 We'd love to see those things. 00:01:06.079 --> 00:01:09.120 Now, here's the interesting thing about a picture. 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:11.920 It's been said that a picture's worth what? 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:13.760 Right? 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:16.959 But in our day, I think a picture is something different. 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:24.719 Maybe it is still worth a thousand words, but truth be told, is a picture rarely tells the whole story, doesn't it? 00:01:26.719 --> 00:01:28.959 Let me show you an example of this. 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:34.879 Um, this is a picture of my family circa September 2011. 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:37.760 Yeah, isn't that special? 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:43.680 I don't know what's growing on my chin there, um, if you can see that. 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:44.799 It's wild. 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:51.280 14 years ago, how the time flies, you know, my daughter's now 20, the boys are 18 and 15. 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:56.560 The truth is, as they say, as parents, the days are long, but the years are short. 00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:58.319 Where did the time go? 00:01:58.959 --> 00:02:09.039 Now, if you take a look at this picture, what the story tells you, what you see is, well, one, yes, you would first go like, wow, yes, they are a very Swedish family. 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:11.280 Uh get that. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:22.240 But second, you would go like, whoa, what a magical, happy moment they're sharing in this beautifully scenic park. 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:46.240 But the reality is, the reality is, is we were in a September heat wave that was about a hundred degrees that day post-school, the kids are tired, they are hot, they're hangry, they're yelling and screaming, and the kids were yelling and screaming too. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:52.000 Um I mean, honestly, I was losing my cool. 00:02:52.240 --> 00:03:04.479 I was bribing them with ice cream and threatening them with timeouts just to get them to be still long enough and smile for 30 seconds so we could get a picture. 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:07.759 Our um photographer, she's a magician. 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:08.319 I don't know. 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:12.159 We she got a lot of really great photos. 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:19.680 But the thing is, and you know this, a picture may be worth a thousand words, but picture rarely tells the whole story. 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:23.520 And if we just take this at face value, what you see? 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:32.159 Shining, happy, picture perfect, problem-free family. 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:47.759 But the reality is it could be nothing further from the truth, and the truth is the same is true for you and me in our life, isn't it? 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:57.439 We curate the best versions of ourselves, smiles on the outside, but often something very different is going on inside. 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:02.800 Underneath all the filters, all the polish, we carry this sneaking suspicion. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:06.479 Something inside of me is broken. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:14.400 And then this fear, and maybe it is beyond repair. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:26.639 In our picture perfect, performance-driven culture, what we present to the world and the real story, the true you are often very different. 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:29.360 We don't talk about it, of course. 00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:36.079 We keep ourselves busy, we cover it up with activity so we don't have to feel. 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:47.279 We cover it up with uh achievement because if we accomplish enough, maybe nobody will notice the ache, the longing. 00:04:48.399 --> 00:05:12.000 But if somebody could see the real you, see inside of you, they'd see this longing, this hoping for wholeness, the anxious whisper of the heart that says, Am I beyond hope? 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:15.680 Beyond help? 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:24.240 Am I beyond ever being put right again? 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:33.680 What do you do with the brokenness in your life you cannot fix? 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:46.000 And what if the most broken parts of your life is the very place Jesus wants to meet you today? 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:55.680 What if the places that we cover up that we're most ashamed of, that we avoid, we pretend aren't there? 00:05:55.920 --> 00:06:01.600 What if Jesus wants to meet you in this moment in those places? 00:06:02.959 --> 00:06:07.439 Mary Magdalene was a woman who knew brokenness. 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:14.560 Not just any kind of brokenness, the deep soul-level brokenness. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:25.279 Now, Mary Magdalene, not to be confused in the Gospels with Mary, the mother of Jesus, or Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. 00:06:25.600 --> 00:06:30.800 Mary, by the way, was the Jennifer of the ancient day. 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:37.519 Historians tell us one in four baby girls were named Mary. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:42.160 And so when I read the Gospels, I can't help think of my wife Jenny. 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:46.160 And if you grew up as a Jenny, you know the struggle. 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:55.519 Did you know that for 15 years straight, Jennifer was the number one baby name for girls in America? 00:06:55.839 --> 00:07:02.879 1970 to 1984, and then it was in the top 10 for another 25 years. 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:10.480 And so you grew up, Jenny, Jennifer, with five different Jennifer's in your class. 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:14.319 Jen, Jenny with a Y? 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:15.839 Jenny with an I. 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:17.519 How do you spell it? 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:19.040 To be distinct. 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:22.160 Jenny S, and so forth. 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:31.439 Mary, we see a lot of those in the New Testament, and so it's so easy to be confused of like, oh, which Mary is this? 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:41.920 Now, the interesting thing is Mary Magdalene, she plays a significant role in the Easter story. 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:50.639 In fact, Mary Magdalene is one of few people who is both at the crucifixion and the resurrection. 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:53.839 Mary was the last at the cross. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:56.879 She lingered at the cross, the last to leave. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:07:58.879 She followed all the way to the tomb. 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:01.680 Mary was the first to the empty tomb. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:05.600 She was the first eyewitness of the risen Jesus. 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:13.040 And Mary was the first commissioned by Jesus to share this good news. 00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:17.920 All four Gospels record her significance. 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:18.800 In fact, St. 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:28.240 Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest minds and thinkers of Christianity ever, said this: that Mary was the apostle to the apostles. 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:30.079 A theologian said it this way. 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:36.960 He quipped, the very first Easter sermon was preached by a woman to a room full of doubting men. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:43.600 And this is one of the reasons I find the gospel accounts not just beautiful but deeply trustworthy. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:53.759 If you were going to craft a myth to create a movement, you would not tell the resurrection story this way. 00:08:54.240 --> 00:09:03.039 In the ancient day, unfortunately, a woman's voice was not considered reliable or trustworthy. 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:10.320 In fact, in the court of law, it wasn't even permissible for her to speak. 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:17.279 Her voice carried no weight socially or judicially. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:25.840 If you're going to tell this story and you're going to make it up, you would want to use Peter, you would want to use John, one of the first twelve. 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:31.360 But no, the gospels, all four of them, tell us it was Mary Magdalene who saw Jesus first. 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:34.320 It was Mary Magdalene who told people first. 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:35.279 Why? 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:40.159 Because that's how it happened. 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:43.919 And isn't it just like Jesus? 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:53.279 To meet and to speak to one who's been overlooked first. 00:09:56.399 --> 00:10:04.960 And to give the one who maybe has been voiceless a voice to declare the greatest news of human history. 00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:14.799 And it was Mary's story and her encounter with Jesus, is where we discover what do we do with the brokenness we cannot fix. 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:28.639 Mary Magdalene, or quite literally, Mary of Magdala, for she was from the small fishing town of Magdala, just on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:38.480 We don't know a whole lot about her, but unfortunately, her reputation's been smarred down in history. 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:47.840 Mary was not a woman of ill repute, as some have said, but she was a woman tormented by seven demons. 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:57.759 Seven biblically carries this significance of completion, completeness, totality. 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:10.000 What we know about Mary is she experienced a brokenness, a bondage, a suffering that wasn't partial but overwhelming. 00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:16.399 Today, when we talk about battling our demons, and you're like, oh, are we going there on Easter? 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:17.360 Yeah, here we go. 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:18.320 Let's go. 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:28.960 Today, when we talk about battling our demons, we often dismiss, I think, great peril, the spiritual oppression in reality. 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:33.120 And yet we battle our demons nonetheless. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:40.000 Some of us, we are battling our demons in the area of addiction, aren't we? 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:47.360 You've tried and you tried to break free, to stop, but you just can't. 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:48.960 You're stuck. 00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:51.120 It's hopeless. 00:11:52.960 --> 00:12:01.759 It's the depression and anxiety that overshadows your life and feels like it has an iron grip on you. 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:05.360 It's the anger. 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:10.240 That response that you wish you could just get rid of. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:23.120 It's that short fuse that keeps ruining every relationship that you hold dear. 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:29.279 It's the perfectionist, that voice that you're never enough, you gotta do more. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:33.679 Try harder, it shouts. 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:35.919 Try harder, it shouts. 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:39.279 And why didn't you measure up? 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:41.919 It's the voice of shame. 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:49.440 Maybe the voice of your mom or dad or a coach or a teacher. 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:53.600 Voice that says you're worthless. 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:55.600 A voice that says you're a screw-up. 00:12:56.720 --> 00:12:59.440 Voice that says you'll never amount to anything. 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:02.879 Everything you touch, you ruin. 00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:07.600 It's the brokenness we cover up. 00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:14.720 That we're afraid can never be fixed or healed. 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:23.759 Battling our demons, yes, it is spiritual, but it is also emotional and physical and mental. 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:29.840 We don't know exactly what Mary's battle was. 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:38.000 But what we do know is that she was someone who was broken beyond repair and beyond hope. 00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:42.000 And then Jesus enters her story. 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:47.360 He comes to this town of Magdala and this woman who was broken. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:57.039 And Jesus sees the oppression, Jesus sees the brokenness, and he's not repulsed by it, he's not overwhelmed by it, he doesn't step back from it. 00:13:57.200 --> 00:14:00.240 No, he steps into her story. 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:05.519 He leans in and he speaks into her life and she's healed. 00:14:07.519 --> 00:14:10.799 See, this is so important, especially in our day. 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:17.840 Jesus did not enter her story to give her good advice or a new life hack. 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:22.000 He healed her. 00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:27.840 So often we're just trying. 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:29.279 What is that new tip? 00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:30.559 What is that new hack? 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:31.600 What are these things? 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:36.399 And what you need is the presence and power of Jesus in your life. 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:40.320 Jesus steps into her story. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:44.080 And he saved her. 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:57.360 From that day forward, her life was simply an expression of gratitude back to the one who gave her life back. 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:01.039 And so she followed Jesus. 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:05.279 Wherever Jesus went, she went. 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:11.759 She, along with a few other women, traveled with Jesus and his disciples. 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:16.720 They helped finance the ministry of Jesus. 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:31.600 And the only thing that could match the immense gratitude Mary felt over the one who'd healed her was the overwhelming grief of watching him suffer and die. 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:41.519 Rome didn't invent crucifixion, but they perfected it. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:46.480 It was their chosen form of terror, of dominance. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:16:01.039 The goal was not to kill you quickly, but slowly, to inflict the most pain and suffering, to put you to public shame for as long as possible. 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:05.440 And so what they do, they stripped you completely naked. 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:09.440 They'd beat you just short of death. 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:19.840 And then they would drill and nail nails through your wrist and your feet. 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:25.840 You didn't die because of blood loss, though. 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:29.039 You died because of asphyxiation. 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:44.000 As you hung on the cross, you were not able to breathe, and so you would pull yourself up, push on the nails in your feet and the wrist to pull yourself up to get a gas of air. 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:58.960 And then as the pain was too excruciating, you would slump back down, allowing the splintered wood to drive much deeper into your back that has been ripped from the flogging. 00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:01.600 Up. 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:03.840 Down. 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:07.279 Up down. 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:15.359 Until you lost strength and could not go up again. 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:28.480 And you pass suffocating silently. 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:36.319 As a crowd watches and cheers. 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:57.759 She saw the one who cast demons out of her, who gave her life back, who spoke her name, stripped, bleeding, and now silent. 00:17:58.559 --> 00:18:03.119 And she could do nothing to stop it, nothing to fix it. 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:07.039 All she could do was just stay. 00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:20.400 The kind of grief that presses down on your chest until it's hard to breathe. 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:31.039 I mean, just imagine Mary, along with Mary, the mother of Jesus, John the disciple, and a couple others. 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:39.599 At first, they're at a distance, and as his time on the cross is growing closer, they draw nearer. 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:45.200 She watched him silent storms. 00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:53.279 She watched him command demons and raise the dead, and now he is dead. 00:18:55.039 --> 00:18:57.200 Mary could do nothing to stop it. 00:18:58.319 --> 00:18:59.680 And so what did she do? 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:01.279 She just stayed. 00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:03.839 She stayed when others scattered. 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:05.119 She stayed in the whore. 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:07.200 She stayed in the helplessness. 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:14.960 And maybe, just maybe, maybe she wondered if the demons would come back. 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:23.839 If the darkness would win, if everything he had done for her would now be undone. 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:32.319 Because when the one who saved you dies, what hope is left? 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:39.039 That is the grief she carried to the tomb Sunday morning. 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:43.440 That is the sorrow she brought to the garden. 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:50.720 In the Gospel of John, we experience Sunday morning through the eyes of Mary. 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:52.880 John writes this. 00:19:53.519 --> 00:20:03.920 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:10.160 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciples, and the one Jesus loved, that's John. 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:11.599 That's how he referred to himself. 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:13.279 Jesus loved other people too. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:17.440 He loved the whole world, but John liked to say it just about himself. 00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:26.240 And he said, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they've put him. 00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:34.559 By the way, when Mary shows up onto the scene, it's still dark, the stone has been rolled away, the tomb is empty. 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:38.880 She did not assume resurrection, she assumed desecration. 00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:40.720 And what does she do? 00:20:40.799 --> 00:20:47.759 The only thing she knows to do, she runs back, finds Peter and John and tells them, somebody's taken Jesus. 00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:51.039 And the text tells us that Peter and John run. 00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:54.079 Peter started out first, and John, there's a little competition. 00:20:54.319 --> 00:20:56.000 He outran Peter. 00:20:56.799 --> 00:21:02.160 He gets there, and then Peter runs right in, and they notice the linen, the burial cloth. 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:08.559 The text tells us the way that it's laid there, the neatness is as if the body just disappeared. 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:14.720 And John he begins to believe at that moment, though he's still confused. 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:18.480 But it's interesting what Peter and John do. 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:24.559 They see the empty tomb, and then they just go back home. 00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:29.680 But then the text says this about Mary. 00:21:30.559 --> 00:21:33.920 That Mary lingered at the tomb. 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:38.319 Peter, John, they're like, I don't know what to do. 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:39.680 Let's just go back. 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:42.720 But Mary lingered. 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:47.200 The only thing she needed to do at the crucifixion was linger at the cross. 00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:50.960 I'm just gonna stay close to the one who changed my life. 00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:54.400 And she followed all the way until they buried him at the tomb. 00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:59.759 And as early as she could get there Sunday morning, she shows up and it's still dark and she's lingering. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.880 And she doesn't know where they've taken his body. 00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:07.599 And so the only thing she knows to do is just stay where she last saw Jesus. 00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:09.279 She lingered. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:17.039 We don't linger well in our culture today, do we? 00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:25.920 What we tend to do is we run too fast and linger too little. 00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:40.720 Speed and efficiency move us, and we live in such hurried space, in such hurried lives. 00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:47.119 We live in a world addicted. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:52.160 To productivity, to new, to next. 00:22:52.240 --> 00:23:00.240 There's no time to linger, no time to wait, no time to grieve, no time to be present. 00:23:01.359 --> 00:23:07.680 I've told you this before, but one of my favorite features on my phone is the memories that pop up. 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:10.720 The older I get, the more I love them. 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:14.000 They just pop up when my kids are little. 00:23:16.319 --> 00:23:21.279 There's been multiple occasions I've been in one of my favorite coffee shops, Pete's. 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:36.079 Stay away from him, right? 00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:38.000 And it's just like, oh, this is amazing. 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:46.079 You know one of my greatest regrets when my kids were little? 00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:53.920 One of my greatest regrets is how little I was present. 00:23:56.480 --> 00:24:14.880 There was something always so important, so demanding, something that I just needed my attention, my time, my energy, something so pressing. 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:22.640 Why do we tend to trade the most important for the most pressing things? 00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:26.960 The urgent just drives us, doesn't it? 00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:34.079 Why do we allow distraction to drive our lives? 00:24:35.599 --> 00:24:37.680 Mary lingered at the tomb. 00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:46.720 And because Mary lingered at the tomb, she was the first to see the resurrected Jesus. 00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:51.200 She's present. 00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:55.839 Here's the truth, friends. 00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:01.599 Jesus wants to meet with you personally right now. 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:05.599 The question is: will you linger? 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:06.799 Will you be present? 00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:08.960 Will you put aside the to-do list? 00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:12.640 Will you put aside all the things that you know that are coming through the day? 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:17.359 And in this moment, would you simply linger at the tomb? 00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:23.519 Be present to the moment. 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:29.279 I think we miss Jesus so often because of our hurry. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:36.160 We live loud, clamoring lives where we cannot hear his voice. 00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:39.119 So today, would you hear his voice? 00:25:39.279 --> 00:25:40.240 Would you hear it? 00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:42.480 Would you slow down enough? 00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:45.359 Would you linger? 00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:48.079 Text goes on to say. 00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:55.039 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. 00:25:55.759 --> 00:26:04.079 And she wept, she bent over to look in the tomb and saw two angels in white seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:07.359 They asked her, Woman, why are you crying? 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:09.759 Still, no thought of resurrection. 00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:13.920 They've taken my Lord away, she said, and I don't know where they put him. 00:26:14.640 --> 00:26:27.519 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she didn't realize it was Jesus, overwhelmed with grief, eyes flooded with tears, not expecting Jesus physically again. 00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:32.000 He asked her, Woman, why are you crying? 00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:34.400 Who is it you're looking for? 00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:41.920 Thinking he was the gardener, she said, Sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you've put him, and I'll get him. 00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:45.599 And then Jesus said to her, Mary. 00:26:50.160 --> 00:26:58.559 And Jesus said to her, and then Jesus said to her, Mary. 00:26:59.359 --> 00:27:03.519 She turned toward him and cried in Aramaic, Raboni, which means teacher. 00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:13.920 Jesus said to her, Mary, the most common name in their day. 00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:19.119 But this moment was not common in any way. 00:27:20.319 --> 00:27:25.279 He spoke her name with tenderness and compassion. 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:31.440 And in him speaking, Mary spoke resurrection power. 00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:35.680 That brought a realization and changed her world. 00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:40.000 In a single word, her world was changed. 00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:46.960 And she recognized the one she grieved is alive. 00:27:49.519 --> 00:27:53.519 She moved from heartbreak to hope. 00:27:55.119 --> 00:27:58.799 See, when Jesus calls your name, everything changes, by the way. 00:28:01.599 --> 00:28:07.839 When Jesus calls your name, everything changes. 00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:14.960 Move from despair to hope. 00:28:16.960 --> 00:28:23.920 See, where shame once caused us to hide, grace now calls us by name. 00:28:24.880 --> 00:28:31.759 Where sin once brought separation, Jesus now brings restoration. 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:34.640 By the way, do you know this? 00:28:36.240 --> 00:28:44.400 The last time we see God speaking to a woman in the garden was actually the Garden of Eden to Eve. 00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:54.160 Eve, having taken the fruit, having rebelled against God, going her own way, hiding and covered in shame. 00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:59.599 And now we see once more in a garden Jesus. 00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:03.519 Not asking the question, where are you? 00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:08.799 Calling your name. 00:29:09.440 --> 00:29:11.119 Calling her name. 00:29:12.799 --> 00:29:16.640 And where death once had the final word, Jesus speaks. 00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:18.480 A better word. 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:25.119 I like how Frederick Bachner said it. 00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:26.559 He's a theologian. 00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:32.079 He said the resurrection means the worst thing is never the last thing. 00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:37.440 The resurrection means the worst thing is never the last thing. 00:29:38.240 --> 00:29:48.480 If Jesus really did rise from the dead, and I'm going to ask, I know many of us in here would say, yes, he did. 00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:55.599 But I'm not posing that question to those of us that are wrestling with that reality. 00:29:57.279 --> 00:30:02.960 Yes, I want to pose it to you, but I want to pose it if he really did Jesus follower. 00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:27.359 If the grave is really defeated, then the reality is the worst thing that you have ever walked through, that you will ever walk through in this life, will never have the final say Jesus does. 00:30:55.440 --> 00:31:00.160 But the resurrection isn't just historical, it is personal. 00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:03.599 Yes, it is historical. 00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:11.279 In fact, if if you don't know this, all of Christianity hangs upon the resurrection of Jesus. 00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:14.400 If he did not rise from the dead, this is a waste of time. 00:31:14.559 --> 00:31:18.000 Don't spend your hour and ten minutes at awakening. 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:21.359 By goodness, go get your brunch already. 00:31:23.519 --> 00:31:27.039 In fact, it's so easy with Christianity. 00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:34.400 You don't have to wade through pages and pages of theology and read all of the scripture. 00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:35.920 Those are good things. 00:31:36.559 --> 00:31:42.720 All you have to do is examine the historical reality of the resurrection. 00:31:42.960 --> 00:31:48.799 If he rose from the dead, friends, then all that he said is true and trustworthy. 00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:51.759 He is the Savior, risen King of the world. 00:31:52.559 --> 00:32:00.400 If he didn't, he's a liar, a lunatic, not worthy of our trust. 00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:12.240 You know what's interesting, um there's five facts, historical facts that uh every major scholar agrees about Jesus and the resurrection. 00:32:12.319 --> 00:32:16.559 And uh whether you're atheist or theist, they all agree on this. 00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:22.000 One that Jesus was a historical person, he was a rabbi in first century Palestine, Judea. 00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:27.680 Second, that he was crucified on a Roman cross and buried in a tomb. 00:32:27.839 --> 00:32:29.680 The third thing is that the tomb was empty. 00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:32.880 People don't really know, maybe you're atheists and don't know why the tomb was empty. 00:32:32.960 --> 00:32:33.359 What happened? 00:32:33.440 --> 00:32:33.839 What happened? 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:34.400 I don't know. 00:32:34.559 --> 00:32:35.759 But the tomb was empty. 00:32:35.920 --> 00:32:40.880 The fourth is that the disciples really believed they saw the risen Savior. 00:32:41.839 --> 00:33:08.880 So much so that the fifth thing that was astounding and the reason it's almost uh unexplainable why this little small group even survived the first century is the transformation of the disciples who once were timid and fearful, now bold to the extent of laying down their lives and the conversion of skeptics. 00:33:09.759 --> 00:33:18.880 Yes, the resurrection is historical, but if you leave it as an event out there and as Jesus as a data point, you'll miss it right here. 00:33:19.599 --> 00:33:21.839 The resurrection is personal. 00:33:22.480 --> 00:33:35.839 Isn't it amazing that the very first person Jesus showed himself to wasn't the group, wasn't a group of 500, which he did show up to 500, by the way, it was to a person. 00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:39.200 Because it's personal. 00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:49.279 The one who was grieving and longing and suffering. 00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:58.799 And then Jesus said her name. 00:33:59.599 --> 00:34:00.240 Mary. 00:35:01.039 --> 00:35:09.760 Turn from our hiding, turn from our shame, turn from our striving, turn from our fear, and turn to Jesus, who's calling your name in love. 00:35:13.039 --> 00:35:18.559 What do you do with the brokenness in your life that you cannot fix? 00:35:24.400 --> 00:35:25.599 We cover up. 00:35:26.320 --> 00:35:27.280 We curate. 00:35:30.159 --> 00:35:35.119 The best version of ourselves we present to the world to hide our hurt and shame. 00:35:38.159 --> 00:35:45.840 What if all of your effort to fix yourself is actually keeping you from the one who can actually heal you? 00:35:47.119 --> 00:35:53.280 Most of us go through life trying to cover what's broken rather than bring it to the only one who can heal you. 00:35:56.000 --> 00:36:03.280 And so today, would you linger long enough to hear Jesus calling your name? 00:36:05.039 --> 00:36:07.199 Would you linger long enough? 00:36:07.920 --> 00:36:13.519 You don't need more advice, you don't need a new life hack. 00:36:15.440 --> 00:36:33.760 What each of us needs is a life-changing encounter with the resurrected King of the world, Jesus, who loves you with an everlasting love and who is calling out to you right now in this moment. 00:36:34.159 --> 00:36:39.920 He longs to meet you personally and profoundly and powerfully. 00:36:40.079 --> 00:36:47.920 And when you turn to him and when you hear him call your name and you respond, you will not remain the same. 00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:49.599 Would you hear him? 00:36:59.679 --> 00:37:04.079 Some of us, we've been followers of Jesus for a long time, haven't we? 00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:11.440 Somehow resurrection just seems to be going through the motions. 00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:22.000 Would you linger long enough at the tomb for to have a fresh moment with Jesus? 00:37:25.440 --> 00:37:27.360 Some of us have wandered off. 00:37:28.079 --> 00:37:34.480 Like this is my faith of my youth, but I went through that whole deconstruction thing and I don't even know what's up, what's right. 00:37:34.639 --> 00:37:37.199 I have so many doubts and so many questions. 00:37:37.360 --> 00:37:41.199 Would you bring all of your doubts and all of your questions to him? 00:37:42.559 --> 00:37:53.119 Would you linger long enough to hear him calling your name in love? 00:37:56.159 --> 00:37:58.719 There is no shame in his voice. 00:38:00.159 --> 00:38:03.440 Just tenderness, compassion. 00:38:06.000 --> 00:38:31.199 And others of us in this room, for the very first time, maybe you've gone to Easter three or four times, it's your thing, it's your tradition, or maybe it's your first time ever, and you didn't know the God of the universe came for you, died for you, and defeated death to fix what's most broken in you and to give you new life. 00:38:31.360 --> 00:38:41.679 And today is the day where when you hear him calling your name, you respond, you turn to him, and you say, Jesus! And he says, Welcome. 00:38:49.920 --> 00:38:54.880 Today can be your resurrection moment, your merry moment. 00:38:55.760 --> 00:38:58.400 He's calling your name. 00:39:00.320 --> 00:39:08.719 And if that's where you're at, if you want to step into a relationship, have him enter your life, bring new life in you. 00:39:08.880 --> 00:39:11.199 I just want to invite you to pray after me. 00:39:11.760 --> 00:39:19.199 And if you wouldn't mind just praying together as a group, close your eyes. 00:39:26.159 --> 00:39:27.440 That's all it is. 00:39:29.760 --> 00:39:31.039 Just pray after me. 00:39:31.280 --> 00:39:34.079 Jesus, I believed you died for me. 00:39:35.199 --> 00:39:39.519 I believe you defeated the grave and you are alive. 00:39:40.880 --> 00:39:47.440 I bring you my brokenness, my shame, my sin. 00:39:49.039 --> 00:39:51.119 I don't want to hide anymore. 00:39:52.320 --> 00:39:54.159 Would you forgive me? 00:39:55.119 --> 00:39:56.159 Heal me. 00:39:57.199 --> 00:40:00.400 Come into my life and make me new. 00:40:00.800 --> 00:40:04.400 Today, like Mary, I just choose to follow you. 00:40:05.199 --> 00:40:09.599 Thank you for saving me, giving me new life. 00:40:10.639 --> 00:40:13.360 With eyes still closed and head bowed. 00:40:13.599 --> 00:40:18.639 If that's you, if you responded, prayed that prayer. 00:40:18.719 --> 00:40:21.519 Would you just raise your hands like pray for you? 00:40:21.599 --> 00:40:22.480 Raise it up high. 00:40:22.639 --> 00:40:22.960 Amen. 00:40:23.440 --> 00:40:25.440 All over you, all over the room. 00:40:26.960 --> 00:40:42.480 Jesus, thank you for those today who have heard your voice and responded for the first time, and those of us who responded for the thousandth time, your grace, your mercy, your love. 00:40:45.679 --> 00:40:46.639 Thank you. 00:40:48.480 --> 00:40:51.679 Thank you, most of all, for your life. 00:40:52.159 --> 00:40:53.679 That you are alive. 00:40:54.800 --> 00:40:56.079 You are king. 00:40:56.880 --> 00:40:58.400 You are hope. 00:41:00.159 --> 00:41:01.679 In Jesus' name. 00:41:04.639 --> 00:41:06.960 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:41:07.199 --> 00:41:11.599 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:41:11.760 --> 00:41:13.840 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:41:14.000 --> 00:41:19.920 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.