Text — John 20:1-2, 10-18

1. Introduction
   1. Following Jesus’ farewell dialogue with his disciples, they moved to Gethsemane where Jesus was arrested.
   2. What followed was a trial that sinful men’s false testimony resulted in one of the most unjust verdicts and sentences in human history. The trials, themselves, violated both Jewish and Roman Law.
   3. Jesus was turned over to cruel men who flogged him nearly to death. He was then taken to Golgotha where he was tortured to death on a Roman cross.
   4. My point of rehearsing this before you is to point out to you that when Jesus was laid in that tomb that fateful Friday, humanity lost all hope.
      1. Evil had won
      2. Power politics had won
      3. Sin had won
      4. Death had won
      5. Indeed, hell, itself, had won.
      6. To add insult to injury, when the women went to the tomb to grieve and anoint the body it was gone!
   5. Mary runs to Peter and John with the news. Let’s pick up the scripture there.
2. Exposition of the text
   1. Mary saw Jesus and it changed everything.
   2. Jesus lived a sinless life. Wicked sinners betrayed him, mocked him and tortured him to death. But sin had done its worst. And when he arose he brought victory of sin.
   3. The evil of power politics had done everything it could to shut him up and to try and hang on to its power. But he arose and brought the assurance of victory over wicked politicians.
   4. Government exercised its ultimate power – they executed a person that was a threat to it. But when Jesus arose he brought victory of death.
   5. Hell where these plans were hatched and executed had a major party on Friday. But when Jesus arose he brought victory even over hell.
3. Application
   1. Perhaps today, you are like Mary. Your hopes have been destroyed and you’re standing outside an empty tomb weeping bitterly because you can’t find Jesus.
   2. Maybe, just maybe he is right behind you. You may be assuming that he is someone else. But he is speaking your name.