JOHN 20:1-6
1 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. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other
disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of
the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3 So Peter and
the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other
disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked
in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter
came along behind him and went straight into the tomb.

JOHN 20:7-13
He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been
wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate
from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first,
also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand
from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples
went back to where they were staying. 11 Now Mary stood outside the
tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw
two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head
and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you
crying?”

JOHN 20:13-16
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they
have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there,
but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 He asked her, “Woman, why
are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the
gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you
have put him, and I will get him.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned
toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means
“Teacher”).

JOHN 20:17-18
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the
Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my
Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” 18 Mary Magdalene
went to the disciples with the news: “I HAVE SEEN THE LORD!” And
she told them that he had said these things to her.

1. The Resurrection is not a Past Event but a Personal and Present Reality.

JOHN 14:16-20
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to
help you and be with you forever - 17 the Spirit of truth. The world
cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But
you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not
leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world
will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you
also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father,
and you are in me, and I am in you.

2. The Resurrection is not Face-Saving but Life-Saving News.

JOHN 20:1
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark,
Mary Magdalene went to the tomb…

ROMANS 1:14-16

14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise
and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also
to you who are in Rome. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel [and
what is the gospel? It is the good news that Jesus died for the
forgiveness of our sins but He rose again to live forevermore. That’s
the gospel. And Paul says that it is], because it is the power of God
that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then
to the Gentile.