17 Some of His disciples said to one another, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” 18 So they were saying, “What does He mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.” 19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask Him, so He said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, He will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
Today, on this Easter morning, we uphold and we proclaim the reality of the bodily resurrection of Christ. The resurrection of Jesus Christ which we celebrate today, is the cornerstone of our faith. It is the one thing on which all of the Christian faith hinges.
In the early days of the church in Corinth, there were people within the church who denied the resurrection of Jesus, and the apostle Paul knew that he had to deal with this false teaching and put an end to it. This is what he wrote to them in 1 Corinthians 15:12–19: “If Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
This is why we say today (and every day!), “He is risen. He is risen indeed.”
More than that, it is Easter that gives us our distinctively Christian outlook on life. Easter gives us peace in the middle of trouble and calamity. The first thing the angel said to the two Marys at the empty tomb was, “Do not be afraid.”
It is in our nature to want to be in control. But virtually every day something will happen to remind us that so much of this life is beyond our control, and we don’t like that feeling very much. We are dominated by fear, worry, and anxiety.
Every time the resurrected Jesus appeared to His disciples after Easter, He said “Peace be with you.” He brings a peace and a hope into our lives which the world can never offer us. In Luke 24:38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?”
Each year during Holy Week we try to imagine the turmoil and the despair of Good Friday, and we can only imagine how distraught the disciples were that day.
Fear and trouble are unfortunate consequences of living in a broken world, and as Christians we are not exempt from these things. Jesus said in John 16:33 that “In the world you will have tribulation.” But then He says, “But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Those women at the tomb were nervous and afraid that morning, but the first words of the Easter message to them was, and to us is: “Do not be afraid.”
We can only speculate at the depth of joy they must have felt when they finally met the resurrected Christ. The last week of their lives must have been an incredible rollercoaster ride of emotions, but when the awesome truth of what had happened began to sink in, it must have been quite a moment. “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where He lay.” (Matthew 28:5-6)
Imagine how thunderstruck these women must have been - full of wonder and amazement at what had happened.
It is easy for us to have annual Easter services and lose the sense of wonder.
Somebody once said to Mark Twain, “I wish I had never read Huckleberry Finn.” Twain was a bit taken aback and asked the reason for such a remark. “So that I could have the pleasure again of reading it for the first time,” came the reply.
Don’t losing the awesome wonder of the truth of the empty tomb. Come to the empty tomb and wonder at the Easter miracle as though you were hearing it for the first time. Jesus has conquered death itself, and by His grace, so can you. That truth, when we try to comprehend its eternal consequences for us, should take our breath away.
Then the angel said to the two Marys, “Go quickly and tell His disciples.” That has always been our calling as those who have embraced the truth of the risen Christ. A message this great demands sharing. The non-believing world is not going to share the news. In fact, it is doing the exact opposite. The secular world is doing everything in its power to deny the truth of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says, “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
Although it is heart-breaking to see how the world is relentlessly and systematically denying and suppressing the God of the Bible, we should not be wasting our time and energy by being surprised and angry. Rather, there should be a greater sense of urgency in bringing the message to the world that Christ is risen, He is risen indeed. Above all things, the message of Easter is one of hope and joy.
Peter, who had plumbed the depths of despair when he denied Jesus but later was totally transformed by the risen Christ, describes the hope of Easter in his first letter, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:3-9) That’s hope.
That is the message of hope we have received, and we are called to share it joyfully with a lost and dying world.
The angel said to the two Marys, “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him.” (Matthew 28:7)
One of the greatest things about the resurrection of Christ is the certainty and the hope it gives us of seeing Him again. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
Death, and the end of this life is hard. The non-believing world is terrified of death. But the resurrection of Jesus has changed all of that. Because He lives, so will we, and we no longer need fear death.
You can sense the apostle Paul almost taunting our greatest fear when he quotes the prophets Isaiah and Hosea in 1 Corinthians 15:54-55. “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
Today we celebrate. Today is a day of joy, because we know that because He lives, we have nothing more to fear. We have a hope which Satan and this world cannot defeat.
Psalm 16 was a Messianic psalm – it pointed towards the coming Messiah, but after the resurrection of Jesus, it took on a whole new meaning for those who put their faith in the risen Christ. This psalm now speaks of the promise of life for us today: “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:5-11)
Last week was a sombre week for Christians all over the world, because we have been brought face to face with the horror of our sin, and with the stark reality of what it took for God to redeem us. But today is Sunday, and this is why we celebrate.
Because of the risen Christ, we are full of hope, full of promise and full of joy.
If we miss the significance of the resurrection, we miss the greatest joy in the universe.
The conversation that Jesus had with His disciples in John 16 which we read earlier actually took place before His death. The dark shadows loomed over the soon-to-be crucified Christ, yet in this time of despair He turned His attention to joy. Throughout the week leading to His crucifixion, Jesus had tried to prepare His disciples for what was to come. They struggled to make sense of it all, and He addressed their concerns directly in John 16.
As Jesus prepared His disciples for the miracle of that Easter morning, He wanted them to anticipate that day as the dawning of true joy. And nothing has changed, nearly 2000 years later.
It’s a joy bought and paid for by blood.
Jesus spoke of this joy as He faced the torture of Good Friday. He faced denial, betrayal, beatings, splinters, nails and spears, yet He could not stop talking about joy! Only joy would keep Him going. Joy was on His mind, joy was on His lips, and joy was drawing Him, not away from suffering, but to it.
Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Jesus went to the cross for joy: He went to buy joy, create joy, and offer joy.
As the world celebrated the savage killing of God, out of this tragic story came a blood-bought, inextinguishable joy.
And if the killing of the Author of life could not extinguish this joy Jesus speaks about, then we need to know this: Nothing can, and nothing ever will rob us of the joy we now have in Him. It’s so important that we understand this. No opposition from the world, no opposition to the Gospel, and no despising of Jesus can ever overcome the resurrection joy of Jesus. Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, said in a sermon one Easter morning, “No man shall ever take from me the joy that Christ rose from the dead.”
It’s quite an irony if you think about it - the unquenchable joy of Easter has its roots in the greatest trauma and tragedy and evil the world has ever unleashed - the murder of the Son of God. Death, Satan, his demons, and the carefully laid plans of His enemies all working together, failed. And they failed miserably as Jesus walked out of that tomb on Easter morning.
He was persecuted and hated then, and He is persecuted and hated now. His followers were persecuted and hated then, and we are persecuted and hated now. But that hatred can never steal our joy in Christ, because He rises above all these things and more.
Worldly joys are brittle in comparison. Sickness and poverty destroys joy. The grave will eventually destroy all worldly joy. Death takes all our joys. Except one. Only one joy cannot be thwarted by death, because only one joy was purchased by blood and death.
The resurrection joy of Jesus defeats the fear and grip of death because it’s the joy of the new creation, a joy which has broken free from the evil of this fallen world.
And this is what makes Easter so breathtaking. The theologian and preacher Jonathan Edwards said more than 200 years ago, “The resurrection of Christ is the most joyful event that ever came to pass.”
The resurrection is the most joy-filled divine event in history.
In the long history of pain and suffering in this fallen world, after countless generations have run after empty, worldly promises, it is only in the resurrection of Jesus Christ where we find hope and joy. In John 15 Jesus is talking to His disciples and He uses the wonderful analogy of the vine and the branches. He ends this teaching by saying, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:9-11)
Complete joy – a joy which was ushered in so dramatically on Easter morning.
The Bible is the story of joy. The Old Testament prophesied it, the birth of Jesus announced it, the Cross of Calvary failed to extinguish it, and the resurrection of Jesus was the moment that inexhaustible, eternal joy finally arrived.
Jesus taught that He must die, rise from the grave and go to the Father. There would come a time “when they would see Him no more,” but He did promise that He would leave His joy with them. That’s the joy and assurance that the Spirit continues to bring us today.
The victory of Easter has changed everything. We are now the adopted children of God. We, who once rebelled against God and rejected Him, have been given a whole new purpose for living. We are now His, and we are His for all of eternity. God hears our prayers, and He brings us a joy that nothing and nobody can take away from us. We have a great reason to celebrate, because Jesus is alive.
Jesus’s bold resurrection joy promised to His disciples is offered to you and me.
The resurrection joy that Jesus foretold has arrived, and it’s deeply personal. The resurrection is both a cosmic event, and it comes intimately close, reminding each one of us of God’s work in our lives. The angel said to the disciples on that Easter morning, “He is not here. He is risen.”
The word on the street that Sunday in the Jerusalem was just too good to be true. This was so unexpected, so dramatic a reversal of the heartbreak and devastation of the previous three days. This would take days to sink in. Weeks even. In some ways, it would take the disciples the rest of their lives to grasp the impact of this news. He has risen.
In fact, for all eternity we will still stand in awe of the love of God so graphically depicted in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
But what a contrast that first Sunday morning was.
The sheep had scattered. No one really saw it coming, except Jesus Himself. His closest friends had abandoned their master in His most critical hour, leaving Him alone to carry the weight of the world’s sin. One of His own had betrayed Him. Added to that was the greatest burden of all - being forsaken by His Father.
After His death, the disciples soon lost hope and dispersed, just like the prophet Zechariah had written: “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” (Zechariah 13:7)
Some of them hid behind closed doors, thinking it was their turn next. John 20:19 says, “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews.” Two of them even gave up completely and left Jerusalem for their home in the nearby village of Emmaus.
But then word began to spread that something amazing had happened. At first it seemed like sheer fantasy. Luke 24:11 tells us the initial reaction of the disciples to the news that the women brought them: “These words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” The NIV translation says, “They did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.”
Could such a dream become reality? Might there be some way to turn back time? Better yet, might there actually be a power great enough to do exactly what Jesus had foretold? A power great enough to conquer death itself?
The initial report left them all in shock. Mark 16:8 tells us the women “went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”
Something very strange, yet glorious was going on, and they simply didn’t get it at first.
And as the reality of what had really happened began to dawn on them, they could not contain their joy any longer.
That’s what Easter does to those who grasp the enormity of its message. That’s how explosive, how cataclysmic, and how world-shattering it is that Jesus is alive.
Now joy has triumphed over sorrow. Life finally has dominion over death.
And one day we will finally see the Prince of Glory face to face. Someone once wrote that Easter is our annual dress rehearsal for that great coming day when our perishable bodies will put on the imperishable. When the mortal finally puts on immortality. That’s the inexpressible joy that the Risen Christ brings us.
Easter readies us for the triumph that will follow this life. In the words of Fanny Crosby’s hymn Blessed Assurance, Easter is our foretaste of glory divine.
Easter, for all its reminders and promises of joy in eternity, also addresses the daily pains and struggles we still face. Because Christ is risen we have hope and joy in this life, even in our heartaches we all face. As Paul writes in Romans 13:11-12, “Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.”
Whatever pains your heart and weighs you down, Easter says, “It will not always be this way for you. The new age has begun. Jesus has risen, and the kingdom of the Messiah is here.” And we know this because the resurrection of Jesus turns our sorrows into joy.
Vernon McGee wrote in his commentary, “Regardless of where you are or who you are, if you have accepted Jesus, my friend, you are a child of God. If you are in sorrow and there are tears in your eyes, if you have a broken heart, be assured that joy comes in the morning. He is going to bring joy into your life. I think that when we are finally in His presence and look back on this life, if we have any regrets, it will be because we didn’t suffer more for Him. The joy of His presence will overwhelm any sorrow we may have had down here.”
We are more than conquerors because of the Risen Jesus.
Listen to His words in John 16 again: “You have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:22-24)
Easter declares, for all time, that the one who has conquered death has now made our joy complete.
Homegroup Study Notes
Read John 16:17-24
We have the benefit of knowing how the next few days were to unfold, but how do you think the disciples must have felt when Jesus told them that soon their “joy will be complete?”
We all know that the joy Jesus promised us will last into eternity, but how are we able to experience His joy in this life, especially when life is hard?
How have you personally experienced this joy?
Discuss this quote from J Vernon McGee: “Regardless of where you are or who you are, if you have accepted Jesus, you are a child of God. If you are in sorrow and there are tears in your eyes, if you have a broken heart, be assured that joy comes in the morning. He is going to bring joy into your life. I think that when we are finally in His presence and look back on this life, if we have any regrets, it will be because we didn’t suffer more for Him. The joy of His presence will overwhelm any sorrow we may have had down here.”
Read 1 Corinthians 15:12-19
Why is the reality of the resurrection so crucial to the Christian faith?