Life in His Name (John 20:1-31)
This morning, I would like to talk with you about a difference.
It is not a difference of opinion. It is not a difference of perspective.This is a difference that makes all the difference in the world. It is the difference between having breath and having life.
Breath… or life.
Or to put it another way, I would like to ask the question: Is there more to life than merely breathing?
Does your life feel like a treadmill? Of waking up, and working, and going to sleep, and doing it all again? Is there more to life than making money—and spending it? Than scrolling on our phones—and numbing ourselves to life?
Oh friend, just because you have days in your life does not mean you have life in your days.
So would you mind if I asked you a few questions? I do not want to talk in generalities. I would like to talk directly.
Do you have life? Or, do you just have breath? How would you know the difference? And if you do not have life but want it, where will you go to find it?
We have spent most of this year in the book of John. It was a joy to be with you all back in February, near the beginning of the book, to be with you now, near the end of the book. And Lord willing, next week, we will finish it out.
Do you know what John wants for you? Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, do you know why he wrote every word of this gospel? Look at John 20:31 — “These are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
That is what John wants for you. That is what I want for you. That is what Jesus wants for you. Life. Life in His name, not just breath, but life!
But there is only one way to have it. It is by believing. Not just believing anything — but by believing the truth about Jesus.
Jesus is not merely a historical person — though, that is true. Jesus is not merely a good teacher — though, that is also true.
Jesus is the Christ — the promised one, who would save His people from their sins. And Jesus is the Son of God — the only One who had the power to do it.
So yes, dear friends. We have really good news before us this morning. In fact, it is the single greatest news in all the world. The Lord Jesus is alive! He lives! He is risen!
We do not just have a dead Jesus — praise God! — That would get us nowhere, we would still be in our sins, and our faith would be in vain. We have a Risen Christ — and if you believe in Him, then you have more than just breath. You have life.
Believe in the Risen Christ.
Which leads to our big idea this morning. It is the one thing I want you to walk away with. Here is the point of all I am trying to say: Believe in the Risen Christ.
That is why John wrote this chapter. That is why John wrote this Gospel, beginning to end. That is why I am preaching this sermon right now.
It is that you might come to believe, and that you might continue believing. So whether you are coming or continuing, hear me say that there is only one way to have life— it is by believing in the Risen Christ.
So what does that mean? What does it look like to believe and have life?
John answers that in four scenes.
See the Tomb (John 20:1-10)
Notice the timestamp. John says, “on the first day of the week. (John 20:1)” That is not just a pointless detail. In fact, all four Gospels say it this way — speaking of the resurrection not on the “third day,” which would also be true — and would even be how Jesus foretold of it — but all four Gospels explicitly say that this happened “on the first day of the week.”
It is because the resurrection marks a wonderful beginning. Not just a new week. But a new covenant, a new era, a new creation beginning to dawn.
If you have ever wondered why Jews worship on Saturday but Christians worship on Sunday, well here it is. It is because the resurrection happened on the first day of the week. In fact, this is one of the strongest historical arguments for the legitimacy of the Christian faith.
Sociologists say that the groups of people least likely to change are those with long histories of religious practice. The Jews had observed a Saturday Sabbath for centuries, and all of a sudden, two thousand years ago, there was a change.
Many Jews, together with non-Jews, began to worship Jesus, and gathering to do it — not on Saturdays, the seventh day, like back in the creation account — but on Sundays, the first day of the week. And that practice has literally continued to this very day. Check your calendar, folks. Today is a Sunday. It is the first day of the week.
Now, I am not suggesting this proves the resurrection — but if Jesus did not rise from the grave, I am not sure how else you could explain that. Secular historians recognize the change, of course. But apart from the resurrection, they do not have a great reason why it happened.
So while I am not saying this is proof that Jesus rose from the grave, I am saying it’s evidence. The resurrection is the most likely explanation for the Saturday to Sunday change.
Back to John 20:1.
Mary saw the tomb. She saw the stone had been taken away. But Mary did not think this was a resurrection — not yet. No, Mary thought this was a robbery (John 20:2).
Grave robbery was a common crime in the ancient world. Valuables — like coins and jewelry and perfume — were often buried with the dead. So robbers would steal the valuables, and steal the body, even holding the body for ransom.
So when Mary saw that the stone had been taken away, it makes sense that she thought this. After all, there were many who hated Jesus. There were many who wanted harm for Him — not just up to His death, but perhaps even after His death.
So Mary runs to Peter and John — two of the leading apostles — and two different personality types. Peter was pushy. John was sweet. They both loved Jesus. They were both loved by Jesus. So when John calls himself “the one whom Jesus loved” here, he is not bragging that Jesus loved him more than the others. It is like his own name gets eclipsed by the most important thing about him — that he was loved by Jesus. It is humility, not pride.
So next time you introduce yourself to someone, you could go for it. You could say, “I’m the one Jesus loves.”
It would be a little awkward but the heart of Jesus is so deep and so wide, that all of us could say it and it would be all the more true.
I know we have been doing nametags lately. Who wants to get “the one whom Jesus loves” on their nametag? You can ask Jeremy about it after service.
So Mary runs to Peter and John, and tells them what she has seen. And then, Peter and John run to the tomb, because they want to see for themselves.
Let us read John 20:3-10 together.
It is kind of a funny scene, isn’t it? I love how in John 20:4, John lets us know, that he beat Peter to the tomb — forever on the record in case anyone wants to know.
But then Peter is first to go into the tomb (John 20:6) — which sounds like Peter, doesn’t it? No hesitation. Even at a potential crime scene. Just full steam ahead.
These little details bear the mark of legitimate testimony. If you were carefully crafting a made up story — trying to get people to believe this, when it did not really happen — you would not put stuff like this.
In fact, here is how one international court evaluates eyewitness testimony: “If a testimony is rich with small details, then it rings with truth.” I think this would hold up in court.
There is a lot of running — between Mary and John and Peter — which communicates urgency. So whatever you believe about Jesus — whether His grave was robbed or that He robbed the grave — I think John wants you to know that it is nothing to drag your feet about.
But there is one other verb John keeps using in this section. Do you see it? That was a hint, by the way. It is the verb to see.
Mary sees that the stone had been taken away (John 20:2). John sees the linen cloths (John 20:5). Peter goes into the tomb and sees some more (John 20:6). And then when John goes in the tomb (John 20:8), here is the climax — he saw and believed.
In the original Greek, the verbs are synonyms — slightly different from one another — and as the text progresses, from John 20:5 to John 20:6-8, the verbs get stronger. You might say that they glanced, and then examined, and then perceived. They looked — and they kept looking. And the more they looked, the more they believed.
Oh dear friend, see the empty tomb. Look — and keep looking. Glance at the history and examine the facts and perceive that Jesus really did rise from the grave! The more you look at it, the harder it is to deny.
Grave robbers would not have unwrapped the linen cloths and folded them up, before scurrying away. No, they would have been in and out as fast as possible. But with perfect composure, the risen Jesus folded up His face cloth, the way we might fold up a blanket after a good nap. He was in control the whole time.
Earlier in John’s gospel, going all the way back to John 2, John says that the disciples “believed.” And it is a rising tension throughout all of what we have seen this year, going through John. They believe — in part. They believe — but they struggle. They believe — but they have not yet understood the Scriptures.
We see that exact tension right here. In John 20:8, John saw and believed. It seems best to understand that Peter and John, more or less had the same experience, because in John 20:9 we see the plural pronoun: “for as yet they did not understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead. ” Their belief and understanding would be limited, until they would receive the Spirit.
It is as if John 20:8 gets the roller coaster to the top of the peak, and then John 20:9 it rolls backwards. And before we know it, John 20:10, it is all the way back to the start: “Then the disciples went back to their homes.”
They saw, and believed, but they would need the Spirit to really, truly believe.
They saw, and believed, but they would need the Spirit to really, truly believe. And it is the same for us too. Thankfully, on this side of Pentecost, the Spirit is poured out on all who believe.
So in this first scene, we see Mary. We see John. We see Peter. But we do not see Jesus. He is not there. But we do see His empty tomb.
The empty tomb — by itself — is not enough to believe in Jesus. But if you are here this morning and you do not believe in the Risen Christ, how else will you explain it? The empty tomb demands an answer. Maybe it does not bring you to faith in Jesus, at least, not yet. But maybe — just maybe — it makes you doubt your unbelief.
Hear your name (John 20:11-18)
Mary loved her Lord (John 20:11-13). She was a woman with a troubled past. Seven demons had tormented her — day and night — for years. Of all people who knew what it was like to have breath, but not have life — it was Mary.
And then she met Jesus.
Jesus welcomed her, when no one else would. Jesus freed her from her darkness. Mary knew that Jesus had life — and she wanted it.
That is why she is weeping here. That is why she was first at the tomb, and here back again — Mary loved her Lord.
She sees two angels — at the head and foot of where Jesus had been lain — just as there were two cherubs at each end of the mercy seat. After all, Jesus was the true temple, opening up a new and living way into God’s holy presence.
She may not have known these were angels. They may have appeared human, or she may not have looked at them carefully. She did not really care who they were — angels or not. All Mary can think about is her Lord. “They have taken away my Lord,” she says, “And I don’t know where they’ve laid him.”
She loved much, because she had been forgiven much. Mary loved her Lord.
John 20:14-15 are rich verses. There is so much here. I wish we could camp out and give a whole sermon to this scene. But we cannot, so I will be brief.
Mary does not recognize Jesus. Perhaps her tears clouded her vision. Perhaps Jesus’s glorified body made him a little hard to recognize — kind of like what Luke tells us about the road to Emmaus. We do not know.
But Jesus knew—that Mary’s heart was broken. Jesus saw her tears. So Jesus comes to Mary. He initiates. He asks, “Whom do you seek?”
You see, that was the problem. Mary loved her Lord, but she set her eyes too low. She was just looking for a dead Jesus, not a Risen Christ.
Are you looking for Jesus this morning? Whom do you seek? Make sure that your eyes are not set too low.
And you got to love how she mistakes Jesus for a gardener of all things, right? The Bible begins and ends in a garden. And who else is at the center of it all, but Him?
She is mistaken. But John’s so clever, He has been doing this a lot in His gospel — this account is only in John, by the way — John just had to let us know what Mary “supposed” him to be.
Mary sees the tomb. Mary even sees her Lord. But for Mary to believe in the Risen Christ, she would need a little more. She would need to hear her name.
John 20:16 is one of the most tender moments in all of our Lord’s ministry, and in all the pages of Scripture.
Jesus does not rise from the grave to go flex on Pilate and Caiaphas proving He won and they lost. No, the first person the Risen Christ goes to meet is Mary—as she weeps, because she lost her Lord, and she loved her Lord.
And with one word, he turns Mary’s sorrow into joy.
“Mary.”
. . .
“Rabboni!”
Our Lord loves us by name. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He calls his sheep — not by number, but by name—and they follow Him, for they know His voice.
Our Lord loves us by name. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He calls his sheep — not by number, but by name—and they follow Him, for they know His voice.
Do you have life? Do you want it?
There is no life apart from the shepherd. There is no life apart from his voice. He calls you to follow Him — and He calls you by name.
Believe in the Risen Christ! Hear your name!
That is what happened to Mary. She heard, and believed, and she rejoiced. She was elated to be with Lord — not even just His dead body, but Him!
So she tries to cling to Him — in a sense, to keep this precious moment forever — but Jesus shuts it down. He has got some more work to do. And she is about to find out that she has got some more work too. This precious moment is meant to be shared.
Hear this —believing in Jesus is always personal. Always. Your parents—or your pastors— or your spouse — or your friends cannot do it for you. But believing in Jesus is never private. Always personal. Never private.
Let us read John 20:17-18. Jesus would have to ascend. He would be enthroned at the Father’s right hand. The Lamb’s atoning work was finished, but the Priest’s interceding work was yet ahead. Jesus wants the world to know He is risen—and He wants our mouths to share. As soon as Mary believes, you know what Jesus tells her? “Go”
So what does it look like to believe in the Risen Christ?
See the tomb. Hear your name. And now, go in peace.
Go in peace (John 20:19-23)
Mary goes to the disciples, right away (John 20:19), and tells them what she has seen (John 20:18). And later that evening the disciples are gathered but scared (John 20:19). They saw what Jews did to Jesus, and now that His body was missing, they feared what the Jews might do to them. So they hid together behind locked doors.
But if Jesus can unlock death, then He’s got no problem getting through a locked door.
As He initiated with Mary, by going to her. So He initiates with His disciples. He goes to them. And the first thing He has to say is “Peace be with you.”
Think about the last time Jesus had been with these disciples. They failed Him! They deserted Him. Peter denied Him. They could not even stay awake to pray.
And yet do you see how Jesus greets His failed disciples? Do you see what word He has for them? Not condemnation. Not shame. There’s no “How could you?” or “Where were you?” or “Why didn’t you?”
No, when Jesus greets His failed disciples, His word for them is “Peace.” “Peace be with you.”
Jesus greets failure with peace.
Brother, sister, I have got to ask you, do you feel like a spiritual failure this morning? Do you feel ashamed that you keep getting angry with your kids, or, that you keep neglecting your Bible, or, that you keep returning to that same sin?
If you feel like a failed disciple, you do not have to get your act together, so that then you can come to Jesus. No, Jesus comes to you and this is what He says: “Peace. Peace. Peace be with you.”
Richard Sibbes puts it this way: “There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.” Always. That is His Word for His failed disciples.
It seems that the disciples also do not recognize Jesus — at least not right away. So Jesus steps toward them even more (John 20:20).
He promised that they would weep, and that He would turn their sorrow into joy. And Jesus did exactly what He promised — He always does. But that is not the only thing He would turn. He would also turn their fear into faith, their hiding into going.
Jesus repeats the greeting (John 20:21-23) —doubling down on His word of peace—before He shows them that this is more than just a meet and greet. No, this is a commissioning. “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you”
Beloved, as the Son was sent, so now we are sent. The Son was sent to accomplish salvation, and now we are sent to announce it. There is no such thing as an un-sent believer. He said, “It is finished!” So now we say, “Believe in Him!”
But we are not sent on our own. No, Jesus will be with us always, even to the end of the age. He will be with us — by His Spirit. The Holy Spirit empowers us to go — to go in His name — to go in faith — to go in peace.
That is what is going on in John 20:22. It is a little weird at first glance, right? What is going on here? This is a preview of Pentecost — when the disciples would receive the Spirit. And you can hear echoes of Genesis 2, can’t you? When God breathed life into Adam.
So if you have Adam’s breath — you have breath, but you might not have life. But if you have Christ’s breath — you have breath, and you have life. After all, if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation.
So Christ’s followers, empowered by the Spirit — are like a new Adam, a whole new people, in a new age, of the new covenant.
Which is why in John 20:23 — the other verse in this chapter that probably gave you some questions — Jesus is not saying that the disciples — or the church — or any church leader — not even if they are in Rome — has authority to forgive sins.
No, Jesus is not saying that.
Remember when Jesus was brought a paralyzed man — through the roof of all places? Remember what He said to the Pharisees? “Who can forgive sins, but God alone?
Only God can forgive sins.
No, John 20:23 is not about providing forgiveness. It is about proclaiming forgiveness.
His sent ones, empowered by the Spirit, have authority to declare the message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
That His sent ones, empowered by the Spirit, have authority to declare the message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. There is no forgiveness apart from the Risen Christ. But in Him, oh, there is forgiveness as wide as the East to the West. If you believe in Jesus, then you are sent. Will you go? Not in guilt. Not in shame. Not because you feel like a failed disciple and you need to step it up and do better. No, will you go in peace?
One last scene. This one ties it all together. Coming back to John’s purpose statement -- Believe in the Risen Christ.
Believe and Live (John 20:24-31)
Meet Thomas. You may have heard of him before. It is not the first time we have met Thomas in John’s gospel. This is the third time he is directly named, but the first two times were rather brief. This is the scene he is most known for — and the scene where he gets his infamous nickname — “Doubting Thomas.”
In John 11, Thomas encourages his fellow disciples to keep following Jesus, even if it costs them their lives. In John 14, Thomas asks Jesus how they can follow Him, when they do not know the way—to which Jesus responds, famously, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. Next time you quote that verse, you can thank Thomas.
So that is all we know about Thomas before this. We do not know a lot. We know he followed Jesus, together with the other disciples — that he was thorough in his commitments, concrete in his thinking, and perhaps not the smoothest in his social skills.
If Peter was a ‘measure once, cut twice,’ kind of guy, then Thomas was ‘measure twice, cut once.’ He was careful and factual and deliberate.
You know, it is interesting that here and elsewhere he’s referred to as “the twin” — did you catch that? It is interesting because we do not get any information about who this twin is. He does not show up anywhere else. All we know is that Thomas was called “the Twin.”
Perhaps in God’s wisdom, He gives us this detail about Thomas, but nothing more, to help us see our resemblance in him. It is as if we hear about Thomas’s twin in the Bible and then we meet Thomas’s twin in the mirror.
Has it been hard for you to believe in Jesus? Have you wanted proof more than secondhand report? You know what God’s Word would say to you? The most important thing about you is not your doubt. The most important thing about Thomas was not his doubt. The most important thing about Thomas, or you, or me — is how Jesus comes to meet with us in our doubt.
Thomas gives quite the ultimatum here — “Unless I see… I will never believe.” But Jesus is not angered — or threatened — by such an ultimatum. In fact, He’s moved with compassion by it.
Thomas had previously isolated himself. He neglected to gather with his fellow believers — Pause there for a moment. John 20:24 is waving before us a yellow flag.
Doubt grows in isolation. Grief is heavy, when you carry it alone. Do not pull away from the body when the body has medicine you need.
Members, we are in a covenant with each other. We said we would bear each other’s burdens with tenderness and compassion. We said we would not ghost each other —but would regularly gather together.
It is ok to have doubts. It is ok to have grief. But just do not do it alone.
John 20:26 says, “eight days later” — or we would say, the next Sunday, because the Hebrew calendar would always include counting the day you were currently on—the next Sunday, the disciples would gather together again, and this time Thomas would join.
It was all of grace for the Lord to go to these failed disciples once. It is grace upon grace for Him to go again — even directly to the one who doubted Him (John 20:26-27).
Jesus was not there when Thomas gave his ultimatum, but notice how Jesus heard every word of it. Jesus hears — and He sees — and knows — everything. He knows your doubts — your fears — your struggles — your sins. He knows you more than you know you.
But even though He knows Thomas withdrew to Himself and doubted last week — this week, Jesus goes to Him. He meets with Thomas — in the same manner He met with the disciples a week before — just this time, drawing even more near. Putting out His hands, and His side, He tells Thomas, “Do not disbelieve, but believe.”
The text does not tell us whether or not Thomas actually reached out and touched Him. The way it reads — it seems as if he saw the wounds, and that was enough. And if that is the case, then he is not all that different than the disciples were just a week before.
The Lord draws near the doubter, and the doubter believes (John 20:28) — “Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”
The words “Lord” and “God” appear together in the Old Testament more than one thousand times. There is no higher title Thomas could have ascribed to the Risen Lord Jesus. And get this — Jesus accepts it. Jesus is Yahweh in the flesh. The Risen Christ is both Lord and God. Keep that verse in your back pocket next time someone tries to tell you that Jesus is not really God.
But as high as the titles are, perhaps what is even more striking in this verse, are the pronouns. “My Lord and my God!”
It was Luther who said that the marrow of true Christianity is found in the use of personal pronouns. It marks the difference between cold, dead, religion. And genuine, saving faith. It marks the difference between having religious breath — and having life in His name.
Jesus is both Lord and God. But can you say with Thomas, that He is your Lord?—and your God?
You might think, “Oh, well Thomas got to see Him. Up close and personal. And if I could see Jesus too, well then sure, I would believe.”
Oh don’t you worry. Jesus has a personal word for you too in John 20:29 – “Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”
Oh, how blessed was Thomas! What a gracious occasion! He believed—and lived! And yet, our Lord gives a special blessing — a beatitude, commentators call it — to those like us — who have not seen the Risen Christ, yet have believed in Him.
This brings us back to our purpose statement. Thomas illustrates what John purposed.
He says, in John 20:30-31, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
Do you have life? Or do you just have breath? Do you now see the difference? Do you now know where to find it?
So I will ask again: Do you have life? Or do you just have breath? Do you now see the difference? Do you now know where to find it?
Friends, there is only one way to real, satisfying, everlasting, life — it is by believing in the Risen Christ. The only life that is more than breath is the life in His name.
He calls you to come, to continue, to see and to hear and to go, to believe, and to keep believing. So believe in the Risen Christ, and have life in His name.
Let us pray.