Tomorrow I'm preaching out of John 20:2-10 and Luke 24:9-12. The tomb is found empty. In a hermeneutical "criterion of embarrassment" moment the women run to tell the disciples. Peter and the disciple Jesus loved run to the tomb, the latter winning the race and bragging about it. John (the disciple Jesus loved) looks inside the tomb, sees enough, and so does not go in. Peter goes in, looks around, and wonders what the heck happened to the body. The expensive linens appear deflated like a balloon that lost its air, and the jaw-holding face-linen is folded off to the side.
John, the beloved disciple, "believes." It's at this belief-point that I will focus tomorrow. I think God is giving me words to say about this, and am excited to present them to my church family. "Resurrection" (what happened to Jesus) is not "resuscitation" (what happened to Lazarus; I got this years ago from Pannenberg). "Resurrection" is not simply "He is risen," meaning his dead body came back to life.
