Tiny Details, Tremendous Truths: Mary's Resurrection Encounter

The tiny detail in this is that the only thing Jesus needs for you to receive mercy, for you to become a new creation, for you to be elevated and given your purpose, the only thing Jesus needs is your yes. That's it. It's a tiny word. Yes. But the minute we say it, Jesus can go to work. Jesus can go to work. I love this passage. I love what it says to us. I love the invitation at the end of it. Jesus, the risen savior, the one who could do it all on his own without our help, says to us, will you will you be my witnesses? [01:27:05] (64 seconds)  #SayYesToJesus

Mercy doesn't excuse sin. Mercy gives us the motivation to deal with it. So Mary reveals a tiny detail which has tremendous consequences. And the tiny detail is there is mercy. It triumphs over judgment. We can receive mercy. It cost Jesus everything, and we can be free. We can be completely free. As free as that stone slab is from a dead body, we can be free from sin and shame because Jesus said it's finished. It's done with. It's over. [01:07:37] (56 seconds)  #MercyOverJudgment

I said earlier, Mary gets commissioned and she's not ready for it. There's no way that Mary has anything to say around what has happened other than give her testimony. She's she's not theologically informed. She doesn't understand where all of this is going. She she doesn't get the big picture. But Jesus says anyway, go go and tell my people that I'm alive, and that's what she does. He is risen just as he said. The gospel is really simple. We don't have to be theologically informed to tell people who Jesus is. We just have to tell them that we've seen him. [01:24:01] (65 seconds)  #ShareYourTestimony

John makes the link back to that garden, and he makes the link to the curse that follows the fall. And then he includes this tiny detail to help us understand we are not subject to the curse anymore. It's dealt with. It's done. All of those years of humanity suffering under the curse, they're done. They are dealt with. It's no more. We're not subject to that anymore. And the gardener says, come and be a new creation in me. I've offered you mercy so you're clean. [01:10:35] (46 seconds)  #CurseIsBroken

Any of us could have been Mary. Any of us can go into that empty tomb and see the empty slab and receive the mercy that Jesus promises us. Any of us. Except, there is a condition. The condition is that we have to understand that Jesus went to the cross for sin. Now I know we don't like talking about sin. I know we don't, but we have to because we're not gonna have a half baked gospel. We're not gonna have soft squidgy rolls when we can have a nice hard crunchy baguette. We're not. [01:04:03] (47 seconds)  #NoHalfBakedGospel

I'm not happy, you know, that there are people out there who are dying for lack of knowledge, dying for lack of insight, dying because we haven't bothered to tell them the gospel. That's not a condemnation. It's not a criticism of you. It is not. I'm not happy about it. I wanna see that change. I want more people coming into the garden. K? I I wanna be fighting them for this space. I wanna be fighting them to prune the roses, you know, get the best jobs. I want more people in the garden. [01:12:33] (35 seconds)  #BringMoreToTheGarden

God has elevated me to a position of power and authority. I'm seated in the heavenly realms with Christ. I have a heavenly perspective. I might be down here sometimes on my knees, but I have a heavenly perspective and I can see what he is doing. He does the same with you. He elevates you. You have nothing to offer the king of kings and the lord of lords, and yet he says, come and sit at my table. I'm gonna purpose you. I'm gonna equip you. I'm gonna fill you. I'm gonna send you. [01:22:18] (45 seconds)  #ElevatedAndSent

When we come to what Mary sees, the end of that way of doing things, it's really important that Mary sees two angels standing over an empty slab. Because what John understands and we need to grab hold of is that it's no longer the case that we need a high priest to go into the holy of holies and lay a sacrifice on the mercy seat because Jesus is the high priest, and he is the sacrifice. And mercy is ensured because of what he's done on the cross. And we have to grab hold of that. We absolutely have to grab hold of that. [01:03:08] (48 seconds)  #MercySecuredByChrist