"The Empty Promises of Easter"	March 27th, 2005

John 2: 16-18, 28-30; 20: 1-7, 10-18

16. Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.
17. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).
18. Here they crucified him, and with him two others–one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

28. Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”
29. A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips.
30. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

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, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there,
7. as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.

10. Then the disciples went back to their homes,
11. but 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?”
14. “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don't know where they have put him.”
15. At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
16. “Woman,” he said, “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.”
17. Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
18. Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”
19. 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.

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