Everything seemed dark, cold and sad. Jesus was dead, and they thought they would never see him again. When Mary arrived at the tomb, though, she discovered something that no-one expected. It was a discovery of the greatest kindness that God has ever given. Join Dave as he explores the amazing first few hours of Jesus’ resurrection from John 20.
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The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
Transcript
G'day, Dave here.
Speaker A:Welcome to Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.
Speaker A:Before we get into it, I want to do a big shout out to Marcus, who lives in Sydney, Australia.
Speaker A:He sent me a message saying, thank you for teaching me and Marcus.
Speaker A:It is an absolute pleasure.
Speaker A:I love it a lot.
Speaker A:Shout out to Marcus's mum as well, who sent me the message.
Speaker A:Hannah, thank you so much.
Speaker A:Thank.
Speaker A:Thanks for getting in touch.
Speaker A:She told me what they appreciate as a family about the show.
Speaker A:Guys, it is a great honour to be working with you and it's such an encouragement to hear from you.
Speaker A:Thank you so much.
Speaker A:I love hearing from anyone who's listening.
Speaker A:So if you're out there, if you're listening, please send in a message, say hi, tell me what you like about the show and I'd love to say g'day back.
Speaker A:Now, on with the show.
Speaker A:What's great about being in your family?
Speaker A:What do you love?
Speaker A:Every family has things that are cool for them.
Speaker A:Maybe they like cooking together or they enjoy movies or they're really into camping.
Speaker A:Maybe your family tells really good jokes or enjoys sport.
Speaker A:Maybe you just really enjoy that.
Speaker A:Everyone in your family is really different.
Speaker A:Even though we all have different families and we all live in different parts of the world, we're actually all in the same human family.
Speaker A:We all come from the family of Adam and Eve.
Speaker A:You could think of it as our biggest family and this biggest family, we've got some problems.
Speaker A:We've got the problem of sin, where all of us don't treat God the way we should.
Speaker A:We also have the problem of death.
Speaker A:Everyone in the human family dies and it's really sad.
Speaker A:We don't have the power to get rid of our sin.
Speaker A:We don't have the power to stop death.
Speaker A:But in today's story, we're going to hear about someone who does both for everyone who joins his family.
Speaker A:Get ready for our next episode of stories of a Faithful God for kids.
Speaker A:The sun hasn't come up yet on this cold, dark morning.
Speaker A:Stumbling through the dark, Mary Magdalene is making her way to the tomb where Jesus was buried.
Speaker A:She'd been at the cross just a couple of days before as Jesus hung dying.
Speaker A:Now she's going to the tomb to cry.
Speaker A:When she gets there, she sees something she's not expecting at all.
Speaker A:The large stone that was in front of the tomb's been rolled away.
Speaker A:She's not expecting it because she thinks Jesus is dead.
Speaker A:And dead people don't come back to life, right?
Speaker A:Well, she runs away and she finds Peter and John in verse two of John 20.
Speaker A:She yells out.
Speaker A:They've taken the Lord out of the tomb.
Speaker A:We don't know where they've put him.
Speaker A:Notice what she doesn't say.
Speaker A:She doesn't say the tomb is open.
Speaker A:Jesus must be alive.
Speaker A:That doesn't even cross her mind.
Speaker A:Instead she just assumes that someone's stolen the body.
Speaker A:And notice what Peter and John don't say.
Speaker A:They don't say it's okay.
Speaker A:That just means that Jesus is actually alive.
Speaker A:None of them are expecting Jesus to come back from the dead.
Speaker A:Instead, Peter and John run to the tomb.
Speaker A:They run hard and they run fast.
Speaker A:John's faster than Peter, so he gets there first.
Speaker A:He peers into the tomb, but he doesn't go in.
Speaker A:He sees strips of cloth lying where the body used to be.
Speaker A:The strips of cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus body after he was dead.
Speaker A:That's strange.
Speaker A:Why would a body thief waste time unwrapping the body before stealing it?
Speaker A:Simon Peter arrives.
Speaker A:John might be faster, but Peter is braver.
Speaker A:He goes straight into the tomb.
Speaker A:He sees the strips of cloth.
Speaker A:He also sees the cloth that's been over Jesus head.
Speaker A:It's neatly folded and placed separately to the rest of the cloth.
Speaker A:Now this is super weird.
Speaker A:If someone's stolen the body, they haven't just taken all the wrappings off.
Speaker A:They've made his bed for him.
Speaker A:This isn't what you'd normally expect from thieves.
Speaker A:Now John follows Peter into the tomb.
Speaker A:He looks at the cloths and the wrappings and for the first time believes.
Speaker A:He didn't believe that Jesus could rise from the dead before this.
Speaker A:None of the disciples did.
Speaker A:If they understood their Old Testaments well, they'd understand that Jesus must rise from the dead.
Speaker A:God had made that clear.
Speaker A:But they still don't understand how all of God's plans fit together.
Speaker A:For now, they go back home.
Speaker A:Mary though, has come back to the tomb.
Speaker A:She still thinks that Jesus is dead.
Speaker A:She's standing outside crying.
Speaker A:And almost as if she needs to check again that the body really is gone.
Speaker A:She stoops down and looks into the tomb again.
Speaker A:This time she sees something different.
Speaker A:She sees two angels dressed in white.
Speaker A:One sitting where Jesus head used to be and the other where Jesus feet used to be.
Speaker A:This isn't something you see every day.
Speaker A:They ask Mary a really weird question.
Speaker A:They ask her in verse 13.
Speaker A:Woman, why are you crying?
Speaker A:Umm, hello.
Speaker A:The greatest guy she's ever known's been killed and now his body's disappeared.
Speaker A:Of course she's crying.
Speaker A:She replies to them.
Speaker A:She says they've taken away my Lord.
Speaker A:I don't know where they've put him.
Speaker A:It makes total sense that she's crying, except they know something that she doesn't know.
Speaker A:Well, she stands up, turns around, and there, standing right in front of her, is Jesus.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:Living, breathing, standing Jesus.
Speaker A:He's beaten death.
Speaker A:He's had victory over the grave.
Speaker A:He's defeated the horrible end that humans have to face.
Speaker A:Except she doesn't recognise him.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:She thinks Jesus is dead.
Speaker A:So she doesn't look at him properly.
Speaker A:Instead, they're in a garden.
Speaker A:So she just thinks to herself, oh, this must be the gardener.
Speaker A:Jesus asks her the same question that the angels had in verse 15.
Speaker A:He asks, Woman, why are you crying?
Speaker A:Who are you looking for?
Speaker A:It's a funny sort of question, isn't it?
Speaker A:She's looking for him, but she doesn't realise it's him.
Speaker A:And so she asks him, this guy who she thinks is the gardener, did you take him away, sir?
Speaker A:Tell me where you put him and I will get him.
Speaker A:At this point, she's kind of turned her body away from him, maybe because she doesn't want him to see her tears.
Speaker A:And so Jesus speaks softly and gently to her.
Speaker A:He says, mary.
Speaker A:Slowly she turns around.
Speaker A:How does this guy know her name?
Speaker A:His voice seems familiar.
Speaker A:For the first time, she looks at him properly.
Speaker A:She starts to take in every detail.
Speaker A:She suddenly recognises the face of the man she knows so well.
Speaker A:This man who she thought was dead.
Speaker A:The man she thought she would never see again.
Speaker A:Her heart's pounding with joy and excitement, and she yells out with all her happiness, teacher.
Speaker A:Of course she wants to hold onto him really tightly and not let him go.
Speaker A:She thought he was gone forever, and now here he is.
Speaker A:The last thing she wants is for him to go away again.
Speaker A:He calms her down, though.
Speaker A:It's okay.
Speaker A:It's okay.
Speaker A:It isn't time for him to go back to his Father yet.
Speaker A:She can just let go of Him.
Speaker A:In fact, she'll need to let go of him because he has an important job for her to do, an important message for her to give.
Speaker A:Jesus wants her to take a message to his disciples.
Speaker A:Except he doesn't call them disciples, a word that means followers.
Speaker A:He calls them something very different, something much more amazing.
Speaker A:You listen carefully to Jesus words and see if you can hear what the amazing thing he's telling them is.
Speaker A:In verse 17, Jesus says to Mary, don't hold me.
Speaker A:I have not yet gone up to the Father, but go to my brothers.
Speaker A:And tell them, I am going back to my father and your father.
Speaker A:I am going back to my God and your God.
Speaker A:Did you hear it?
Speaker A:Did you hear the amazing thing?
Speaker A:Jesus called these men brothers.
Speaker A:He said he's going back to his father, God the Father.
Speaker A:The one who he's been God with from all of time.
Speaker A:The one who he has a perfect relationship with.
Speaker A:He's going back to his father and their father, to his God and their God.
Speaker A:When Jesus saves people from sin and death, when people put their trust in him, he brings them into his family.
Speaker A:The family of the living God.
Speaker A:Don't panic.
Speaker A:You don't have to leave your family, but you also get to join God's family.
Speaker A:A family where you're not trapped by sin.
Speaker A:A family where death is defeated.
Speaker A:A family where we can have life forever with God.
Speaker A:God doesn't just save us to be slaves or servants.
Speaker A:He doesn't save us to be his pets.
Speaker A:He saves us to be his children.
Speaker A:If you trust Jesus as your king, you've joined the family of God.
Speaker A:You get to call Jesus Father, your father.
Speaker A:You don't have to worry about death because Jesus has beaten death for everyone in his family.
Speaker A:Back in Jerusalem, though, not everyone does trust Jesus.
Speaker A:Not everyone believes that Jesus is alive.
Speaker A:Even one of his closest followers doesn't believe that he's alive.
Speaker A:And if they don't believe, they're in real trouble.
Speaker A:I wonder what'll happen.
Speaker A:Well, that's a story for next time.
Speaker A:Don't forget to shoot me a message and say hi.
Speaker A:Keep trusting Jesus.
Speaker A:Bye for now.
Speaker B:Thanks for listening to this episode.
Speaker B:If you think this podcast is helpful, then please help Dave to keep it free for others by making a donation@faithfulgod.net that's faithfulgod.net don't forget to like and subscribe on whatever app you're listening on.
Speaker B:You can also follow stories of a faithful God on Facebook and Instagram.
Speaker B:If you want more of a deep dive into these Bible stories, make sure you check out the sister podcast, Stories of a Faithful God.
