June 8, 2025: The Resurrection John 20:1-22 Rev. Dr. Rhonda Abbott Blevins
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’s head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed, 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes. 11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb, 12 and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not touch me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and she told them that he had said these things to her.
19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
______
Fifty days. Fifty days between the resurrection of Christ and the day that the Holy Spirit fell upon those first Christ-followers on Pentecost. Fifty days that changed the world. Fifty days that transformed our lives. Let’s explore what happened during those fifty days, beginning with the day of resurrection, shall we?
Today marks week seven of our “Windows of Faith” series in which we have been considering the life of Jesus as told in the stories of the stained-glass windows in our sanctuary. Jesus’ early life is depicted in the windows: “The Holy Family” and “The Boy Jesus in the Temple.” His three-year ministry is captured in “Jesus Welcomes the Children” and “Jesus Teaches From the Boat.” We have two Holy Week windows: “Jesus Prays at Gethsemane” and “The Crucifixion.” That brings us to today’s focal window: “The Resurrection.”
In the window we see the risen Christ, clothed in white garment, standing outside an empty tomb, the stone rolled to the side. We see two Roman soldiers, one overwhelmed by what he sees, one appears to sleep through the whole thing. (Let us not be like the one who is asleep to the resurrection of Christ!)
We see Christ’s right hand raised, his index finger pointing upward, perhaps the “finger of God,” representing divine intervention and power. We see in Christ’s left hand the “Triumphal Cross” (Crux longa in Latin) . . . the cross is no longer an instrument of death but a symbol of victory. The banner on the Triumphal Cross is flowing above Christ’s head . . . suggesting that the stained-glass artisan imagined the wind to be blowing.
It would not surprise me if there might have been a gentle wind in the resurrection garden—wind and breath is a common theme throughout the scripture—a theme I want us to explore more fully today.
The word for “Spirit” in both Hebrew and Greek—the primary original languages of our Bible—is the same word for “breath” or “wind.” Whenever we read about the “Holy Spirit” in the Bible, it could just as accurately be translated “Holy Breath.” Spirit and breath, breath and Spirit—it’s one and the same.
This same breath or Spirit is the source of life throughout scripture, beginning with the second chapter of Genesis:
Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. —Genesis 2:7
“The breath of life.”
Last week we sat with the darkness of Friday, contemplating that terrible moment when Jesus breathed his last on the cross. John’s Gospel tells us that after Jesus said, “It is finished,” he “bowed his head and gave up his spirit”—literally, he breathed out his final breath.
Think about the significance of that moment: the breath that had spoken creation into being—“Let there be light”—fell silent; he voice that had called Lazarus from the tomb could no longer speak.
Jesus, the very Word of God made flesh, had no breath left to form words.
Death appeared to have the final word. The Roman soldiers didn’t need to break his legs as they did the others—Jesus was already dead. The breath had stopped. The heart had ceased. By every human measure, this was the end of the story. The one who had promised abundant life had himself run out of breath.
If you’ve ever sat with a dying person, you know all too well that tell-tale sign of death—no more breath.
For those who had followed Jesus, Friday evening and all day Saturday must have felt like the longest silence in history. The breath that had calmed storms was stilled. The voice that had welcomed children and challenged religious authorities was quiet. Where once there had been the rhythm of breathing, there was only the stillness of death.
Saturday’s tomb—breathless, still, seemingly hopeless. The stone was rolled in place, sealing not just Jesus’ body but seemingly sealing the fate of all who had hoped in him. If the breath of God could be stopped by Roman execution, what hope was there for any of us? Saturday was the day when death appeared to reign supreme, when breath seemed conquered by breathlessness, when silence seemed stronger than the Word.
But God was not finished breathing yet.
Death could not hold the breath of God. On the third day, in the darkness before dawn, something miraculous happened. The same divine breath that had first breathed life into Adam breathed life back into Jesus. The tomb that had been silent suddenly stirred with the whisper of resurrection.
Life was breathing where death had once reigned. The stone was rolled away—not to let Jesus out, but to let the witnesses in. Where there had been a corpse, there was now only grave clothes, collapsed and empty, as if the body had simply passed through them. The breath of life had returned.
Mary Magdalene, weeping at the tomb, heard her name spoken by a voice she thought belonged to the gardener. But when Jesus said “Mary,” she knew. "Rabbouni!" she cried—my teacher! The breath that had been silenced was speaking again, calling her by name, just as it had in the beginning when God breathed life into creation.
The Gospels and Acts record numerous appearances of the risen Christ during the fifty days between resurrection and Pentecost. Each encounter reveals something profound about this new, resurrection life:
· To Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18): “I have seen the Lord!” she announces, becoming the first evangelist of the resurrection
· To the women at the tomb (Matthew 28:9-10): They grasp his feet and worship him—he is real, touchable, breathing
· To the two on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35): Their hearts burn within them as he speaks, their eyes opened in the breaking of bread
· To Peter (Luke 24:34, 1 Corinthians 15:5): A private meeting for restoration and forgiveness after the denials
· To the disciples behind locked doors (John 20:19-23): “Peace be with you”—the same breath that spoke peace to storms now breathes peace to fearful hearts
· To Thomas (John 20:24-29): “My Lord and my God!”—doubt transformed into declaration by the breath of the living Christ
· To seven disciples fishing (John 21:1-14): Breakfast on the beach—the risen Christ still breaking bread, still feeding his people
· To the eleven on a mountain in Galilee (Matthew 28:16-20): The Great Commission—“Go therefore and make disciples”
· The Ascension (Acts 1:9-11): “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you”—the promise of breath becoming wind
Each appearance was a gift of grace, a breathing of hope into hearts that had been suffocated by despair.
As we look at these fifty days of resurrection appearances, a beautiful pattern emerges—one that reveals how the breath of God works in our own lives today.
1. Gradual Recognition: Notice how many of the disciples didn't immediately recognize Jesus. Mary thought he was the gardener. The Emmaus travelers saw him as a stranger. The fishing disciples couldn’t quite place the figure on the shore. The resurrection life doesn’t always announce itself with fanfare—sometimes it comes as quietly as breath itself, requiring eyes of faith to see what God is doing.
2. Personal Encounter: Jesus meets each person exactly where they are. Mary in her grief, Thomas in his doubt, Peter in his shame, the disciples in their fear. The breath of resurrection doesn’t demand that we get our act together first—it meets us in our brokenness and breathes new life into our exact circumstances.
3. Mission Focus: Every single appearance leads toward sending. Jesus doesn’t just comfort—he commissions. The breath that brings us life also gives us purpose. Mary becomes the first evangelist, the Emmaus travelers rush back to Jerusalem, the disciples receive the Great Commission. Resurrection breath is never just for our own comfort—it’s always for the sake of others.
4. The Promise: Throughout these appearances, Jesus keeps pointing toward something more: “Wait for what the Father promised” (Acts 1:4). The individual encounters with the risen Christ are just the beginning. Something greater is coming—a corporate filling, a community-wide breathing of the Spirit.
One of the most remarkable moments in these fifty days comes in that upper room when Jesus appears to the frightened disciples behind locked doors. John’s Gospel records something extraordinary:
After showing them his hands and side, after speaking peace to their fearful hearts, Jesus does something that echoes all the way back to Genesis: “And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (John 20:22).
This is a taste of what’s coming at Pentecost—a personal, intimate sharing of the divine breath. Just as God had breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life, Jesus now breathes into his disciples the breath of resurrection life. They receive not just forgiveness, not just peace, but the very Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead.
This moment serves as a bridge between the individual appearances and the corporate outpouring still to come. The disciples have tasted the Spirit, felt the divine breath, but Pentecost will take this personal experience and make it a community-wide reality that spills out into the streets of Jerusalem and eventually to the ends of the earth.
The breath that had been silent on Friday, that returned on Sunday, was now being shared—passed from the risen Christ to his followers like a sacred trust, preparing them for the wind that would soon fill not just them, but the entire world.
Fifty days after the Day of Resurrection, listen to what happens:
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. —Acts 2:1-4
After these events, we see the disciples boldly telling the story of Jesus and his resurrection. From fearful and hiding to telling the world, “Christ is risen!”
Friends, I don’t understand this holy mystery. So much of it does not align with my modern way of understanding the world . . . much of it seems simply . . . unscientific. But here’s what I know. Something happened. Something happened during those fifty days between when Jesus of Nazareth died on a brutal Roman cross and this experience on Pentecost. Something happened that transformed these fearful, hiding disciples into individuals willing to die for this story they would proclaim to the world . . . this story of resurrection. Something happened. Something is still happening.
Here’s an invitation for you: I invite you to take a deep breath. Go ahead—breathe in deeply. Feel your lungs expand, feel that life-giving oxygen fill your body. That breath you just took is a gift, a reminder that you are alive, that the same God who breathed life into Adam, who raised Jesus from the dead, who filled the disciples at Pentecost, is breathing life into you right this very moment.
The question isn’t whether you believe in the mechanics of resurrection or understand the physics of Pentecost. The question is this: What dead places in your life need the breath of God today? What relationships have flatlined and need resurrection? What dreams have you buried that God wants to breathe back to life? What fears have locked you behind closed doors, keeping you from the mission God has for you?
Here's what I know: the same breath that whispered “Mary” in the garden whispers your name today. The same Spirit that turned frightened disciples into bold evangelists wants to transform your timidity into courage. The same wind that blew through that upper room in Jerusalem wants to blow through the locked rooms of your heart.
You don’t have to understand it all. You don’t have to have your theology perfectly sorted. You just have to breathe. You just have to be open to the possibility that the God who specializes in bringing life from death, hope from despair, courage from fear, might want to do something new in you.
As we sang earlier in “In Christ Alone,” here’s the truth we can stand on: “Here in the power of Christ I stand.” Not in our own strength, not in our own breath, but in the resurrection power that flows from the empty tomb, through fifty days of appearances, into the wind of Pentecost, and right into this moment, right into your life.
The breath of God that raised Jesus from the dead is available to you today. The wind that empowered the disciples to change the world is still blowing. The question is: Will you breathe it in? Will you let the Spirit fill you? Will you allow the resurrection power to transform your ordinary life into something extraordinary?
Take another deep breath. This time, as you exhale, breathe out your fears, your doubts, your sense of powerlessness. And as you inhale, receive the gift of divine breath—the same Spirit that has been breathing life into the world since the very beginning, and will continue breathing until God’s kingdom comes in all its fullness.
The resurrection isn’t just something that happened to Jesus two thousand years ago. It’s something that can happen to you today. Right here. Right now. With your very next breath.
Christ is risen! The Spirit is alive! And you—you are more powerful than you know.