John 20:11-18
When Life Is Too Big To Handle

Introduction
1. Do you find life too big to handle?
2. John 20:11-18 Mary Magdalene found life too big to handle:
I. WHAT WON’T WORK 20:11-15
II. WHAT ILL WORK 20:16-18

Do you find life too big to handle?
I. WHAT WON’T WORK 20:11-15
Hopeless Without Him
A. Mourning 11a, 13a, 15a
“Weep” is the same word as at Lazarus’ grave… ‘wailing’
1.Mary is wailing, she keeps crying uncontrollably. She has every right. Jesus is dead and someone has stolen the body.
2.All her dreams and hopes are gone. The body of Jesus has been stolen!
3.Peter/John and the other women are gone. She is totally alone!
4.Tears and remorse are normal responses, but that wasn’t the answer to the gaping hole in her life.
*Some live their life as “What might have been, if…”
*Bitterness, remorse, anger, frustration well up, but all of this pent up or released
emotion never brings answers when life is too big to handle.
*Yesterday’s pain blocks out tomorrow’s sunrise.
B. A Memorial 11b
The tomb was a horizontal chamber cut out of the soft limestone upon which Jerusalem
was built. Some were cut to contain one body. This one seems large enough to
accommodate several living persons in addition to the burial cell.
1.As she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher.
2.She has already been there. It’s a tomb of dread…a tomb of darkness and despair the tomb is empty!
3.Many try to solve Big problems by visiting empty tombs! 2-3 million people are right now in Rome looking into an empty tomb…but still wailing, still hopeless! Hundreds of thousands visit the tomb in Jerusalem…hopeless! Millions in America this morning are peering into an empty tomb and weeping…they still have shattered lives…still broken dreams…still hopeless…
4.Tombs of Confusion:
*“I’ll go to church and hear the story of Easter…the Cross…the Resurrection.”
and still no relief. Life is still too big to handle.
*There has to be more than a religious experience.
Needless sorrow blinded her to the glories of the empty tomb.
Sorry and frustration can blind us!
C. A Message 12-14a
Peter and John just left. Mary has seen one angel. Two angels appear! Where did these
come from? They must look like men in white.
1.Their Position Sitting Isn’t it wonderful that what seems like tragedies to us doesn’t
shake heaven one bit!
2. Their Placement Head and feet where Jesus had been laying.
*He hadn’t been unwrapped or somehow unwrapped Himself (v. 7) The grave clothes
were not in a pile. Someone had not stolen the body. Christ arose!!
*Logic doesn’t register when life is too Big. She couldn’t receive the message.
3. Their Patience Woman why are you weeping?
*God is interested in us. Does Jesus Care? O yest He cares! He is aware and does care
when your world falls apart!
*God was allowing the angel messengers to try and comfort Mary. Focus on the facts!
*She walks out so wrapped up in turmoil she can’t see or hear.
*We quote verses. All are true and right! Friend may say: “Cheer up” “Don’t dwell
on the past.” “This too shall pass.” “Into every life a little rain must fall.” Friends/
Counselors/Pastors: We don’t have the answers. They can listen and encourage. Life
is too BIG to hear!
D. A Man 14b-15
Supposing him to be a gardener…
1.Don’t be too hard on the passage or Mary…knew not that it was Jesus. It was in the
morning light. She was looking down and not at anyone. Say you were at a funeral and 3 days later, early in the morning you went back to the grave yard. Would you think it was your friend?
2.She was so wrapped up in her problems she couldn’t see Jesus. We’ve all been like
that…so wrapped up in our problem that we cannot see Jesus.
3.Supposing Him to be a gardener: “Sir, if you have born Him from here…”
4.So it is this morning…
*Jesus to many is dead. He is not an option.
*When life is too Big just any man won’t do! A good teacher…a religious leader…a
good example won’t work when life is too BIG to handle!

Do you find life too big to handle?
II. WHAT WILL WORK 20:16-18
Hope With Him
It takes a living Savior to answer life’s BIG questions!
A.A Revelation 16a
He could communicate…hear…sense….He could materialize in flesh and bone.
1. Jesus saith unto her, “Mary” Jesus speaks directly and personally to her, Mary.
*God gets our attention.
*Through the Holy Spirit, God speaks to us. First, God must get our attention. “I’m
talking to you.” At salvation God speaks. In daily living God speaks…through the
Word, the power of suggestion…people who know and walk with God.
*When life is too Big to handle, God must speak!
B. A Repentance
She turned around.
1. She must have been facing the other way. She was going her way, looking for a corpse.
2. Turn around. Stop going your way in pursuit of the dead, turn to the living…to
Jesus!
C. A Response
Rabboni, which is to say, “Master” Literally: My dear Lord!
1.Lord…Jesus is our Lord. He is the controller, the sovereign of our life. Am I willing for Him to take the controls? This happens at salvation and in daily living.
2. Jesus speaks. He wants us to respond!
D. A Resignation 17a
She fell at His feet.
1. Do not cling to Me or stop clinging to Me
2. At the feet of Jesus life that is too BIG is put into perspective. If Jesus is alive…that
changes everything. I give myself up and over.
3. Stop clinging…we have a different relationship. He had a mission to accomplish.
E. A Review 17b-18
1. I am ascending to My Father/your Father to my God/your God. God in the Old
Testament was the Almighty. Redemption has been made. Father: through Christ we
draw near to the heavenly Father!
2. Brothers…Go to my brothers (new relationship) Stop clinging…go and tell.
* “I have seen the Lord”
*Many fall at Jesus’ feet, but they never go and tell.
*First, tell those who are His. The world is full of shattered dreams, broken promises,
faded hope.
Jesus Is Alive!
It takes a living Savior to handle the Big problems.
Are you wrapped up in death…no life…she needed life!
Lost? You are dead in your sin. Come to Jesus!
Saved? Jesus calls you…Turn around…Fall at the feet of Jesus…Go and Tell…
JESUS IS ALIVE!!!