Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Summary | Part 2

Five Extraordinary Events You Might Have Missed

The final two chapters of John's Gospel are packed with moments that could easily be overlooked - details that seem small but carry extraordinary weight. In this Crowd Church talk, John Harding walks through five events from John 20 and 21, helping us see just how unexpected, unusual, and significant they really are.

These aren't obscure theological points. They're moments that reveal something profound about who Jesus is, who we are, and what following him actually looks like.

Event One: The Resurrection

John Harding commented: "This resurrection, along with Jesus' death on the cross, are truly the singular most important events in the whole of human history."

Why so fundamental? Because without it, there is no Christianity.

"I would go as far as to say, I actually don't think you can be a Christian in the way the Bible defines being a follower of Jesus without believing in the actual physical bodily resurrection of Jesus."

He pointed to what the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:13-14: "If there is no resurrection, then our faith is futile. It's useless." And verse 19 goes further: "We have no hope. No hope for the future."

John explained why this matters so much: "In rising from the dead, Jesus defeated the power that death and the grave had over us, and he guaranteed for us through that act that we too would be raised to new life with Jesus in the new heaven and the new earth for all eternity."

He addressed the temptation to soften the claim: "Some say, well, John, maybe it's just a symbolic story, a myth. It didn't physically happen. Maybe Jesus rose symbolically, spiritually in our hearts. What a nice thought, but actually no, because if that is true, then I don't know about you, but I am no longer confident that Jesus, that God has the power to raise me from the dead. No resurrection, no hope."

Event Two: Mary Magdalene - The First Witness

The second extraordinary event is who Jesus chose to be the first person to see him after the resurrection: Mary Magdalene.

Mary was at the tomb, weeping because Jesus was dead and the body was gone. Perhaps she thought grave robbers had taken it. Then Jesus walked through the garden, called her by name, and sent her back to the disciples as a witness - to tell them he was alive.

"Mary becomes the first preacher of the resurrection," John observed.

But here's what makes this so remarkable: "If you were making this story up at the time, this is not how you would've written it. Mary is not the character you'd script in this role."

Why not? "In the ancient Near East at this time, the testimony, the witness of a woman in a court of law was invalid. They were not believed."

And it wasn't just that Mary was a woman. "Even today in a court of law, someone like Mary would be considered an unreliable witness. She would be questioned as a witness. She had a reputation. A mad, crazy woman when she first encountered Jesus. Jesus drove seven demons out of her."

John acknowledged the historical tradition: "For me, even though we can't really prove it a hundred percent from scripture, I think it means that this Mary is likely to be the Mary who was described earlier as a sinful woman. Possibly as a prostitute. Certainly that's what church history tells us."

Yet Jesus "orchestrated his resurrection so that Mary was the first witness, the first entrusted to preach the message that Jesus was risen."

The application is powerful: "If Mary can be entrusted with such a message, that means so can I and so can you. We don't have to worry about if people will believe us or not. That's not down to us. We simply share the message that Jesus is alive, for the message has power in and of itself to convince and convict and change lives."

Event Three: The Disciples Stay Together

After Jesus' death, the disciples are hiding away, huddled together for fear of their lives. They had believed Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah, that he would reign and they would reign with him. Now he'd been killed as a common criminal, and they were in danger.

John found it surprising that they didn't scatter: "I think if I'd been in that situation, I think I'd have recommended that we all went our separate ways in order to maximise our safety. Much safer to do that."

But they stayed together. "They are in community like family, and it's into that context that they now encounter and experience the risen Jesus."

Jesus walks into the room and speaks peace - shalom - to them. He says: "As the Father sent me, now I'm sending you." John noted the Greek: "Literally Jesus says, just as the Father sent me, I'm sending you. In the same way I send you - called to mirror Jesus, to emanate Jesus, to incarnate ourselves into community."

The timing matters: "At their most fearful, disappointed, discouraged moments, the disciples pressed into community. They were together in community, and it's in the context of community, in context of hardship and persecution and fear, that they encounter the risen Jesus in their midst, and he speaks his peace into their hearts."

Even Doubting Thomas got included.

Event Four: The Disciples Go Back to Work

This one, John admitted, "blows my mind."

After everything - three years with Jesus, his death, his actual physical bodily resurrection, being sent out as witnesses into the world - some of the disciples went back to their old jobs as fishermen. They went back to work.

"Now, if you know this story, you'll know that they were out fishing all night and they had caught nothing. So they weren't even very successful in their old jobs. Maybe they were a bit out of practice. But it was familiar. Maybe they thought that going back to their old job would be comforting or nostalgic."

Then a voice they don't recognise calls out from the shore: cast your nets on the other side of the boat. They do - and land an instant, miraculous catch of 153 fish.

John drew out the significance: "Mary encountered Jesus in the garden. The disciples encountered Jesus in their community. And here they encounter the risen Jesus in their day-to-day work. And it's that encounter with Jesus in their workplace that makes them incredibly fruitful and productive."

He loved some of the details John records. The precise number - 153 fish. "The Roman writer, an early naturalist, Pliny the Elder - he was alive and writing at this time - he wrote that he believed there were only 153 species of fish in the entire world. So maybe in catching 153, it was symbolic of a time where these fishers of men would reach people from every tribe and nation and language. Everyone would be reached for Jesus."

There's another detail in the original Greek. "It says Jesus cooks the fish over a fire, over a particular fire of coals. Now that Greek word is only used twice in the whole of the Bible. It's used here, and the other time it's used is to speak of the fire that Peter warms himself beside" - the fire where Peter denied Jesus.

"It's a lovely little detail," John observed, "and I think it really connects into our final extraordinary event."

Event Five: Jesus Forgives and Restores Peter

There's a precious encounter between Jesus and Peter at the very end of John's Gospel.

Peter had denied Jesus by that fire three times. When people said he was one of Jesus' disciples - even a slave girl - Peter said three times: "Not me. I never knew Jesus."

Now, three times, Peter says to Jesus: "I love you." And three times, Jesus asks: "Do you love me?"

John was clear about what's happening here: "This is not Jesus being insecure or needy or seeking affirmation. We are talking about the risen Jesus here, the one who had conquered sin and death. No, he's asking Peter - Peter, do you love me? - for Peter's benefit. He's giving Peter the opportunity to confess his love."

The cultural context makes this even more remarkable: "In this ancient Near East honour and shame culture, Jesus chooses to forgive Peter and restore Peter and appoint him to go on to be the first leader of the earliest church."

Conversation Street

The resurrection as the anchor of faith

John Farrington shared how the resurrection functions as an anchor when doubts arise: "When I have had doubts or questions about my faith, those questions can make it easy to spiral and you can be into questioning, is any of this true? Is any of this real? And for me, the anchor of it all has always been, I just always come back to Jesus is real and the resurrection is real. And if ever I'm struggling with any questions, I go from that place of, well, I know Jesus is real and I believe the resurrection happened, and then I go back to all those questions and see how that all fits."

Anna resonated with this: "If there's no resurrection, then there's no hope really in Christianity. It's the linchpin of the whole faith. Without the resurrection being an actual physical event that really happened, there's no power over death, no victory over the grave. That's the hope."

She shared a personal connection: "My husband lost a family member a couple of weeks ago. It was really sad - she was quite young. But also so hopeful to know that death isn't the end for us as believers. Without that, what's the point?"

Mary Magdalene and the value of women

Anna highlighted how countercultural Jesus' choice of Mary was: "In a culture and a time where women really didn't have any kind of equality with men, Jesus values a woman so much that he would appear to her first - above everyone else, before the disciples. It always slightly blows my mind. It just reminds me how countercultural Jesus was and how he did things that were really quite revolutionary at the time."

John Farrington added: "It keeps in that theme of Jesus doing things that if you were to make it up, you wouldn't choose to do it that way if you wanted people to believe it at the time."

The weight of multiple witnesses

Anna noted the evidential significance of Jesus appearing to the gathered disciples: "It's not one person's testimony. Lots of them were gathered and they all saw the same thing at the same time. It adds real weight and a stronger evidence base. If just one or two people had seen him one by one, you could say they dreamt it or imagined it or just wanted it so badly. But lots of people described and saw and experienced the same thing in the same way, at the same time. It's harder to argue with."

Peter's restoration and our own failures

Anna reflected on what Peter's story means for us: "Peter had obviously written himself off. You've denied Jesus - you think, I've let him down. Probably a lot of feelings of not being good enough. And Jesus cuts through all of that. We're so quick to write ourselves off and look at our own failings and think, I'm not good enough to serve Jesus or be used by him. We all fail. We all get it wrong sometimes. But I love that Jesus meets him there and reassures him. It doesn't affect Jesus' plan for him."

She connected this to ongoing Christian experience: "There's that initial moment of becoming a Christian. But then throughout your Christian walk, there are times where you experience that forgiveness and that grace of God again in your life that's just so freeing and releasing and changes everything."

What does it mean to love Jesus?

John Farrington asked Anna about the connection between loving Jesus and committing your life to him. Anna shared her journey - growing up as a pastor's kid, always in church, but then going to university and facing the question for herself: "Do I want to follow Jesus now myself? It's not expected. No one's checking up on me."

That season became one of discovery: "As I sought him and read the Bible and looked for him for myself, I really found him. That was the season of falling in love with Jesus - it being more than just head knowledge, but really becoming heart knowledge for the first time."

John Farrington shared his own reflection on love and sacrifice: "I've been thinking about how John's Gospel talks about love - the connection between sacrifice and love. God so loved the world that he gave his only son. At what point did I realise this isn't just something I was following, but something I was willing to give something up for?"

For him, it was around sixth form: "I was questioning my faith a lot more, seeing what the other options were. But actually realising, I'm very willing to give up all of those other options because I think this is the best one. This is what brings me the most joy."

Your Next Step This Week

1. Consider the resurrection - Not as a nice metaphor, but as an actual historical event. What difference does it make to your hope if Jesus really, physically rose from the dead?

2. Remember Mary - If Jesus entrusted the resurrection message to someone with her past, your background doesn't disqualify you either. The message has power in itself.

3. Press into community - The disciples encountered Jesus together, in their fear and disappointment. Don't isolate when things are hard.

4. Look for Jesus in your work - The disciples met Jesus in their everyday jobs. He's not confined to Sundays.

5. Receive forgiveness - If Peter could be restored after denying Jesus three times, you can be restored too. Jesus asks "Do you love me?" for your benefit, not his.

Our Response

John Harding landed his talk here: "Mary, the disciples, Peter - they encounter the risen Jesus in extraordinary ways. And what of our response? Well, I think it should be that of Peter's. Hearts full of love, vocalised to our risen saviour. Jesus, we love you. Jesus, I love you."

That's where these extraordinary events lead us - not just to intellectual assent, but to a confession of love for the one who conquered death and still meets us in gardens, in community, in our workplaces, and in our failures.